At a reading and discussion session focused on education, the speaker discussed a paper titled “The Material of Reading and the Reproduction of Culture”. The author, a professor, drew on their own experiences growing up in a rural area and becoming a professor to analyze their own development within the school system.
During the session, an earlier academic book “Learning to Work” (written in the mid-20th century) was referenced. The book discussed how children of the working class were destined to follow in their fathers’ footsteps, learning their trade. However, in modern times, re-examining the literature, the “inheritance of skills” described in “Learning to Work” is actually a very difficult thing to achieve. Many of the parents’ experiences are hard to pass down. Social division of labor is highly specialized, and parents may only have skills in one industry. If children are unwilling to learn, and instead choose to work in other fields (which are numerous), the transmission of skills is interrupted.
For example, a relative is an electrician, but their child does not learn the trade and instead works in an electronics store. Furthermore, parents’ initiative in education is often much weaker than the natural initiative of schools. They do not know how to pass on their skills. For instance, if a parent is an individual entrepreneur, but I were to take over running a small shop, I would be completely unable to do so.
Hearing the self-narrative of Luo Jing, the curator of the Luo Dan Center, also gave me this feeling. Although she has successfully run this art project, the project lacks sustainability. She started with the funds from selling her family’s property, and the project itself has received criticism from her parents. However, the Luo Dan Center was built, and I estimate that there were only around 100 people visiting on New Year’s Day afternoon, which is far from supporting the annual expenditure of 20 million yuan and 70 million yuan in investment. If she were considered an entrepreneur, she would definitely be considered a failure. She only achieved self-realization using the wealth of her rich parents. However, I estimate that her parents have not learned any skills in managing real estate.
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"After seeing lz’s mention of the information in the previous post, I visited the Rodin Museum during the New Year’s holiday and was surprised to find it was quite empty. I had previously assumed that most private museums/exhibitions in China are completely unprofitable, with ticket revenue and promotional expenses roughly balanced, while venue and exhibit costs are purely expenses. So, it’s fair to say that the curator is not considering the financial implications of their self-actualization, and as a collector and family business owner, their commercial achievements are completely unrelated to this project, regardless of whether they are good or bad.
For people born in the 1990s and 2000s, the world is developing too quickly, and most people are unable to learn effective ways to understand the world from their parents. At most, they inherit savings and industrial capital and then follow a path of uncertain fate. Currently, it seems that the most effective way to pass on education resources and education intentions is through inheritance, such as through schools like Qinghua and Beijing University, or through parents cultivating their children to become Qinghua and Beijing University students or national competition champions."
Even though the crowd at the Power Station of Art (Pudong) doesn’t seem like a moneymaker at first glance,
(Verified the data)
MAP’s 2025 visitor count surpassed 1 million for the first time due to the Olympic Sculpture Exhibition, while its 2025 subsidy budget was 20 million RMB. Source
(Pudong’s transparency is impressive—typical Shanghai efficiency.)
Estimated exhibition and operational costs for this year: 80 million RMB.
If we factor in land costs, the ideal scenario is near break-even or a slight profit.
Considering construction and operational costs from previous years, the project remains unprofitable—financial recovery is never the priority.
The government’s focus is on public benefit, prestige, and urban storytelling.