It is commonly said that China needs to ‘catch-up’ with `the west' or the `developed world'. This phrase implies a singular path; there may be short cuts and `late-comer advantages' but the destination一a modern, developed country一is the same. But just when it seems China is within touching distance, the `developed world' changes the definition of what it is to be `developed' and puts more obstacles in the path of those trying to catch-up. In English we call this `moving the goal-posts'. After manufacturing, services and high-technology seemed to present clear goals for China, the cultural creative industries arrive as the new `value-added' product and service sector, posing yet more problems for the country's policy-makers. Many in the West have argued that China will take a long time to catch-up in these areas and that this provides a new source of competitive advantage to the West. Indeed, for some, the absence of a competitive cultural creative industries sector is evidence that China is not, and maybe can never be, fully `developed'.