Learning Mandarin isn’t easy. Establishing a system of innovation and catalyzing R&D isn’t easy either, especially in a country with over one billion people. This is particularly true with successive generations of poverty, a structure established to punish failure, and an education system that emphasizes memorization over original thinking. Technologically and economically, China has emerged from a model of seclusion to imitation. My time in China revealed a consistent emphasis on and need for that next step, from imitation to innovation.
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