Stir up people to innovate by slogan or by a change of culture

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”… “Read slogans and you shall innovate.” The last sentence it not according to the Gospel of Matthew, but according to the Gospel of the Beijing Municipal government.

 

 

If you have been in Beijing recently you must have seen Beijing’s campaign that started last Autumn to show the city spirit, see here. Every where you see  the characters 爱国 (àiguó), 创新 (chuàngxīn), 包容 (bāoróng), 厚德 (hòudé). It took the capital 18 months and a survey under 3 million citizens to come up with these eight characters. The slogan that should symbolize the city spirit or the collective wisdom of the city  is criticized by Ye Kuangzheng of the Economic Observer, see here.

 

 

One could say that China needs to move from an imitation country to an innovation country. In that sense one is a patriot if one creates, invents or is doing commerce, for which one can use copyright, patents and trademarks.

At least it shows the capital is eager to stimulate its citizens to innovate. As I have written before, it would be more effective to create a climate where the freedom to experiment is guaranteed, critical thought stimulated and creative thinking valued.

If one applies inclusiveness to innovation, then everyone needs to have a chance to get a good education. Instead of pirating and counterfeiting, creating original works and to critically look at existent technology and invent disruptive new technology would be virtuous.

The Beijinger posted a picture of a campaign poster showing a spirited Beijing family with two children, although the one child policy is still going on), see here.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.