China Meiguo

I recently came across an article entitled Key to Unlocking China's Creativity by Andrew White, a professor at the University of Nottingham in Ningbo, China. The article discusses a book by Chinese author Li Wuwei, How Creativity is Changing China, which was written in Chinese, but has been translated into English. Li argues that if China's economy is going to continue its rapid development, it will have to become more creative and less reliant on manufacturing. This is probably true - although manufacturing will remain a very important contributor to the Chinese economy, there are already significant changes in China that are posing challenges to China's role as the low-cost manufacturing capital of the world. 

Will Chinese cultural industries overtake manufacturing in the future?

Last weekend, I visited Nanputuo Temple (南普陀寺; Nánpǔtuósì), the most famous Buddhist temple in the city of Xiamen. Nanputuo originated in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), but the modern temple has little in common with its ancient ancestor since it has been rebuilt and renovated several times. Although there are still Buddhist monks that live and pray at the temple, it has also become a major tourist attraction with Chinese tourists (as well as a few foreigners) heavily outnumbering the monks on most days.

A few people praying in front of the temple entrance

After about 2 months of rainy, gloomy weather, the sun has finally reappeared here in Xiamen. I took advantage of the improved weather to walk around Xiamen University and the nearby beach and take some photos. Xiamen University (厦门大学) is located right on the coast and has a beautiful, scenic campus in addition to being one of the top universities in China. In addition to students and faculty roaming the campus, many tourists also visit as well as local monks from nearby Nanputuo Temple (南普陀寺).

A monk strolling out from the Xiamen University gate

Found this video of a song by the Canadian group Simple Plan featuring Chinese singer and television/radio host Kelly Cha (Zha Kexin; 查可欣). 

Using a Chinese singer was a planned marketing tactic by Simple Plan (and/or their record company) to develop their international fanbase. In addition to this version of the song with Kelly Cha, there's also a version with Indonesian band KOTAK, a version with British singer Natasha Bedingfield. Apparently, Simple Plan has also featured other local artists performing the song in concerts when they've toured internationally. This seems like a pretty logical way of promoting a band in foreign markets and maybe such a simple plan makes a good marketing plan although there certainly might be some jet lag involved.