Unless China was a market for you to sell into, why do you specifically care if they copy it. Patent it in the countries you wish to sell it into, and then this restricts them from being able to import the copied item into those countries. If you discover they are importing it, you report the patent infringement to customs and border security. They then impound all
Goods from that manufacturer with the same HS code and sometimes all goods completely while it is investigated, which can take years. Chinese companies are very wary of this as it can destroy their business and ability to sell other products into Western markets.
If the fear is it is easy to change enough to get around the patent why bother at all and then it is just a pricing, marketing and service to support product battle.
Unless China was a market for you to sell into, why do you specifically care if they copy it. Patent it in the countries you wish to sell it into, and then this restricts them from being able to import the copied item into those countries. If you discover they are importing it, you report the patent infringement to customs and border security. They then impound all Goods from that manufacturer with the same HS code and sometimes all goods completely while it is investigated, which can take years. Chinese companies are very wary of this as it can destroy their business and ability to sell other products into Western markets.
If the fear is it is easy to change enough to get around the patent why bother at all and then it is just a pricing, marketing and service to support product battle.