Culture is one of the biggest forces shaping how a person thinks and acts. It’s the environment — the people around you, the city you grow up in, and now the internet — that forms your worldview. Beliefs are useful because they give you direction. But they’re also dangerous when they drift from reality and point you the wrong way.
Museums and conversations with locals are two of the fastest ways to understand a place. As you encounter more cultures, you build up a mental library that spans time and geography. The more examples you collect, the more you notice how poorly your existing assumptions explain things — how wildly different patterns, relationships, and art forms can be across the world. Eventually, quantity becomes quality: you develop a small set of hard-won convictions that actually hold up. These help fix what’s broken in your old assumptions.
History moves by necessity — but within that, individuals and specific events create contingency. That contingency is exactly why history can’t be used as a direct playbook for the future. What is worth studying, again and again, is this: how people tend to think and behave when facing similar situations.
Florence
Of all the art capitals I’ve visited, Florence is the one I can’t stop thinking about.
Florence built its identity on craft and commerce. That foundation created a culture that genuinely respected artisans — great architects weren’t seen as divine gifts from heaven, they were the product of cultural respect and accumulated industry. Talent needs an ecosystem.
- Florence glows gold
- The 1982 Florence Charter on historic gardens still has real relevance for China’s classical garden preservation
- Birthplace of the Renaissance; origin point of European luxury goods
China
China’s cities divide cleanly by what they offer:
- History — Xi’an, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Beijing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Datong: former imperial capitals with deep historical layers
- Nature — Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Hainan, Yunnan, Guangxi: landscapes that define the regions
- Urban energy — Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Changsha, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau, Xiamen: strong city culture and nightlife
The staying power of any destination comes down to its resources and the reputation it earns from visitors. Hangzhou, Xi’an, and Chengdu have managed to build exactly that.
China’s industrial base was imported in waves — from Europe, the United States, Japan, and Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan — at different historical moments. Today’s economy is anchored by state-owned enterprises controlling resource sectors, and low-innovation, low-margin manufacturing and services (think cars and small appliances). Most corporate profits still come from the manufacturing layer; brand and R&D-driven innovation remain rare.
The businesses and jobs in China that generate real, scalable private value — built on network effects, brand, patents, specialized expertise, or capital ownership — are genuinely scarce. So are globally competitive roles: core R&D and sales positions, global investment, senior executives, creative IP (film, art, personal brands), international pilots. The reality for most people, most of the time, is unstable work at low prices, riding volatile supply-demand cycles — and doing it with optimism and resilience.
中文版
文化是塑造一个人思维、行为方式的重要因素，是环境（包括与人、与城市、现在可能还要加上互联网）影响了其三观。观念的好处是指引了方向，观念的弊病在于偏离规律而给出了错误的方向指引。
博物馆、与当地人交流是快速了解当地的很好方式。通过了解不同文化，头脑中会积累跨时间跨区域的样本。随着样本量增加，你会发现固有观念的解释力不足，不同规律、关系、艺术之间千差万别。随着量变达到质变，你会产生少量经过检验的信念，这可以帮助解决固有观念的弊病。
历史的规律是必然的，这其中有少数人和事件推动的偶然：这种偶然性使得我们不能直接依靠历史指引未来。但重复、值得持续研究和借鉴的是”遇到类似事件时人们的心理和行为倾向”。
佛罗伦萨
在我去过的众多艺术圣地中，佛罗伦萨令我久久不能忘怀。
佛罗伦萨以手工业和商业为本，因此形成了尊重工匠的文化，天才的建筑师（工匠）不是文曲星下凡，需要文化的尊重，产业发展积累。
- 佛罗伦萨是金色的
- 1982《佛罗伦萨宪章》，活的古迹对中国园林具有指导意义
- 文艺复兴发源地，欧洲奢侈品的源头
中国
中国城市的旅游价值大致可以按资源类型分类：
- 历史型 — 西安、洛阳、开封、北京、杭州、南京、大同：多朝古都，历史积淀深厚
- 自然型 — 西藏、新疆、青海、内蒙古、海南、云南、广西：自然风光定义了这些地区
- 城市型 — 上海、成都、重庆、武汉、长沙、广州、深圳、港澳、厦门：城市文化与夜生活丰富
旅游城市的持续性取决于资源和体验后的口碑，杭州、西安、成都等城市做到了。
中国的工业是在历史机遇不同阶段从欧洲、美国、日本、港澳台输入的。国央企控制的资源行业和以汽车、小家电为代表的低创新、低毛利的制造业服务业是当下中国经济的核心，中国企业的利润主要来自于制造环节、品牌和研发的创新还很少。
国内有较强私人造福效应的高科技和好的商业模式（“网络效应”、“品牌”、“科技专利”、“专家咨询”、“资源/资本的所有者”）、有全球竞争力的企业和岗位是很少的（如核心研发和销售、全球投资、企业高管、影视等艺术、个人等IP、国际航班民航飞行员）。这意味着绝大多数人在绝大多数时间就是以比较低的价格、在剧烈供需周期变化下做着不稳定的工作、乐观而坚强地腾挪。