Snapchat and Kik， the messaging services， use bar codes that look like drunken checkerboards to connect people and share information with a snap of their smartphone cameras。 Facebook is working on adding the ability to hail rides and make payments within its Messenger app。 Facebook and Twitter have begun live-streaming video。
通过通讯应用Snapchat和Kik，人们用外观酷似歪歪斜斜的棋盘一样的条码建立联系，用智能手机拍照共享信息。Facebook正打算往它的Messenger应用里添加叫车和付款功能。Facebook和Twitter已经开启了视频直播功能。
All of these developments have something in common： The technology was first popularized in China。
所有这些最新进展都有一个共同点：这些技术最先都是在中国开始流行。
WeChat and Alipay， two Chinese apps， have long used the bar-codelike symbols — called QR codes — to let people pay for purchases and transfer money。 Both let users hail a taxi or order a pizza without switching to another app。 The video-streaming service YY.com has for years made online stars of young Chinese people posing， chatting and singing in front of video cameras at home。
微信和支付宝这两款中国的应用软件早就开始使用名为二维码的条形码式符号供人们付款和转账了。通过这两款应用，用户无须切换到其他应用就能叫到一辆出租车或一份披萨。通过视频直播服务网站YY.com，中国年轻人喜爱的网络明星好几年前就能对着家里的摄影机拗造型、聊天、唱歌了。
Silicon Valley has long been the world’s tech capital： It birthed social networking and iPhones and spread those tech products across the globe。 The rap on China has been that it always followed in the Valley’s footsteps as government censorship abetted the rise of local versions of Google， YouTube and Twitter。
硅谷一直以来都是世界的科技之都：它孕育了社交网络和苹果手机，并把这些科技产品传遍全球。中国则常常遭到指责：它总在照搬硅谷的经验，而政府的审查制度助长了中国版Google， YouTube和Twitter的崛起。
But China’s tech industry — particularly its mobile businesses — has in some ways pulled ahead of the United States。 Some Western tech companies， even the behemoths， are turning to Chinese firms for ideas。
但是中国的科技产业——尤其是移动业务——在某些方面已经超越了美国。一些西方科技公司甚至是业界巨头转而向中国公司寻求灵感。
“We just see China as further ahead，” said Ted Livingston， the founder of Kik， which is headquartered in Waterloo， Ontario。
“我们认为中国是处于领先的，”Kik的创始人泰德·利文斯顿（Ted Livingston）说。该公司总部设在加拿大安大略省的滑铁卢。
The shift suggests that China could have a greater say in the global tech industry’s direction。 Already in China， more people use their mobile devices to pay their bills， order services， watch videos and find dates than anywhere else in the world。 Mobile payments in the country last year surpassed those in the United States。 By some estimates， loans from a new breed of informal online banks called peer-to-peer lenders did too。
这一转变表明中国在全球科技产业的发展方向上可能享有更大的话语权。在中国，用移动设备支付账单、预订服务、观看视频和寻找约会对象的人已经超过了世界上任何其他的地方。中国去年的移动支付交易总额超过了美国。据估计，一个叫做P2P借贷的新型非正规网上银行的贷款额也已经超过了美国。
Industry leaders point to a number of areas where China jumped first。 Before the online dating app Tinder， people in China used an app called Momo to flirt with nearby singles。 Before the Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos discussed using drones to deliver products， Chinese media reported that a local delivery company， S.F。 Express， was experimenting with the idea。 WeChat offered speedier in-app news articles long before Facebook， developed a walkie-talkie function before WhatsApp， and made major use of QR codes well before Snapchat。
业界领袖们指出了许多中国领先的领域。在网上约会应用Tinder问世之前，中国人就在用一款叫做陌陌的应用跟附近的单人男女调情了。在Amazon总裁杰夫·贝佐斯（Jeff Bezos）讨论用无人机送货之前，中国媒体就报道了一家当地的快递公司顺丰速运正在试验这个想法。微信比Facebook更早推出应用内的即时新闻，比WhatsApp更早开发出对讲功能，比Snapchat更早广泛使用二维码。
Before Venmo became the app for millennials to transfer money in the United States， both young and old in China were investing， reimbursing each other， paying bills，and buying products from stores with smartphone-based digital wallets。
在Venmo成为美国的千禧一代用来转账的应用之前，中国的男女老少就已经在用智能手机里的数字钱包来投资、销账、付账单并从商店购买产品了。
“Quite frankly， the trope that China copies the U.S。 Hasn’t been true for years， and in mobile it’s the opposite： The U.S。 often copies China，” said Ben Thompson， the founder of the tech research firm Stratechery。 “For the Facebook Messenger app， for example， the best way to understand their road map is to look at WeChat。”
“说实话，中国抄袭美国的这个说法好几年前就已经不成立了，而在移动领域恰恰相反：美国经常抄袭中国，”科研公司Stratechery的创始人本·汤普森（Ben Thompson）说。“比如，对于Facebook的Messenger应用来说，理解它的发展路线的最好方式是参照微信。”
