Page 15 - How China Is Winning the Tech Race

introduction

t’s a sunny Sunday afternoon on a
Irare smog-free day in Shanghai, an
ideal time to stroll in one of the city’s
new urban parks. But in China, busi-
ness still comes before leisure, sun-
shine or not. At a popular diner called
Element Fresh in Shanghai’s Huaihai
Zhong Lu shopping district, the steel
tabletop is strewn with plates of half-
eaten noodles and soup, used chop-
sticks, and half-empty cups. No one
cares about the mess.
Dressed in a bright orange jacket
with spiky hair colored to match,
Gary Wang clicks on his Web site,
uploads a video, downloads another
one, and chats online, all the while
making a classic so-called elevator
pitch for funding. Helen Wong nods, listening attentively. A petite and perky
but determined venture capitalist, she’s just moved to Shanghai and can’t
wait to do her first deal in red-hot China. A few weeks later Gary has $8.5
million in hand from Helen’s firm. He’s anxious to ramp up Tudou.com,
1
China’s first and leading video-sharing service; it’s a lot like YouTube.com,
which had its U.S. debut about the same time in a Silicon Valley garage. “New
technologies in China are happening almost simultaneously, almost in-
stantaneously with the United States,” he says.

East-West tech culture

In the mid-1990s, at the height of the Internet bubble, a coffee shop called Buck’s
in upscale Woodside, California, was the epicenter of innovation, the place
where business plans were scribbled on napkins and start-ups were seeded.

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Copyright © 2008 by Rebecca A. Fannin. Click here for terms of use.