The Chinese language symbol that means ‘China’ is a rectangle with a vertical line through the middle ­ apparently, this signifies China’s ancient belief that the country lies at the centre of the world.

Computing last week visited a corner of this enormous nation for a glimpse of its efforts to become the new centre of the technology world.

Shenzhen, a high-rise city of 11 million people built up as a mirror to neighbouring Hong Kong, is home to Huawei, the Chinese networking supplier best known in the UK as a key supplier for BT’s 21st Century Network plan to IP-enable its national communications backbone.

Huawei is one of several Chinese tech firms looking to establish themselves as global players, much as Indian IT services companies have transformed the worldwide
outsourcing market.

But China’s challenges are different to India’s. India has one great advantage ­ its English language skills. Although all Chinese schoolchildren are taught English, the country is not as fluent in the international language of business.

Here, it is all about being ‘Made in China’ ­ a manufacturing and engineering base to rival anywhere. On the outskirts of Shenzhen is a factory making components for Apple ­ it has about 60,000 production workers on one site. Huawei itself has about 20,000 at its head office, working mainly on research and development (R&D) ­ 48 per cent of the company’s global staff work in R &D, an amazing figure.

India achieved its success by trying to be like the countries it works with ­ doing business the way we do in Europe and the US. India’s heritage is one of absorbing foreign influences. China’s business culture is quite different ­- not unlike Japan, it generally expects foreigners to adapt to Chinese ways as much as it does to theirs. There is a lucrative trade in specialists advising Weste rn firms how to do business in China.

But here is perhaps China’s biggest advantage ­- all the big Western companies that want a part of its rapidly-developing economy and 1.2 billion consumers. If, say, IBM sets up a major facility in India, it is typically for the purpose of recruiting local staff at comparatively lower wages to supply other countries. But IBM and others would set up in China as much to supply the Chinese as for their engineering expertise.

China no doubt has much to learn ­ but we have every bit as much to learn about China, and how to compete with its dramatic growth and vast ambition, and the impact that will have on us all.