What are these “code books”?
There is no “code book” to tell me (or some Chinese) how to make, on their own, a particularly effective fishing lure. They might be able to pick it up by studying fishing forums for a good while, but even then they’d mostly just be copying something existing, not figuring out something new from actual research on how fish brains work.
There is no “code book” to tell anyone how to make a superlative sounding loudspeaker (nor do I know of any designed without the input of non-mainland-Chinese engineers, unless they are copies.)
There is no “code book” to tell the Chinese how to make a sports car as fun to drive as my old Mazda MX-3 GS. Again, they might be able to copy it, but they’d likely miss some of the subtle stuff, and they’d almost certainly get undercut by cutting corners - a 90 % of the time Chinese pastime.
Now, don’t get me wrong. If a Chinese company hires a few Western or Japanese engineers, they can be “dangerous”. In a few areas where they have long background, such as ceramics, and corner cutting can be rejected by a very tough management attitude, the Chinese can be REALLY good. I do have some direct experience with this: Of all the suppliers my company tried, there was one that was just flat out better quality than the US competition - and lower price, too. The Chinese are in many cases willing to do capital investment that US firms won’t, thereby beating us in automation of factories, and / or efficiency, even before the low wages come into play. But, on the flip side, my experience with Chinese engineers and techs is that they do NOT in general have our effective ingenuity: There is a degree of cultural rigidity that tends to suppress it. A few break that mold, or partially do, and those that come here for several years are most likely to succeed in that. But, they are the exception.
The problem is that the US consumer has been dumbed down in many of these things, therefor mostly copied commodities and low-bar designs of questionable quality suffice — and here the Chinese can make a killing. Most US manufacturers do too little, anymore, in most areas of endeavor, to develop a demanding and discerning market. I’ve seen it from the inside. Too many US companies are lazy in this regard.
Compare this to, of all things, the thriving winery business that has popped up in all sorts of places in the US. (Most anywhere where decent grapes will grow.) Does Wally-World or Kroger or IGA sell cheap Chinese wine? Not in my area. They have product from many US locations, and particularly a good selection from local wineries, which wineries have built up a darn good reputation AND a customer expectation of a good product at a good price.
That’s not a comparable business? Ok, look at Subaru, churning out vehicles as fast as they can, in Lafayette, Indiana. They are increasing market share every year, year after year after year.
Having been involved in design and manufacturing for a long time, I say: 1) Don’t strangle ourselves @ home. 2) Stomp on the IP theft as hard as possible (we can then move ahead quickly.) 3) Fair trade deals. 4) Somehow refocus consumers on lasting quality.
Given those things, we’ll smoke ‘em (the Chinese.)