Yunnan

Everyday Art in Everyday China

Sheaves of grain along a village wall

My month in China was one beautiful scene after another. The natural environment is gorgeous and so is the formal art — paintings, architecture, sculpture. But even more, I loved the art of everyday things in China — the art you don’t find in museums — like the ways shopkeepers display their goods or design that is incorporated into packaging or how people tell stories in ways that are accessible to everyone. These small ways people express their love for what they are selling or a little part of their environment are gifts to the rest of us.

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OMG China

I just left China after four weeks of travel and, wow, it was one surprise after another. Whatever you’ve heard about the Chinese government and whatever is true about the Chinese government, it appears the Chinese government views its role as taking care of the many rather than the few. And it appears to be doing a lot to take care of its (very large) corner of the earth. It seems to be thriving. Explaining even what I observed as a tourist would require a short book, but I’ll just provide a few generalizations, with the understanding that these are my impressions combined with some simple research.

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