China Fast Forward: The Technologies, Green Industries and Innovations Driving the Mainlands Future

"China Fast Forward is the first book examining the underlying structure of whether China will become an innovative nation. Bill Dodson provides us with thorough research and insightful analysis on a topic that will define the future of China."
Helen H. Wang, author of The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You

"Few issues are as important to China′s economic future as innovation. Bill Dodson′s timely and thought–provoking study, backed by extensive on–the–ground research, offers fresh insight into the challenges China will face as it tries to become more innovative. It is a vital read for anyone doing business in China."
Alexandra Harney, author of The China Price

"In this wide–ranging, vividly–written and clearly argued book, Bill Dodson takes on one of the most important questions of our age: Having emulated the West in many crucial technologies, can China now go a step further and innovate its way beyond the hard ceiling that constrains global development? From renewable energy, sustainable cities and green transport to the spread of the internet and civil society, Dodson explores the potential for China to spark a new technological revolution. His sobering conclusions will be of interest to businessmen and policymakers alike."
Jonathan Watts, author of When a Billion Chinese Jump

"China Fast Forward clearly illustrates how China has strategically integrated the technologies and industries of other countries to grasp at the mantle of Innovation Nation. The book shows through research, interviews and anecdote how a 21st–century China can become an even more formidable force in the world when it unleashes its own innovation engine."
Oded Shenkar, Ford Motor Company Chair in Global Business Management, Professor of Management & Human Resources; author of The Chinese Century: The Rising Chinese Economy and Its Impact on the Global Economy, the Balance of Power, and Your Job and Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge

"China Fast Forward is an important book. Amidst mostly unchecked hype of China′s global economic and technological ascent created in the maelstrom of mainstream Western media, Bill Dodson urges the reader to take a harder look.?? Dodson artfully weaves his first–hand observations from a decade of living and working in China with well–researched facts and figures to provide a compelling account not only of China′s technological aspirations, but how the realities of China′s social polity and ecological constraints will likely frustrate the fulfillment of such aspirations.?? The reader is left with a fuller appreciation of the enormous challenges that China faces in its longstanding quest for modernity."
Julian Wong, Esq., founder and editor of The Green Leap Forward Blog

"How China got to where it is today and the challenges that lie ahead thanks to the path taken so far are laid out in fascinating style by Dodson, from just about every corner and niche of the People′s Republic. The juggernaut faces many speed bumps of its own creation if it is to continue its rise."
Sam Chambers, author of Oil on Water: Tankers, Pirates and the Rise of China

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xv

Chapter 1 Innovation Nation 1

Impure Research 4

The Patronage Party 5

Gimme a Big I ! 7

What s a Little Intellectual Property Theft between Friends? 10

Education 11

Grafting Innovation 13

A Cautionary Tale 16

The Glory That Was Ours 18

Chapter 2 The Fractured Web 21

Finger on the Button 24

Filtering for Profit 25

Just the Internet, Please; Hold the Coffee 27

Into the Fray 29

If You Can t Beat Em 33

China Scrums 34

Chapter 3 The Silicon Paddies of China 39

The Hi–tech Face of China 42

If You Build It, They Will Outsource 44

Crouching Dragon, Leaping Elephant 47

A Tale of Two Outsourcers 51

On the Hunt for BPO in Deepest China 55

Chapter 4 Heavy Metal 59

Ships Ahoy! 61

Fast Car 65

A Ticket to Ride 69

Selling into Developing Countries 73

Chapter 5 Brand China 77

A National Image Made in China 79

When Being a Chinese Company Isn t Cool 81

Beyond Cheap 83

Management Innovation 85

The Operation Was a Success. . . 87

What Was the Plan Again? 90

Red Flags 93

Branding Beyond Nationality 94

Chapter 6 Declaration of Energy Independence 97

Coal in China s Stocking 101

Cleaning Up Coal s Act 104

Economics Rules 106

Oily Risers 108

What a Gas 109

Breaking the Addiction 111

Chapter 7 Consider the Alternatives 115

Wind at My Back 116

A Little Ray of Sunshine 119

Damming Neighbors 124

Nuclear Deterrents 127

Welcome to Electric Avenue 131

A Battery of New Energy Technologies 134

Chapter 8 Errors of Emission 137

The Dark Side of the Sun 138

Get the Lead Out 141

Rare Earths, Common Pollution 145

When There Is No Longer a Backyard 149

Chapter 9 Dragon on a Diet 153

Watergy 155

Turning Water into Oil 156

Manufacturing Water 158

Building Sustainable Cities 159

Building Energy Effi ciency 161

Green Shoots 165

Dunno Where It Came From 167

Chapter 10 Assembly Required 171

Can t We Be Civil? 173

For We are Living in a Material World . . . 177

Onward Christian Soldiers 178

A Charitable Streak 180

The Final Innovation 184

Hot House Innovation 186

Afterword The Curse of Steve Jobs 189

Indigenous, not Ingenious 191

The Scramble for Energy 196

Free Exchange 198

Oops! 199

A New Dialog of Discovery 201

Notes 205

About the Author 219

Bibliography 221

Index 223

Bill Dodson has been an industry analyst, advisor, and business manager in China since 2003. He has been quoted on China–related topics in Newsweek, National Public Radio, Bloomberg, the BBC, The Economist, Shanghai Business Review, China Economic Quarterly, and other international media outlets. A graduate of Cornell University, he is a columnist for the China Economic Review on the China energy sector. He makes his home in the Greater Shanghai area with his wife and son. Follow daily discussions on China innovation at thisischinablog.com