Australian-born designer and CCS professor Rob Curedale held the most dynamic, intense session of the conference so far yesterday afternoon, as he outlined to a packed room the changing realities of manufacturing and design in China. This is drawn from his approximately 25 years of experience working with Chinese manufacturers, including a great deal of time in the country.

The facts and statistics that led off the session were the sorts of things we've all been aware of, deep down, but are rarely comfortable confronting or discussing -- this was the real beauty of the session, it gave a room full of designers and students a reason to talk frankly about something that, frankly, scares us half to death.

Here are some gems:

-ten years ago, there were about 20 Industrial Design programs at the university level in China; today there are 376

-the quality of craft and technical ability that comes out of many of these programs easily rivals that of American and European design schools

-one sought after ID program in China last year received 40,000 applications for 300 positions

-Wuxi, a city near Shanghai, recently saw the opening of a FIVE SQUARE MILE Industrial Design park

-by some accounts, China now does more of the world's manufacturing than any other country

The bad news is, this is not a trend that's ending soon. Mr. Curedale's predictions see more and more of the design of commodity goods moving to China as well, to the point that nearly any undifferentiated product that can be economically shipped across the ocean will soon be primarily manufactured by Chinese firms. Not just Chinese manufacturers working for US firms, but Chinese companies, beginning to end. Recent events like Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's PC business and Haier's push for brand recognition in Europe bear this out. Can you see Chinese branded cars on American roads? You will.

It's worth pointing out that Asian dominance of global manufacturing is not a new thing. One of the most interesting of the many graphs displayed in this session shows the division of industry by region throughout history: 70% of the world's manufacturing in 1750 was Asian, much of that in China. The primacy of European and later American manufacturing is really an anomaly of the 19th and 20th century. So a return to historical realities should not be so shocking. Most of the world's people are, in fact, Asian.

Several interesting outcomes of this returning dominance are clear:

- As manufacturing expands, the cost of raw materials is rising and will continue to do so; the price of iron, for example, has gone up 70% in the past six months. This must change the way products are designed.

- China's growing affluence means companies must design for the Chinese market or face extinction. It is predicted that the Chinese auto market will outstrip America's in 15 years.

- Very few American designers seem to know anything at all about designing for the Chinese markets (of which there are between 10 and 30, depending on who you ask).

Rob's prediction here is that two major trends will sweep American design: First, a refocusing on brand differentiation, and away from commodity goods, and second, a migration of European and American designers to China to work for Chinese firms. Many of the eager students attending the session yesterday may find themselves living and working in Shanghai ten years hence. And it could be pretty cool.