China is a funny one. For sure there is 'hustle'... I was scammed many a time in Beijing... But there is this really important cultral dimension in China called "guanxi".

It's not easy to summarise the importance and pervasiveness of guanxi... from a Western perspective it could be described as corruption but it's more like a social currency that is involved in any important transaction.

Ahah, the old eastern asian vague social structure narrative. You'd be surprised how closely knitted Chinese companies are with SV, and how they replicated the SV in every possible way, even the interview process.

So I will say guanxi is not an noticeable factor here. If you look back, how many SV startups are funded by people with a lot of resources, under the name of, networking? Does that count as your definition of social currency? In fact, guanxi, or 关系, in Chinese means connections. Sounds familiar, isn't it?

The reason China has a huge startup scene is not that hard to understand if you are willing to come out of your idealogical/cultural bubble:

1. Presence of GFW. It bars the competition from outside of China.

2. Cheap local talents. They work twice the hours, but possible rewarded with 1/2 or 1/3 of what their SV counterparts are earning. The Chinese system allows such exploitation, while not anywhere else in the world.

3. Vast market. There are 1B cellphone users in China, that alone could sustain several 100B companies.

I'm happy to start a conversation as long as you don't resort to ad hominem which "if you are willing to come out of your idealogical(sic)/cultural bubble" certainly seems like.

Exactly why do you think I'm in an ideological or cultural bubble?

What personal experiences in China's new venture scene can you share with everyone on HN that does not involve guanxi at all?

Lastly I disagree with your assertion that guanxi is simply "connections" or "networks". Granted I am a westerner but I dealt with Chinese manufacturers and business partners for several years and my personal experience is that guanxi is much more than what you are implying.

So guanxi is the local equivalent to networking and reciprocity, the same sort of communal relationships which exist in any society. China, being a developing former communist state, has a highly corrupt environment which effects how guanxi is practiced. There, an explanation of a universal phenomenon in a localized setting, without Orientalism.

To put things in a Western perspective,

- "guanxi" = old boy's club

- "face" = Italian mobster respect

Here's a list

https://www.techinasia.com/china-top-well-funded-startups-20...

Didi has raised over $10bn.

Also, not mentioned on that list is DJI, which is pretty dominant in the drone space, and it was only founded in 2006. I know it's not a software startup, but you'd be hard-pressed to say it's not a tech company.

China is a different case. Any successful tech company will be ruthlessly copied and scaled in China by mercantilist policies which work quite well.

But there are no Chinese brands that are widespread household names out of China. Even if a billion Chinese use renren the rest of the world uses Facebook (and maybe vk). Even if a billion Chinese use Baidu the rest of the world uses google (and maybe yahoo, in Japan, for some reason).

Just walk around a BestBuy in the US and you'll quickly realize how many Chinese brands there are: TP-Link routers, Huawei routers and phones, Lenovo laptops, Hisense TVs, ZTE phones, DJI drones, Haier appliances, Ninebot scooters, Instantpot press cookers, etc. If you also count brands owned by Chinese companies than include GE appliances and Motorola, Alcatel, Blackberry smartphones.

Go on Amazon.com and Chinese brands are bestsellers in many electronic categories: Anker/Sunvalleytek in phone accessories, Yi in action cameras and dash cams and security cameras, TCL in televisions, etc.

Also the rest of the world isn't just US. Chinese smartphone brands have 50% marketshare world wide. Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO are growing fast in South Asia, South East Asian and MENA. Transsion (you've probably never even heard of this company) owns phone brands that dominate Africa and is the marketshare leader there. Chinese home appliance and consumer electronic brands are also big in non-western countries.

There are a number of Chinese phone startups that are doing quite well.

Look at your computer equipment...

Didi/Mobike/Meituan/Xiaomi...the list could get really long