中國官方通訊社新華社報道說，去年超過40%的中國網上商店出售假冒偽劣商品。這讓人們對北京當局將會嚴厲打擊困擾中國市場和中美商業關係的山寨現象的希望重燃。

據路透社報道，一份向中國最高立法官員提出的報告稱，“去年只有不到59%在線出售的商品是'正版產品或質優產品'”。

“中國一直在努力洗刷盜版和假冒偽劣商品的污名。從iPhone製造商蘋果公司，到奢侈品零售商LVMH集團，瞄準中國市場的全球品牌對此一直無比頭疼，”路透社報道說。“由於今年再次面臨旗下購物平台涉嫌出售假冒商品的壓力，中國電子商務巨頭阿里巴巴正在美國遊說，避免被列入偽冒產品黑名單。”

不過，即使中國最終能較好地管治假冒偽劣產品生產商和分銷商，該國家領導人也應該汲取加州的經驗，更多地鼓勵創新，而不是模仿。

幾十年來，加州一直讓人聯想到，敢冒風險，定有回報。這從中國國家主席習近平不久前訪美期間會見西海岸企業家就可窺見一斑。這些企業家在自家的後院創業，進而在華爾街功成名就。因科技而成功的加州夢，如今已經走向全球，讓從上海到硅谷的各地未來高技術企業家們心之嚮往。

今年9月在新加坡舉行的米爾肯研究所亞洲峰會上，洛杉磯的米爾肯研究所加利福尼亞中心主任、經濟學同行凱文·克勞登和我同與會者分享了美國“金州”（指加州）的幾點經驗。

克勞登和我認為，科技產業的長期成功，通常不僅要具備創新的能力，還要成為創新的中心。在這方面，中國可以採取措施培育和推動本土創新、鼓勵承擔風險和成功。與此同時，不歧視非中國的企業。

那麼，加州可以向中國，無論北京還是香港特別行政區，提供哪些具體的經驗呢？克勞登和我提出以下三點：

第一，中國必須致力於發展優秀的研究型大學。世界一流的研究機構既能培養技術型人才，也能推動基礎技術與研究的共享。根據上海發表的世界大學學術排名，2015年，世界前20所研究型大學中美國佔了16所。

令人稱奇的是，這16所大學，有6所是在加州，其中包括居第二位的斯坦福大學、居第18位的舊金山加大。在前7所大學中有3所是在舊金山地區，兩所在洛杉磯一帶，一所在聖迭戈。在排名前100的研究型大學中，有11所是在加州。

相比之下，亞洲排名最高的研究型大學是東京大學，排在第21位。沒有非日本的大學進入前100名。這種情況正在改變，加州的大學也知道自己不能吃老本。但在此期間，出於對國際學生的需要，包括許多加州大學在內的美國學校，教育出了亞洲一些最成功的企業家。

第二，克勞登和我認為，中國必須接受失敗，不是把失敗當成終結，而是把失敗當成成功的手段。也許加州最重要的經驗和優勢之一，就是企業家失敗後重新振作的能力。據估計，大約三分之二的硅谷初創企業撐不過五年，還未等到上市就失敗了。

那為什麼還會有這麼多的初創公司呢？一個相當常見的原因，是開過公司的這些人都願意並且能夠再次嘗試。加州許多企業成功的重要因素，是具備失敗與學習的能力。

即使是更知名的公司，如蘋果、谷歌和英特爾等，其興旺發展的部分原因，也是不斷抓住小型創新者帶來的機會，從而使自己壯大。一度,雅虎公司最大一筆所謂的橫財來自它在阿里巴巴的股份，第二大一筆也許來自它的日本合資公司。

第三，中國必須發展創業融資。據估計，全世界高達50%的風險投資活動都會流經加州。在不同階段吸引重要的投資者，對加州成功播下技術創新種子產生了重要作用。克勞登和我相信，中國必須進一步採取措施發展創業融資，包括改變政策和監管。

即使亞洲最成功的初創企業，也發現自己更容易進入美國資本市場，來繼續自我拓展。阿里巴巴在紐約證交所一鳴驚人地上市就是一個例子。

在美國，在促進金融市場的理解、更多地獲得資本、加強與深化金融市場、發展創新的金融解決方案以應對美國經濟持續增長所面臨的挑戰方面，人們正越來越多地形成共識。

在他的非小說類叢書《十個詞彙里的中國》當中，中國當代著名作家余華在“山寨”一章里直接展示了中國所面臨的創新挑戰。出版方克諾夫雙日集團形容他描述了“盜版與抄襲作為一種創造性的新革命行為不斷升級的趨勢”。

相比之下，在另一種真正的革命中，美國技術產業創造出遠遠超越了硅谷的成功故事。如今美國高技術產業同樣的重塑與擴張，讓太平洋兩岸的人們正好做起了加州夢，可以理解其中也包括中國。然而，對於中國的夢想來說，要像硅谷那樣成功和加強中美關係，現在的關鍵是北京的決策者要着手培育創業生態系統，推進創新而非山寨的水平。

When China's official news agency Xinhua reported that more than 40 percent of goods sold online in China last year were either of bad quality or outright counterfeits, hope returned yet again that Beijing authorities would crack down on a problem that has plagued the Chinese market place and China-U.S. commercial relations.

According to Reuters, China's top lawmakers were told in a report that “just under 59 percent of items sold online last year were 'genuine or of good quality.'”

“China has been trying to shake off a notoriety for pirated and counterfeit goods, long a major headache for global brands targeting the Chinese market from iPhone maker Apple Inc to luxury retailer LVMH,” said the Reuters report. “Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd,” it added, “has been lobbying to stay off a U.S. blacklist for fakes after coming under renewed pressure this year over suspected counterfeits sold on its shopping platforms.”

Yet, even should China finally move to better police both the makers and the distributors of counterfeit and shoddy products, the nation's leaders could also take a page from California's experiences and do more to seek to spur innovation, rather than imitation.

California has been associated with the rewards of risk taking for decades. That no doubt was underscored when China President Xi Jinping traveled to the United States recently, meeting with backyard West Coast entrepreneurs who have long since been transformed into Wall Street boardroom successes. Those California dreams of tech success have since gone global, capturing the imaginations of would-be tech entrepreneurs everywhere, whether in Shanghai or Silicon Valley.

At the recent Milken Institute Asia Summit held this September in Singapore, Kevin Klowden, an economist colleague and managing director of the Milken Institute California Center in Los Angeles, and I shared several lessons from America's “Golden State.”

As Klowden and I argued, long-term success in tech typically includes the ability to not only improve upon, but also to be at the center of innovation. Here, China can take steps to nurture and boost homegrown innovations, risk-taking, and successes – and do so without discriminating against non-Chinese companies.

So what specific lessons does California offer up to China, whether for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or Beijing? Here are three from Klowden and me.

First, China must commit to developing great research universities – world-class institutes that will both train skilled individuals and advance the sharing of basic research and technology. According to the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2015, the United States is home to 16 of the top 20 world research universities.

Of those 16, an astonishing six are in California, ranging from Stanford University at No. 2, to the University of California, San Francisco, at No. 18. Three of the top seven are in the San Francisco area, two from around Los Angeles, and one in San Diego. Of the top 100 research universities, 11 are in California.

In contrast, Asia's highest-ranking research university is the University of Tokyo at No. 21. No non-Japanese university in Asia makes the top 100. This situation is changing, and California-based universities know that they too cannot rest on their laurels. In the interim, in their desire for international students, U.S. institutions, including many from California, also have educated some of the most successful entrepreneurs in Asia.

Second, Klowden and I argue that China must embrace failure – not as an end, but as a means to success. Perhaps one of the most important lessons and strengths of California is the ability of its entrepreneurs to fail and try again. By some accounts, two-thirds of Silicon Valley startups do not last five years, failing ever to make it to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) stage.

So, why do there continue to be so many startups? One reason is that, quite often, the same people who started one company are willing and able to try again. The ability to fail and learn is a significant factor in many companies' successes in the state.

Even the more established firms, including Apple, Google and Intel among others, have thrived in part by continuing to take chances on small innovators, who then made it big. At one point, Yahoo's single greatest windfall arguably came from its stake in Alibaba, and its second greatest, perhaps its joint venture in Japan.

Third, China must move to innovate the financing of start-ups. By some accounts, up to 50 percent of all venture capital activity in the world flows through California. The access to significant investors at numerous different stages plays a significant role for California's success in seeding tech innovation. Klowden and I believe that China must take further steps to develop this resource, including policy and regulatory changes.

Even the most successful Asia start-ups have found it easier to access U.S. capital markets to further their expansion. Alibaba's blockbuster New York Stock Exchange IPO is one example.

In the United States, there is a growing consensus on the value of promoting financial-market understanding and of working to expand access to capital, strengthen and deepen financial markets, and develop innovative financial solutions to the ongoing challenges to America's sustained economic growth.

In his nonfiction book “China in Ten Words,” noted Chinese contemporary writer takes on directly China's innovation challenge in the chapter, “Copycat.” Publisher Knopf Doubleday describes Yu Hua as depicting “the escalating trend of piracy and imitation as a creative new form of revolutionary action.”

In contrast, and in a very real revolution of another kind, the U.S. tech sector has created a success story that has gone well beyond any Silicon Valley roots. That same reinvention and expansion of America's tech industry now has people rightly California dreaming, on both sides of the Pacific, including understandably in China. For the China dream, however, to include Silicon Valley-style success and strengthened China-US ties, the key now is for Beijing policy makers to foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem to create consistent levels of innovation vs. imitation.