China’s Design Industry + Fulbright Emo Woes
Word of the day: 海龟, sea-turtle — I read an article about the increasing repatriation of overseas Chinese, especially the students that left around the 1980s. Many are returning now, drawn by the economic opportunities of new China. Contrast haigui, sea turtle, with 地龟, tortoise, for the locals.
I’m trying to put together a coherent proposal for a Fulbright in either China, Hongkong, or Taiwan, and I’m kind of at a loss at what to do. I want to focus on China’s design industry, and since I have a business background, I figured industry analysis made the most sense. But, whenever I try to come up with an idea, I’m bombarded by articles left and right and have no idea where I want to focus on. China’s design industry is growing very quickly, though most references are about industrial design. Still, I’m blown sideways when I see things like Eddi Yip’s adFuncture, a vinyl toy collective, along with his blog about China’s hip street culture. PingMag (now on hiatus) also covered graphic design in China, but I got side-tracked by their posts on Japanese graffiti. I guess, I’m kind of torn between wanting to learn more about this design + street culture sphere, while also wanting to do some of the designing. More than anything, I started fearing what I would do if I actually got this award. I want this so desperately, but if I got this project, I would be on my own, in another country where my writing skills are almost nil and my reading/speaking skills are backsliding day by day, probably in a city without any relatives or friends, and I’d just have to start contacting people and… explore things. That sounds crazy and ridiculous. I dunno what to do. Eh. This entry made no sense, the bottom line is, I want to travel and learn more about these incredibly cool cities but I have no idea what I would actually do when I get there.