Why you should look to China for the next big idea in tech despite its closed internet and censorship

For decades, aspiring entrepreneurs all over the world have looked to Silicon Valley to find inspiration for the next big idea in technology. On the other side of the Pacific, China has worked hard to encourage company founders to set up shop, but Beijing’s strict internet controls don’t appeal to the open minded.

Now, instead of shunning China because of its censorship restrictions, some adventurous entrepreneurs are seeing opportunities behind China’s Great Firewall, where an isolated market with more than 750 million internet users and abundant venture capital create fertile soil to turn start-up ideas into reality.

One of those adventurous is Grant Long, Silicon Valley born and bred, who moved to Shanghai late last year to set up a business that provides personalised digital expressions, such as animated GIFs and Emoji, to Chinese consumers who use a set of digital communication tools that are different from the rest of the world.

“The Great Firewall makes China a closed internet ecosystem. It is a challenge but it now serves as an advantage for us,” said Long, whose start-up BiaoqingYun offers solutions for a long list of Chinese digital communications tools, including Tencent Holding’s QQ, a messaging app used by more than 800 million people each month.

“Outside China, tools like Facebook and Twitter rule people’s social and messaging life online. But in China, none of those work. That gives us the opportunity to use our Western perspective to come up with something tailored to the digital communication demands of China,” Long said, adding that the