Exporting the Silicon Valley to China

Gianluigi Negro 1 * , Jing Wu 2
More Detail
1 University of Siena, ITALY
2 Peking University, CHINA
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 10, Issue 3, Article No: e202016. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/7996
OPEN ACCESS   3662 Views   1668 Downloads   Published online: 22 Apr 2020
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the history of Zhongguancun as one of the most important area used by the official Chinese narrative to promote the historical shift from the “made in China” model to the “created in China” one. We reconfigure this process through three historical phases that reflect the engagement of policymakers, business and high-tech agents in the creation of a specific social imaginary. Based on a textual analysis as well as on political and sectorial sources, this historical study argues that Zhongguancun carries a set of cultural values influenced by the Silicon Valley experience, however it still fails to achieve success in terms of creation and innovation. In detail, our article highlights three findings: Zhongguacun satisfied the conditions of creative area only during its first stage, when local industries had to adapt its services and products to the Chinese language and culture. Second, Zhongguancun shared with the Silicon Valley neoliberalists issues such as those related to the risk of a real estate bubble burst. Third, although Chinese documents show that Zhongguancun has not the same creativity outputs compared to the Silcon Valley, it shares with California its financial dynamics mainly driven by huge investments in innovation places like innovation cafes.
Keywords: Zhongguancun, Silicon Valley, Chinese ITC history, media history

CITATION

Negro, G., & Wu, J. (2020). Exporting the Silicon Valley to China. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 10(3), e202016. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/7996

REFERENCES

  • Anderson, C. (2007) The Long Tail. How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand. London: Random House Business. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-007-9038-7
  • Arsène, S. (2012, May). The impact of China on global Internet governance in an era of privatized control. In Chinese Internet Research Conference.
  • Aydalot, P., & Keeble, D. (2018). High technology industry and innovative environments: the European experience. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315149769
  • Balbi, G., & Magaudda, P. (2018). A History of Digital Media. An Intermedia and Global Perspective. New York. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315209630
  • Barbrook, R. (2007). Imaginary futures: From thinking machines to the global village. Pluto Press.
  • Barbrook, R., & Cameron, A. (1996). The californian ideology. Science as Culture, 6(1), 44-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505439609526455
  • Benner, C. (2003). Learning communities in a learning region: the soft infrastructure of cross-firm learning networks in Silicon Valley. Env. and planning A, 35(10), 1809-1830. https://doi.org/10.1068/a35238
  • Björner, E. (2014). Imagineering Chinese mega-cities in the age of globalization. Branding Chinese Mega-Cities: Policies, Practices and Positioning; Berg, PO, Björner, E., Eds, 106-120. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781783470334.00015
  • Borrup, T. (2011). The emergence of a new cultural infrastructure: Lessons from Silicon Valley. Journal of Urban Culture Research, 2, 16-29. https://doi.org/10.14456/jucr.2011.1
  • Cao, C. (2004). Zhongguancun and China’s High-Tech Parks in Transition: “Growing Pains” or “Premature Senility”?. Asian Survey, 44(5), 647-668. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2004.44.5.647
  • Casper, S. (2007). Creating Silicon Valley in Europe: Public policy towards new technology industries. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199269525.001.0001
  • Castells, M. (2014). Technopoles of the world: The making of 21st century industrial complexes. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315832203
  • CB Insights. (2020). What is a Unicorn Startup? Retrieved on 25 March 2020 from https://www.cbinsights.com/research-unicorn-companies
  • Chow, R., Harootunian, H., & Miyoshi, M. (1996). Global/local: Cultural production and the transnational imaginary. Duke University Press.
  • Cook, I., & Joseph, R. (2001). Rethinking Silicon Valley: new perspectives on regional development. Prometheus, 19(4), 377-393. https://doi.org/10.1080/08109020110091431
  • Ding, X., & Li, J. (2015). Incentives for innovation in China: Building an innovative economy. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315726717
  • Duff, A. S. (2016). Rating the revolution: Silicon Valley in normative perspective. Information, Communication & Society, 19(11), 1605-1621. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1142594
  • Dyson, E. (1996). Cyberspace and the American Dream: A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age (Release 1.2, August 22, 1994). The information society, 12(3), 295-308. https://doi.org/10.1080/019722496129486
  • Etzkowitz, H. (2011). Silicon Valley: The sustainability of an innovative region. In Commercialising University Research Workshop, University of London Birkbeck, Centre for Innovation.
  • Etzkowitz, H. (2019). Is Silicon Valley a global model or unique anomaly?. Industry and Higher Edu., 33(2), 83-95. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950422218817734
  • Etzkowitz, H., & Zhou, C. (2017). The triple helix: University–industry–government innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315620183
  • Even, M. P., & Street, J. (2018). The Silicon Valley Novel. Literature & History, 27(1), 81-97. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306197318755680
  • Francis, C. B. (1996). Reproduction of danwei institutional features in the context of China’s market economy: The case of Haidian district’s high-tech sector. The China Quarterly, 147, 839-859. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741000051821
  • Fuchs, C. (2014). Theorising and analysing digital labour: From global value chains to modes of production. The Political Economy of Communication, 1(2).
  • Fung, K. C., Aminian, N., & Tung, C. Y. (2016). Some characteristics of innovation activities: Silicon Valley, California, China and Taiwan. Economic Change and Restructuring, 49(2-3), 221-240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10644-015-9162-x
  • Fursich, E. (2009). In defense of textual analysis. Journalism studies, 10(2), 238-252. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700802374050
  • Gittings, J. (2005) The Changing Face of China. From Mao to Market. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Haour, G., & von Zedtwitz, M. (2016). Created in China: How China is becoming a global innovator. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Hartley, J., & Montgomery, L. (2009). Creative industries come to China (MATE). Chinese journal of Communication, 2(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750802638798
  • Henton, D., & Held, K. (2013). The dynamics of Silicon Valley: Creative destruction and the evolution of the innovation habitat. Social science info., 52(4), 539-557. https://doi.org/10.1177/0539018413497542
  • Hong, Y. (2017). Networking China: The Digital Transformation of the Chinese Economy. Urbana, University of Illinois Press.
  • Hynes, C. (2017). Beijing – Non Silicon Valley is the World’s Top Tech Hub, Report Say. Forbes, 2 November. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2017/11/02/has-beijing-unseated-silicon-valley-as-the-worlds-top-tech-hub-one-report-says-yes/#363feb4d7acf
  • Indergaard, M. (2004). Silicon Alley: the rise and fall of a new media district. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203496596
  • Keane, M. (2007). Created in China: The great new leap forward. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203937471
  • Keane, M. (2009). Creative industries in China: four perspectives on social transformation. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 15(4), 431-443. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286630902989019
  • Klingler-Vidra, R. (2016). Diffusion and adaptation: why even the Silicon Valley model is adapted as it diffuses to East Asia. The Pacific Review, 29(5), 761-784. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2015.1022592
  • Lindtner, S., & Li, D. (2012). Created in China: the makings of China’s hackerspace community. interactions, 19(6), 18-22. https://doi.org/10.1145/2377783.2377789
  • Ling. Z. (2006). The Lenovo affair: the growth of China’s computer giant and its takeover of IBM-PC. Singapore, John Wiley & Sons.
  • Marwick, A. (2013). Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy. And It’s Dangerous to Hero-Worship Entrepreneurs. WIRED, November. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2013/11/silicon-valley-isnt-a-meritocracy-and-the-cult-of-the-entrepreneur-holds-people-back
  • Mazzucato, M. (2011). The entrepreneurial state. Soundings, 49(49), 131-142. https://doi.org/10.3898/136266211798411183
  • Meng, B. (2018). The politics of Chinese media consensus and contestation. New York: Palgrave Macmillian. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46214-5
  • Molnar, M., & Koen, V. (2015). Providing the right skills to all in China. https://doi.org/10.1787/18151973
  • Peet, R. (2000). Culture, imaginary, and rationality in regional economic development. Environment and Planning A, 32(7), 1215-1234. https://doi.org/10.1068/a3250
  • Repnikova, M. (2017). Media politics in China: Improvising power under authoritarianism. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108164474
  • Rosen, S. (2004). The victory of materialism: aspirations to join China’s urban moneyed classes and the commercialization of education. The China Journal, (51), 27-51. https://doi.org/10.2307/3182145
  • Schiller, D. (2011). Power under pressure: Digital capitalism in crisis. Inter. Journal of Communication, 5, 18.
  • Starr, P. (2004). The creation of the media: Political origins of modern communications (p. 153). New York: Basic Books.
  • Taylor, M. Z. (2004). Empirical evidence against varieties of capitalism’s theory of technological innovation. International Organization, 58(3), 601-631. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818304583066
  • Trunina, A., Liu, X., & Chen, J. (2019). Small and medium technology enterprises in Zhongguancun and Silicon Valley: Regional innovation system approach. Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, 10(1), 35-57. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTPM-01-2018-0006
  • Turner, F. (2010). From counterculture to cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the rise of digital utopianism. Chicago. University of Chicago Press.
  • Wajcman, J. (2018). How Silicon Valley sets time. New Media & Society, 1461444818820073. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818820073
  • Warner, M. (1999). Human resources and management in China’s’ hi-tech’revolution: A study of selected computer hardware, software and related firms in the PRC. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 10(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/095851999340602
  • Wolf, M. J. (2014). Building imaginary worlds: The theory and history of subcreation. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203096994
  • Wu, J., & Yun, G. (2018). From modernization to neoliberalism? How IT opinion leaders imagine the information society. International Communication Gazette, 80(1), 7-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048517742773
  • Yang, G. (2009). The power of the Internet in China: Citizen activism online. Columbia University Press.
  • Yu, H (2017) Networking China. The Digital Transformation of the Chinese Economy, Urbana, University of Illinois Press.
  • Yu, H. (2011). Doing Chinese media studies: A reflection on the field’s history and methodology. Media International Australia, 138(1), 66-79. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X1113800109
  • Zhao, Y. (2009). «Rethinking Chinese media studies: history, political economy, and culture》Daya Thussu (Eds) Internationalizing media studies (pp. 175-195). London: Routledge.
  • Zhou, Y. (2005). The making of an innovative region from a centrally planned economy: institutional evolution in Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing. Environment and Planning A, 37(6), 1113-1134. https://doi.org/10.1068/a3716
  • Zhou, Y. (2006). Historicizing online politics: Telegraphy, the Internet, and political participation in China. Stanford University Press.
  • Zhou, Y. (2007). The inside story of China’s high-tech industry: Making Silicon Valley in Beijing. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.