Postmodernism surely requires an even greater grasp of symbolism, as it's increasingly an art of gesture alone.
Competitiveness is really what it costs you per man-hour to get you what you want. In other words, there's an education level that plays into the mix and so if it's inexpensive to buy an hour of real good education in places like China versus the U.S., that factors in.
I like the fact that in ancient Chinese art the great painters always included a deliberate flaw in their work: human creation is never perfect.