As I sit here listening to Chinese rock I realise that the question regarding creativity and the Chinese is entirely subjective, but this week I have become increasingly aware of the issue of ‘creativity’ and the debate of whether Chinese are capable of original thought. 
In his thought provoking book entitled ‘Can Asians Think’ author Kishore Mahbubani expresses the opinion that the world will be a much richer place when Western minds stop assuming that Western civilization represents the only universal civilization. I was reminded of the book when I met with two professors from my former university, Chapel Hill North Carolina. John Stewart and Buck Goldstein had come to review the wellbeing of 6 entrepreneurship undergraduate interns and our conversation turned to the ability of Asian students to excel in non-theoretical subjects, but to struggle in activities that required originality and self-expression. And yet when I look around me I see more and more examples of creativity, both historical and current. A study undertaken in 2000 in China showed that only 14.9 percent of the questioned Chinese youth believe they have creative ability, although 60 percent of the youngsters recognize the importance of creativity and 65.3 percent apparently have a curiosity about the world around them. It is easy to forget that their ancestors invented the compass, gunpowder, movable type printing and papermaking, and the temples with their wonderous ceramics illustrate the convergence of philosophy with artform. When I went to facilitate a creativity course this week with a group of 13 young public relations consultants, some of whom are of the age to have been involved in the 2000 survey, I found a lack of self-confidence about their own creativity: on a scale of 1-10 a couple of the young women claimed ‘4’but none had the temerity to raise their hands above a ‘5.’ Edward Lau, a friend and CCTV9 TV presenter, came to co-facilitate, and he had interviewed one of my guru’s ‘Tony Buzan,’ creator of the mindmap. We took the group through a course which I prepared which includes the usage of radiant and linkage thinking, and drawing of a mindmap. By the end of the 3 hours the groups presented imaginative and colourful strategies for their existing clients. One group linked Semi-Conductor chips to Potato Chips to a Chinese Pop Star endorsement, while another made a campaign for an English language fashion website transitioning ‘award’ to ‘a war’ resulting in ‘Fight for Fashion.’ Edward and I were impressed, and excited chatter of the young women indicated their amazement at what they had created. Sitting listening to Jazz played by a quartet of Chinese musicians at the East shore Live Jazz Cafe, overlooking the Hou Hai Lake, I could have been at Ronnie Scotts, but here we chatted about the changing nature of China. “The Cultural Revolution disconnected China from it’s past in the most brutal way – it destroyed the evidence but also the willingness of people to demonstrate their own creativity,” said Helen, an English lawyer who like so many young people came to China directly after graduation and has now lived here since 1995. Having visited 798, the artists compound and now turning my ear to music, it is as though this is the renaissance period for China, where those 65.3% of the young population are exploring every possible creative outlet, some of it a copy of the west, but much of it working to escape the undermining effects of the belief that anything from the universal civilisation is by definition, more valid. It appears that one of the universal experiences that entrepreneurs have is that of the rollercoaster of emotions. At the China Entrepreneurs event Ashley Liu of Mindwalk Studios and Derek Ling Tianji.com both spoke of their struggles in the talk ‘From Bootstraps to Wealth.’ It dawned on me that in all the business books that I have read none of them discuss the mental health required, the determination, overcoming self doubt, and one that I suffer from, making comparisons with other people’s success. Ashley spoke of checking job websites while still valiantly upholding the vision for their animation studio and Derek of going back to family and friends for more cash to realize his dream of a Linked in for China. A survey of millionaires in the Guangzhou based newspaper, Nanfang Weekend, claims that most of them ‘love and hate’ their wealth at the same time, while some found it an annoyance because of society’s tendency to ‘hate and envy rich people’ – in which case people like Ashley and Derek have to be careful what they wish for. 
A young man in Xiamen wished to insure his ‘new nose’ this week, the first such request in China apparently, and an opportunity for insurance firms to create a new business, an indication that the Chinese are not only becoming more creative but also more cosmetically aware. I ended the week by taking a Sunday morning trip to the Beijing Tap Water Museum. This unassuming reservoir of history illustrated how engineers used early equipment to hear turbines working, with old pump houses being refurbished in grounds with a lattice of small but now dry ponds. Inside the museum men were putting the final touches to a large scale model illustrating the pipe network for Beijing’s fresh water system; evidence that creativity isn’t limited to the young or those who just want to paint or sing Mandarin rock and roll. 
chuàng zuò to create; to produce; to write; creative work; creation NOTES: Mahbabani, Kishore ‘Can Asian's Think?’Times Editions 1998. ISBN981 204 968 1 Mahbubani.net Source: China to Study Young People's Creativity Peoples Daily Wednesday, September 13, 2000 Ministry of Education, the Chinese Communist Youth League Central Committee, and the China Association for Science and Technology, will be conducted among 11,800 students The famous music venue in SOHO, London
In his thought provoking book entitled ‘Can Asians Think’ author Kishore Mahbubani expresses the opinion that the world will be a much richer place when Western minds stop assuming that Western civilization represents the only universal civilization. I was reminded of the book when I met with two professors from my former university, Chapel Hill North Carolina. John Stewart and Buck Goldstein had come to review the wellbeing of 6 entrepreneurship undergraduate interns and our conversation turned to the ability of Asian students to excel in non-theoretical subjects, but to struggle in activities that required originality and self-expression. And yet when I look around me I see more and more examples of creativity, both historical and current. A study undertaken in 2000 in China showed that only 14.9 percent of the questioned Chinese youth believe they have creative ability, although 60 percent of the youngsters recognize the importance of creativity and 65.3 percent apparently have a curiosity about the world around them. It is easy to forget that their ancestors invented the compass, gunpowder, movable type printing and papermaking, and the temples with their wonderous ceramics illustrate the convergence of philosophy with artform. When I went to facilitate a creativity course this week with a group of 13 young public relations consultants, some of whom are of the age to have been involved in the 2000 survey, I found a lack of self-confidence about their own creativity: on a scale of 1-10 a couple of the young women claimed ‘4’but none had the temerity to raise their hands above a ‘5.’ Edward Lau, a friend and CCTV9 TV presenter, came to co-facilitate, and he had interviewed one of my guru’s ‘Tony Buzan,’ creator of the mindmap. We took the group through a course which I prepared which includes the usage of radiant and linkage thinking, and drawing of a mindmap. By the end of the 3 hours the groups presented imaginative and colourful strategies for their existing clients. One group linked Semi-Conductor chips to Potato Chips to a Chinese Pop Star endorsement, while another made a campaign for an English language fashion website transitioning ‘award’ to ‘a war’ resulting in ‘Fight for Fashion.’ Edward and I were impressed, and excited chatter of the young women indicated their amazement at what they had created. Sitting listening to Jazz played by a quartet of Chinese musicians at the East shore Live Jazz Cafe, overlooking the Hou Hai Lake, I could have been at Ronnie Scotts, but here we chatted about the changing nature of China. “The Cultural Revolution disconnected China from it’s past in the most brutal way – it destroyed the evidence but also the willingness of people to demonstrate their own creativity,” said Helen, an English lawyer who like so many young people came to China directly after graduation and has now lived here since 1995. Having visited 798, the artists compound and now turning my ear to music, it is as though this is the renaissance period for China, where those 65.3% of the young population are exploring every possible creative outlet, some of it a copy of the west, but much of it working to escape the undermining effects of the belief that anything from the universal civilisation is by definition, more valid. It appears that one of the universal experiences that entrepreneurs have is that of the rollercoaster of emotions. At the China Entrepreneurs event Ashley Liu of Mindwalk Studios and Derek Ling Tianji.com both spoke of their struggles in the talk ‘From Bootstraps to Wealth.’ It dawned on me that in all the business books that I have read none of them discuss the mental health required, the determination, overcoming self doubt, and one that I suffer from, making comparisons with other people’s success. Ashley spoke of checking job websites while still valiantly upholding the vision for their animation studio and Derek of going back to family and friends for more cash to realize his dream of a Linked in for China. A survey of millionaires in the Guangzhou based newspaper, Nanfang Weekend, claims that most of them ‘love and hate’ their wealth at the same time, while some found it an annoyance because of society’s tendency to ‘hate and envy rich people’ – in which case people like Ashley and Derek have to be careful what they wish for. 
A young man in Xiamen wished to insure his ‘new nose’ this week, the first such request in China apparently, and an opportunity for insurance firms to create a new business, an indication that the Chinese are not only becoming more creative but also more cosmetically aware. I ended the week by taking a Sunday morning trip to the Beijing Tap Water Museum. This unassuming reservoir of history illustrated how engineers used early equipment to hear turbines working, with old pump houses being refurbished in grounds with a lattice of small but now dry ponds. Inside the museum men were putting the final touches to a large scale model illustrating the pipe network for Beijing’s fresh water system; evidence that creativity isn’t limited to the young or those who just want to paint or sing Mandarin rock and roll. chuàng zuò to create; to produce; to write; creative work; creation NOTES: Mahbabani, Kishore ‘Can Asian's Think?’Times Editions 1998. ISBN981 204 968 1 Mahbubani.net Source: China to Study Young People's Creativity Peoples Daily Wednesday, September 13, 2000 Ministry of Education, the Chinese Communist Youth League Central Committee, and the China Association for Science and Technology, will be conducted among 11,800 students The famous music venue in SOHO, London