Josselin Gautier

Ellis Rahhal and Andrew Schorr sit across from each other in the minimalist office of their tech start-up, all clean lines and white linoleum floors. A pair of toothbrushes hint at many a late night hunched over their computers. Outside the window, the sun is slowly setting behind jagged mountains. The scene is classic Silicon Valley. But Rahhal and Schorr aren’t in California. They’re in suburban Beijing.

The two Americans are co-founders of Mobile Native, a mobile information firm providing a Beijing city guide for forei ......posite end of the city from the central business district. A new subway line opened last month, linking the two districts and highlighting how central both are to Beijing’s economic future, and how much money the government is willing to put into facilitating their interaction.

Only time will tell, however, if business and technology concerns can coalesce sufficiently to produce the kind of technological innovation China needs to compete as it moves towards a knowledge-based economy.