First of all, please confirm whether other people's previous applications have been made public by the Patent Office. In general, an application for a patent for invention will be made public after 18 months from the date of filing (the priority date refers to the priority date). You may say that the Patent Office hasn't been able to make it public for several months, unless the applicant of the earlier application has made a request for early disclosure. If it is an application for a patent for utility model, the authorization can be announced.
If the earlier application is not made public, the earlier application can only affect the novelty of the later application, but not the creativity. When you submit the latter application, you should pay attention to the unique structural features of your invention in the claims.
If the earlier application has been published, when filing the latter application, attention should be paid to including the unique structural features of the invention in the claims and highlighting the unique functions of the invention in the specification.
Besides, how did others get your invention? If there is evidence that it is your invention and others disclose its contents without your consent, you can claim its novelty according to the provisions of Article 24 of the Patent Law below. In addition, if there is sufficient evidence to prove that others have violated the law, they can also take ownership litigation and return the plagiarized prior patent application. But it is important to have enough evidence.
Article 24 An invention-creation applying for a patent shall not lose its novelty in any of the following circumstances within six months before the date of filing:
(1) It was exhibited for the first time at an international exhibition sponsored or recognized by the China Municipal Government;
(2) It was first published at a specific academic conference or technical conference;
(3) Others disclose the contents of the application without the consent of the applicant.