A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

He initially thought the design was unique and thoughtful, but he didn't expect it to be full of problems in the eyes of the professional teacher. He didn't know how to tell Guzalinur.

Guzalinur kept a close eye on Chang Peng's face. Seeing his expression growing increasingly serious, she panicked and couldn't help but ask, "Teacher Chang, what did Teacher Lin say? Was something inappropriate?"

Chang Peng hesitated for a long time before telling the truth: "Teacher Lin said... the design is no good and can't be used."

"Why can't it work?"

These are all representative products of Xinjiang: Atlas silk, cotton, and naan bread—our pride. Doesn't she understand the beauty of Xinjiang?

"Teacher Lin is a professional designer, so she must understand the market."

Chang Peng tried to explain for Lin Wei, softening his tone: "She said the market now prefers simple and practical designs, and yours does have a lot of design elements, making it look a bit cluttered. Why don't we listen to her advice?"

"Simple?"

Guzalinur became even more agitated, saying, "If it's simplified, it won't taste like Xinjiang anymore."

I'm not selling ordinary products; I want to promote my hometown and let more people know how wonderful Xinjiang is.

She doesn't understand the significance of these elements to us at all, so what gives her the right to reject my design?

Chang Peng patiently explained, "Don't worry, don't get agitated."

Ms. Lin is a professional designer; I'll have a good talk with her and ask if there are any adjustments that better suit the characteristics of Xinjiang.

After saying that, he immediately dialed Lin Wei's number and chatted with her for a long time before hanging up and then telling Guzalinur: "Teacher Lin said that we don't need to completely abandon our unique features, just focus on one key element."

For example, you could simplify the texture of cotton and print it as a subtle pattern on the inner pages of a notebook.

The keychains are also made in a thin, cotton-like shape, small and easy to carry. Don't pile all the elements together; it just looks cluttered.

"No! Absolutely not!"

Guzalinur shook her head vigorously, her tone exceptionally resolute, "If it's changed, it won't have that hometown flavor anymore."

"I spent half a month painstakingly painting this, staying up countless nights, just to show the best of Xinjiang. How could she just dismiss it like that?"

She became increasingly aggrieved as she spoke, tears welling in her eyes, her voice trembling with sobs: "I just wanted to achieve something, to repay you properly, to let you know that your help wasn't in vain, why is it so difficult?"

Chang Peng looked at her reddened eyes and felt a pang of sadness.

On one side is Guzalinur's heartfelt gratitude and stubbornness, her designs filled with love for her hometown; on the other side is Lin Wei's professional and objective judgment, after all, the design must ultimately be put into the market.

He was caught in the middle, torn between two conflicting interests. He wanted to help but didn't know how to mediate, and could only watch helplessly as Guzalinur's enthusiasm was completely dampened.

After Guzalinur ran away crying, Chang Peng looked at the scattered drawings on the table and began to wonder: The child clearly put a lot of effort into the drawings, and the elements were all characteristic of Xinjiang, so why would Teacher Lin Wei reject them all? There must be something wrong here.

Instead of rushing to find Guzalinur, he first spent a few hours in a design class and had heart-to-heart talks with several students, quickly figuring out the root of the problem.

It turns out that the school's design courses didn't teach anything practical at all.

The teacher only asked students to find ethnic elements to collage in class, claiming it was to highlight the unique features, but never mentioned key content such as market research and user needs.

The students have no idea what young people like or what they value when buying things; they just follow the old ways and pile up elements.

Even worse is the teaching hardware. The entire department only has a few old computers that can barely run simple drawing software, let alone professional design tools.

Guzalinur did everything by hand because computers were simply unusable; she had to save each drawing multiple times, making the process incredibly inefficient.

After finding the root cause, Chang Peng didn't waste a moment and immediately convened a meeting with all the teachers in the design department.

He poured out all the problems he had found and his ideas for improvement, his tone earnest and firm: "Teachers, we need to completely change our current teaching methods."

We can no longer let students blindly pile on ethnic elements; we need to teach them to conduct market research, analyze user needs, and figure out who to sell their designs to and why people would buy them.

Only in this way can students' designs truly leave the campus and enter the market.

In addition, the hardware needs to be upgraded, with new computers and professional software; otherwise, students won't even have the opportunity for hands-on practice, and their learning will be in vain.

Unexpectedly, these words were met with opposition from several traditional teachers.

Teacher Li, who has taught design classes for many years, spoke first: "Teacher Chang, is this really necessary?"

Design is all about creativity and uniqueness. Market research and user analysis are too complicated, and students won't learn them; it's completely unnecessary.

Another teacher, Mr. Zhang, chimed in, "That's right, upgrading the hardware is such a waste of money!"

Those old computers will suffice. Students just need to master the basics of hand-drawing; there's no need to chase after fancy software. In the end, it all comes down to coming up with creative ideas.

"That's right. We've been teaching design for so many years, and we've always taught it this way. We haven't seen any students who can't find jobs."

Another teacher added, "It's not worth making a big fuss about changing teaching methods and replacing equipment just for a collaborative project."

Chang Peng patiently explained, "Things are different now; designs now need to be marketable."

Students don't understand market demand; they just pile on elements, and nobody buys their designs. What's the point of learning that? Their hardware is outdated; they can't even use professional software. How can they compare to students from mainland China?

"Teacher Chang, you don't understand design!"

Teacher Li waved his hand and said in a rather assertive tone: "Creativity is the core. All those market things are superficial. Once students have good ideas, people will naturally buy them."

Upgrading hardware is both expensive and time-consuming, a complete waste of resources.

The other teachers nodded in agreement, each adding their own comments, and managed to refute Chang Peng's suggestion.

Looking at these stubborn teachers, Chang Peng felt both anxious and helpless.

He knew that without changing the teaching methods and upgrading the facilities, even if Guzalinur changed the design, she would still run into obstacles next time, and other students would find it difficult to truly learn the skills.

However, the teachers were adamant in their stance, and progress was hindered at every turn. He was at a loss for what to do and could only suspend the discussion and think about finding another opportunity to communicate slowly.