Unlike jolly old Europe, which is cultural gravitas personified.

haha, yes i am aware that china is just as interesting as europe, as attractive to tourism from all over etc.

also how incredibly pompous and constipated the cultural gravitas of which you speak!

the important distinction with an economic difference is that the emergence of a burgeoning chinese middle class with disposable income combined with the current global mania for cheap air travel makes for a window to open wider, cultural tourism is low impact compared to other types like waterfront disfigurement a la torremolinos, or casino gambling a la macao/atlantic city.

we have been saturated with chinoiserie for centuries, they are ready to return the favour and learn from our archetypes.

it's far from ideal, but it can help us tide over the interim between a crumbling oil-maintained infrastructure and the uptake of sensibly sustainable alternatives that still have regrettably low traction, due to suicidally tenacious interests who would rather crash the titanic fantasy world economy as long as they can continue to eat our lunch off gold plates.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty