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(fēng)險投資家戴夫?麥克盧爾(Dave McClure)在中國的一個互聯(lián)網(wǎng)創(chuàng)業(yè)者俱樂部上發(fā)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(chuàng)業(yè)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(shù)不多的、創(chuàng)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(chuàng)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(chǎn)品改變了世界，為什么中國缺少像這兩人這么成功的技術(shù)型創(chuàng)業(yè)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(fù)表示：“中國十年內(nèi)可能會出現(xiàn)市場估值和商業(yè)模式與蘋果相當(dāng)?shù)墓?，但很難出現(xiàn)像蘋果那種類型的創(chuàng)新。”憑借其創(chuàng)立的孵化器——創(chuàng)新工場(Innovation Works)，李開復(fù)已成為中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的導(dǎo)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(wǎng)民數(shù)量——目前已達5億——已經(jīng)超過了歐盟(EU)總?cè)丝?，而且在這一增長勢頭的支撐下每天都有新的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司孵化出來，但大多數(shù)中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)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(wǎng)站人人網(wǎng)(Renren)，則是抄襲了Facebook。據(jù)估算，中國有多達5000家類似于美國團購網(wǎng)站Groupon的網(wǎng)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(lián)網(wǎng)公司的創(chuàng)始人認(rèn)為，造成這一局面的原因并不是他們自己缺少創(chuàng)造力。“你創(chuàng)立一家企業(yè)，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(lián)網(wǎng)創(chuàng)業(yè)者、奇藝(Qiyi)首席執(zhí)行官龔宇表示。奇藝是百度旗下一家互聯(lián)網(wǎng)視頻網(wǎng)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(lián)網(wǎng)比美國落后了許多年，所以美國的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)創(chuàng)業(yè)者必然會領(lǐng)先一步發(fā)現(xiàn)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(lián)網(wǎng)公司的創(chuàng)始人都同意龔宇的觀點。美團網(wǎng)(Meituan)創(chuàng)始人、首席執(zhí)行官王興表示，“這件事與誰更聰明無關(guān)，而是與誰先發(fā)現(xiàn)有關(guān)，就像是采蘑菇。”美團網(wǎng)是首批抄襲Groupon的中國網(wǎng)站之一。王興則是中國最多產(chǎn)的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)業(yè)務(wù)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(chuàng)立于2004年的Facebook為藍本，在2005年成立了類似的網(wǎng)站校內(nèi)網(wǎng)(Xiaonei)。成立還不到一年，王興就把校內(nèi)網(wǎng)賣給了千橡互動(Oak Pacific Interactive)。校內(nèi)網(wǎng)后更名為人人網(wǎng)，并已于今年上市。如今，人人網(wǎng)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(xué)計算機網(wǎng)絡(luò)的，所以我對社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)有所認(rèn)識，二者的模式是相同的。”但當(dāng)他在二者之間建立起聯(lián)系時，F(xiàn)riendster和Facebook已然創(chuàng)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(rèn)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(lián)網(wǎng)新產(chǎn)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(fā)展有三個階段，”他表示。“第一階段關(guān)注數(shù)量，提供足夠數(shù)量以滿足需求；第二階段關(guān)注保障產(chǎn)品質(zhì)量；只有到了第三階段，人們才開始追求品位。中國的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)業(yè)，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(rèn)為，考慮到中國巨大的市場規(guī)模，首先抓住一些簡單的商機是理所當(dāng)然的。“在美國，創(chuàng)業(yè)者們必須依靠創(chuàng)新才能發(fā)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(shù)中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)創(chuàng)業(yè)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(qū)合伙人陳濤表示：“在美國，許多初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的創(chuàng)始人在起步時關(guān)注的都是一個希望實現(xiàn)的技術(shù)構(gòu)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(chuàng)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(lián)網(wǎng)創(chuàng)業(yè)者的履歷都反映出這一更為保守的態(tài)度。像美國同行那樣在大學(xué)就輟學(xué)的創(chuàng)業(yè)者少之又少。大多數(shù)人在創(chuàng)業(yè)之前，都擁有比美國同行豐富得多的從業(yè)經(jīng)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(chuàng)立百度前，曾先后在道瓊斯(Dow Jones)的一個部門和Infoseek擔(dān)任軟件工程師。Infoseek是美國一家早期的網(wǎng)絡(luò)搜索引擎公司。馬云(Jack Ma) 1999年創(chuàng)立阿里巴巴(Alibaba)之前，曾在大學(xué)里教授國際貿(mào)易課，還擔(dān)任過外經(jīng)貿(mào)部下屬一家IT公司的負責(zé)人。按營收、用戶數(shù)和交易額衡量，阿里巴巴是中國最大的電子商務(wù)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(xué)時我就清楚自己很想創(chuàng)業(yè)，但那時我感覺還沒準(zhǔn)備好。”他先到日本貿(mào)易公司伊藤忠商事株式會社(Itochu)作軟件開發(fā)和維護工程師，又幫助一位朋友在美國創(chuàng)立的公司建立起中國分部，之后他才敢于自己創(chuàng)業(yè)，成立了在線門戶焦點網(wǎng)(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(dāng)時的不習(xí)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(lián)網(wǎng)公司成立時，這個國家并沒有很長時間的創(chuàng)業(yè)傳統(tǒng)。資本主義是新事物，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)甚至更新。由此造就的謹(jǐn)慎心理，不但在創(chuàng)業(yè)者當(dāng)中可以看到，在支撐互聯(lián)網(wǎng)行業(yè)的投資人當(dāng)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(xù)創(chuàng)業(yè)者（指不斷想出新點子并創(chuàng)立新公司的創(chuàng)業(yè)者）——因為從事創(chuàng)業(yè)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(chǎn)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(fēng)險投資人和股市投資者（他們?yōu)橹袊萍汲鮿?chuàng)企業(yè)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(wǎng)站的興起，正是在一波美國風(fēng)險投資資金的助推下實現(xiàn)的。

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

　　數(shù)字行業(yè)戰(zhàn)略咨詢公司Plus Eight Star的首席執(zhí)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。”