In article ,
Guy Alcala wrote:

The Chinese have essentially become capitalists today. Just like the
Russians
too. They just don't like to admit it much.

Thieving capitalists who invent nothing and simply copy/counterfeit what
the rest of the world creates.

Didn't people use to say that about Japan?

I don't know. If they did, I wasn't one of them.

Yes, they did, in the '50s and early '60s, at least. their products were
generally laughed at in the U.S. as poorly made rubbish, often cheap plastic
toys and the like. But times change.


Simply making cheap quality goods doesn't equate to
copying/counterfeiting.

Are you saying that after WWII, Japan was the world's biggest infringer
of counterfeiting other peoples' work and/or goods?



Japan does not have a history of openly tolerated theft of intellectual
property (media, software, etc.), and I think most of us would agree
Japan has created (as opposed to copied) a number of innovative or
otherwise excellent products (automotive, cellular, consumer
electronics, etc.)

The same cannot be said for China.

Yet, but then it couldn't be said for Japan either for ca. 30 years after
WW2.
They started out at the low end, as did e.g. South Korea and Taiwan,


Again, you're response continues to ignore the main thrust of my point
and that point is not that China makes cheap quality stuff. My point is
that China steals (something like 90% of all software, music, and
videos) are ripped off copies.


built
up their industrial infrastructure and design abilities until their products
were able to compete on a world stage.


A country's products will never be able to compete on a world stage if
that country cannot or will not innovate. As an IT professional, I can
say China hasn't produced a single piece of hardware or software that
any network or IT professional would even remotely consider
deploying...although that doesn't stop them from bootlegging everybody
else's work.

I expect China will follow a similar
arc - as it is, chances are pretty good that any plush toy or piece of
clothing
you might buy was made in the PRC.

Perhaps. But living in the U.S. city with the largest Chinese community
(some 32% of SF's population is Chinese) and in a neighborhood which is
well over 70% Chinese, and having kids in a public school which is about
85% Chinese...I have a pretty darn good idea how to discern Chinese
products and services. Where possible, I avoid purchasing anything made
in China.


--Mike