■"China's Art Scene Grows Up: Local Collectors Join Foreigners in Driving Up Already Hot Market," by Philip Tinari, Wall Street Journal, 29 September 2005, p. A9.

■"Bird-Flu Battle Meets New Foe: Scientific Pride; Beijing Is Slow in Sharing Virus Samples as It Tries To Ensure Nation's Acclaim," by Nicholas Zamiska, Wall Street Journal, 29 September 2005, p. A9.

■"Catering To China's Fashionistas: Luxury Retailers Reward Loyal Clientele With Private Shows, Parties, Discounts," by Jen Lin-Liu, Wall Street Journal, 30 September 2005, p. B1.

I write a long sequence ini BFA about the "journey from the Gap to the Core" (entire section in Chapter 4), and one of the things I cite is that, as you emerge, your history and culture is rediscovered as though it had been lost for centuries!

Thus your art and antiquities become hot commodities internationally. This leads to a scary flood of your art out of the country, like Russia suffered when it connected back up to the world in the 1990s.

But then enough Russians got rich to start buying up the stuff themselves and keeping it in country-even bringing some of it back.

Same thing is happening in China now. As you join the Core, the first temptation is to reject the past and embrace the new global, but with enough wealth, you see a new interest emerge in the country's own past-a sense that "this is ours and needs to be preserved by us."

This is normal. This is good. This is more evidence of China becoming a deep member of the Core. When you care about stuff like this, you tend to want to obey rule sets more on a host of ownership issues, like intellectual property. Doesn't happen overnight. Remember: direction of change, not degree. Old habits die hard.

And it's not just nationalism that rises-quite naturally-with the successful journey from the Gap to the Core: all sorts of pride emerge. You have Chinese scientists who not only want to discover the solution set on avian flu, they want to be the first in the world to do it. Sound stupid? Remember French and U.S. research centers fighting over the claim of which came up with this or that discovery on AIDS.

Even more prosaic is watching China's fashion scene emerge, not long after America has just discovered Japan's. Wait for MTV to drool over China's first international supermodel within the next three years. It will happen, just like it did with those babes who suddenly appeared out of the old Soviet bloc in the 1990s-along with all those NBA players and tennis players.

You join the Core and you compete on all levels. This is normal. This is good.