OK seriously. What innovation are we talking now, aside of mobile redux of PayPal?

They shown the world how to land a rocket stage intact? Perhaps they developed a bunch of new medical treatments that are not actually snake oil? They invented social networks that the rest of the world copied in envy? Introduced touchscreen tech that's actually usable?

Honestly I must have missed all the "big" news in soft and hard tech, 'cause another eBay clone is sure as hell ain't big. It feels like rerun of Japan craze from 3 decades back, only without ninjas and shurikens this time.

The thing is that no one is going to explain to you what's going on in China. Understanding the Chinese ecosystem takes considerable effort and the people that do understand would rather talk to others in the know than to a wall. I actually cringe a bit even writing this.

If you want to think that there's no difference between PayPal, eBay and modern Chinese versions you are free to do so. But until you've used these things in China (or at least had sufficient imagination), you won't actually know if there is something there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZsvJUa9FpI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGJ5cZnoodY http://a16z.com/2015/08/06/wechat-china-mobile-first/

I've used eBay, Aliexpress and native TaoBao directly. About the only difference is their current market cap. They are so alike in user interaction and session flow one could probably reuse 80% of test cases unmodified.

Wechat is great but here (Norway) payments have been a solved problem for years. I'm not even sure I used cash this year at all other than to unlock a luggage trolley at the airport and it's been like that for over a decade. Even the bank card transaction is so smooth, fast (seconds) and ubiquitous that mobile payment services like Vipps struggled to get a foothold.

if we talk seriously, the best way is to check all the top computer science conferences where "cutting edge" papers are published rather than nyt news. Yeah, maybe you and I don't want it to be the truth but I guess you can find much more Chinese names as what you expected. And more names next year, I guess.

It also pays to check the universities affiliated in the papers. More often than not they are not Chinese but the usual gang of suspects, even if there's an ethnic Chinese coauthor.

So they can innovate but need to learn how to do it best. And actually in some research directions, they(go back to China) are leading now. It's just the beginning of the innovation explosion from China, I guess. An opponent stronger than japan.

I don't view it really in adversarial perspective: any science and tech innovation inevitably comes to benefit whole world. A technological breakthrough originating from China would be just as welcome; so far though they are still at compass and gunpowder.

Id argue it's not really flourishing if the government basically grants you a monopoly and hinders your foreign competition. I suspect there is a reason why WeChat isn't anywhere near as popular in the states and in Europe.