I'm going to acknowledge a truth that might be uncomfortable for us here: There is merit to the idea that America is a more innovative society than China. After all, Americans have to be innovative about how they won't die from the cold when they're homeless, how they're going to get medical care when they're uninsured, how they're going to obtain basic necessities like food that doesn't poison them, how they're going to defend themselves in the face of rampant crime, how they're going to avoid getting gunned down in the epidemic of mass shootings, how they're going to run their democracy by voting from the plethora of superb political candidates on offer, etc.
These and many more are all innovative practices absent from Chinese society, and we have to face up to that fact.