The year of 1.3 billion rabbits
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The lifestyle glamorized and promoted by the pages of Playboy magazine appeals to many Chinese today. Beyond this level, however, Playboy has a lesson or two to teach China, most importantly its success in synthesizing edgy cultural commentary and mass-market appeal. As China's media continues to multiply and diversify in full force, there is a need for more trailblazing voices to beckon the formation of an engaged, involved public.
To employ another rabbit from the Western world to continue the analogy, we could say that China, the magician, needs to pull more than one rabbit out of its hat. China's growth since the 1990s is nothing short of magic, but the magician should no longer be content with his limited role as a raw supplier and a manufacturer of other countries' designs. He needs to lead the way in innovation, too. When consumers purchase a product emblazed with the phrase "Made in China", they should expect superior quality and smart design, not poor construction and a derivative concept. The magician's rabbits, abundant as they are, ought to be more spectacular as they emerge from the hat.
I have repeatedly commended China for its forward-focused vision but at the same time I have argued that it must develop cultural and social institutions alongside its economy. Given recent trends, today I am even more optimistic about China's ability to perfect a society that is not only wealthy but inspiring to the rest of the world.
China recently stunned the world when students from Shanghai outperformed participants from all other countries in reading, math and science in the Program for International Student Assessment. Although standardized tests are limited in what they indicate, the Shanghai students' success demonstrates the value of China's Confucian-based education model in honing the foundational skills necessary for advanced-level education.
Equipped with study skills to match a solid foundation in math, science, and languages, an increasing number of economically advantaged Chinese students are attending universities in Europe and the United States to earn graduate and postgraduate degrees, often in business. In contrast to Chinese graduates of the last generation, who were generally older and less likely to challenge the status quo, today's Chinese students have a growing voice in the world. They are no longer passive receivers of Western modes of thought. Instead, they are more likely to chart their own courses in life.
These students' worldliness and confidence, afforded to them by China's economic condition, will equip them to find innovative solutions for the world by hybridizing the best of Chinese and Western educations.
Rabbits, with their strength in number and their ability to quickly adapt to changes in a world to which they hold the key, are going to be the agents of change in 2011.
The author is a director of a media company based in Paris.
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