<i>China is far beyond copying the West. Great innovation is happening everywhere in China.</i><p>China&#x27;s principal reputation for copying is in manufacturing and industry; it seems that the author&#x27;s experience is in what I might call &quot;small apps&quot; [1], but the more interesting copying has been at the heavy industry end of the scale; for example, copying the German Transrapid train design (or a Siemens power plant!). Does anyone know to what degree China is still in the copying phase of this kind of heavy industry, and how widespread it is? I do know companies that operate on the assumption that anything they build in China is unprotected and anything they sell to China is a technology transfer.<p>[1] Compared to, for example, massive desktop applications or operating systems or specialised contracted commercial software that will run for over a decade from initial tender to release.