What's Design in China?. Building a critical map on the emerging design in China.

That China is a “factory of the world” is a wide spread belief: goods made in China are present at almost all the corners of the world. Especially, in the Western countries it’s in evidence the profound effect of the Chinese manufacturing behemoth in every aspect of lives. (Design Week, 2006) The best Chinese companies know design is crucial, and even small companies are starting to understand the benefits of good design. It’s not difficult to believe that this means a more and more wide request of design that is transforming the country's design business. In fact, today, China has some 400 schools offering design classes that together graduate some 10,000 industrial designers annually, up from just 1,500 or so five years ago; a lot of Chinese designers are succeeding in international competitions and others have already started working overseas. Considering this explosion of the design activities in China, is it possible to describe ‘what’ kind of Design is emerging in China? Has the Chinese Design its specific features? And what is its influence in the worldwide panorama? The issue try to define a critical map of the Chinese Design, from the education approach to the professional dynamics and to the production strategies of foreign and native companies, thanks to several contributions of experts from most important Chinese Design Contexts.