You’re using a second-degree relation to dispel the notion that Japanese design has had major influence on design in general, which it undoubtedly has, especially in automotive technology, product design, design thinking, and fashion, etc. Gotham City is an American creation, but I don’t expect to need Batmen and Supermen solving crimes for us. By the same token, if American design could have global influence during the post-war boom years, Italian design during the 60s, Japanese/German design in the 70s and 80s, and now Apple/American design influencing personal electronics, why would it be a stretch of the imagination that a genuinely Chinese design movement couldn’t propel design for the next decade or so? Considering that we are in a more globalized world with mounting environmental and social issues, it’s also not impossible that a holistic, humanistic design movement could have even longer-lasting influence.
Actually, contrary to perhaps what you’re hinting at, I’m not proposing that in the future we will be building artifacts reflective of Chinese history like dragon statues and pagoda-esque homes. Instead, I propose that Chinese design take a more radical approach: finding inspiration in its philosophies. Taoism and Confucianism are, at heart, Chinese-rooted, but universally applicable. You may not be Jewish, or Christian, or Muslim, or an atheist, but you can’t deny the global influences of each of these religions. Furthermore, each of these are not locked to their respective cultural origins but instead speak to the world and humanity at large. So when I say Chinese-inspired design will be the future of design, I mean that Chinese design–if philosophically based, not simply symbolically based–will spearhead a movement for each culture to look within itself to find design inspiration and to ask what kind of contribution it wants to make to the world. This is not only a design issue, but also a moralistic issue, the answers for which will have big impact on our future.