Bear with me on this, I'm being clever here.
China, the word suggests, refers to dainty crockery used only on Sundays or when the most high falutin' visitors come to visit. "The Best China" is a British cliché used as shorthand for a particularly elevated social circumstance.
Or does it? China, after all, is a country, a nation-state with 1.3 billion citizens, the most populous country on earth.
Then, back in the 50's, all those cheap tinplate wind-up toys came to us here in the West courtesy of - China!
Cut to today, when all our cheap digital gewgaws come to us here in the West courtesy of - China!
Fired-clay, tinplate or silicon, which of these reflects the Right Stuff as applied to China?
The Right Stuff
Ironically enough (given my musical tastes) Dave Brock of Hawkwind sang about The Right Stuff Baby The Right Stuff. "The Right Stuff", although it sounds 100% British, is in fact a book by Tom Wolfe about the American Mercury space programme. And, Dave, you wouldn't have gotten within a mile of Mercury thanks to drug-testing, which you would have failed - actually Epic Failed - in the first instance.
Now, the Right Stuff deals with the personalities and business of getting men into orbit, as a prequel to getting men on the moon. This, remember, is the 1960's. Jump forward to the 2010's. Who is managing a space programme and getting ready to go to the Moon? China!
The question is, do their astronauts have - The Right Stuff?
Barbara Hershey, as in The Right Stuff. Pretty damn Right according to Conrad.
Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager. Also pretty damn right, according to Conrad.
That other kind of china. A bit dull in comparison, ain't it?
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