In China, a young live-streaming star can pull in as much as $40,000 monthly in virtual gifts from online fans who cheer on their dancing, singing and jokes set to catchy music. The Chinese company that popularized this made-in-China business model is Nasdaq-listed YY Inc. It takes a chunk of revenue from virtual tips such as roses bought by audiences for top video performers. 

China's live-streaming market took off a few years ago. Today, it's a $5 billion business and a highly popular form of entertainment. YY, with as many as 90 million viewers and $2.3 billion in revenues, is one of China's giants in this booming sector.  

The Chinese web has evolved beyond just copying Facebook, YouTube and Google, to innovating its own mobile-first digital platforms and ways of making money. All these services simply presume that users have smartphones, which in China, with 783 million such users, is a reasonable bet.

China is inventing not just virtual gifting but new types of mobile apps for social commerce as well as all-in-one services and mini-shops integrated within an app. China invented and popularized several other types of money-making mobile apps that the West is only beginning to adopt: short video apps, super apps and social commerce. China is also going all in on artificial intelligence to precisely match users with digital advertising and content, and leveraging key opinion leaders to influence and spark online shopping.