Reference News Network, November 6 report: The Hong Kong Asia Times website published an article titled "China's Rise in Innovation Is Not Surprising" on November 4. The author is Richard Gyasi, head of a Dutch geopolitical company. The following is the translated text:

Many Western observers consider China's rapid development in high-tech fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, electric vehicles, and green energy to be surprising. For a long time, China has been described as a "copycat" of Western advanced technology, and parts of the West have only reluctantly acknowledged that China is an innovator.

However, this description misunderstands history. For thousands of years, China has been at or near the peak of global innovation.

What we are witnessing today is not an unusual outburst of creativity born from global capitalism, but rather the revival of Chinese traditions disrupted by warships, opium, and colonialism.

The British historian of science Joseph Needham proved that despite not experiencing an industrial revolution in the Western sense, China's innovation and applied technologies led the world for a long period of time.

The scale and material form of innovative technologies in ancient and modern times differ, but the principle is the same: acquiring knowledge and integrating it into systems that reshape the economy and life. If one considers canals and gears incomparable to code and chips, one overlooks the fact that they were the cutting-edge technologies of their respective eras.

Throughout history, China has made significant contributions in water conservancy projects, textile silkworm cultivation, clockwork devices, astronomical instruments, mechanical automata, and complex metallurgical processes. Historically, China also integrated its innovation system with state governance, funding observatories, standardizing measurements, developing flood control systems, advancing calendar science, and metallurgical techniques. It was not until the mid-19th century that China's creative activities were disrupted.

Today, a creative China is regaining its creativity through new technological models and economic paradigms. The evidence is convincing. In 2025, China will enter the top ten of the Global Innovation Index for the first time, which is unusual for a middle-income economy.

Notably, over the past decade, China has filed more patents in the field of generative artificial intelligence than any other country. Between 2014 and 2023, China filed over 38,000 patents related to generative AI, while the United States filed just over 6,000.

This massive scale demands that we change the way we tell the story of China's innovation. China's innovation and creativity are reaching new heights, and the country has the competitiveness to surpass other countries in almost all next-generation technology fields.

But why do people always feel surprised? Because various prejudices are at work. First, the mainstream narrative of modernization elevates the West as the starting point of progress. Non-Western innovation is often portrayed as derivative or passive. Second, many analysts focus on short timeframes. In this narrow analysis, the past 150 years are used as the basis of study. Third, global norms impose Western definitions of innovation on others, distorting people's understanding of innovation and invention.

In fact, we should increasingly get used to China becoming a world-class innovator again. The world should view China with this perspective: as a civilizational innovator who has regained its status, not a passive follower.

(Translated by Ge Xuele)

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7569611968441549348/

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