China: design a “national priority.”
Out of context: Reply #32
- Started
- Last post
- 45 Responses
- BuddhaHat0
On a practically applied level, I haven't seen very much inspired design here, from architecture to fashion, or anything else for that matter, in the 7 months I've been here. That's after visiting Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen and a couple of other smaller (in relative terms) cities.
That's not to say I don't expect it in the future. As it stands, I believe that creativity in terms of expressing one's ideas has been intentionally stifled by the government. When one is allowed complete freedom, the inevitable consequence is that one or many individuals will start questioning the status quo, their lot in life, and a great many other things. This terrifies the government no end.
A lot of people I meet here read or hear the news fed to them through government-run channels, and accept it unquestioningly. A quick scan of other news outlets around the world show some of the provided information to be disingenuous, or scant at best. This will change... gradually.
The culture of replication and imitation is strong here, from basic consumer products to buildings. A prime example of this would be one university I visited in Hangzhou, where the library is housed underground, with light introduced to the space via 3 glass pyramids above it. An exact fucking copy of the layout of the Louvre, sans fountains.
Financially speaking, in certain areas, I will accept that fostering creativity will be a boon to society. The simple fact remains though that they are currently experiencing a boom the likes of which have not been seen before, and the government, which controls everything, is intent on controlling inflation and growth, above and beyond anything else.
To stave off a drop in growth after the GFC in '08-'09 (analysts said that a drop below 8% growth of GDP in China would have severe effects locally and globally), the government spent hundreds of billions of dollars on transport, construction, reduced price consumer products for the less wealthy, and many other projects.
These kinds of goals are intent on delivering work and quantity, devoid of any real quality, or creativity. All you have to do is look out across the skyline in any major city to see building after building, seemingly placed there one after another like yet another product from a factory line. They are identical, ugly, and poorly built, like most products from China.
This is the nature of the boom that China is currently experiencing, and that they will continue to experience for some time to come. Do I believe this environment naturally fosters creativity? No. Do I believe that there are countless wonderfully creative minds in China yearning to find a way to express themselves? Absolutely. I genuinely look forward to seeing what they produce.