No longer Abibas: China's technological marvel

Machinery from China millions of parcels scatters around the world, Xiaomi cares for everyone: from the sofa to leading analysts, DJI tears the market with novelties. Awesome! But this is just consumer delight. Behind all these gadgets is a huge, tragic, bright history of a huge country and its people. Everything is in this story: from leadership to the fall and death of science, from cheap imitations to the most advanced innovations. And this story you need to know, at least briefly - maybe just so that it does not repeat. Walk through time?


Here we were hit recently - they say, Gearbest won a lot of goods for geeks, various electronics and components, and they are not writing anything in the blog. Accept criticism. Meanwhile, two years ago we looked at our competitors and their “just collections” and realized that this is a dead end, we are not so interested in ourselves. And in general, how can one come from technological China with an amazing culture, with ancient traditions, tragic techno-history and just write about “33 products for circuitry with Herbest”. Therefore, in each of his post, we strive to make a cultural / humorous / historical basis, and then go to the commercial issues . This, alas, is not always easy for a number of reasons, but we are trying. It seems to us that this post is exactly the case when it happened. Therefore, we welcome the readers of Habr and decide to start a conversation about the emergence of China as a global technology giant. Action!

A minute of history

Prior to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, China was the undisputed world leader in science and technology. Each Russian schoolchild will tell that the Chinese have gunpowder, paper, printing and a compass, which are especially advanced, mention color printing. In fact, there are more inventions: from the basics of many mathematical concepts and fireworks to several types of weapons, crankshaft and even a triangular plow and steering wheel, as we know it. The inventions of China made China itself great and at the same time contributed to the development of almost all countries of the then world. This went on until the 1600s.

500 Years Murder

From the middle of the 15th century, science and technology in China began to decline, while Europe began to choose their Middle Ages, the eastern colossus began to fall into it with all the typical signs: the pursuit of scientists by the authorities, the imposition of bureaucracy and the desire for excellence in culture, art and religion. A significant role in the development of the humanities profile and the degradation of the scientific and technical sphere was played by the so-called Katsju - the imperial examinations, which give the right to seek a position in the public service and guarantee progress along the social scale. Although this system has existed since 605, it acquired a special influence precisely in the 14-15th centuries.

However, as well as for many countries of the modern world, the 20th century proved to be especially tragic, crucial, terrible, encouraging and paradoxical.

At the very beginning of the 20th century, China felt a light breath of change: schools and universities were opened everywhere, scientific publications were formed, research institutes and laboratories were opened. From the depths of the agrarian country began to lift the head of physics, physicians, chemists, biologists. Foreign funds sponsoring the development of science came to China. However, in the late 30s. inflation, poverty and social disruption have done their work. For China, it is the turn to accept civil war. Which, as in the cases of other countries, was accompanied by active emigration and brain drain.

As you remember from history, on October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was formed, which until 1976 was headed by Mao Zedong. Of course, he, first of all, with an eye to the USSR, secondly, for reasons of strengthening the defense capability and building up military power, canceled the policy of abandoning the development of science. Comrade Mao got a country with deep social and economic problems. In fact, it was an agrarian country with a shaken (oh well, collapsed) institution of civil rights. Of course, everything was not done as it should be - weaning began, industrial breakthroughs were stimulated, and then the Korean War significantly weakened the country. By the early 50s, China was far from the rise, and even more so from the growth rate of the Soviet Union, on which it was oriented.


Poster of 1958 calls for learning from the experience of the USSR

Comrade Mao was aware of the need for science and increasingly sought to the Soviet model. In the image and likeness of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Sciences in China was created, the best practices for the organization of which were taken from the SI Vavilov book translated into Chinese. However, along with the best from Soviet science, the worst came - the rule of the bureaucratic system.

The situation in the country continued to be not the best, and the Chinese science that had just raised its head killed three events.

1. The “Hundred Flowers” ​​campaign - the publicity announced with the slogan “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools compete” has led to active criticism of the government by the intellectual elite. Traditionally, this was followed by repression.
2. From 1958 to 1960, China made a big leap, a reform aimed at a sharp economic growth. Collectivization instead of modernization, an attempt to implant industrialization in a little less than a fully agrarian country, led to millions of deaths. During this very strange campaign, learned minds were attracted to very surprising tasks: plant breeding and a battle with four "enemies of the people": rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows (the latter were completely destroyed).
   
   
   
   
   Big jump
3. The Cultural Revolution was the decade of the struggle against intelligence and professionalism, the triumph of political preparation and the destruction of scientists and educated people as a counter-revolutionary fraternity. For several years, universities were closed.
   
   
   
   
   Poster era of the Cultural Revolution

From 1966 to 76, science was again tried to be raised and put into the service of the party line. But how was it possible to raise what was so carefully killed?

China, about which we were told parents

The author of this article is deeply over 30 and he often heard sad sighs from parents about what Made in China used to have if not Dior or Chanel, then a sign of quality and durability as a minimum: sneakers were not torn, boots were worn , the notebooks were with unique smooth paper, and the lanterns shone as it should. I am not sure that this is not the perception of a Soviet person, but still, looking at the assortment of the 90s in the kiosks near the metro, I often wondered what kind of garbage did it have with its eastern neighbor. So what happened in China in the late 70s?


Deng Xiaoping

In 1975, Chinese scientists had a real attorney and, as Habr's readers would have said, a technological evangelist, Deng Xiaoping. Becoming the vice-premier under Mao, Deng did his best to preach the economic recovery, the development of science and technology. A progressive politician who worked as a teenager for Renault in France, an underground fighter and a revolutionary, he knew the price of both capital and Marxism. It was a new look at the policy of the country, which was in a state of latent civil war. Zedong removed Xiaoping from his post and initiated his persecution.


Time magazine, released after Xiaoping's death. The world recognized the one who revived China

However, after the death of the great leader, Xiaoping came to power and began an active educational, economic and social reform. The Chinese dragon exhaled and began to raise his head. Xiaoping rehabilitated the scientists of the old school, they were joined by young researchers. Light industry began to rise and develop, laser physics was developed, China thought about the space program. Scientific developments were conducted on all fronts. Xiaoping himself did not sit idly - he traveled extensively around the world and established international contacts: major memoranda were signed with the USSR, Japan, the USA, European countries, foreign investment and production poured into the Celestial, the country with a multibillion-dollar population was able to become a powerful world worker by force.

Yes, not everything was perfect, there were both unrest and failures, but the period of Xiaoping's rule (until 1989) became a period of incredible growth and development. China has returned to the international arena.

Hope you didn't fall asleep reading the story? Then - vzhuh! - we move in our time and observe those miracles that happen here and now.

Superpower technocommunism

Today, China has everything to become a leader in science and technology. Let's look at some graphs.

The first one is the growth rate of R & D expenditures in 15 years, from 2000 to 2015. China is pink with circles, the sharpest growth has outstripped the European Union and is catching up (already in some places surpassing) America.


Source: National Science Foundation

Besides the fact that there is where to invest, in China there is someone to think about. Here is the dynamics of growth in the number of university graduates.


Source: National Science Foundation

“Well, okay, copying someone else's mind is not necessary. I would have patented my own, yeah, ”the habrasepticus put his hands above the commentary on this article. For those who doubt, another graph showing the number of registered patents in certain areas:


By the way, here is another cool study - even if you are not confident in English, be sure to check the charts.

So what does China have now?

• Venture capital for the development of innovation. The global share of China's venture capital funds has now risen to 27%. This is a lot.
• Many students studying science and technology who want to become engineers and programmers. Since 2007, the country has received more candidates of science in the natural sciences and technology than any other country in the world.
• Experienced workforce dealing with foreign products.
• Cheap labor (unskilled and low-skilled labor).
• Scientists of a new school and a new generation who are developing high-tech industries such as supercomputers, artificial intelligence, jet engines, microelectronics, drones.
• Patents are gaining momentum, patent law is developing.
• The enormous growth of scientific publications with a noticeably dominant share in the field of computer technology.
• Today, China has concentrated in itself a lot of companies that have conquered the world: the three most expensive private organizations in the world, Didi Chuxing, Xiaomi and Meituan-Dianping come from China, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are compared with Google, Amazon and Facebook. And these are not copies and imitations, they are innovations: their own technological platforms, infrastructure, special relations with the law and the outside world.
  
• And yes, China has an excellent sales market - well-known online stores and new ones, which sometimes disappear in a year, but they do their job clearly. For example, our Gearbest has existed for more than 4 years and, as respected critics have noticed, I have found my niche - a shop for geeks, DIY players, and fans of the IT world. Particularly we are good during sales , Yandex. Advisor will not let you lie.
  

As you can see, China has everything to go to growth, regardless of whether the iPhone is going to be assembled there or not. The trade war with the United States is also an important factor - China will strive to circumvent the trade rival precisely in terms of technology and quality, and not in terms of turnover (although even here all aspirations are obvious). It seems that in the near future we will read news about the next Chinese inventions in Habré. Those who are no longer shy of the label Made in China. They are proud of him.

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