What does China not have?

What does China not have? Wrong question, we should be asking what china hasn’t built three versions of already. People love to hold up these certain names as if they’re untouchable icons: Tesla, iPhone, Japan’s Shinkansen and fireworks the symbols of innovation, and infrastructure. I mean Tesla? China’s got Zeekr, Xiaomi EVs, BYD, and a charging network that stretches into rural towns where a Tesla charger would be as rare as a polar bear. iPhone? Huawei has been quietly building phones that run 5G despite sanctions, with features optimised for Chinese users and ecosystems plus the bonus edge of buying local. Japan’s Shinkansen? Impressive, sure, but China’s high-speed rail makes cross-country trips feel like a long coffee break with trains leaving every few minutes and ticket prices that don’t break the bank. And fireworks? Not only do they have them, they’ve already developed massive synchronised drone shows that don’t just replace fireworks. They already choreographed around them, turning the night sky into a programmable art gallery.

The bigger point isn’t about the substitutes, its about the rapid speed and scale of chinas ability to fill in the gaps. Within just a few years China has already become a superpower in the economic state of the world and is still rapidly growing. In just over 20 years, China’s cities have gone from a traditional structures built around courtyards to modern, glass and steel skyscrapers more towards the modern-day capitalism. I mean look at just one of their popular city, Shanghai within those 20 years.  

In the West, when something’s missing, it’s often a decades-long process of R&D, lobbying, and market adoption. In China, if there’s any demand or even the slight perception of demand, the replacement isn’t just built, it’s mass-produced, marketed, and shipped in record time. It’s not about whether China “has” something, it’s about how quickly they can develop three versions, each competing for dominance. Just like their EV cars.

So the next time someone asks, “What does China not have?” the answer isn’t a list of missing brands. The answer is time. The time between noticing a gap and filling it. Because if China doesn’t have it today, they’ll build three versions, price them to undercut the original, and have them trending on WeChat before you’ve finished your lunch. And by dinner? You’ll probably be using one of them without even realising it.