CHINESE DESIGN EDUCATION
Michael Erlhoff
In this month's Education Feature, originally published in Form magazine, Michael Erlhoff portrays his outlook on the emergence of design studies in China. Evoking elements such as the Chinese economic reform and existing socioeconomics as significant factors affecting the advent of Chinese design education, Erlhoff raises key issues such as whether or not traditional design pedagogy has a hampering affect on modern design studies.
The figures repeatedly circulated in recent years sound impressive: Allegedly, hundreds of design schools have been established in China in a very short space of time. But just what is design education like in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan? How high is the quality? And what role do Chinese traditions and influences from the West play? A status report from the China expert Michael Erlhoff.
1. Admittedly design education existed in China even before the radical change in the country's economic policy. But it either had a strong leaning towards arts and crafts or focused exclusively - and very traditionally - on graphic design. As such, in the past any references to Chinese design tended to mean Taiwan and Hong Kong. As long as 25 years ago the government in Taiwan recognised the importance of design for the country's economic development and the international prestige of its own products. This led to the establishment and expansion of a great many design schools (even today one of the most important is still the Shih Chien University in Taipei) and intensive activity on the part of the national design center and its offshoots abroad.
2. Without doubt one factor that promoted the development of design and design studies in Hong Kong was the widespread knowledge of English. Let's turn our attention then to Hong Kong, which, while still under British rule but economically increasingly steered by the Chinese, built up a design center that continues to be successful today. Parallel to this the School of Design within the Hong Kong PolyUniversity developed into the core of a noticeably intelligent, circumspect and successful design education.
While initially it was largely staffed by English lecturers and guided by their ideas on design, over the course of time it has succeeded in articulating itself more clearly in the Chinese context and in Chinese industry. Today, more design experts lecture there, many of whom were educated at this school and some of whom also studied abroad. Meanwhile, especially internationally, this School of Design is an important factor in design development and (also in research) discussion of design, and has become one of the most respected and most active places for design studies internationally.
To a certain extent the development in Hong Kong, like that in Taiwan, impacts on the mainland and has spurred reflection on design studies and the practice of design studies. This is all the more the case given that meanwhile many companies with headquarters in Taiwan or Hong Kong produce in the People's Republic of China. Nor should you underestimate the extent to which Taiwanese design professors travel to the mainland. Not least of all it is highly interesting to note that the famous handover treaty between Great Britain and the People's Republic of China that made Hong Kong into a special economic zone of China and led to the British withdrawing contains a special paragraph in which Hong Kong is expressly required to promote the development of design and design education on the mainland.
3. Back to design studies in China. Without doubt the most significant factor that led to a closer look at the education of designers and the level of their qualification was the change that Chinese economic policy underwent. In other words that daring but equally tricky attempt to alter areas or regions that previously functioned very well on a centralist economic policy so as to liberate free market or even capitalist forces and privatise parts of the economy. It is generally known that while this generated an impressive economic boom, which above all made an international impact, it also involved radical changes in life, and also the social and economic relations in the regions around Peking and Shanghai and in the South East. What is amazing is how quickly the Chinese government grasped the relevance of design within this development.
It goes without saying this has to do with several very logical aspects: First, if it is to attract international investments and investors to the country or draw international visitors to the fairs in Shanghai and elsewhere it must demonstrate a certain amount of design authenticity and originality - so as to dispel the concerns that everything will immediately be copied in China. Moreover, a wealthy middle class and a very wealthy upper class has emerged in China (at least in the regions mentioned), which are possibly no longer inclined to only consume foreign products and brands, but would like at least occasionally to buy domestic products of a comparable quality. And third, intelligent members of the population - including some involved in politics - are beginning to realize that in the mid to long-term the prospects of a low-wage country can only be corrupting and damaging to the economy, as this status has no future and given global production could fall apart at any time.
As such, it was deemed necessary to not only pursue the development of design but also the development of quality - also extending to the area of service design if commercial and general tourism were to be established. As a result, as early as the late 1990s, the Peking government's official directive was to issue the statement that design was one of the key economic factors. The effect of this directive was felt nationwide: in the last eleven years some 650 (some estimates say only 350) new design schools or at least design faculties at universities and similar schools were created. Some of these were somewhat unusual - for instance, a design faculty at a Forestry School and the like. And while we are talking about figures let us mention some other data: Two years ago, 65,000 people applied for design studies solely at the China Academy of Art and Design in Hangzhou (a city with eight million inhabitants south of Shanghai) - some 1,000 were admitted. Now consider that application fees alone amount to the equivalent of 20 euros (bringing the academy 1.3 million euros in receipts (however, since the examination takes place simultaneously in several Chinese cities, a considerable amount of money had to be paid to the examiners); but it must be said that the process of this admission exam necessarily runs somewhat obscurely. Incidentally, it now costs more than 2,000 Euros a year to study at this academy - and it bears considering that meanwhile all higher education institutions in the People's Republic of China have been privatised.
4. There can be no question that there are not enough adequately educated teachers to cope with this run of students on design studies. Admittedly, there were and still are several professors who studied design primarily in Japan or the United States and as such can offer proper design studies. However, the majority of those teaching design - even if they are competent in what they do - generally have an artisan orientation and training. This automatically creates the problem that while they may receive a good artisan education the design studies are somewhat limited and traditional in nature. Moreover, this prevents the very necessary reflection on developing a forward-looking job profile for design in China.
There are two other grave difficulties about design studies that contribute to this problem: Firstly, there continues to be strong competition at those schools where design is taught between the latter and fine arts, particularly with traditional Chinese painting (there are a few exceptions at those universities - such as that in Wuxi - with a stronger engineering basis or like that in Guangzhou which is more geared towards direct entry into industry). This is all the more understandable given that traditional Chinese painting continues to be a lucrative market - you could even argue this is more the case today. As such, the lecturers at the highly respected academies and the departments or faculties engaged in painting wield great influence and power and design tends to become sidelined. This is particularly evident in the management functions of the academies, in the facilities, in the PR work and in the number of lecturers. Remarkable though it might seem, if this situation does not alter relatively soon then precisely the highly-respected schools will become stifled in tradition and lose out to new places of design studies.
This brings into play a second problem: China has an impressive cultural history, has always been aware of its history and presents it wherever possible with a force that would hardly be conceivable in other countries. Although this might impress considerably in the country itself, such a tradition is always a burden, represents a limitation in thinking and acting and an almost insurmountable blind that obstructs a forward-looking approach. This can be ascertained empirically when you spend time in China, both in peoples' prejudice towards these cultural assets but also and especially despite all the jubilation about fashion, spanking-new brands and technical products in the general appreciation and preference for objects and imagery or also colors and fabrics with a historico-cultural connotation. The result of this schismatic situation leads to completely parallel developments, which are by no means connected to one another: On the one hand Western oriented product worlds and imagery, on the other the motif of Chinese tradition that guides overall life and thinking. Doubtless, it has not been possible up until today to truly link these two real dimensions with one another.
This is very important for design as currently it is primarily required to produce imitations of western-oriented ideas, which brings a certain amount of success - and simultaneously precisely for this reason design does not enjoy the standing and influence on societal, cultural and ultimately economic developments in order to be really important. Certainly, one of the central tasks of design and design studies in China will be to redefine tradition and perspectives and to design their interlocking. Several attempts to do this exist already and are actually rooted in the traditional Chinese culture and Chinese way of thinking. Consider, for example that the Chinese language is intensively based on associative logic, transformatory competence and productive reception (which also holds for other aspects of Chinese culture) - and precisely this could be the substantial precondition for and competence of design and manner of behavior newly brought into society by design. However, rather than working structurally with its own culture, what still happens in China is that design is still - and no doubt owing to banal mechanisms of the international market - geared towards the highly superficial modification of Western models.
5. Things will heat up in China when design and design studies grasp this dynamism - which has existed for some time - and learn to try and implement it more clearly. There is some evidence of a gradual trend in this direction in various university projects handling product lines and conduct that is more researched, more precise and of a better quality. There is no doubting a gradual increase of confidence in design studies in China. The best example was a large conference held again in 2007 at the academy in Hangzhou under the title "Chinese Design", especially given that it was not only attended by Chinese design lecturers from the People's Republic of China but also from Taiwan, Hong Kong and England, Canada, the United States and many other countries. This gave it the flavor of an insider event though it was simultaneously global.
Finally, it should be said in conclusion that leaving aside the content quality of the studies, at least some of these academies now also offer economic dimensions, which are otherwise unknown here and seem truly exotic. Let's look at Hangzhou again: On its central campus this academy provides a three-storey exhibition building (that has been used by various institutions including the L
ouvre), its own hotel (three to four star) and very attractive architecture; recently the campus for design students that is located somewhat on the periphery was sold for the equivalent of about 50 million US dollars, and in its place a new, architecturally brilliant campus was built for around 100 million that involved moving hills and diverting rivers. That said - and this demonstrates how differently some things are valued - the project rooms and lecture theaters are not heated (and it gets cold in the winter).
We are still by no means in a position to draw any final conclusions about design and design studies in China. The speed at which things are happening is simply too great to do so, it would be wrong to underestimate the ability of this nation to adapt and transform. This makes it all the more important in Europe to understand such developments and to develop and assert intelligent and equal forms of cooperation. That is not to say it will be an easy task.
This article originally appeared in form 224 / 2009 and has been republished with permission.
About the author
Michael Erlhoff is the founding Dean of what is today the Köln International School of Design, where he holds the Chair in Design Theory and History. From 1987 until 1991 he headed the German Design Council. He has authored numerous books, most recently the "Design Dictionary" (with Tim Marshall) published by Birkhäuser Verlag, and for many years he has lectured at various universities in Asia.
In this month's Education Feature, originally published in Form magazine, Michael Erlhoff portrays his outlook on the emergence of design studies in China. Evoking elements such as the Chinese economic reform and existing socioeconomics as significant factors affecting the advent of Chinese design education, Erlhoff raises key issues such as whether or not traditional design pedagogy has a hampering affect on modern design studies.
The figures repeatedly circulated in recent years sound impressive: Allegedly, hundreds of design schools have been established in China in a very short space of time. But just what is design education like in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan? How high is the quality? And what role do Chinese traditions and influences from the West play? A status report from the China expert Michael Erlhoff.
1. Admittedly design education existed in China even before the radical change in the country's economic policy. But it either had a strong leaning towards arts and crafts or focused exclusively - and very traditionally - on graphic design. As such, in the past any references to Chinese design tended to mean Taiwan and Hong Kong. As long as 25 years ago the government in Taiwan recognised the importance of design for the country's economic development and the international prestige of its own products. This led to the establishment and expansion of a great many design schools (even today one of the most important is still the Shih Chien University in Taipei) and intensive activity on the part of the national design center and its offshoots abroad.
2. Without doubt one factor that promoted the development of design and design studies in Hong Kong was the widespread knowledge of English. Let's turn our attention then to Hong Kong, which, while still under British rule but economically increasingly steered by the Chinese, built up a design center that continues to be successful today. Parallel to this the School of Design within the Hong Kong PolyUniversity developed into the core of a noticeably intelligent, circumspect and successful design education.
While initially it was largely staffed by English lecturers and guided by their ideas on design, over the course of time it has succeeded in articulating itself more clearly in the Chinese context and in Chinese industry. Today, more design experts lecture there, many of whom were educated at this school and some of whom also studied abroad. Meanwhile, especially internationally, this School of Design is an important factor in design development and (also in research) discussion of design, and has become one of the most respected and most active places for design studies internationally.
To a certain extent the development in Hong Kong, like that in Taiwan, impacts on the mainland and has spurred reflection on design studies and the practice of design studies. This is all the more the case given that meanwhile many companies with headquarters in Taiwan or Hong Kong produce in the People's Republic of China. Nor should you underestimate the extent to which Taiwanese design professors travel to the mainland. Not least of all it is highly interesting to note that the famous handover treaty between Great Britain and the People's Republic of China that made Hong Kong into a special economic zone of China and led to the British withdrawing contains a special paragraph in which Hong Kong is expressly required to promote the development of design and design education on the mainland.
3. Back to design studies in China. Without doubt the most significant factor that led to a closer look at the education of designers and the level of their qualification was the change that Chinese economic policy underwent. In other words that daring but equally tricky attempt to alter areas or regions that previously functioned very well on a centralist economic policy so as to liberate free market or even capitalist forces and privatise parts of the economy. It is generally known that while this generated an impressive economic boom, which above all made an international impact, it also involved radical changes in life, and also the social and economic relations in the regions around Peking and Shanghai and in the South East. What is amazing is how quickly the Chinese government grasped the relevance of design within this development.
It goes without saying this has to do with several very logical aspects: First, if it is to attract international investments and investors to the country or draw international visitors to the fairs in Shanghai and elsewhere it must demonstrate a certain amount of design authenticity and originality - so as to dispel the concerns that everything will immediately be copied in China. Moreover, a wealthy middle class and a very wealthy upper class has emerged in China (at least in the regions mentioned), which are possibly no longer inclined to only consume foreign products and brands, but would like at least occasionally to buy domestic products of a comparable quality. And third, intelligent members of the population - including some involved in politics - are beginning to realize that in the mid to long-term the prospects of a low-wage country can only be corrupting and damaging to the economy, as this status has no future and given global production could fall apart at any time.
As such, it was deemed necessary to not only pursue the development of design but also the development of quality - also extending to the area of service design if commercial and general tourism were to be established. As a result, as early as the late 1990s, the Peking government's official directive was to issue the statement that design was one of the key economic factors. The effect of this directive was felt nationwide: in the last eleven years some 650 (some estimates say only 350) new design schools or at least design faculties at universities and similar schools were created. Some of these were somewhat unusual - for instance, a design faculty at a Forestry School and the like. And while we are talking about figures let us mention some other data: Two years ago, 65,000 people applied for design studies solely at the China Academy of Art and Design in Hangzhou (a city with eight million inhabitants south of Shanghai) - some 1,000 were admitted. Now consider that application fees alone amount to the equivalent of 20 euros (bringing the academy 1.3 million euros in receipts (however, since the examination takes place simultaneously in several Chinese cities, a considerable amount of money had to be paid to the examiners); but it must be said that the process of this admission exam necessarily runs somewhat obscurely. Incidentally, it now costs more than 2,000 Euros a year to study at this academy - and it bears considering that meanwhile all higher education institutions in the People's Republic of China have been privatised.
4. There can be no question that there are not enough adequately educated teachers to cope with this run of students on design studies. Admittedly, there were and still are several professors who studied design primarily in Japan or the United States and as such can offer proper design studies. However, the majority of those teaching design - even if they are competent in what they do - generally have an artisan orientation and training. This automatically creates the problem that while they may receive a good artisan education the design studies are somewhat limited and traditional in nature. Moreover, this prevents the very necessary reflection on developing a forward-looking job profile for design in China.
There are two other grave difficulties about design studies that contribute to this problem: Firstly, there continues to be strong competition at those schools where design is taught between the latter and fine arts, particularly with traditional Chinese painting (there are a few exceptions at those universities - such as that in Wuxi - with a stronger engineering basis or like that in Guangzhou which is more geared towards direct entry into industry). This is all the more understandable given that traditional Chinese painting continues to be a lucrative market - you could even argue this is more the case today. As such, the lecturers at the highly respected academies and the departments or faculties engaged in painting wield great influence and power and design tends to become sidelined. This is particularly evident in the management functions of the academies, in the facilities, in the PR work and in the number of lecturers. Remarkable though it might seem, if this situation does not alter relatively soon then precisely the highly-respected schools will become stifled in tradition and lose out to new places of design studies.
This brings into play a second problem: China has an impressive cultural history, has always been aware of its history and presents it wherever possible with a force that would hardly be conceivable in other countries. Although this might impress considerably in the country itself, such a tradition is always a burden, represents a limitation in thinking and acting and an almost insurmountable blind that obstructs a forward-looking approach. This can be ascertained empirically when you spend time in China, both in peoples' prejudice towards these cultural assets but also and especially despite all the jubilation about fashion, spanking-new brands and technical products in the general appreciation and preference for objects and imagery or also colors and fabrics with a historico-cultural connotation. The result of this schismatic situation leads to completely parallel developments, which are by no means connected to one another: On the one hand Western oriented product worlds and imagery, on the other the motif of Chinese tradition that guides overall life and thinking. Doubtless, it has not been possible up until today to truly link these two real dimensions with one another.
This is very important for design as currently it is primarily required to produce imitations of western-oriented ideas, which brings a certain amount of success - and simultaneously precisely for this reason design does not enjoy the standing and influence on societal, cultural and ultimately economic developments in order to be really important. Certainly, one of the central tasks of design and design studies in China will be to redefine tradition and perspectives and to design their interlocking. Several attempts to do this exist already and are actually rooted in the traditional Chinese culture and Chinese way of thinking. Consider, for example that the Chinese language is intensively based on associative logic, transformatory competence and productive reception (which also holds for other aspects of Chinese culture) - and precisely this could be the substantial precondition for and competence of design and manner of behavior newly brought into society by design. However, rather than working structurally with its own culture, what still happens in China is that design is still - and no doubt owing to banal mechanisms of the international market - geared towards the highly superficial modification of Western models.
5. Things will heat up in China when design and design studies grasp this dynamism - which has existed for some time - and learn to try and implement it more clearly. There is some evidence of a gradual trend in this direction in various university projects handling product lines and conduct that is more researched, more precise and of a better quality. There is no doubting a gradual increase of confidence in design studies in China. The best example was a large conference held again in 2007 at the academy in Hangzhou under the title "Chinese Design", especially given that it was not only attended by Chinese design lecturers from the People's Republic of China but also from Taiwan, Hong Kong and England, Canada, the United States and many other countries. This gave it the flavor of an insider event though it was simultaneously global.
Finally, it should be said in conclusion that leaving aside the content quality of the studies, at least some of these academies now also offer economic dimensions, which are otherwise unknown here and seem truly exotic. Let's look at Hangzhou again: On its central campus this academy provides a three-storey exhibition building (that has been used by various institutions including the L
ouvre), its own hotel (three to four star) and very attractive architecture; recently the campus for design students that is located somewhat on the periphery was sold for the equivalent of about 50 million US dollars, and in its place a new, architecturally brilliant campus was built for around 100 million that involved moving hills and diverting rivers. That said - and this demonstrates how differently some things are valued - the project rooms and lecture theaters are not heated (and it gets cold in the winter). We are still by no means in a position to draw any final conclusions about design and design studies in China. The speed at which things are happening is simply too great to do so, it would be wrong to underestimate the ability of this nation to adapt and transform. This makes it all the more important in Europe to understand such developments and to develop and assert intelligent and equal forms of cooperation. That is not to say it will be an easy task.
This article originally appeared in form 224 / 2009 and has been republished with permission.
About the author
Michael Erlhoff is the founding Dean of what is today the Köln International School of Design, where he holds the Chair in Design Theory and History. From 1987 until 1991 he headed the German Design Council. He has authored numerous books, most recently the "Design Dictionary" (with Tim Marshall) published by Birkhäuser Verlag, and for many years he has lectured at various universities in Asia.
![[Image: Iridescent: Icograda Journal of Design Research - Volume 1]](/database/images/display/sb4ee69233de296.jpg "Iridescent: Volume 1")