This actually is "cutting edge" if you compare it to the bullshit we in the West have to deal with daily. I have way too much apps on my Android phone, none of which can talk to each other (despite intents) and half of which should be infrastructure-level anyway.
> b.) uses QR codes (invented by Japan, popularized by Japan)
... and almost completely ignored by Europe and the US. That they turned something potentially useful into actually useful is interesting in its own right.
> c.) pay things on phone (invented by nokia, popularized in europe)
Except it is 2016 and in Europe (and presumably in the US) it only barely works somewhere, sometimes, for some things.
I mean, let's not play double standards - if it's entirely fair to call Western companies (especially SV startups) "innovative" for wrapping something common in a Bootstrap theme, or turning something that should be a product into a butt service to extract rent from people, then it's entirely fair to call China "cutting edge".