joizeex,

The Chinese buy the raw materials in BULK. Bulk that we can't match. Their labour costs are a small fraction of ours. They are graduating thousands of engineers every year. They take all the best ideas and put them in one package. They have the cash to spend on the latest and best, modern machinery and technology. They go large and succeed. They think long term.

And that reminds me of the Arlton brothers who developed the very first, 1/2A helicopter. They made it fixed pitch for simplicity and low cost. They succeeded. They then wanted to progress to collective. Many of their customers told them, "don't you dare". Keep it simple. So they did. Meanwhile, building on their success, competitors DID offer advanced versions of small helis and left them in the dust. I can't fathom why their offering advanced versions of their heli would have impinged on those who preferred the simple version. This is the kind of thinking that has hurt, and hurt badly.