First there was the "new economy," then there was the "knowledge economy," and now we have the "creative economy."

Call it what you will, but the nation is arguably attaching more importance to "chuangyi" (creativity) to restructure its economy.

In big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, massive material and political resources have been devoted to what leaders term "Chuangyi jingji" (creative economy) as a key strategic element for advancing the cities' development.

As a name, the "Chuangyi" economy is hardly as clear as knowledge economy, but "Chuangyi" does points to one important dimension that the nation needs to pay particular attention to.

Look at China's trade disputes with some developed nations. China is often accused of not doing enough to protect intellectual property rights (IPR).

However, Western and Chinese companies interpret the notion of IPR very differently. The former consider IPR to be legally binding, while the latter may not. The authorities now strive hard to crack down on IPR violations, but in the eyes of many Chinese, intellectual property has yet to be recognized as such.

For this reason, laws and regulations have been enacted to help create an environment that respects and protects intellectual property rights.

We can be positive that they do help ban fake goods. However, laws and regulations can hardly create China's creative economy unless we can first produce a generation of creative minds. In addition, we need an environment promoting and welcoming creativity and a system that guarantees creativity and entrepreneurship.

After all, creative industry is not simply about figures, copyrights or patents. It has everything to do with minds.

Ultimately, of course, what's important is not trade disputes but people's rights -- their right to create, the right to what they have created, and the right to protect their creations.

These are rights that should be taught early on.

In this sense, it is essential we learn to respect and cultivate free minds and nurture people's creativity.

Just think: We teach our children to "tinghua," to heed what an elder or superior says or be obedient. As a matter of fact, we often praise our children as "tinghua de hao haizi" good, obedient children.

We never expect schools, institutions or companies to judge people's creative ability as one of the top traits for talents.

In real life, creative people are often discouraged, and sometimes demoted.

These people may be seen as underperformers because they do not follow established rules and practices. Despite the fact they get their jobs done, they do not fit in with our traditional mode of possessing good qualities.

Besides, Chinese society and culture do not easily tolerate mistakes. Nobody knows how many innovations have come to a premature end because of mistakes occurring during the development process.

As a result, we reap what we sow: Chinese children can be exemplarily disciplined and obedient compared with children elsewhere. But as a nation we contribute too little to contemporary creations in the modern world.

Therefore, it is also essential to understand which elements of culture or values support people's creativity and which may harm them.

I have seen too many examples that damage creative minds.

For example, we train our students to follow "biaozhun da'an" (standardized answers), and our school education is still somewhat oriented towards examinations, although there is much talk about quality or character development.

When I discussed this issue with a county director in charge of education in Gansu Province, he gave me the simple answer: "Examination is the most fair tool we now have to cope with the limited educational resources we are facing."

I could not argue with him on this ground since there is an equity issue when it comes to educational resources. Beijingers, for example, obviously enjoy better educational opportunities than people in Gansu.

But I am convinced that our current educational system does little to encourage creativity.

I am not calling for the abolition of examinations, especially college entrance examination.

But I do want to stress that many creative minds are eliminated in the examination process -- first from elementary school to high school, and then from high school to university.

Those tough ones may survive rounds of examinations, and when they finally reach college they are often scarred and bruised.

Of course it is not only education that concerns us. We need to examine other areas also.

For instance, innovation and creation is not stressed as being for the common good and socially desirable, but rather it is individual’s hobbies or the institutions'/governments' responsibility.

Too often you are on your own when you are engaged in innovation, or the government will sponsor an innovative project with money from State coffers.

You do not have to be a corporate titan or a government official to agree that innovation and creativity should be encouraged.

One piece of online news caught my attention and might help us understand why we have to take up the challenge and build a more creativity-friendly society.

China will need 250,000 to 300,000 shoe designers over the next 10 years to boost its shoe industry, according to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

We all know the shoemaking industry is a leading light industry in China, and a driving force in export. Last year, China exported 6.9 billion pairs of shoes to over 200 countries and regions, reaping total revenue of US$19 billion.

But "Made in China" shoes do not have high value and are often regarded as cheap products. To make matters worse, shoe exports have met overseas "dumping" charges.

We have skilled workers in the shoemaking industry but we do not have good designers that can compete with countries such as Italy, Spain and France.

What would the scenario be like if China had 300,000 shoe designers who had brilliant ideas in terms of aesthetics, fashion and material?

Just imagine.

(China Daily November 27, 2006)