My rocket factory

Kirsty, my younger daughter, and her partner Max, an architect and an artist, are visiting Nanjing, my hometown. They even made a pilgrimage to my former military factory. Part of it has been reborn as an art hub, something like Beijing’s 798, but with a more martial pedigree. It is now called 1865 Creative Park, named for the year the factory was founded under China’s first great push to modernize and produce weapons. I am delighted to see the younger generation taking up the torch—though thankfully the revolutionary cause has turned from gunpowder to paintbrushes!