Reflections on technology, innovation, and the paradox of growth in modern China
Over the past few years, I’ve been to major cities in China including — Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou.
Here are some of my thoughts and observations:
- Consumer tech ecosystem – Super Apps in China
- “Made in China” – From Imitation to Innovation
- Growth and Consumption – Two side of the same coin
Consumer tech ecosystem – Super Apps in China
On my first trip to China, I exchanged cash only to realize later that I didn’t need it at all – even street food vendors accepted WeChat Pay or Alipay.
You can’t survive a day without these apps. Life here runs entirely on a digital rhythm: frictionless, fast, and deeply social.
Each vertical, from ride-hailing to e-commerce tends to end up with one or two dominant players, a winner-takes-all market.
- WeChat and Alipay dominate payments
- Meituan handles everything from food delivery to hotel bookings
- Dianping, China’s version of Yelp, helps people discover, review and make bookings for restaurants
And what’s impressive is that this level of efficiency didn’t happen recently, it has been the norm for years. People adapted early, even among the elderly and those once considered less “tech-savvy”.
What intrigues me the most is how many of these platforms have evolved into true “super apps” – platforms that bundle multiple services in one app, creating a seamless user experience. Apart from making payment and sending messages, the “mini-programs” in the WeChat app let users do almost anything. Queue for restaurants, shop online, or book a taxi, all without downloading separate apps.
But what makes a super app truly sticky isn’t just convenience — it’s the social layer.
You don’t just order dinner on Meituan; you browse through food reviews and photos.
You don’t just book a tour; you watch travel videos in XiaoHongShu (RedNote).
Over time, these social loops turned ultility into habit. People open the app not just to get things done, but to feel connected.
Utility × Community = Habit
Utility brings users in, but social keeps them coming back daily.
Interestingly, Grab app in Singapore seems to be moving in that direction. I recently noticed a new “food review” feature — a social-media-style feed where users can post their meal photos, adding a community layer to the app.
A small but telling sign of how China’s super-app model continues to influence Southeast Asia’s digital landscape.
It makes me wonder if the future of Southeast Asia’s digital economy will mirror that of China, where convenience meets community.
“Made in China” – From Imitation to Innovation
As the world’s manufacturing hub, many products that we use daily are “Made in China”. But that label has started to mean something very different in recent years.
In China, it seems like copying is kind of expected when a product does well. It attracts dozens of similar products, and it becomes a competitive market. To outsiders, it may look like imitation and lack of protecting “IP rights”. But here, it’s simply how markets evolve — fast, crowded, and relentlessly competitive.
Take for instance the famous Dyson hair dryers. When it was first released in the market, it was revolutionary. Having owned one myself, it really dries my long tresses faster.
But recently Dyson sales dropped. As a high end hair dryer, there are many competitors creating a similar product at fraction of the cost.
For instance, Laifen, a Chinese brand hairdryer that costs about $50 USD – is smaller, lighter with a stronger wind speed.
How did they pull that off?
For one, they are able to keep costs low. When companies manufacture in China, they benefit from cost efficiency and scale.
But when global companies produce goods in China, they inevitably share part of their design and manufacturing processes with local partners.
While companies keep their most valuable IP tightly guarded, the know-how needed to produce goods at scale is often transferred as part of the supply chain. Over time, that knowledge compounds — and local innovators get faster, leaner, and more capable.
What began with imitation in consumer goods now fuels innovation across entire industries.
Brands like DJI dominate the global drone industry, and there are dozens of EV car brands from BYD to Xiaomi, that proudly showcase their electric cars inside shopping malls.
What began as imitation has evolved into a full-blown innovation engine.
After all, nothing is ever fully “original”, it comes as a collection of ideas.
Innovation is less about inventing from scratch than iterating relentlessly — a skill China has mastered.
Growth and Consumption – Two side of the same coin
In China, there’s an interesting paradox — economic decentralization, but political centralization. Each city operates almost like its own growth engine, yet everything ultimately rolls up to the central government.
The performance yardstick for mayors often comes down to one number: GDP growth. That’s why so many cities double down on infrastructure and property development – it’s one of the fastest ways to boost GDP and create jobs.
You can see it everywhere — new high-rises, shopping complexes, entire districts under construction.
I remember walking near Shamian Island, where cranes lined the skyline and half-finished towers seemed to stretch endlessly.
The efforts are paying off – China’s GDP growth rate has been increasing rapidly.
But as we have learnt in Economics, consumption is another factor in the GDP equation. Consumption is the largest contributor to GDP growth, given the over 1.4 billion population in China.
In recent years, consumption has slowed, weighed down by the economic uncertainty and property market correction.
When asked a friend from Beijing, he mentioned that people are spending but just at less fancy restaurants.
The appetite to spend is there, but the confidence to splurge isn’t quite back yet.
Growth can’t be sustained without consumption. Consumption thrives only when there’s confidence in growth – they are two side to the same coin.
Walking through its cities, you can feel the rhythm and ambition of its people.
Each visit leaves me more curious — not just about what China has built, but what it’s quietly preparing for next.
As the world competes in the age of AI, China seems ready once again to surprise us.
