No Big Mac culture
- image from Sina

China's brilliant cellists

Three weeks ago, in the middle of giving a class at Shanghai's Conservatory of Music, I couldn't help wondering whether any of our music colleges would still be able to produce three such flawless young cellists. Particularly as their professor had already apologised profusely because his two finest pupils were away taking part in an international competition.

While British music educationalists agonise over the merits (or otherwise) of "leading" our children to orchestral music via urban grime projects in Hackney, the Chinese - as in so many Far Eastern countries - have stolen a march on us simply by introducing their children to classical music as a matter of course with no patronising sweeteners attached. As a result, there's a buzz around the genre which is wholly absent in the West.

While London (with no first-rate concert hall for orchestral music) and New York (one symphony orchestra compared with Tokyo's eight) continue to delude themselves that they are the classical music centres of the world, in truth the axis has tilted dramatically eastwards as the West finally begins to reap the rewards of its Big Mac/Big Brother culture.