:00:09. > :00:20.It was manufacturing that make China rich.
:00:21. > :00:36.And now, China knows that it needs to innovate to keep growing. China
:00:37. > :00:42.has always been seen as a place that copies its way to success, not a
:00:43. > :00:47.place where creativity thrives. In this episode, I will be looking at
:00:48. > :01:13.whether China's plans to become an innovation superpower are realistic.
:01:14. > :01:26.At a busy traffic junction, the tribute to the man who started the
:01:27. > :01:30.Chinese miracle. He is credited with the economic success of modern
:01:31. > :01:38.China. It was here that he first started experimenting with high tech
:01:39. > :01:43.economic zones. Today, this city is home to some of the country's most
:01:44. > :01:50.dynamic companies, which is why I have come here, to find out but they
:01:51. > :01:53.are thinking. In the last 30 years, consumerism has become king in
:01:54. > :02:01.Communist China on the government's orders. And in the frenzied pursuit
:02:02. > :02:11.of profits, it didn't matter what was produced was cheap or a
:02:12. > :02:15.knock-off. This company claims it is the third largest television
:02:16. > :02:23.manufacturer in the world and amongst the top five makers of
:02:24. > :02:29.mobile phones. TCL sold more than 70 millions of these panels last year.
:02:30. > :02:34.Half of them were sold overseas. It is this kind of manufacturing that
:02:35. > :02:36.has made China rich over the last few decades, mass-producing
:02:37. > :02:42.affordable goods on a monumental scale. But the made in china brand
:02:43. > :02:47.doesn't exactly come with the stamp of quality. In fact, it is quite the
:02:48. > :02:51.opposite and Chinese companies trying to innovate have had to
:02:52. > :02:56.battle against the perception that something that has been designed in
:02:57. > :03:00.China simply isn't good enough. But now TCL knows it needs to innovate
:03:01. > :03:05.to keep producing new products and beat the competition. It is doing
:03:06. > :03:09.that by automating on its factory floor, replacing its workers with
:03:10. > :03:16.machines. Some of the production lines here have already fallen
:03:17. > :03:26.silent. This senior manager tells me it is all part of TCL's upgrading
:03:27. > :03:30.process. TRANSLATION: This year, we are introducing automated production
:03:31. > :03:37.lines. It will just be the first phase but we will be cutting about
:03:38. > :03:43.70% of existing workers. This is happening across most of our
:03:44. > :03:48.industrial processes. TCL isn't getting rid of all of its labour, it
:03:49. > :03:52.says these workers will just be redeployed elsewhere in the
:03:53. > :03:57.production chain. But how will this automation help TCL become a higher
:03:58. > :04:03.value more efficient company? I went to one of the fully automated plants
:04:04. > :04:07.to find out. We have had to put on all of this protective gear because
:04:08. > :04:10.it is a dust free environment in there and we don't want to
:04:11. > :04:14.contaminate any of the machines which is why we are taking all of
:04:15. > :04:22.these precautions. It is the ultimate in high-tech fashion. OK.
:04:23. > :04:32.So, I'm not quite sure what happens in here. Only after all of that I
:04:33. > :04:36.finally cleared to gain access to the production floor, accompanied by
:04:37. > :04:40.one of their engineers. It is read that anyone is allowed in here, it
:04:41. > :04:48.tells me, because these machines are so delicate and valuable. Their job,
:04:49. > :04:53.to produce LCD panels which TCL used to import. How many screens do you
:04:54. > :05:00.produce in this factory in one day? 5000. From all of these machines?
:05:01. > :05:04.Yes. I have been to many factory floors across China but I have got
:05:05. > :05:09.to say, it is read to see something is automated and high-tech as this.
:05:10. > :05:15.This is very much part of how the new China sees itself moving higher
:05:16. > :05:21.up the value chain, less labour intrinsic. That at the end of the
:05:22. > :05:26.day, all of this is producing something that is remarkably like
:05:27. > :05:33.what old China has always produced. Ultimately, TCL is making television
:05:34. > :05:39.screens. So, just how is TCL changing course? A question I put to
:05:40. > :05:44.the boss of the firm. TRANSLATION: We used to be just a product
:05:45. > :05:50.manufacturing company but now consumer demands are very different.
:05:51. > :05:55.Now, after we sell the phone, we still need to provide services. It
:05:56. > :05:59.is the same for smart TVs. Our revenue from services has grown
:06:00. > :06:03.quickly in the past few years. I know that TCL is trying to innovate
:06:04. > :06:08.at the criticism is that other Chinese companies, the majority
:06:09. > :06:11.aren't, and they are not coming up with new ideas, they are not trying
:06:12. > :06:18.new things, they are simply copying. Why is that? TRANSLATION: The path
:06:19. > :06:26.that Chinese countries in this industry are taking is similar to
:06:27. > :06:31.Samsung or LG 20 years ago or the path Japanese companies took 30
:06:32. > :06:37.years ago. If compared to the life of Samsung, I believe there is still
:06:38. > :06:42.a gap for Chinese companies to innovate today. But that gap is
:06:43. > :06:48.narrowing. I cannot accept some comment from Westerners, especially
:06:49. > :06:55.politicians like Vice President Biden who openly said Chinese
:06:56. > :07:04.companies don't have liberty to innovate. That kind of comment is
:07:05. > :07:10.biased and not objective at all. China has no shortage of talent but
:07:11. > :07:16.so far it has relied on imitating others, rather than coming up with
:07:17. > :07:21.original ideas. I have come to this artist on clay where painters are
:07:22. > :07:26.often hired to reproduce famous works of hotels and other customers.
:07:27. > :07:30.Just like in the factories that make China successful, it is the art of
:07:31. > :07:36.copying here that has always been prized. But now some companies are
:07:37. > :07:42.trying to paint a new future for Chinese brands. Chinese companies
:07:43. > :07:47.trying to innovate these days are coming up with products inspired by
:07:48. > :07:52.their wildest dreams, stuffed you didn't even know you needed. This is
:07:53. > :07:59.Chinese train maker BGI's main flagship store. Ten years ago, this
:08:00. > :08:05.company is not that as an idea, born out of a passion that the frowned
:08:06. > :08:10.had four drones. Today, it is worth more than $10 billion. 70% of the
:08:11. > :08:17.commercial drones sold in the world are made by DGI. It is not just a
:08:18. > :08:26.market leader globally but it is also at the forefront of design and
:08:27. > :08:31.technology. DJI is no longer seen as just a Chinese firm. It has gone
:08:32. > :08:33.global and just a few months ago scored an international coup by
:08:34. > :08:42.tying up with social media giant Facebook to do live broadcasts from
:08:43. > :08:48.drones. I connected with one of DGI's American staff members but had
:08:49. > :08:52.to access Facebook on a VPN, that is a virtual personal network which
:08:53. > :08:58.effectively disguises the physical location of your computer. That is
:08:59. > :09:02.because Facebook is banned in China, along with Google and Twitter and
:09:03. > :09:07.many other international sites. What is the plan for the partnership
:09:08. > :09:13.between DJI and Facebook in the future? How do you see it expanding
:09:14. > :09:16.Briton Mark I think the plan for the future is to partner with
:09:17. > :09:39.celebrities... That all sounds great and quite
:09:40. > :09:43.ambitious but just in the time that we have been talking, there have
:09:44. > :09:45.been a number of dropouts and delays on the line. Connectivity seems to
:09:46. > :09:55.be a major issue. Is that a major problem in China?
:09:56. > :10:24.And why is that? So, this is the Ronan. It is just
:10:25. > :10:32.one of the many challenges that Chinese firms face but Michael
:10:33. > :10:34.Perry, director of global partnerships at DJI, says that
:10:35. > :10:40.Chinese government is recognising how important innovation is full
:10:41. > :10:47.China's future. We are the first company to make an entire new
:10:48. > :10:51.product category. There was not a consumer drone before. We have been
:10:52. > :10:55.very fortunate to be able to grow very quickly internationally and
:10:56. > :10:59.then also look inwards at China where they see the potential for
:11:00. > :11:04.this category and see the potential for China to be leading a brand-new
:11:05. > :11:08.category of technology that is going to be transformative across the
:11:09. > :11:13.world. Part of that is about China and the new direction it is going
:11:14. > :11:19.in, in terms of investing animation and partly it is about what a unique
:11:20. > :11:23.place this is for hardware development, software development,
:11:24. > :11:30.and addressing global market with consumers drones. Just a two-hour
:11:31. > :11:35.dry away, and I get a chance to see the drones in action. Does it seem
:11:36. > :11:38.like at day four drone weather? How often do you normally come up here
:11:39. > :11:57.to do the inspections? Drones are radically changing the
:11:58. > :12:00.nature of many industries and being used to make what were once
:12:01. > :12:09.physically demanding jobs much easier. This is the team from a
:12:10. > :12:12.power grid who have been using DJI's drones to inspect transmission
:12:13. > :12:15.towers high up in the mountains. Just a few months ago, their jobs
:12:16. > :12:20.were far more change address and much harder. Did you have to climb
:12:21. > :12:25.all the way up there by yourself? Yes. Very hard work. What are you
:12:26. > :12:49.looking for we can see the details. Wow, that is
:12:50. > :13:02.very close, that is a remarkably clear image. Yes. Do you miss
:13:03. > :13:09.climbing up there? No. You don't miss going up all that way. Yes. And
:13:10. > :13:13.this is in the only real life use for the drones. They are also being
:13:14. > :13:20.developed to spray crops on agricultural land, study Wales and
:13:21. > :13:27.allow scientists to test for DNA and in search and rescue operations. But
:13:28. > :13:30.competition to DJI's business is growing, and not just from the US,
:13:31. > :13:37.increasingly the threat is coming from inside China. We think that we
:13:38. > :13:40.have a technological advantage of a few years. There has not been a
:13:41. > :13:46.company that has been able to have the same combination of ease-of-use,
:13:47. > :13:50.of portability, of flexibility and reliability that DJI has. You see a
:13:51. > :13:55.lot of concept videos, you see a lot of demos but what a lot of people
:13:56. > :14:03.struggle with is actually creating the product that does what it is
:14:04. > :14:07.opposed to do. China has put innovation high up on the economic
:14:08. > :14:11.agenda. The Chinese Communist Party is under pressure to find a new
:14:12. > :14:17.formula for the next phase of this country's economic growth. In 2006,
:14:18. > :14:24.Beijing announced a new vision for the future. That by 2020, China will
:14:25. > :14:28.transform into an in innovative society and that by 2050, it would
:14:29. > :14:34.be a world leader in science and technology. This country certainly
:14:35. > :14:39.has the political will and the money to do this. There is no shortage of
:14:40. > :14:43.funding here for a good idea. I have come to Beijing to find out how this
:14:44. > :14:51.sort of government mandated top-down innovation approach and actually
:14:52. > :14:56.work. It is a debate venture capitalist Lee often gets torn into
:14:57. > :15:00.with critics of China's methods. He was the former boss of Google on the
:15:01. > :15:05.mainland and now invests in start-ups here. For Young
:15:06. > :15:09.innovators, he has got rock star status. Many flock to him with their
:15:10. > :15:14.latest ideas, hoping to start it big with their support. He says the West
:15:15. > :15:20.is underestimating China's ability to innovate. 20 years ago, most of
:15:21. > :15:24.China's success comes from any late in successful products, as did the
:15:25. > :15:29.Japanese products in the early days, and Chinese works have largely grow
:15:30. > :15:33.out of that and have become very strong, I wouldn't say innovators
:15:34. > :15:37.yet, but certainly product development and in building useful
:15:38. > :15:43.products that generate economic value. That Chinese companies are
:15:44. > :15:49.all good examples, they are building products as good as anybody off the
:15:50. > :15:53.world, like DJI Ali baba. I think that is the first step. Will there
:15:54. > :15:57.be an Apple or a Google in China? That remains to be seen. What is the
:15:58. > :16:02.biggest challenge to Chinese innovation? I think breakthrough
:16:03. > :16:08.innovation will be difficult because the Chinese innovation -- education
:16:09. > :16:12.system, as improved as it has been, is still focused on helping you with
:16:13. > :16:20.the drills that makes you very good at building something that not so
:16:21. > :16:27.good at break than open. The education system teaches you more of
:16:28. > :16:31.the what and less of that what -- how and very little of the wife. It
:16:32. > :16:38.is fundamentally difficult to become creative. There are some companies
:16:39. > :16:45.that are trying to break out of this mould. Early-morning rush hour at
:16:46. > :16:51.this office in Beijing, a chance to see the next generation of Chinese
:16:52. > :16:55.workers. More silicon Valley than production line. This office used to
:16:56. > :17:01.be an odd factory, now refashioned into a multi-million dollar mobile
:17:02. > :17:09.software land. Old China making whether the new dawn of Chinese
:17:10. > :17:15.innovation. And this is the man behind the success of cheater
:17:16. > :17:18.mobile. Only 38 years old, he is part of the new breed of Chinese
:17:19. > :17:25.entrepreneurs who want to go global from the start. TRANSLATION: Chinese
:17:26. > :17:28.mobile products are pretty good. I was convinced that my idea was
:17:29. > :17:34.sound. But every time I brought it up to my colleagues, the response
:17:35. > :17:40.was OK, good, and the men went back to their own work. Until one day,
:17:41. > :17:45.and put them all to the US for a conference. That night, we stayed in
:17:46. > :17:52.a Hotel and bought some wine and after a few glasses, I said let's
:17:53. > :17:55.not just Chinese market, let's go for the overseas market, especially
:17:56. > :18:00.the US. They must all have been drunk because they all agreed. And
:18:01. > :18:11.so we embarked on this path to go global. 70% of the mobile company's
:18:12. > :18:13.revenues comes from overseas. It started by making mobile security
:18:14. > :18:22.software that now develops applications and games. Today, the
:18:23. > :18:26.US market is our biggest source of overseas revenue. The mobile
:18:27. > :18:34.internet ecosystem is much more mature than China's so it is easier
:18:35. > :18:37.to incorporate with the likes of Google, Facebook and Apple. We can
:18:38. > :18:44.also learn a lot from American businesses to develop ourselves.
:18:45. > :18:48.They have developed a mobile broadcast software to compete with
:18:49. > :18:52.the likes of periscope and Facebook live. But while Chinese developers
:18:53. > :19:00.are amongst the best in the world it still be hard to find creative here.
:19:01. > :19:03.Chinese education emphasises technical knowledge so students here
:19:04. > :19:09.are very good in maths and languages. American education is
:19:10. > :19:15.about encouraging your vision, your dreams, your independent thinking.
:19:16. > :19:20.So, from a very young age, Americans have a point of view about the
:19:21. > :19:27.world, their own perspectives and unique thinking. It'll be harder for
:19:28. > :19:31.us to achieve the kind of American worldview and vision and risk-taking
:19:32. > :19:42.that are required in this generation. Perhaps in the next
:19:43. > :19:49.generation, it may be possible. But change is coming with small yet
:19:50. > :19:53.significant steps. This educational lab is a partnership between Alan
:19:54. > :19:57.University and the Lego foundation. Here, children are taught to learn
:19:58. > :20:02.by doing, not by road. Researchers are experimenting with ways to teach
:20:03. > :20:08.China's next generation and improve the current education system.
:20:09. > :20:13.TRANSLATION: When we did this before, we had our teacher leading
:20:14. > :20:17.us but today we are doing it by ourselves and I am nervous, I am
:20:18. > :20:24.worried I will do it wrong and I keep making mistakes. I will get
:20:25. > :20:29.better with practice. This place is run by a woman who was educated at
:20:30. > :20:37.Stanford University. She believes play -based education is important.
:20:38. > :20:43.If they have fun, it is easy, and then they in the future, they will
:20:44. > :20:50.represent the same spirit and behaviour and mindset and attitude.
:20:51. > :20:55.That can definitely bring the new energy to the society and of the
:20:56. > :20:58.school, to the organisation. So, can you help me find out how many of
:20:59. > :21:09.these kids would like to be inventors when they grow up? Can you
:21:10. > :21:17.ask them? One, two, three, four, five. Five little inventors at this
:21:18. > :21:22.table. Pretty impressive. China 's for Miller for success has always
:21:23. > :21:31.been to copy, build and sell cheap and then to do it all over again. --
:21:32. > :21:35.form letter success. That is helped China transform into the world's
:21:36. > :21:41.second-largest economy today. But from the places I have visited the
:21:42. > :21:46.people I have met, I found a new China that is quietly emerging on
:21:47. > :21:54.the global stage. But China which doesn't just replicate but it tends
:21:55. > :21:57.to design and create. The China web despite censorship in government
:21:58. > :22:02.controls on the internet, some innovative ideas have been born. And
:22:03. > :22:09.China where its people are hungry for global recognition and respect.
:22:10. > :22:15.But these examples are still the exceptions here. If the Chinese
:22:16. > :22:21.government once real innovation, it may have to ruling which control,
:22:22. > :22:24.open up access to information, and our authority, even its own, to be
:22:25. > :22:38.challenged. Next week, join us in Johannesburg
:22:39. > :22:53.as we look at why the largest African economies are struggling.
:22:54. > :23:04.Hello, there. For many of you, not a bad start to the weekend, especially
:23:05. > :23:05.across the western half of the UK. This was the scene deceiving in