I heard this a lot when i was in China (and sometimes here as well) and i always wanted to put across my response: Thank You!
Over there in China, children and women should never be listened to, according to an old saying attributed to some white-bearded sage. For China to become what it wants to be, this heavy sack of historical and cultural wisdom must be sifted through and held up to the light of day.
For example: Du Fu, one of the greatest poets China has ever enjoyed, was a hobo and a drunkard. Everyone in China can quote a few poems of his and everyone laughs about his and his contemporaries love for drink and play, but very few of them actually learn the lessons of this man and throw of the shackles of their society to CREATE themselves.
I remember thinking that a lot of travel will result in a child-like mind-state at times. This mind-state allows one to absorb surroundings and sounds much better than an “adult” filter and I have found a little bit of childishness goes a long way toward establishing communication with the scions of Babel (people who don’t speak my language). And whose imagination can rival a child’s?
This little blurb by a designer in Shenzhen talks about these issues.
