Why The Chinese Will Never Understand Silicon Valley

PALO ALTO — Tucked away on Waverley Street in Palo Alto, California, the house where Steve Jobs used to live is an inconspicuous brick Tudor with rambling roses climbing all over. As one of the residential areas favored by Silicon Valley software engineers, a big house here usually costs well above $10 million.

Over the past two years, some of China’s ambitious technology entrepreneurs have rushed here to live where the Apple founder once did. In his former home's big garden, a lone red poppy blooms among the colorful wildflowers. It looks as if the business genius hasn't departed.

These "Chinese neighbors" aspire to be near not just his former home but also his creative soul. But that's despite the starkly different approach Chinese companies have compared to their American counterparts.

"Why do my classmates say, 'You Chinese are all C2C?'" the 11-year-old daughter of Liang Haiyan asked her one day. The elder Liang, who as founder of a company that makes wearable devices has been here a decade, tried with difficulty to explain this.

C2C is shorthand for "Copy to China." Says Liang, "In my heart, I feel very vexed too."

Every year she hears from multitudes of Chinese entrepreneurs. "Their most pressing, and sometimes their only, question, is always, 'What is most popular in Silicon Valley now?' In other words, whether it involves software, hardware or a business model, rarely do Chinese business people ask, 'Why is Silicon Valley so unique?'" she says.

Steve Job's House in Palo Alto, California — Photo: Roman Boed

James, a former Apple senior executive who helped current Apple CEO Tim Cook...