Look East

From the Economist (Sept. 1):

At the new Museum of Liverpool (above), a sleek limestone affair of Danish design, the city’s Chinese community, which began with an influx of sailors at the start of the 19th century, gets an exhibit to itself. The emphasis seems a little odd, until you consider the city’s regeneration strategy, which rests on a characteristically 21st-century mix of the local and the global. The aim is to use Liverpool’s storied past to attract investment from around the world—and from China in particular.

These little Economist columns often obscure as much as they reveal (what's the real story in Liverpool?), and Pittsburgh and Liverpool are more "unlike" than "alike."  So it is not quite fair to point to a story about Liverpool and say to Pittsburgh, "try this."  Still, the local-meets-global story and the explicit outreach to China seem ... interesting.  Hmmm.