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In Depth
After 1,000 Year Slumber, China Vows to Invent Again
Beijing spends billions on moonshot projects such as teleportation and artificial intelligence, hoping to shake off its reputation as a copycat economy and curb dependence on foreign powers
BEIJING—China’s four great inventions—paper, the printing press, gunpowder and the compass—were all developed more than a millennium ago. Chinese leaders don’t want to wait another thousand years for the fifth.
The world’s No. 2 economy has long trailed Western nations in technological innovation. Even after a quarter-century of world-beating growth, China is known as a fast follower more interested in copying foreign innovations...
