Gradgrind and "nothing but Facts" — the Industrial Revolution crushing imagination in Coketown's smoke and identical streets. Reading it in China, the parallels nagged at me: gaokao pressure, hardcore standardisation in public education, ugly buildings, a sense that aesthetic taste gets squeezed out when everything is measured.
It's not subtle; Gradgrind is a poster. Dickens at full anger is still fun. I winced at my own worst classroom habits in the opening schoolroom scene.
I'm not saying Shanghai is Coketown — my students mostly land somewhere after the exam. But the creativity question feels live here too. The book sits on the shelf behind my desk as a reminder not to go full Gradgrind on a Tuesday.