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99.3 GCI Journal03 JULI2014[1] JUNE 2014 IN THIS ISSUE CHINA OBSERVATIONS Smellscapes of China CHINESE WISDOM On the Usefulness of Uselessness MADE IN CHINA Eve Group: The Fashion Story of a Chinese Brand BUSINESS CHINA An Emerging Stratum: Global China Insights China’s Entrepreneurs C HINA TIMES Partner or Rival? Dutch Policy-making regarding China FEATURE INTER VIEW Daan Roosegaarde: A Dutch Artist’s Mission to Clean China’s Smog GRONINGEN CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE 03 Global China Insights June 2014 China City Culture Harbin: The Harmony of 44 Diversity IN THIS I SSUE __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Chinese Wisdom 4 China Times Doing Business with China On the Usefulness of Globalising China Lecture by Dr. Victor Uselessness Part 2: Fast Foreign Yuan: Victory in the China Observations 21 Congratulations to Smellscapes of China; Economic Expansion 6 Chinese Market 27 Visibility of Religion in Contemporary China; Partner or Rival? __________________________________________________ A Ballet Teacher in China the University of Groningen The Narrow Margins of China Vogue Aesthetic China 35 th Dutch Policy-making WeChat: A Lifestyle 32 Spring Time in Chinese Verse; on its 400 anniversary Regarding China 10 China Sounds More Classical Than Ever; Chinese Cuisine: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Edible Artwork Business China Feature Interview China Media 48 An Emerging Stratum: A Dutch Artist’s Mission Wild China: Beautiful China; China’s Entrepreneurs 14 to Clean China’s Smog Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China: ________________________________________________ Interview with A Book by Ezra F. Vogel; © University of Groningen Made in China Daan Roosegaarde 40 Where Are We Going, Dad? Eve Group: GCI Calendar 55 GCI Overview; GCI Events; GCI The Fashion Story of a People Dynamics Photo: Teng Fei ( ) Chinese Brand 18 Photo cover: Xinhua Photo back cover: Du Yongle ( ) Issue 3 June 2014 1 Global China Insights ISSUE 3 June 2014 COLOFON Perceptions and Destinations Published by: Groningen Confucius Institute Advisory Board Members: Su Zhiwu (苏志武) BEIJING PEOPLE are very warm-hearted. In Beijing (北京), I saw people treat beggars not only Hu Zhengrong (胡正荣) to food but also to old clothes,” one said. Someone else added: “Shanghainese (上海人), though, are Pang Zengyu (逄增玉) money-seeking. In Shanghai, once I asked somebody for direction and was lead to my destination, but I Ruud Vreeman “was charged for the privilege…” Hendrik Jan Pijlman Sibrandes Poppema This conversation, which is the opening of a fictional novel, takes place in a train station waiting hall where it is overheard by two rural migrant workers. Two migrant workers determined to search for a Co-publishers: Liu Jingyi (刘婧一), new career in Beijing and Shanghai respectively. On hearing this dialogue while waiting for the train, Xuefei Knoester-Cao (曹雪飞), they both had a change of heart, arousing a dramatic change in their destinations. The one who wanted Jan Klerken to go to Shanghai suddenly thought: “Shanghai is such a difficult place, and Beijing sounds so friendly. Editor-in-Chief: Liu Jingyi (刘婧一) As a newcomer, even if I could not find a job, I would probably not be starved there”. While the one who Senior Editor: John Goodyear wanted to go to Beijing thought: “In Shanghai you can make money even by giving a person directions, it Editor: Ingrid Fischer would be impossible to fail to earn money there!” So they decide to exchange their tickets. The story ends Editorial Assistants: Teng Jiaqi (滕嘉琪), Hao Cui (郝翠), with the one who went to Shanghai becoming an entrepreneur, and the one who went to Beijing becoming Ding Xiyuan (丁喜媛) a beggar. Editorial Office Manager: Jasna Ros Designer: Nynke Kuipers Grafisch Ontwerp BNO (Kuenst) I read this story 20 years ago and I was so deeply impressed with and inspired by how much one’s Layout: Zheng Jing (郑晶) perception directs one’s destination. From that moment on, I have especially enjoyed observing different Artist Assistant: Li Yunxuan (李韵譞) people’s perceptions of the same facts or information and I always try to perceive one thing from different Photographers: Du Yongle (杜永乐), Li Shujun (李树军) and perspectives. I have gotten so much joy and inspiration from that. It is actually one of my missions and others one of the reasons for my initiative to share various perspectives on China via Global China Insights. Printer: Zalsman Groningen Media Editorial Office Address: Oude Boteringestraat 42 I have conducted a number of interviews with different people for this issue, and many times I just could 9712 GL Groningen, The Netherlands not help but think about the story, and I was impressed by a lot of my interviewees’ insightful perceptions: Tel: +31 (0)50 - 36 34 688 Mr. Daan Roosegaarde perceived the smog of Beijing as an opportunity for his business in China, and Email: [email protected] he achieved an innovative solution for the project (Feature interview); Mr. Huang Nubo (黄怒波) equated Editorial Email: [email protected] entrepreneurship to climbing a mountain as one needs to challenge the uncertainty during the process Advertising Email: [email protected] (Business China); Mrs. Xia Hua (夏华) was determined to renovate the men’s clothing field when other Subscription Email: [email protected] people competed in lady’s costumes and did not think there would be any demand for men’s fashion in Website: www.confuciusgroningen.nl China (Made in China). Available at: I believe it is an art in life to perceive things from different angles because it provides people with an open The Netherlands: vision to many possibilities and directions. If you follow a new direction, you might suddenly become Groningen Confucius Institute aware of it and take the appropriate action: a rewarding destination might be waiting for you. In that Municipality of Groningen sense, we can say that perceptions determine destinations. Germany: City of Oldenburg, China Office Academy of English, The China Room China: Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) Communication University of China Digital version available at Liu Jingyi www.confuciusgroningen.nl Editor-in-Chief www.Hanban.org © Du Yongle (杜永乐) 2 3 CHINESE WISDOM On the Usefulness of Uselessness Luo Xuan (罗璇) Pragmatism has been at the heart of modern society in which the seemingly useless things are simply out of place. But actually, there is no such thing as absolute uselessness, Taoist philosopher Zhuang Zhou (庄周 ca. 369-286 BC), better known as Chuang-Tze (庄子), argues in the parable of the useless tree. The story goes: A wandering carpenter, called Stone, saw on his travels a gigantic old oak tree standing in a field near an earth-altar. The carpenter said to his apprentice, who was admiring the oak: “This is a useless tree. If you wanted to make a ship, it would soon rot; if you wanted to make tools, they would break. © Xinhua You cannot do anything useful with this tree, and that is why it has become so old.” What Chuang-Tze illustrates with the educational scientist Ken Robinson for mere serendipitous discoveries to alter our for what they are and not merely for their parable of the useless tree is not that the instance, who presents it as an argument existing paradigms. Instead, the realisation apparent usefulness. Like the carpenter, tree is actually without use; rather, the against uniform education. By putting all of personal potential and the development may we learn not to judge these ‘useless’ We live in a world of ever increasing speed. usefulness of the tree is lost on the carpenter our students into the same educational of the individual’s special skills and talents people and things too quickly, but realise People want results and they want them because of his limited perspective. He looks straitjacket, special talents will easily get – useful or useless – should be at the heart that our own perspective is always limited now. In fact, they wanted them an hour ago. at the tree as a carpenter typically would: lost because these individual talents may of the education system, if not at the heart to some degree. And finally, like the oak Our society, therefore, tends to be governed raw material that must be turned into a not be perceived as useful. The students of society in general. tree, may we as a society grow old and by short-term pragmatism and efficiency. ship or a tool. For the old oak tree however, are instead forced to study more ‘practical’ ‘useless’ and live out our natural life span. Anything requiring too much time, money it is a different story altogether. Being skills, which may not be quite suitable for The carpenter woke up and meditated or effort will quickly be deemed ‘useless’. As turned into a ship is not necessarily such a them. upon his dream, and later, when his a result, our educational systems, industry great thing from its perspective; instead, apprentice asked him why just this one and society at large have all become it chooses to preserve itself by becoming Their own gifts thus not only bring tree served to protect the earth-altar, standardised to a high degree. They provide ‘useless’ in the eyes of the carpenter. harm to themselves, but possibly also he answered: “The tree grew here on a constant stream of model employees to to the society at large. As some of these purpose because anywhere else people the factories producing commodities for This principle of relativity is a recurring unique talents are wasted this way, it would have ill-treated it. If it were not the masses. However, something valuable theme in the philosophy of Chuang-Tze. And might prove essential in the long run. the tree of the earth-altar, it might have is lost in that process. Something we may it does not only apply to usefulness.
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