ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the fascinating culture of Chinese copy-cat behaviour, and scrutinises the stereotyped perception that the Chinese design-related industries including architecture and city planning are indiscriminately ripping-off the West, ignorant of the lessons of history where they build with a failure to learn or imagine. The ideal in Chinese culture is that once a person leaves their hometown they should return in glory. During the 1940s, it was Chinese architecture graduates returning to China from studying abroad who mixed Western design ideologies to suit the Chinese context of Shanghai. The economic model of capitalism has provided the free world with resilience and relative stability. In April 2020, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China set out a plan to clarify their new key policies regarding the management of architectural style.
