I think US culture overall frowns upon non-original works. From school there's some push against working on something that is a copy of someone else's work. In the meantime China has mastered copying and made it a big part of their culture and economy.

Nowadays I'm learning game engine techniques by reading Godot code and implementing the damn same thing in my engine... Also, nowadays I like tracing pretty anime drawings... I enjoy it more and end up with something I like better than if I were to draw something original.

It's a real two-edged sword. On the one hand we claim to value originality. On the other, people will eschew originality if it hasn't been validated by some kind of gatekeeper.

Conventional wisdom among musicians is that the best way to attract an audience and make money is to play covers or familiar works. It's hard to get an audience to show up for "originals," whether it's in Classical or contemporary music.

It's hard to get people to visit a restaurant that's not part of a chain.

Disclosure: Musician in an "originals" band. ;-)