<story><title>Beijing is Silicon Valley&apos;s only true competitor</title><url>http://www.recode.net/2016/5/13/11592570/china-startup-tech-economy-silicon-valley</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>supster</author><text>It must help Chinese startups that many SV companies are blocked from competing in China. For example no competition from Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Youtube, Gmail, Dropbox, Vimeo, SoundCloud...&lt;p&gt;more info: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Websites_blocked_in_mainland_China&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Websites_blocked_in_mainland_C...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Beijing is Silicon Valley&apos;s only true competitor</title><url>http://www.recode.net/2016/5/13/11592570/china-startup-tech-economy-silicon-valley</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>kyledrake</author><text>Funny, I gave a tech talk at the Chekku (Garage) cafe a few years ago, and even then it had a pretty impressive energy in the place. The host that set it up expected maybe 15 people to show up, over 150 did.&lt;p&gt;China was and still is lacking some very important infrastructure for successful business development: a stable legal and contracts system, strongly enforced property rights, institutional access to capital, investment focused on demand rather than supply (see also ghost cities), and a well regulated stock market more based on revenue than pure speculation (not that the events of the last 10 years in the US stock markets haven&amp;#x27;t shaken my opinion on their strength).&lt;p&gt;Chinese entrepreneurs make up for these business problems the same way people that lack resources do in the states: through hard work and sheer tenacity. They&amp;#x27;re hungry for progress, and at the end of the day, that&amp;#x27;s what builds an economy.&lt;p&gt;I met some great people at Garage cafe that night, and they left a strong impression on me that Chinese entrepreneurs are going to do some really impressive stuff over the next ten years.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re ever in Beijing, I highly recommend spending an evening there. It was the highlight of my trip.</text></comment>