Where Modern Architecture Is Headed

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New videos DAILY: https://bigth.ink Join Big Think Edge for exclusive video lessons from top thinkers and doers: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 2012, the southern Chinese province of Guangdong spent $940 million constructing a complete replica of Austria's most picturesque town, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Hallstatt. Did the rest of the world think it was strange? Absolutely. Did China? Not at all. Gish Jen has grown up with one foot in the East and one in the West, so she's in a unique position to understand why something so taboo in America—being a copycat—is so openly practiced in China. Gish chalks it up to different ideas of the self in these two places. The US zealously practices individualism, and people's lives are spent in the pursuit of unique self-expression. Meanwhile, Asia has a more interconnected concept of identity, and of recognizing a network of ideas rather than a singular vision. In art in particular, there is the notion of education through imitation; before you can carve your own path in a tradition you should master the great ideas within it. Which explains why something that is considered an homage in China, would be an instant lawsuit in America. Gish Jen's most recent book is The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GISH JEN Gish Jen is the author of

Published 2011-05-20 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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