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While on the subject -- sensory overload, remember? -- an intermission is called for. We'll go for a mini crash course in Chinese culture, compliments of the White Swan's shopping arcade with its gorgeous art works.

Once Chinese audio manufacturers reach into the treasure trove of their traditional arts -- from porcelain and ceramics to stone and bone carvings, metal sculpting and many more -- their abilities to author truly unique objects d'art that just so happen to also play music will have become unparalleled. What other industrialized nation has this type of history to fall back on and harvest? I believe the time is ripe for Chinese designers to stop emulating the West, take proud stock of their own traditions and give us audio components that embody choice design motifs from the above heritage. To show just how artistic yet contemporary this could be, let's conclude this intermission with a few images of a top-notch vegetarian restaurant in downtown Shenzhen.
In short, my suggestion to Chinese audio makers would be to stop trying to look like Unison Research, Luxman or any number of popular Western precedents and to instead blaze their own trails by detailing their components with perhaps carved Jadeite inserts, antique coins, metal engravings of Chinese deities and such.


It makes no sense to turn your back on your own culture in an attempt to 'out-western' the West, particularly when one's own history is so much longer and richer than, say the American. I can't be certain of course but I would predict that in the right hands, such an approach could be as well lit and leading inexorably upwards as the staircase of said restaurant did so splendidly.


With the kind of quality execution many audio components at the White Swan hotel already exuded, I say again that the time seems ripe for Chinese makers to be proud of their origins and to dream up designs that reflect that pride with clear aesthetic echoes. But now we return from creative dreams to our regular programming of cold hard realities, i.e. components you can buy today!