Inside China’s Version of Silicon Valley

On the outside, China's answer to Silicon Valley doesn't look the part: It's a crowded mass of electronics malls, fast-food joints and office buildings in northwest Beijing, bisected by congested highways. But in these nondescript offices China is nurturing a growing class of tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, whose promising startups are challenging the long-held idea that China's Internet companies merely copy the products of the West.

Beijing's Zhongguancun district relies instead on a new kind of mimcry -- of Silicon Valley's culture itself. The new generation of entrepreneurs "isn't copying US products," said Zhang Rui, chief executive of Spring Rain Software Co., which runs a popular mobile app providing health advice from doctors. "They're studying the style, personality, management and funding of Silicon Valley." Today the emphasis is on entrepreneurs with new ideas. Incubators and coffee shops provide space, power and Internet connections. Sympathetic local officials offer subsidies and help in dealing with China's notorious bureaucracy.