Shenzhen is a global manufacturing hub, centre of innovation (digital and product design) and UNESCO City of Design. I wanted to explore how children and young people living in the city learn about and engage in the city’s design culture. Despite the proliferation of design courses at university level in China, art, design and making are not part of the mandatory school curriculum set by the government. The curriculum allows for only 12% of content to be determined at individual school level, 18% in a small number of designated ‘experimental’ schools, where design and the creative subjects could be taught. Teachers in public schools are not obliged or trained to teach creative subjects and are under a great deal of pressure to prepare students for the highly competitive national college entrance exams called…
