China is innovative. Its economy is a mess. Which matters more?
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Finance & economics | A game of two halves<br>China is innovative. Its economy is a mess. Which matters more?<br>A question that will define the 21st century<br>Share
Illustration: José Navarro
Jun 8th 2026|YICHUN AND YINGTAN|9 min read
IN YINGTAN, a city in the south-eastern province of Jiangxi, China’s high-tech future is spilling into its economically backward past. Old-fashioned open-air markets and street-side eateries make it feel like any other rural town in the Chinese interior. An industrial park to the south of the city, packed with companies working on technologies for industrial digitisation, gives off a techie vibe. A national communications laboratory has set up a state-of-the-art research centre nearby.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “A game of two halves”
From the June 13th 2026 edition<br>Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents<br>⇒Explore the edition
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