China’s Cities Have Their Own Culture of Innovation
If you’re old enough you might remember that “Made in Japan” was once a slur in the U.S., suggesting that a product was a cheap copy of someone else’s innovation. Then we went through the Rising Sun era, when some Americans feared Japanese economic might would overwhelm the world.
Today Japan is just one player among many economic superpowers, and China is the new threat on the global-domination block. In an arc similar to Japan’s — but on a much huger scale — China is evolving quickly from a manufacturing copycat to a creative engine in its own right (The Economist).
At the national level, China remains largely a command economy. But China’s industrial growth has centered in specific cities like Shenzhen, which developed their own innovative industrial techniques and organizing principles in a much more bottom-up, decentralized manner. As that has happened, China began “moving up the value chain,” with a better educated workforce and more creative companies that register increasing numbers of patents today.
One cloud on the horizon: China’s industrial renaissance is centered in the Pearl River Delta lowlands. If sea levels rise thanks to climate change, as scientists expect, the region is going to face a soggy reckoning before long.
