Two Bags and a Carry-on

"You should own nothing except what you can carry on your back at a dead run."

-Jon Krakauer... Into the Wild

Packing a suitcase forces a certain reflection on what does and does not matter, what is and is not 'necessary'.  There are several different ways of packing for a voyage, and each style reveals something about the voyager.  First, there is the pack-rat voyager who just brings everything.  For pack-rats, packing is easy.  They typically just throw everything together with little discretion and even less folding.  Transporting everything, on the other hand, becomes very difficult because the bulk of a pack-rat's baggage typically exceeds his own body weight.  I think that this style is only really worthwhile if you're packing a truck instead of a suitcase.  Second, there is the voyager who maximizes their allotted space.  He is like the first voyager, but with smaller suitcases and a bigger wardrobe.  Choices have to be made, but the maximizer will make as few as possible.  With the focus of a defending world-champion Tetris player, he folds every shirt, sock, and pant uniformly before sitting on his suitcase to get the zipper shut around the final side.  Though the maximizer makes the fewest number of initial sacrifices, he sacrifices the possibility of any future changes.  If the complex packing order is not duplicated perfectly or if too clunky a souvenir makes its way into the suitcase, the zipper may not shut, and an impulse decision to sacrifice toiletries for extra space may come back to haunt the maximizer.  After making the mistake of being both a pack-rat and a maximizer, I have adopted a minimalist style of packing.  The minimalist leaves extra space as eagerly as a maximizer crams his socks deep into the toes of his shoes.  To the minimalist, a weight limit is determined by what he can carry up and down five flights of stairs, and not by the airline he happens to be flying.  Much to my chagrin, I will not be able to carry my 50-lb bag, guitar, and backpack at a dead run, but I will have plenty of room for souvenirs when I come home.  Hopefully, I will analogously leave some of my intangible baggage in America to allow me the room for a many new Chinese experiences and memories.