A young Chinese company built around voice-recognition technology this week announced it would soon begin marketing its smartwatch in the US, taking on Apple. It won’t just undercut Apple on price but offer a product with features that investors in the company say is as cool as Apple’s design.

一家以语音识别技术为核心技术打造起来的年轻中国公司本周宣布，不久后将开始在美国市场上销售自己的智能手表，与苹果(Apple)一较高下，不但售价将低于苹果，而且据该公司投资者表示，拟推的一款产品设计得与苹果一样酷。

For the past few decades, the US has considered itself the technological leader of the world. However, China may now be closing the gap across a variety of sectors, from drones and electric cars to data-mining and smartphones.

几十年来，美国一直自视为科技领域的世界领袖。然而，从无人机和电动汽车到数据挖掘和智能手机，中国在许多领域或许正在逐渐缩小与美国之间的差距。

With questions about demand for Tesla’s electric cars and the corporate governance of Elon Musk, its founder, following the company’s purchase of SolarCity, some fund managers in Shanghai are rubbing their hands in glee. They expect BYD, the Chinese electric carmaker, to benefit.

在特斯拉(Tesla)收购SolarCity之后，围绕特斯拉电动汽车的需求以及创始人埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)的公司治理问题，投资者发出了质疑，对此上海一些基金经理兴奋得直搓手，他们预计中国电动汽车生产商比亚迪(BYD)将从中获益。

They have faith in BYD despite the fact that its shares are expensive — trading at 40 times earnings — and its profits rely partly on government subsidies and privileges such as the free licence available for electric vehicles.

他们对比亚迪有信心，尽管其股价已经偏贵——市盈率达40倍——并且其盈利部分依赖于政府补贴以及电动汽车享受免费牌照等特权。

“The electric vehicle revolution will happen first in China,” says Wei Zhang, founder of Yuanhao Capital Management in Shanghai, who has a big position in the stock.

“电动汽车革命将率先在中国发生，”上海元昊投资管理公司(Yuanhao Capital Management)创始人张炜说。他持有很多比亚迪的股票。

“The first signal is that supply is unable to meet demand,” Mr Zhang said in his mid-July letter to investors, explaining his bullishness to his investors. “The second signal is leading technology. They have their own battery, (while Tesla relies on Japanese maker Panasonic). Their batteries are cheaper and more advanced. The third signal is that management interests are aligned.” Moreover, Mr Zhang notes, the company has introduced a stock ownership plan with the execution price 30 per cent higher than the current market price.

“第一个信号是供不应求，”张炜在7月中旬致投资者的信中说。他向投资者解释了自己乐观的理由。“第二个信号是领先的技术。它们拥有自己的电池（而特斯拉依赖日本制造商松下(Panasonic)）。它们的电池更便宜、更先进。第三个信号是管理层利益一致。”此外，张炜指出，比亚迪有一项员工持股计划，行权价比当前股价高30%。

Electric cars are not the only sector in which the Chinese are making inroads. Last winter, Palantir, the US private data-mining company in Palo Alto, California, came to Asia and received a warm reception. It was warmer than it had recently received in its own home market, easily commanding a valuation over $20bn.

电动汽车并非中国企业正在开疆拓土的唯一领域。去年冬天，美国加州帕洛阿尔托(Palo Alto)一家私人所有的数据挖掘公司Palantir到亚洲融资，受到了热烈欢迎，甚至超过了近期在美国本土市场受到的欢迎，轻松获得逾200亿美元的估值。

But at the same time, venture capitalists in China are investing in their own Palantir-like big data firms.

但同时，中国的风险投资家们也在投资于国内类似于Palantir的大型数据公司。

For example, Sequoia Capital China is backing Fourth Paradigm, a Beijing company whose founder has not studied in the US, but has the confidence typical of a new generation of artificial intelligence specialists on the mainland that can critique Palantir’s business model and explain why theirs is superior.

例如，红杉中国(Sequoia Capital China)就投资了北京的第四范式(Fourth Paradigm)。这家公司的创始人不曾在美国留过学，但具有一种自信，这种自信常可见于中国大陆新一代的人工智能专家身上，他们会批评Palantir的商业模式，并解释为何自己的商业模式更优越。

Among the advantages these Chinese start-ups have is access to far more data than their US counterparts. “China can do at least as well as the US because AI needs data and China has more data,” said the founder of Fourth Paradigm.

这些中国创业企业的优势之一，是它们可以接触到比美国同行更多的数据。“中国起码可以做得跟美国同样好，因为人工智能需要数据，而中国拥有更多数据，”第四范式创始人说。

In other areas, such as drones, China has leapfrogged the US. Moreover, many of its fintech companies are more diversified and interesting than their US counterparts.

在无人机等其他一些领域，中国已经超越了美国。此外，中国许多金融科技公司的业务比美国同行更加多元化、更有趣。

In some ways the gap between the US and China is still considerable. Baidu’s search engine, for example, is considered so mediocre that it has become a competitive disadvantage for China compared with Google which remains banned in the mainland.

在某些方面，中美之间的差距仍很大。比如，中国的搜索引擎百度(Baidu)被认为太平庸了，跟谷歌相比，该公司就成了中国的竞争劣势。目前，谷歌在中国大陆仍被封杀。

Baidu’s disappointing financial results last week reflect more serious difficulties than the criticism it received this year after a young man died of cancer having received dubious medical treatment advertised in online search results. What’s more, media deals these days are still mostly one way: western content in return for Chinese audiences.

百度今年曾广招批评，起因是一名患有癌症的年轻人因按照百度搜索结果中的广告接受不可靠的治疗而死亡，然而该公司在上周发布的令人失望的财报反映了更为深重的困境。此外，媒体领域的并购大多仍是单向的：以西方内容换取中国受众。

Technology in China is undergoing a correction though not to the extent it is in the US, which is one reason why Palantir came to Asia in the first place.

在中国，科技领域正在经历一场调整，尽管程度不如美国，这正是Palantir首先前往亚洲融资的原因之一。

While industrial profits in China have picked up of late after contracting in 2015, profits in the computer, communication and other electronic equipment led by smartphones, jumped almost 20 per cent, according to the latest data from JPMorgan. Consolidation among internet companies is also helping profitability in China’s technology sector.

摩根大通(JPMorgan)的最新数据显示，经过2015年的收缩之后，近期中国的工业利润有所好转，而计算机、通信和其他电子设备制造业的利润更是大增了近20%，其中增长最多的是智能手机。互联网企业之间的整合也有助于提高中国科技行业的盈利能力。

Part of the Chinese enthusiasm for US tech companies is that they have more faith in the dollar than in their own currency. That may not change any time soon, but faith in their own technology on the part of mainland investors will probably continue to grow.

中国人青睐美国科技企业，部分原因在于他们对于美元的信心大于对本国货币的信心。这种情况短期内或许不会改变，但中国大陆投资者对本国技术的信心很可能将继续增强。