Not so long ago, American tech giants viewed China as theirs for the taking: 1.4 billion people, a growing middle class, an affinity for American pop culture from Titanic and Friends to Michael Jackson. And, apparently, a tendency to see U.S. goods and services as attractive or superior.

That triumphal script was again rewritten as Uber conceded defeat in its no-holds-barred dust-up with Didi Chuxing. After a costly battle in which both sides shelled out billions subsidizing rides, Chief Executive Travis Kalanick decided to call off the war, agreeing to a deal in which the local champion acquires Uber's China operations in return for a seat on Didi's board and a slice of the Chinese company. The move came only a year after the famously brash Uber impresario declared China, the world's largest ride-hailing market, his most important target. 

In other words, Kalanick came, he saw, he most certainly didn't conquer.