While China's economy is on the rise, the next great challenge that the country has to address is the inevitable move from being mere imitators to innovators.

The story of Brent Hoberman will illuminate China's fall into the copycat phenomenon.

Hoberman is the founder of an online interior design and furniture store called, Mydeco.com. He once visited China where one man wanted to meet him.

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When they met, the man thanked Hoberman profusely, stating that Mydeco.com was the website he copied in 2007 to launch his now successful web business.

Hoberman says that from his perspective, thanking Hoberman for his website style that was copied was considered flattery. However, from a Westerner's point of view, imitation was far from that.

Throughout the years, China has created an image of a country that creates knockoffs of famous items. In 2011, a US blogger discovered a store selling fake Apple units. There were reported to be 21 branches in the country.

The ruse was so well done that even the people working for these stores thought they were working for the real Apple.

Recently, the issue of imitation has not really been an issue as China is still the world's second largest economy. For the past three decades it has expanded in a double-digit pace.

However, the recent year saw the first time their economy slowed in 24 years. Businessmen in China will need to innovate if they want to grow in local markets, and more importantly, abroad as well.

Joe Baolin Zhou, chief executive of private education firm Bond Education, says that the era of imitation is almost over.

Zhou explains that China's copying stemmed from a rush the China had when they opened their economies in 1980. Time and money for research was just not available for those pioneers.

Signs are good though, as the second wave of start-ups established in China since the economy was opened are led by people educated in the West. 

Tagsimitator, innovator, Fake, knockoff, fake Apple store, Mydeco.com