China needs the white man to invent things. They know they can’t. They can steal our inventions and make them cheaper, but they can’t create them on their own.
They can’t under the CCP where everything must get Party approval; first including the required bribes.
However in the past things were vastly different.
List of Chinese inventions and discoveries:
Eatable/food stuff
Apples, apricot, oranges, peaches, the lemon, grapefruit - a modified descendant of the Chinese pomelo, the Chinese persimmon, shoots of the young bamboo, water chestnut, the sweet lichee nut, noodles, ice cream-like deserts, pasta, the tea rose, the soy bean, whiskey
Military
fireworks, the compass, the crossbow, kites, the parachute, cigar shaped hot-air balloon, “man-flying kites”, antiaircraft fire (shooting down kites with arrows), manned rockets - (Wan Hu reportedly attached 47 gunpowder rockets to his chair, lit the fuses and took off, and was never seen again), burning mirrors and curved mirrors, poison gas, the stink bomb, flame thrower
Flowers
the chrysanthemum, the tea rose, the camellia, the azalea, the China aster, the tall woody-stemmed tree peony, the ginkgo or maidenhair tree
Medical
eye drops, chaulmoogra oil - the only known means for treating leprosy, ephedrine - used for treating colds
Personal
umbrellas, the folding umbrella, belts, buckled belts, plaques, buckles, trousers, sunglasses, mirrors, toilet paper, chairs, the sedan chair or palanquin, wallpaper, toilet paper
Multimedia
playing cards, paper, dominoes, camera obscura, yo-yos, the magic lantern (or zoetrope), goldfish, chess, the spoon, dice, shadow play
Arts
wood block printing, phosphorescent paint, the spinning wheel, sliding calipers, porcelain, lost-wax casting and metalworking techniques used in making wire and chains
Nautical
fishing reels, the rudder, dry docks, watertight bulkheads
Concepts
the decimal point, the concept of zero, the Mohist classic of Chinese physics elaborated a theory of optics, the first to notice that all snowflakes had six sides,
Transportation
wheeled transport, chariots, cavalry tactics
Misc
lacquer, the wheelbarrow, the seismograph, weather cocks and vanes, wind direction devices, fingerprinting, tung oil - for varnishes, woven silk, peacock-feather fans and screen fans, compasses, soccer (Cuju)
http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub7/item30.html
Chinese inventions were used mainly for the amusement of the emperor rather than moving an economic society forward.