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What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

businessinsider.com

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Re: What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

#21

Post by WaterSponge »

dengnan wrote: post #20

To those who are interested in startups in China: I personally know some people who worked on start ups in China. From their experience, I see no hope for start ups without connection with government. I will show you some facts and some real examples here. Here are some basic facts: Chinese government controls Internet content tightly . Note that it is not the same level as NSA's surveillance. NSA's surveillance is b…

So I think the world understands that doing business in china requires some special attention.

Despite all of that they are doing business in China. Serious dollars are being made and value being delivered to millions of users. We should want in on that or to at least have some understanding of how its being done in comparison to US/EU.

Re: What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

#22

Post by joshuapants »

jfoster wrote: post #18
luxhibernia wrote: post #7

Do those slides all add up? Incomes are rising ... except the world probably can't support a billion chinese at 1st world income levels. There are many billionaires ... because their gini curve is shot to hell. They have a higher percentage of graduates ... but most of their degrees are of a low standard. Looking at the company valuations on top of that and I start to get worried that this is a giant bubble that's go…

What is it about the world that you think can't support that? It's new territory, and it may "disrupt" the US (to some extent) over the coming decades, but China has been bootstrapping itself out of farming for quite a while already. It's mainly the internet industry that lagged the US by a few years, but has caught up or surpassed it now.

The world already can't support the existing first world lifestyles we have in the long term. We are doing a tiny bit to move toward sustainability, but if you tack on a few hundred million more people living that way, you run out of essential resources fast.

Re: What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

#23

Post by seanmcdirmid »

jfoster wrote: post #13
cmelbye wrote: post #11

Are most of those numbers that surprising considering China's population? To me, it's not very interesting that a country with a huge population has a huge amount of graduates, etc.

I think the interesting thing is how little awareness of all of it there is in the US. It's easily explained (language barrier) but many people probably think that Twitter is the most active micro-blogging service in the world, that PayPal is the only really huge payments service, or that Amazon and eBay are the major players in ecommerce. For any service you can think of in the US, there's one in China that might be…

> but many people probably think that Twitter is the most active micro-blogging service in the world

It is. Weibo doesn't do well outside of China, it is not international like Twitter is.

> that PayPal is the only really huge payments service

From the perspective of a non-China resident, that is definitely true.

> Amazon and eBay are the major players in ecommerce

Ditto. Though Taobao is trying to become a major international player.

> For any service you can think of in the US, there's one in China that might be even bigger.

Except the services in the US are mostly international. The services in China are almost always limited to just China. The fact that UnionPay is the largest ATM network in the world (by users...almost all in mainland China) doesn't mean diddly when I visit the Netherlands or India where my ATM card is USELESS.

China has decided they can lock out international internet services (via the GFW) and build their own isolated network. Internally, it is huge, but the isolation cuts both ways.

Re: What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

#25

Post by seanmcdirmid »

WaterSponge wrote: post #21
dengnan wrote: post #20

To those who are interested in startups in China: I personally know some people who worked on start ups in China. From their experience, I see no hope for start ups without connection with government. I will show you some facts and some real examples here. Here are some basic facts: Chinese government controls Internet content tightly . Note that it is not the same level as NSA's surveillance. NSA's surveillance is b…

So I think the world understands that doing business in china requires some special attention. Despite all of that they are doing business in China. Serious dollars are being made and value being delivered to millions of users. We should want in on that or to at least have some understanding of how its being done in comparison to US/EU.

You assume the Chinese market is free, which it is not. The barriers are high, and the government just doesn't want you getting in on the business.

Re: What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

#26

Post by msvan »

pscsbs wrote: post #16

Barra used a graph showing that China produces more college degrees to draw the conclusion that China is "more educated" than the United States. It'd be helpful to see college degrees conferred per capita before drawing this conclusion, as a country with 4.3x the population will obviously produce more degrees. EDIT: In fact, it looks like China has about 8 million degrees conferred at last count, and the US about 3 m…

The average quality of Chinese higher education is also lower. The top schools/students are of course good, but the long tail of subpar education is longer than it is in the US. Source: I've lived in China.

That's not to say it will always be that way, though.

Re: What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

#27

Post by msvan »

pscsbs wrote: post #16

Barra used a graph showing that China produces more college degrees to draw the conclusion that China is "more educated" than the United States. It'd be helpful to see college degrees conferred per capita before drawing this conclusion, as a country with 4.3x the population will obviously produce more degrees. EDIT: In fact, it looks like China has about 8 million degrees conferred at last count, and the US about 3 m…

The average quality of Chinese higher education is also lower. The top schools/students are of course good, but the long tail of subpar education is longer than it is in the US. Source: I've lived in China.

That's not to say it will always be that way, though.

Re: What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

#28

Post by turingbook »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #23
jfoster wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the interesting thing is how little awareness of all of it there is in the US. It's easily explained (language barrier) but many people probably think that Twitter is the most active micro-blogging service in the world, that PayPal is the only really huge payments service, or that Amazon and eBay are the major players in ecommerce. For any service you can think of in the US, there's one in China that might be…

> but many people probably think that Twitter is the most active micro-blogging service in the world It is. Weibo doesn't do well outside of China, it is not international like Twitter is. > that PayPal is the only really huge payments service From the perspective of a non-China resident, that is definitely true. > Amazon and eBay are the major players in ecommerce Ditto. Though Taobao is trying to become a major int…

GFW did do something but can not explain everything. China Internet companies have their own advantages: local leaders can make agile decisions to local market need, employees are more motivated, the management structure is flatter... For example, ecommerce was not regulated much here, but Amazon and eBay were beat heavily by local competitors.

Re: What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

#29

Post by philosophus »

random9dude wrote: post #24

Is it just me or HN users are shitting their pants after knowing that China is bigger than US on some aspects

I think it's that much of his evidence doesn't really prove anything. Example: "Weibo is like Twitter, except bigger. Barra only ever had 6,000 Twitter followers. In two months, he has 200,000 Weibo followers." The second sentence does not prove the first sentence.

Re: What The Chinese Tech Industry Is Like

#30

Post by alaskamiller »

digitalzombie wrote: post #9

I would love to see the down sides. It feels like he's on his honeymoon stage with the country. I know of a few downsides but the current article make it seems like a tech paradise. * pollutions * the # of people graduating college doesn't imply that the quality of education in China is the same as USA. I've heard stories and my ex went to China to study abroad and cheating is rampant. It's mostly rote learning. * th…

http://www.vice.com/vice-special/ant-and-rat-tribes-in-beiji...

http://unitedphotoindustries.com/exhibitions/rat-tribe/

China is a dystopic nightmare for the poor and greenzone dreamland for the rich. It's also the future. With generations of population growth, it will be the only country that can manage the crowded future.

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