When Dave McClure, a venture capital investor from Silicon Valley, spoke at an internet entrepreneurs’ club in China last week, he had a lot of praise for his hosts.

　　上周，硅谷風險投資家戴夫?麥克盧爾(Dave McClure)在中國的一個互聯網創業者俱樂部上發言時，對東道主大加贊譽。

　　“Chinese entrepreneurs are most likely smarter and more aggressive than [those] in the US,” he told the audience. “Beijing is one of the few places in the world where the pace of innovation is faster than in Silicon Valley.”

　　“中國創業者很可能比美國同行更聰明、更大膽，”他對聽眾表示，“北京是世界上為數不多的、創新速度超過硅谷的地方之一。”

　　But in China, the recent mood has been more sober. The death of Apple founder Steve Jobs this month triggered rounds of soul-searching over why the country lacks technology entrepreneurs as successful as Mr Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, who came up with products that changed the world.

　　但在中國，近期的輿論卻比以往更為清醒。蘋果(Apple)創始人史蒂夫·喬布斯(Steve Jobs)本月去世，激起了中國人一輪又一輪的自我反?。簡滩妓购虵acebook的馬克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)用其產品改變了世界，為什么中國缺少像這兩人這么成功的技術型創業者？

　　“Chinese companies can be expected to have market valuations and business models like Apple’s within ten years but it is difficult to expect any type of Apple-like innovation,” says Lee Kaifu, the former head of Google China who, with his incubator Innovation Works, has become a guru for internet start-ups in China.

　　前谷歌中國(Google China)總裁李開復表示：“中國十年內可能會出現市場估值和商業模式與蘋果相當的公司，但很難出現像蘋果那種類型的創新。”憑借其創立的孵化器——創新工場(Innovation Works)，李開復已成為中國互聯網初創企業的導師。

　　Although the number of Chinese internet users – now at 500m – has overtaken the population of the European Union and that growth keeps hatching new internet ventures everyday, most of these copy ideas from the US.

　　盡管中國的網民數量——目前已達5億——已經超過了歐盟(EU)總人口，而且在這一增長勢頭的支撐下每天都有新的互聯網公司孵化出來，但大多數中國互聯網公司都是在抄襲美國同行。

　　To name the best-known examples, Baidu, China’s largest search engine by revenue, is a copy of Google, while RenRen, China’s largest real-name social network, was modelled on Facebook. China is estimated to have as many as 5,000 clones of Groupon, the US daily deals site.

　　下面舉幾個最著名的例子。中國營收最高的搜索引擎百度(Baidu)，就是山寨版的谷歌；而中國最大的實名社交網站人人網(Renren)，則是抄襲了Facebook。據估算，中國有多達5000家類似于美國團購網站Groupon的網站。

　　That is not because the founders lack creativity, they themselves argue. “The reason you set up a business is that you want to solve a certain problem or need you see around you,” says Gong Yu, a veteran internet entrepreneur and chief executive of Qiyi, the internet video site owned by Baidu.

　　一些中國互聯網公司的創始人認為，造成這一局面的原因并不是他們自己缺少創造力。“你創立一家企業，是因為你想解決自己身邊的某個問題，或者滿足自己身邊的某種需求，”資深互聯網創業者、奇藝(Qiyi)首席執行官龔宇表示。奇藝是百度旗下一家互聯網視頻網站。

　　“But China’s internet is just so many years behind that of the US, so internet entrepreneurs in the US will inevitably encounter many problems and needs first.”

　　“但中國互聯網比美國落后了許多年，所以美國的互聯網創業者必然會領先一步發現很多問題和需求。”

　　Many Chinese web business founders agree. “It’s not about being smart but about being there first, just like gathering mushrooms,” says Wang Xing, founder and chief executive of Meituan, one of China’s first Groupon copies and the country’s most prolific internet business closer.

　　多位中國互聯網公司的創始人都同意龔宇的觀點。美團網(Meituan)創始人、首席執行官王興表示，“這件事與誰更聰明無關，而是與誰先發現有關，就像是采蘑菇。”美團網是首批抄襲Groupon的中國網站之一。王興則是中國最多產的互聯網業務克隆者。

　　Mr Wang has been billed “the Mark Zuckerberg of China”, mainly because he followed Facebook, founded in 2004, with what is now RenRen, a similar site launched in 2005 as Xiaonei, or On Campus. Less than a year later, he sold that business for less than $4m to Oak Pacific Interactive, the company which took it public this year. RenRen is now valued at $2.25bn.

　　王興被宣傳為“中國的馬克·扎克伯格”，主要原因是他以創立于2004年的Facebook為藍本，在2005年成立了類似的網站校內網(Xiaonei)。成立還不到一年，王興就把校內網賣給了千橡互動(Oak Pacific Interactive)。校內網后更名為人人網，并已于今年上市。如今，人人網的市值達到22.5億美元。

　　“I studied computer networks, therefore I have an understanding for social networks, it’s the same pattern,” he says. But when he made that connection, Friendster and Facebook were already there.

　　王興表示，“我是學計算機網絡的，所以我對社交網絡有所認識，二者的模式是相同的。”但當他在二者之間建立起聯系時，Friendster和Facebook已然創立了。

　　Mr Wang is not apologetic. He believes that Chinese consumers are not yet mature enough in terms of income and tastes to need revolutionary new internet products.

　　王興并不是在辯解什么。他認為，中國消費者在收入和品位方面尚不夠成熟，暫不需要革命性的互聯網新產品。

　　“When consumption develops, there are three phases,” he says. “The first is focused on quantity, providing enough to meet demand, the second on securing product quality, and only during the third will people start developing tastes. On the internet in China, we’re still very much in the second phase.”

　　“消費的發展有三個階段，”他表示。“第一階段關注數量，提供足夠數量以滿足需求；第二階段關注保障產品質量；只有到了第三階段，人們才開始追求品位。中國的互聯網業，在很大程度上仍處于第二階段。”

　　Experts observe that, given China’s vast market, it is natural to exploit easy business opportunities first. “In the US, entrepreneurs have to be innovative to find market opportunity,” says Mr McClure. “If you live in a country with a population of 1.3bn and you see an idea that works, it would be foolish not to copy.”

　　專家認為，考慮到中國巨大的市場規模，首先抓住一些簡單的商機是理所當然的。“在美國，創業者們必須依靠創新才能發掘市場機遇，”麥克盧爾表示。“如果你身處一個有13億人口的國家，那么看到一個管用的想法而不去模仿就太愚蠢了。”

　　This extremely pragmatic mindset is a common trait among most Chinese internet entrepreneurs. “Many start-up founders in the US start out with a technological idea they want to realise, and don’t worry about money until much later,” says Chen Tao, a partner for China at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.

　　就大多數中國互聯網創業者而言，這種極端實用主義的思路是他們的一個共同特征。羅蘭貝格管理咨詢有限公司(Roland Berger Strategy Consultants)大中華區合伙人陳濤表示：“在美國，許多初創企業的創始人在起步時關注的都是一個希望實現的技術構想，直到很久以后才開始考慮賺錢的問題。”

　　“In China, it’s the other way round. Monetisation comes first, innovation comes later.”

　　“在中國，正好反過來。賺錢第一，創新先靠邊兒站。”

　　The biographies of many Chinese internet entrepreneurs reflect this more conservative outlook. Very few are university dropouts like many of their US counterparts. Most have much more industry experience before they start their own business than their American peers.

　　很多中國互聯網創業者的履歷都反映出這一更為保守的態度。像美國同行那樣在大學就輟學的創業者少之又少。大多數人在創業之前，都擁有比美國同行豐富得多的從業經歷。

　　Robin Li worked as a software engineer for a division of Dow Jones and for Infoseek, an early US web search engine, before setting up Baidu in 2000. Jack Ma lectured at university on international trade and headed an IT company set up by a unit of the foreign trade ministry before he founded Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company by revenue, users and transaction value in 1999.

　　李彥宏(Robin Li) 2000年創立百度前，曾先后在道瓊斯(Dow Jones)的一個部門和Infoseek擔任軟件工程師。Infoseek是美國一家早期的網絡搜索引擎公司。馬云(Jack Ma) 1999年創立阿里巴巴(Alibaba)之前，曾在大學里教授國際貿易課，還擔任過外經貿部下屬一家IT公司的負責人。按營收、用戶數和交易額衡量，阿里巴巴是中國最大的電子商務公司。

　　At Qiyi, Mr Gong’s background is similar. “Although I knew already in university that I very much wanted to set up a business, I didn’t feel ready,” he recalls. So he first went to work as a software development and maintenance engineer at Itochu, the Japanese trading company, and later helped set up the China unit for a company founded by a friend in the US before he dared to start his first own venture, the online portal focus.cn.

　　奇藝的龔宇也有著相似的背景。他回憶說：“盡管上大學時我就清楚自己很想創業，但那時我感覺還沒準備好。”他先到日本貿易公司伊藤忠商事株式會社(Itochu)作軟件開發和維護工程師，又幫助一位朋友在美國創立的公司建立起中國分部，之后他才敢于自己創業，成立了在線門戶焦點網(focus.cn)。

　　“On the first day, the office was completely empty – it was just me,” he says, recalling how unfamiliar and slightly fearful he felt.

　　“第一天時，辦公室里空蕩蕩的，只有我一個人，”他在回憶當時的不習慣和略感害怕的心情時表示。

　　There was no long tradition of entrepreneurship in the People’s Republic of China when the country’s first internet companies were set up. Capitalism was new, and the internet even newer. The resulting caution can be seen among the investors who back the sector, as well as its entrepreneurs.

　　中國第一批互聯網公司成立時，這個國家并沒有很長時間的創業傳統。資本主義是新事物，互聯網甚至更新。由此造就的謹慎心理，不但在創業者當中可以看到，在支撐互聯網行業的投資人當中也可以看到。

　　Lei Jun, China’s most prominent homegrown angel investor, only backs the companies of friends or friends of friends, and prefers serial entrepreneurs because the chances of success increase over time. Mr Lei has invested in less than 20 companies such as Vancl, an online clothing retailer, and Keniu, a security software maker.

　　作為中國最著名的本土天使投資人，雷軍只投資朋友的公司或朋友的朋友的公司，而且更青睞連續創業者（指不斷想出新點子并創立新公司的創業者）——因為從事創業的時間越長，成功的機率越大。雷軍只投資了不到20家公司，其中包括在線服裝零售商凡客誠品(Vancl)和安全軟件生產商可牛(Keniu).

　　But foreign venture capitalists and stock market investors, a far larger source of funding for Chinese technology start-ups, follow similar principles. The rise of the thousands of Groupon clones in China has been fuelled by a wave of venture capital money from the US.

　　但是，外國風險投資人和股市投資者（他們為中國科技初創企業提供的資本比中國本土投資人多得多）也在遵循同樣的原則。中國上千家Groupon克隆網站的興起，正是在一波美國風險投資資金的助推下實現的。

　　Benjamin Joffe, chief executive of Plus Eight Star, a digital strategy consultancy, says: “Investors love to recognise something they know.”

　　數字行業戰略咨詢公司Plus Eight Star的首席執行官本杰明·約費(Benjamin Joffe)表示：“投資者喜歡賞識他們了解的項目。”