We have been working on another collaboration in our series of China stories (our last China story was the Shanghai Watch project: www.chinadaily.com.cn).
This time the collection is for Chairman, China’s own premium street apparel and eyewear brand: www.yuanze-co.com.
he collection is informed and inspired by a poem written by Sun Yat Sen (Sun Zhong Shan in Mandarin) - the revolutionary father of modern China. Sun Yat Sen was known his political philosophy of the “Three Principles of The People”: Nationalism, Democracy and Socialism. Sun devoted his life to his philosophy and to bringing equality and peace to China.
Towards the end of his 19 years of exile in Europe, America, Canada, and Japan, he wrote a collection of literature, one poem that was written short before Sun finally returned to China, and became the first provisional president in China in 1911, really stands out to us.
” 疾风然后知劲草，盘根错节然后知利器。”
“The harshest storm reveals where the strongest grass lay. The roughest battle reveals the sharpest blade.”
The poem showed tremendous courage and determination during years of chaos and it is as relevant now as it was then. Modern China is rapidly developing as a country, both economically and culturally, she is finding her place as a dominant force on the global stage. The question now is what will remain when the dust settles? The strongest grass and the sharpest blades? Or poisonous snakes and a pile of cut up bodies?
