Yet experts note domestic innovation continues to lag quality found overseas

It took a decade and a half from 1985 to 2000 for China to register its first million patent applications, a figure it easily surpassed last year alone when 1.22 million applications were filed, according to the latest statistics released by the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

The number of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs rose 25 percent last year from the 980,000 filed in 2009.