Apr 25 2009
The world through China’s eyes
Here, we see the world from the Middle Kingdom’s point of view – that beyond Beijing’s bustling Chang’an Street, artery of the capital and also the longest and widest in the world, US is in a state of breakdown; Latin America and Africa promising an abundance of resources, while Europe offers a haven for luxurious shopping!
The illustration pays homage to Saul Steinberg’s original that made the cover of The New Yorker magazine in 1976. It depicted Mahattanites’ alleged microscopic view of the world back then.
In that version of the cartoon, not only was China a mere blank land mass, along with Japan and Russia, the rest of the US was a squarish desert. Well, Japan had since taken the world by storm to eventually become the world’s second largest economy, close on the heels of the US.
How the world has changed in 33 years!
Probably not many would have envisaged that the Forbidden City would replace Manhanttan’s concrete jungle to claim the spotlight barely a generation after. If The Economist’s rendition of China is anything to go by, the country does have a more pragmatic worldview.
Pula Da*, anyone?
*Hanyu pinyin of Prada’s Chinese translation.
This is really interesting! Indeed much has changed in 33 years! I don\’t think anyone would have thought that in such a short period of time, China would have risen to become a country with such formidabble economic prowess.