Beijing and Shanghai are like New York and Chicago in the 1890s: excitable, rumbustious and slightly crazy. Fortunes are made and lost quickly. Local government officials are deeply involved in property and business. The families and companies that succeed become the new aristocracy.
The Europeans looked at emerging America and found it slightly vulgar. They did not like the way art mixed with business. I suspect many feel the same about China. They say Chinese creativity is an oxymoron. They believe the country lacks the west’s bravura and risk-taking. They dismiss it as a nation of copiers.
But walk the streets, or check the output figures, and you see Chinese creativity on the march. Once reliant on low-cost manufacturing, China is now catching attention for its art, design, digital media and fashion.