[inlandrookie]

I agree that Chinese startups start copying the product if it is a good product, but it also happens anywhere. In US, Europe, Southeast Asia... name any place. People has been copying each other for the entire civilization.

China is an unique example. The truth is China is in a totally different world with totally different culture(maybe not as different as before) and purchase habits, so localization is hell important in China! That's probably why software tends to be compete less well than hardware like Apple and General Moto, since it needs more localization to gain popularity.

Immigrants... Every citizen in USA was an immigrant 300 years ago... if you are talking about new immigrants, most of them had higher education in USA before they built a startup, which definitely makes it easier to have success since they know they country more. Also English is a more well-accepted language, that's probably the biggest reason why not so many Americans willing to study in China.

I am a Chinese so my opinion is likely to be biased.