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Is China Overtaking Japan In Science And Technology?

China produce a lot more very cheap low quality products than Japan, you will find masses of them on Ebay and Amazon for instance, the P&P is also usually free as currently the Chinese government pays it to further promote international trade. Quantity isn't always better than quality however and for quality Japan are still winning by far in my opinion. For example, which would you prefer, a brand new Sony camcorder or a much cheaper Chinese made imitation?
 
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pjcnet said:
China produce a lot more very cheap low quality products than Japan, you will find masses of them on Ebay and Amazon for instance, the P&P is also usually free as currently the Chinese government pays it to further promote international trade. Quantity isn't always better than quality however and for quality Japan are still winning by far in my opinion. For example, which would you prefer, a brand new Sony camcorder or a much cheaper Chinese made imitation?
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Depends on whether it's made well I don't think any electrical gadget is 100% guaranteed
 
Streetwise said:
Depends on whether it's made well I don't think any electrical gadget is 100% guaranteed
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Usually cheaper Chinese imitations will claim to have the same features and/or specs at a much cheaper price, but the actual quality of the product will be greatly reduced, E.g. you will greatly notice the difference between a video filmed on a Sony camcorder compared to a much cheaper Chinese imitation that claims to have similar specs. Even though both videos might be 1080p encoded at the same bit rate the Sony recording will be noticeably much better quality in every respect and you tend to get what you pay for.

My friend bought a very cheap home alarm system that was made in China, it initially did what it was supposed to, but the whole quality of the product was very low including the flimsy materials used, E.g. thin cheap bendy plastic on the main unit and the personal key fobs, extremely cheap thin wiring, low quality LCD display. The system was also very nonuser friendly with barely any instructions that were very poorly written, the poor battery contacts in the key fobs caused intermittent issues, the sensors seemed to be extra prone to causing false alarms and the main unit completely broke after just over a year of use (when it was not long out of warranty). These cheap Chinese products are not really a rip off, but as I said earlier, you tend to get what you pay for, E.g. despite initial appearances, you simply don't get the same for $100 as you would for say $300 or more. As long as people start realising this then I don't have any issue with cheap Chinese imitations.

That said some Chinese companies are getting better and are starting to set a good example to others who may also start improving in future. AKASO who are currently making much cheaper action cam alternatives are one good example and they're gaining a lot more recognition in Western countries. In my opinion their products still aren't quite up to the more expensive brands in terms of quality despite having similar specs, but they're definitely a lot closer than many cheap Chinese imitations have been in the past and they're therefore good value for money. If they continue to gain a lot of respect however their prices could also start to increase allowing them to make even better products and perhaps they will eventually be compared as equals to top brands.
 
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I personally would prefer a Sony Camcorder. Perhaps if a Chinese product comes with a warranty or has good reviews then I would. Interestingly though Iphones are partially made in China.
 
Having worked directly in design and manufacturing,there are many points that need addressed. Any country that is rising during their industrial revolution WILL be exploited by consumers in a free market based economy.
The Chinese are very capable of making top of the line products,with the necessary skills to do so.They also have the resources to make items along with the manpower.

Their economy in a communist based system holds their own back,while in recent times,they have dabbled in capitalism where there are now class structures in China due to the open market. The government also sponsors business in order to keep many afloat.
It is the global economy with the consumer that drives pricing.Mass production is one way to lower prices,while cutting corners is the other,whether in quality of the materials or the actual design of the product.

At the present time,China has become the world leader in manufacturing electronic components. This is possible due to cheap labor and less than stellar performance in restricting environmental impact.It no longer matter where you get electronics assembled,as the main focus is on pricing VS quality with pricing winning the war on that front.

Of course some of their products are inferior,but we as the consumer demand lower prices as a whole,so in the end,China has become what Japan once was,where the products were inferior,but produced in the quantities that the market demanded at the time.
Forbes has a focus on the financial system,which was reflected in this article that I read after writing what I had to say about this topic.
 
I didn't mean to discredit the Chinese though I probably did. I'm sure some Chinese products are great.

Interesting @Sabrina, not sure how I feel about that.
 
Sabrina said:
For some scientists China is the place to go, because they find closed doors everywhere else.
Scientists sound warnings about man who says he is about to perform a head transplant
BTW, I don’t approve, nor condone, this kind of stuff, I am just stating a fact.
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I read about this before, and as part of the article suggests it should really be called a "body transplant" because a person's main consciousness will move with their head, although there is surprising evidence from people who have had for instance heart transplants where they have reported inheriting certain personality traits, feelings and/or even memories from the original host and this strongly suggests that the brain isn't everything.

I don't approve either for 3 main reasons: 1) A person has to die which I suppose if they were "brain dead" with a healthy body about to have their life support machine turned off anyway would be arguably more acceptable. 2) The person is permanently paralysed from the neck down after the transplant giving them no quality of life what-so-ever, they'd have to have a machine breath for them and if that's not enough there is bound to be other nasty side effects including serious rejection issues, I'd much rather die than "live" like this and who knows, the person could even inherit personality traits from the host. 3) Even if they one day avoided paralysis and most side effects, this could be used by rich or/and powerful people to seek immortality and some could potentially even kill healthy people in order to obtain a new body for themselves as otherwise there would obviously be a severe shortage of healthy bodies. They're already talking about taking this controversial technology even further by installing just the brain into a new body which would mean a total body transplant, this could one day even make this transplant desirable for rich and powerful older people who want to be young again.

Allowing controversial experiments that would be considered illegal in Western countries could however lead to breakthroughs that may or may not be good for human existence as a whole. China could end up leading the way towards new treatments to repair spinal injuries that would also be used for people having body transplants for instance. If they started experimenting in genetics without the rules enforced in Western countries they could be the first country to easily grow large body parts like new arms, legs and/or major organs from existing patient DNA meaning there wouldn't be any issues with compatibility or rejection, but they could also for instance lead the world in producing human clones or perhaps even choosing the characteristics of our offspring that would obviously be condemned by many for obvious reasons. What if they started cloning to supply new bodies for rich and powerful people to have new body transplants once they'd resolved the paralysis issue? The whole thing could open a massive can of worms while still making them an even more powerful country that leads the world in technology.
 
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The reason Chinese hardware sells so well is because it's made in Chinese sweat shops by people who are paid nowhere near a "living wage", made on the cheap as well so don't be surprised if it breaks down within the first 12 months of the warranty.
 
Butterfly88 said:
Good point Rich, likely Japanese workers are paid more.
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I agree that @Rich Allen has a good point, however this may not always be the case as Chinese workers will in my opinion eventually start demanding better. How would this effect their position in the world science and technology market? Well I can't say for certain, but ultimately we could see a lot more better quality and higher priced products similar to most Japanese products now, then perhaps another developing country or countries will take China's place in producing high quantities of poorer quality, but extremely cheap products in a place where low cost labour is still readily available.
 
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China in theory is more than capable of being original and innovative. Though it’s cultural and social norms are crushing the creativity and originality out of their citizens. This has held China back for centuries. The rest of Asia is held back by this as well.

The only reason why it seems like China is innovating and inventing like crazy is due to the Chinese government using its intelligence services and military to steal the necessary files and information from foreign companies and countries and given to domestic companies.

Chinese companies are also actively encouraged and protected by the Chinese government to steal from their foreign partners.

If China played fair they would have gone under by now.

China is literally a house of cards waiting to be blown down. Manufacturing is fleeing due to rapidly rising prices of Chinese costs, Chinese government is running out of places to borrow money(they borrowed from the private market), Chinese are still too poor to get enough to tax, Chinese economy is literally driven by massive government spending, Chinese government won’t liberalize the economy or the currency... China needs to invent its self out of a hole first before worrying about out inventing a country who can’t remember what inventing means.

Japan lost what magic it had at the beginning of the 1980s. Their cultural and social norms are just as crushing as China’s, which has lead to massive stagnation in their society and are facing most of the same problems as China. These problems are effecting all of Asia including all the way to India. The difference is Japan is highly developed economy with a population that essentially saves all their money. Which in turns let’s Japan borrow like crazy without worrying about having to pay it back.

If Japan was as theiving as China, then Japan would be “innovating” more.

Though they like rest of Asia they are ultimately screwed long term. Especially due to the fact that no Asian country has domestic consumption of any real measure. They literally rely on exporting and other countries buying their stuff.

This topic really has no bearing in reality for one big reason...
All these products use technologies at their core that were invented in California over the last 50 years like practically everything else!

The majority of stuff is invented and designed in California USA, that’s why California is set to pass Germany by next year to become the 4th biggest economy in the world. If their growth rate keeps up and/or increases they will pass Japan by to become the 3rd biggest economy in about 5 years. It’s possible within 20 years California could beat China out for the #2 spot... The power of taxes!
 
Manufacturing on a huge scale based largely on cheap labor goes only so far without an ability to be inventive. Where you either legitimately learn to create that which is manufactured through research and development, or simply steal it.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/02/china-s-theft-us-trade-secrets-under-scrutiny

Where a rising middle class will inevitably prove compromising to both China's economy and political system. Not surprising to see a few Chinese entrepreneurs eyeing America as their latest new market for labor.

Much like Japan and the US. A cyclical- and inevitable process every industrial power goes through. However a thriving middle class could eventually be the undoing of the "Peoples' Republic". Though I expect China to subsequently regulate individual wealth in such a way to "contain the problem". Much like they occasionally devalue their own currency or manipulate their stock markets, taking "quantitative easing" to scary levels.

So yeah, under such circumstances it becomes a moot point was to who is "overtaking" their competitors. Strange though to think the same nation can be so brutally tough on mere shoplifters while their government methodically steals from others as an instrument of national policy and security. o_O
 
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