Source:
https://scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1995940/america-surprised-chinas-tech-scene-thriving-despite-controls-internet
Lifestyle

America surprised China’s tech scene thriving despite controls on internet access

In the 1990s China was a centre for semi-skilled and unskilled labour. Today it is the world leader in e-commerce and internet innovations, and that confuses Americans who haven’t spent time in the country

3W Coffee in Beijing. The Washington Post. Photos: Michael Robinson Chavez

Silicon Valley may be powered by organic kale, but when Chinese tech gurus gather at 3W, a coffee shop/incubator in Beijing, they want sunflower seeds. And they want them fast.

Ahead of a recent meeting, 3W’s co-founder, Xu Dandan, used WeChat, a Chinese platform with hundreds of millions of users, to place an order with Beequick, a local start-up that delivers supplies from mom-and-pop shops. Thirty minutes later: crunch, crunch.