Film and Television Culture in China 9781844644995, 9781844644988

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Film and Television Culture in China Hu Zhifeng Translated by Jin Haina

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Paths International Ltd

Author:

Prof. Hu Zhifeng is head of School of Arts and Communication, Beijing Normal University. He is the president of Chinese Collegial Association for Visual Art. Professor Hu is the first Yangtze Scholar awarded by Ministry ofEducation in the media sector in China. He is one of founders of film, television and radio art discipline in China and a founding figure for Chinese television aesthetics. He has published more 20 academic books on Chinese film and television industries and more than 300 journal articles. Translator:

Professor Jin Haina is an associate professor in audiovisual translation in Communication University of China. Her research interests include audiovisual translation and translation history. She has published Towards a History of Translating Chinese Films (1905-1949) J:ft9lf~j1U/!,§II§wfif.H {1905-1949) . She is also a translator of Chinese films and TV dramas, including Once upon a Time _'!£ -

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The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils 3tit/lff!J (20 13) and The Creation

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Contents Introduction to Cultural Landscape of China in the 20th Century .................................................... 3 0.1

The First Culture Movement: around the May 4th Movement in 1919........................ 4

0.2

The Second Culture Movement- Middle of the 1980s ................................................ 14

0.3

The Cultural Landscape of the 1990s ........................................................................... 24

Part One Ontology ...........................................................................................................................33 Chapter 1 Culture ............................................................................................................................34 1.1

The Definition of Culture .............................................................................................34

1.2

Composition of Culture ...............................................................................................40

1.3

Several Relations and Features of Culture ..................................................................47

1.4

Significance of Cultural Studies ............................................................................,...... 54

Chapter 2 Film and Television Culture ..........................................................................................,.58 2.1

Definition of Film and Television Culture ....................................................................,58

2.2

The Constitution of Film and Television Culture in a Broad Sense ............................... 64

Chapter 3 Film Culture and Film Art ................................................................................................90 3.1

The History of the Film Art: From a Logic Perspective ................................................... 90

3.2

(Social} Functions and Audience (Needs} of Film Art ..................................................... 92

3.3

History of Film Form .......................................................................................................98

3.4

The Development of Film Language ............................................................................. 105

3.5

The Development of Film's Creation Methods and Its Aesthetic Style ........................ 115

Chapter 4 Television Culture and Television Communication ....................................................... 121 4.1

Television as a Communication Medium and Culture Carrier ................................... 121

4.2

Features of Television Culture ................................................................................... 122

4.3

Unprecedented Magnificent Cultural Landscape ...................................................... 127

4.4

Strategic Planning and Macro- Control of TV Culture Development.. ....................... 130

Part Two History ............................................................................................................................134 Chapter 5 Retrospect and Prospect of Film and Television Culture in China after 1949 .............. 135 5.1

Three Historical Phases of Chinese Film and Television Culture after 1949 ................. 136

5.2

Four Waves in the Film and Television Culture Construction in China during the

Transitional Period ................................................................................................................145 5.3

Strategic Aims and Strategic Assignments of Chinese Film and Television Culture at the

Turn of the Century ...............................................................................................................165 Chapter 6 Two Traditions of Chinese Film Culture ........................................................................ 176 6.1

Formation and Development of the Two Traditions .................................................. 176

6.2

A Modern Interpretation of the Worldly Spirit: Xie Jin and His Hibiscus Town .......... 189

6.3

A Classical Interpretation of "Poetic Style" --- Wu Yigong and An Old Story in Southern

Beijing 204

Chapter 7 The Evolution of China's Television Concepts .............................................................. 216 7.1

Background: Two Phases in the Development of China's Television ......................... 216

7.2

The Ontology Construction of the Television Industry in China ................................. 218

7.3

The Evolution of Chinese TV Programs in the 1980s and the 1990s .......................... 221 1

7.4

Evolution of Five Concepts of Chinese Television in the 1990s .................................. 223

7.5

Thoughts upon Heated lssues .........................................•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..................... 230

7.6

Localization: Strategies and Countermeasures of the Production of Chinese Television

Programs ...............................................................................................................................235 Part Three Analysis, Interviews and Lectures ................................................................................ 244 Chapter 8 Choices in Fission and Introduction: Creation, Development and Cultural Characteristic of Chinese Spoken Drama ..................................................................•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•...............245 8.1

The Inheritance of Functioning Pattern and Conversion of the Functional Content .251

8.2

Obstacles in the Formation of Artistic Individuality: Imagery of Ideas, Categories, and

Stylization •..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•.......................................................•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•...254 8.3

Audience's Separation, Adaptation and Creation ...................................................... 257

Chapter 9 Film and Television Between Mainland China and Taiwan ........................................... 260 -An Investigation on Film and Television Industries in Taiwan ................................................... 260 9.1

The Origin and Aim ofThis Visit ................................................................................. 260

9.2

Main activities during the Taiwan visit ..................................•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•......... 261

9.3

A Brief Introduction to Taiwan's Film lndustry ........................................................... 262

9.4

A Brief Introduction of Taiwan's Television Industry .................................................. 268

9.5

A Brief Introduction of Taiwan's Film and Television Education •..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•..•... 276

Chapter 10 Interviews and Lectures .............................................................................................292 10.1

An Interview to Wu Yigong .......................................................................................292

10.2

My Hope on Future Artist ........................................................................................300

10.3

The Meaning of Red: Viewing the Chinese Culture from Chinese Films .................. 309

10.4

TV for One Billion: Historical Evolution, Current Challenges, and Future Trends in China

..............................................................................................................................................320

2

Introduction to Cultural Landscape of China in the 20th Century Film and television culture is the most striking creation of human technology and culture in the 20th century. No matter from which perspective, the influence of film and television culture upon human life cannot be underestimated. Film and television culture in China was closely related to Chinese society and history in the 20th century which was an integral part of Chinese social culture. The fluctuation of film and television culture in China goes along with the overall cultural trends of modern cultural thoughts in China. Therefore, when we begin to explore the world of film and television culture in China, it is necessary to review the two culture movements in the 20th century as well as the cultural landscape of China in the 1990s. During the historical progress of China in the 20th century, there were two "culture movements" which can be called historical in terms of nature, size and influence. The first culture movement was around the May 4th Movement in 1919. The second happened in the middle of the 1980s. The two culture movements exerted deep influence upon the composition, contents, and forms of modern culture in China, as well as upon the reformation and changes of Chinese society and history. Chinese cinema which was started in the beginning of the 20th century, and Chinese television which was started in the 1950s, played an important role in social and historical evolution in China as a new force and injected new blood and elements to the formation of Chinese modern cultural structure. On the other hand, the richness and complexity of social and historical movements in China as well as the richness and complex of Chinese modern culture also branded film and television culture in China. Therefore, it is necessary to place film and television culture in China in the background of modern Chinese culture. In the historical movement of modern Chinese culture, the most prominent and powerful culture movement will be discussed in the book at first.

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0.1 The First Culture Movement: around the May 4th Movement in 1919

The overall form, structure, contents and nature of Chinese culture was maintained in the feudal system for thousands of years. It demonstrated strong vitality and great power of assimilation after hardships. However, a new cultural force, cultural tide and culture movement started in 1915 advanced irresistibly and quickly dismantled the old feudal culture which lasted thousands of years and set off the unparalleled "New Culture Movement" in the history of Chinese culture. It is called the first culture movement in the 20th century.

A symbol for initiating the New Culture Movement was the establishment of a magazine named Le Jeunesse founded by Chen Duxiu. In 1915, Le Jeunesse was distributed all over China and abroad. Le Jeunesse initiated the New Culture Movement, promoting science, democracy, and vernacular Chinese literature. One of its slogans was "Down with Confucius and Sons." The fundamental difference between this new culture movement from previous culture movements was that previous culture movements were carried out within the fortress of the feudal system under the premise of not destroying feudal autocratic system. The New Culture Movement happened when the old feudal autocratic system was overthrown by the 1911 Revolution and the new system which can meet the needs of Chinese society had not been established. The purpose was to establish a brand-new political social and cultural structure of modern China. The leading force of this great historical mission was intellectuals who were influenced by western culture and civilization. They inherited the sense of urgency, responsibility and mission of traditional Chinese literati. Meanwhile, they were directly or indirectly influenced by fresh thoughts and ideas of western cultural and civilization. In front of continuous political failures after the Opium War, the radical intellectuals

began to enter the ideological and cultural sector and intend to use "ideological enlightenment" to inspire Chinese people to fight for the survival and progress of the Chinese people and Chinese society. During the new culture movement, a number of outstanding philosophers of modem China appeared. Around them, a number of 4

Chinese youngsters grew up. The bases for cultivating and promoting ideological enlightenment were universities or schools in the modern sense. The new thoughts, knowledge and concept, especially the new culture movement promoted by Le Jeunesse directly accelerated the cultural revolution of the time. A number of young students walked out the university campus and started an anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism revolutionary movement which unveiled the history of modem China. It is natural to connect the May 4th movement with the political and cultural tides before and after this movement and include them as the May 4th Movement and the New Cultural Movement in general. The climax of the movement was around May 4th, 1919, while the impact of it resonated through 1920s and 1930s.

One important reason to describe the New Culture Movement as a "culture movement" was that the essence of the movement lies in the reformation of the ideology and culture. The progressive intellectuals realized that feudal culture seriously hindered the historical progress of Chinese society. In other words, progressive intellectuals believed that the key to solve the problems of ideology and culture was for the prosperity and progress of China. Where did the source for new ideology and culture come from? The progressive intellectuals almost adopted the same strategy, which was to learn from western culture and bring in democracy and science. In the meantime, they criticized traditional feudal culture relentlessly and thoroughly. What are the characteristics of this culture movement? In my opinion, we can use the word ''new" to generalize it. The newness can be demonstrated in the following aspects:

(I) New thoughts. During the introduction of western learning to China, various modem western thoughts and ideas were brought to China. Marxism, liberalism, anarchism, utopian socialism, pragmatism, populism were all brought into, promoted and recommended in China. Names like Marx, Engels, Kropotkin, Owen, Saint Simon, Dewey and Russel were known to the intellectuals. Thoughts of Schopenhauer, Nietsch, and Freud were disseminated among intellectuals. From the source of ideas and the dissemination trends, 4 cultural zones played an important 5

role in bringing in modern western thoughts to China, respectively Japan, Russia, Europe and USA. Due to different geographic relationships between China and those areas as well as the mainstream culture of those areas, Chinese intellectuals who have studied or lived in those regions were deeply influenced by the mainstream cultural tide and values of those regions. 1) Japan. Japan is very close to China. In terms of culture, Japanese culture was under the influence of Chinese culture since ancient times. After the Menji Reform, Japan learned from the west and quickly gained national strength, and began to take China as an object of invasion. Intellectuals such as exiled Sun Yat-sen and his followers, as well as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Yu Dafu, Tian Han, Cheng Fangwu left the warlord dogfight situation in China to study in Japan and researched the experience of Menji Reform. At the same time, they also felt contempt and insult because they came from a weak country in a foreign country. Therefore, nationalism became the shared ideological characteristics and value orientation of the intellectuals. 2) Russia. "The salvoes of the October Revolution of 1917 brought us Marxism and Leninism." The famous words from Chairman Mao precisely and vividly describe the immediate response of the Chinese intellectuals and the whole society to the victory of the October Revolution, as well as the rapid spread of Marxism to the country during the New Culture Movement. Pioneers such as Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Qu Qiubai, Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, Yun Daiying and Lin Yunan brought in Marxism and promoted it. They participated in the new culture movement as ideological enlighteners. After they accepted the Bolshevik Marxism, they began to participate in the practice of co=unist revolution and opened a new era in the history of China. 3) Europe. Europe is the place where the bourgeois revolution started. She also nurtured Marxism, one of the greatest school of thoughts in the modern history. 6

Europe attracted thousands of Chinese young people to go there and seek the path to national prosperity because of its rich culture and developed modern civilization. Revolutionists such as Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaopeng, Chen Yi, Li Fuchun, Cai Chang and scholars such as Xu Zhimo, Ai Qing, Dai Wangshu, as well as artists such as Xu Beihong, Liu Haisu, and He Lvting all studied or lived in Europe, the land where future fantasies of the future and problems of reality fused and painted the future of different sectors in China. It is fair to say that scientific socialism, utopian socialism, anarchism, and liberalism were all reflected in their thoughts and became an integrate source and foundation for the development of their respective thoughts.

4) The USA. The USA was the ''New World", which created a striking new social mechanism after getting rid of the influence of the European culture. Since it is a virgin land, explorers all over the world gathered there. Since it is an enormous space for development, people all over the world who pursued freedom all gathered there. Without any historical burden, USA created a colorful diversified culture on an unprecedented scale. Liberalism and pragmatism became the most influential thought trends of thoughts. Sun Yat-sen, Song Sisters and many political figures in the period of the Republic of China were influenced by American culture. Hu Shi, Wen Yiduo, Xie Bingxin, Liang Shiqiu and Hong Shen have incorporated those thoughts into the establishment of their own theories.

(2) New Language and new literature: language is the vehicle and form of ideas. Literature is an art of language, where language can be transmitted, used and created in a most sensitive way. The level of cultural evolution can often be measured by the level of evolution of language and literature. The Vernacular Movement and the New Literature Movement were the pioneers of the new culture movement. As the vehicle and form of the mainstream culture of the feudal society in China, classical Chinese had always been in the dominant position in Chinese language, Chinese 7

literature and Chinese culture. Though vernacular Chinese had been popular among co=on people for a long time, it had never been appealed to the refined taste. The advocators of the New Culture Movement advocated vernacular Chinese and abandoned classic Chinese, and fought against feudal literature. They initiated a literary revolution, and intergraded the vernacular revolution and the new literature movement and blew the hom of the New Culture Movement. New language and new literature have become the most prominent and most influential sector in the New Culture Movement. Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, Lu Xun, Qian Xuantong, Liu Bannong, Zhou Zuoren were the most accomplished pioneers of this movement. Lu Xun became the greatest standard-bearer of the new culture movement because of his in-depth thoughts, critical style and mature works. Qu Qiubai was the first one in China to write a piece of reportage with vernacular Chinese, and we also have great figures like Bing Xin, Zhu Ziqing, Lu Ying, Xu Dishan, Ye Shaojun, Wang Tongzhao, Yang Zhensheng, Yu Pingbo from the Literature Research Society, Guo Moruo, Yu Dafu, Xu Dafu, Tian Han, Zhang Ziping, Feng Ruanjun from the Creation Society, Wen Yiduo, Xu Zhimo, Zhu Xiang from the Crescent Society and the young literati such as Zong Baihua and Wang Jingzhi. They wrote new poems, new essays and new novels with their creative and imaginative style so that the vernacular Chinese beat the classical Chinese and the new literature triumphed over the old literature. In 1920s and 1930s, great writers such as Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Lao She, Cao Yu, Ding Ling, Xia Yan, Ai Qing, Zang Kejiang, Zhang Tianyi, Wu Zuxiang, Shen Congwen, Xiao Hong, Xiao Qian, Sha Ting, and Ai Wu brought the new literature to a rather high level so that it became the new discourse and ideological resources of modem Chinese and modem Chinese culture.

(3) New science, new academia and new education. "Science" and "academia" did not have independent positions in ancient China, which were classified into the study of classics. However, when western science and western academia were brought into China, the position of nature science was elevated rapidly. 8

Firstly, the rise and fall of the nation made people see that a main reason for the development and prosperity of the western world were advanced cannons and warships, behind which were developed nature science and technology. It was necessary to learn from the west so that more Chinese will obtain knowledge of advanced science and technology. New disciplines such as mathematics, physics, geology, biology, chemistry, and architecture began to be established in China. Scientists such as Li Siguang, Zhu Kezhen, Zhao Yuanren, Shiing-shen Chern and Liang Sicheng were representative figures. The classics which were foundation for modem Chinese social science and humanities lost adequate appeal and new academic forms and discourse were brought into. Philosophy, history, economics, sociology, linguistics, and literature all demonstrated new forms. Hu Shi, Feng Youlan, Liang Shuming, Xiong Shili, Jin Yuelin, Chen Ymque, Qian Mu, Ma Ymchu, Wu Wenzao, Zhu Guangqian and Wang Li made great contribution to the establishment of those disciplines. Meanwhile, along with the idea of saving China by science was the idea of saving China by education. Different from traditional family schools and imperial examinations in education, talents selection and cultivation, modem western universities and schools were brought into China and drew much attention because of their completely different concepts and methods of education. Peking University, Tsinghua University and Fudan University assembled the most outstanding talents of China at that time. Educators such as Cai Yuanpei and Zhang Boling made incredible contributions.

(4) New Social Relationships and New Fashions The traditional social relationships under the feudal autocratic system changed drastically under the impact of the New Culture Movement. New social relationships demonstrating independence and equality were respected. Another remarkable aspect of the reform of social relationships and social fashion was to break off old customs and old feudal ethics and rites to pursue new customs and new fashions. Relatively large adjustments were made in the relationships between the old and the young, the superior and the inferior, father and son, brothers, husband and wife, as well as friends. The most 9

influential trends were the individual liberation and the emancipation of women. The respect to independent individuals, as well as the call for women to break off old rites and old customs and pursue equal rights like men made rebellions against the feudal patriarchal system and quested for independent personal survival become the new fashion. Women began to go to the same school, perform on the same stage, work in the same place and get the same payment as men. The freedom in love and marriage became a strong social trend and caused storms in Chinese society. New love, marriage and family based on share values, mutual respect and equality became important symbols for the trend. Marriages between Sun Yat-sun and Song Qingling, the marriage between Lu Xun and Xu Guangping, between Gao Junyu and Shi Pingmei, as well as that between Zhou Wenyong and Chen Tiejun all demonstrated this trend. Apart from individual acts, societies which combined people with same interests and advocated, and practiced new social relationships and social trends were all very active at that time, such as the Xinmin Society organized by Mao Zedong, the Young China Society organized by Wang Guangqi, the Awareness Society by Zhou Enlai, as well as the New Tide Society, the Lakeside Poetry Society, the Guomin Society, the Engineering Society and the Communism Study Society. They all played an important role in promoting new ideas and new trends. '

(5) New Art Forms and New Undertakings The New Culture Movement expedited the establishment of various art forms in modem China and instilled into them with the zeitgeist and the revolutionary spirit.

1) Drama Chinese dramas had gone through the student drama phase of the late Qing Dynasty, the new drama phase led by students who went to study in Japan and the civilization drama after the revolution ofl911. Around the May 4th movement in 1919, progressive

' Li Zehou, History of Chinese Thoughts (the second volume), Page 838, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House, 1999.

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intellectuals began to pay much attention to it and get involved in. Chinese dramas entered a prosperous period. Hu Shi and Guo Moruo wrote early scripts for the new Chinese drama. Tian Han, Hong Shen and Ouyang Yuqian worked actively and ushered a new era for Chinese drama. In the 1930s, Chinese drama entered a climax represented by deep and solid dramas by dramatists such as Cao Yu. Peking Opera, which epitomized different traditional Chinese operas continued to change in the revolutionary period and integrated zeitgeist such as patriotism and nationalism. Peking Opera obtained world renowned accomplishments with the representative plays performed by Four Great Dan'Actors including Mei Lanfang, Cheng Xianqiu, Shang Xiaoyun and Xun Huisheng. 2) Music With the dissemination of western culture and western music as well as the popularization of new western schools, new music was promoted rapidly. Since a number of the popularity school songs written and composed by Li Shutong became well received, Zhao Yuanren, Liu Tianhua, Xiao Youmei and Huang Zi worked very hard on a type of new music with Chinese characteristics, modem structure, and modem spirits, moulding it into a mature genre. In the 1930s, songs composed by musicians such as Nie Er, Xuan Haixing, and He Lvting gained great popularity in China as well as in the world. 3) Dance. On the one hand, ball room dancing became popular in the upper class. In developed cities, such as Shanghai, with the influx of people of different nationalities, more and more places of entertainment appeared. The dance hostess who relied on dancing for a living became a fashionable occupation, which in tum promoted the concept of EuroAmerican dancing. On the other hand, pioneers who explored the art of dancing,

2

Dan is the general name for female roles in Chinese opera, often referring to leading roles.

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especially the new dance which can meet the needs of modem China and resemble zeitgeist and national characters laid foundation for the modernization and nationalization of dance in China. Wu Xiaobang and Dai Ailian were the representative figures. 4) Painting. Painting artists seem to be very sensitive to the changes of the times and culture. In fact, as early as the late Qing Dynasty and the period of the Republic of China, Li Shutong has begun explorations in the concepts and forms of modem painting. Wen Yiduo also made pioneering endeavors in cultivating new painting artists and developing painting education during this period. Many Chinese painters aimed to combine modem painting techniques and forms with the zeitgeist demonstrated by the May 4th Movement, boldly challenged traditions, and created a modem Chinese system of fine arts. Xu Beihong, Liu Haishu, and Jiang Zhaohe were the representatives. Cartoon style led by Feng Zikai expressed special spiritual characteristics of the New Culture Movement in a refreshing way. Journalism and publishing industries developed rapidly during this period. According to incomplete statistics, during the May 4th Movement, there were at least 400

vernacular newspapers in China (including newspapers established by student organizations). The more influential ones among them are LaJeunesse, Young China,

Liberation and Reformation, New China, Xinmin Reviews, and The Renaissance. Many works composed in vernacular Chinese were published on the supplements of the vernacular newspapers such as on the supplements of Morning Newspaper, Awareness

of the Republic Daily, and Study Light of Currents Affairs, and exerted great social influence. Publishing companies represented by the Commercial Press and Beixin Publishing promoted a large number of books on western ideologies, academia, and culture, as well as books written by famous Chinese vernacular writers. The private radio was also started in this period. By the 1930s, journalism and publishing entered a 12

prosperous period. There were many famous figures such as Shao Piaoping, Cheng Shewo, Zhang Yuanji, Hu Yuzhi, Ye Shengtao, Zhou Taofen and Fan Changjiang. The Chinese film industry developed in hardships. Faced with pressure from politics, economics and society, many progressive figures took part in Chinese film industry. After the May 4th movement, the Chinese film industry made great achievements in the 1930s and 1940s and established Chinese film culture with distinctive and special spirit, personality, character and image. Zheng Zhengqiu, Zhang Shichuan, Sun Yu, Wu Yonguang, Xia Yan, Tian Han, Nie Er, A Ying, Yang Hansheng, Cai Chusheng, Zheng Junli, Shi Dongshan, Shen Xiling, Fei Mu, Ruan Lingyu, Jin Yan, Hu Die, Zhao Dan, Bai Yang, Zhou Xuan, Shi Hui, Yuan Muzhi and Chen Boer all made great contribution to the development of the Chinese film culture. The first culture movement started by the May 4th Movement quickly expanded from the ideological and cultural sector to social and political conflicts. In front of severe national struggles and drastic class struggles, Chinese people shifted their focus from ideological enlightenment to national survival. However, patriotism, nationalism, individualism, and the pursuit of science and democracy, continued to inspire Chinese people. Chinese communists held the banner of the May 4th Movement, and creatively put forward a series of strategies and guidelines to the construction of modem Chinese culture. As a participant of the May 4th movement and a leader of Chinese communist party, Mao Zedong summarized the historical experience of Chinese cultural practice and put forward an overall new culture development strategy with characteristics of nationalism and popularization. He also put forward the functions, purposes and standards of artistic creation required by the Communist Party of China. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong put forward cultural policies with strategic guidance such as "making the past serve the present, make foreign things serve China", "letting a hundred of flowers bloom and a hundred of schools of thought contend", which have exerted important and deep impact on the cultural construction of China since the 1940s. 13

It should be noted that due to the frequent national and domestic wars for over half a

century, it was very difficult for the cultural sector to operate following certain laws free from disturbance. It either became a fighting force to serve the realistic struggles or must stay in the ivory tower created by intellectuals. To summarize, it was impossible for the culture movement to have an overall impact and radiate the whole society. 0.2 The Second Culture Movement- Middle of the 1980s In the end of the 1970s, Deng Xiaoping led China to begin a great undertaking of

socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics. Economic construction replaced political movement. The reform and opening-up became the calling of the times. After completing historical missions such as ''putting wrongs to rights", new social relations, social organizations and social fashions were reconstructed. Sensitive and radical intellectuals who survived the Cultural Revolution, and opened their eyes to the outside world after it, began a massive cultural reflection in the 1980s, 70 years after the May 4th Movement. It was the second culture movement after the May 4th movement, which prospered in the middle of the 1980s. What's the connection between the second culture movement in the 1980s and the May 4th New Culture Movement in the 1910s? In my opinion, the two culture movements were both started by elite intellectuals which focused on ideological enlightenment. The co=on background was the poor and backward state of the country. The co=on referent was the developed economic, social and cultural level of western countries. The common objective was to promote the progress and prosperity and accelerate the modernization of China. The general characteristics were anti-tradition and reflection upon tradition, which means to object or reflect upon the backward, bad and fatuous factors which hindered the modernization of China. It is noted that the differences between the two culture movements are obvious. First,

the national status was greatly different. When the May 4th New Culture Movement prospered, China was suffering from domestic wars and invasions of imperialist 14

countries. In the 1980s, China was an independent country with considerable national strength. Chinese people earned respect from other nations with an image of self-esteem and self-respect. Second, China was clearly in a different international environment. In the first half of the 20th century, two world wars broke out, which destroyed natural environment as well as human civilization. In 1980s, the cold war was about to come to an end. Peace and development have become the biggest theme for the world. Secondly, the two culture movements had two different directions. The May 4th New Culture movement developed from ideological enlightenment and moved towards political struggles. However, the culture movement in the 1980s was on the contrary, which started with political struggles (including setting chaos to rights, and the discussion on the criteria of truth) and moved toward the ideological enlightenment. To summarize, the first culture movement moved from the cultural level into the political level while the second cultural revolution moved from the political level into the cultural level. The second culture movement aimed to criticize and reflect upon traditional culture and bring in modem western theories, thoughts and academic achievements, which left deep impression in the ideological and academic sector as well as the literature and art sector. Facing the consequences of the cultural revolution, intellectuals began to criticize it from a political perspective. Later, people extended the political criticism to a series of political movements before the cultural revolution. In the 1980s, people began to extend the criticism and reflection to the whole Chinese history and Chinese culture. People found that the ideological enlightenment carried out through the May 4th moment still had realistic significance in the 1970s. Science and democracy which were put forward in the new culture movement were still important issues in China. To solve the problems, western books on natural science, social science and humanities had to be translated and introduced. People in China needed to know the new development and achievements in the West after isolating China from the outside world for dozens of years. 15

A great number of articles which were either the translation or the introduction on the new thoughts, new ideas and new methods of modem western nature science, social science, or humanities were published on magazines such as Encyclopedia, Xinhua Digest, Reader, Translated Philosophy. Two influential series ofbooks were Into Future published by Sichuan Renmin Publishing House and Aesthetics by Li Zehou. The most influential methodologies were the so called three theories, which are information theory, control theory and system theory. The most influential western philosophers were Sartre, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and Freud. The existentialism of Sartre, the Ubermensch philosophy by Nietzsche and the voluntarism of Schopenhauer and the psychoanalysis of Freud were very popular. While bringing in modem western academic theories, scholars in the ideological and academic sector began to write about cultural reflection from their research. For example, there was a big discussion on the otology in the philosophy circle. How to divide different historical phases of Chinese society (especially the history of feudal society), as well as arguments on important historical phenomenon (including farmer's movements) and historical figures (including several important figures in modem Chinese history and the history of CPC) were heated topics in the history circle. The understanding of several important phenomenon in the history of literature including literature movements and literature arguments in the modem Chinese literature history and several important historical figures including heavily criticized ones in the past and the understanding of basic theories in literature creation such as the authors' positions in the literature creation and the dynamic combination of characters' personalities in literature works were heated topics in the ligature circle. A large number of scholars in law, sociology, economics, linguistics, politics all participated in the cultural reflection. The most influential scholar for young readers was Li Zehou. Apart from editing

Collection of Translations on Aesthetics, he made great contribution to the research of philosophy, aesthetic and ideological history. The Path ofBeauty: A Study of Chinese

Aesthetics and Critical Philosophy Critique, as well as three historical books including Ideologies in Ancient China, Ideologies in Modem China and Ideologies in 16

Contemporary China written by him described, summarized and expressed important figures, phenomena and issues in Chinese ideology history from the perspective of cultural reflection. Overseas ideologists, writers, philosophers and scholars in various fields published a number of influential books on cultural criticism and reelection, such as The Ugly Chinaman by Bo Yang, Monologue upon Tradition and Tradition upon Monologue as well as books by Yu Ying-shih, Chung-ying Cheng, Tang Junyi, Xu Fuguan, Tu Weiming, Ray Huang, Leo Lee and Yusheng Lin. In the literature and art section, cultural reflection was fully demonstrated through anti-

tradition method and the pursuit of new thoughts. ( 1) Literature Modern western literature entered the literature circle in China in the beginning of 1980s through the writers such as Wang Meng. Western literature schools such as stream of consciousness, expressionism, symbolism, and surrealism became familiar to Chinese literature circle which began to imitate and recreate those new ways in their own writings. Till the middle of 1980s, tides of cultural reflection appeared in the literature creation in China. There were different forms of expression which shared one co=on character which blurred the boundaries between of the truth and the false, the good and the bad and the beauty and the ugliness and tried to experiment with more rational, legendary or abstract connotations. 1) Root-seeking literature: It touched the roots of traditional culture and carried out deep reflection upon the grandness and richness of the traditional culture, as well as the heaviness, cruelty and mystery of traditional culture. Father by Han Shaogong, Old Well by Zheng Yi, King of Chess, King of Trees, and King of Children by A Cheng, Black Horse and River in the North by Zhang Chengzhi and Red Sorghum by Mo Yan which was later adapted into the first fihn directed by Zhang Yimou 17

were representative works of rook-seeking literature. 2) Historical reflection. Historical figures and historical phenomena in the development of Chinese history were reexamined. Li Zicheng by Yao Xueyin, Young Emperor by Ling Li, The Battle ofXiangjiang, The Southern Anhui Incident

by Li Ruqing, Flag by Qiao Liang were the representative works. 3) Lust. Lust had long been a taboo in Chinese literature after 1949. After A Comer Forgotten by Love written by Zhang Xuan and Love Cannot be Forgotten written

by Zhang Jie were in the beginning of the 1980s, Chinese writers began to go beyond the social aspect oflove and explore the human nature in love with depiction and expression oflove and feelings between men and women. Love in a Small City, Love on a Barren Mountain, and Brocade Valley were representative pieces. It is noted that a number of young and middle-aged writers such as Wang Meng,

Liu Xinwu, Cong Weixi, Zhang Xianliang, Kan Rong, Lu Yanzhou, Lu Yao, Li Guowen, Gu Ye, Ye Nan, Bai Hua, Li Zhun, Gao Xiaosheng, Li Cunbao were active in this period. They wrote about the real world, and revealed the conflicts in the real life, analyzed and described the mental status of modem Chinese people and reflected upon Chinese culture. Many of their works were adapted and recreated by film artists and exerted greater influence, such as Ru Yi, A Good Woman, People at their Middle Ages, The Legend ofTianyunshan, Hibiscus Town, Life, wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain.

(2) Drama. In the middle of 1980s, drama encountered unprecedented crisis in China. The creation concepts of the traditional realistic drama encountered unpresented difficulties. With the translation of modern dramas from the West, many schools such as Theatre of the Absurd, expressionism, futurism, existentialism, and symbolism became very popular. Dramas concepts and forms of expression by Beckett, 0 'Neal, Sartre, and Brecht became familiar to the dramatists in China. More importantly, dramatists were no longer satisfied with realistic demonstration 18

of the world and life, but to seek a new relationship between world, drama and life. They began to experiment in the "exploration dramas" (Chinese modernist dramas). Absolute Signal, Bus Station, and Wild Men by Gao Xingjian or The Rubik Cube by Chinese Youth Art Theatre, and Pan Jianlian by Wei Minglun were representative works. Uncle Doggie's Nirvana and Story ofMulberry Village demonstrated even higher value in cultural reflection and cultural criticism apart from anti-tradition explorations in forms. (3) Painting The painting circle may have encountered the strongest shock. A colorful scene unfolded in China. Artists and theorists of different opinions carried out heated discussions on modern painting concepts and began various explorations. Traditional realistic painting concepts were left out. In fact, cultural reflections were carried out in the painting circle as early as the 1980s. Father, a portrait by Luo Zhongli, demonstrated a strong and suffering father who are both stubborn, respectable and pitiful, which had a strong visual effect and emotional power. The most influential was the grand exhibition of "Art of Human Body" by National Art Museum of China. In 1920s, Liu Haishu was heavily praised and criticized because of his paintings of nude female bodies. Yet in the 1980s, the fact that thousands of visitors went to see the exhibition showed that the society became more open and tolerate. Theory of the Art of Nude Bodies by Chen Zhui became a bestseller in China, which showed people's desire to break the barriers of traditional culture. (4) Music The popularity of western music, the transformation of serious music and the rising of popular music became the most spectacular phenomenon of Chinese music in this period. For a long time, western classical music and modem music, especially symphony and western pop were considered as the art of the bourgeoisie and could not be performed on the stage. However, they become quite popular among young 19

people and music cassettes and videos of these genres sold well. Music performances and concerts and lectures of these gemes were very popular. In many young people's eyes, these genres were associated with civilization and modernity. In the comparison, the development of Chinese national music was quite slow. Under the influence ofwestem music, the academic school and the serious musician in the professional circle began to experiment with extremely modem and individualized creation. Tan Tun, Ye Xiaogang, Qiu Xiaosong, and Liu Suola were the outstanding representatives. With the relaxation of the tension between the mainland and Taiwan, campus music from Taiwan such as Village Road, Father's

Straw Sandals, and Grandma's Penghu Bay, became household songs in the mainland of China. Teresa Teng's songs such as Story in a Small Town, When Will

You Come Again? were so gentle and charming, which were admired by millions of listeners. In the beginning of the 1980s, those songs were considered as decadent music. They were soon widely accepted. Zhu Fengbo and Li Guyi began to experiment controversial modem and individualized style which were different from traditional singing methods. With the increasing influence of pop music from Hong Kong and Taiwan, Su Rui, Cai Qin, Wang Mingquan, Xu Xiaofeng, Tan Yonglin, Zhang Guorong, Mei Yanfang, Fei Xiang, Qi Qin, Jiang Yuheng, Wang Jie, Zhang Mingmin and Xi Xiulan became known to Chinese audience, mostly due to the annual CCTV Chinese New Year Gala invited them to perform. After imitation and learning from pop music from Hong Kong and Taiwan, the music creation of the mainland China became more and more active and reached the climax of the period. Nothing to My Name by Cui Jian, Let the World be Filled with Love by Guo Feng, and the Northwest Wind style as well as movie songs created by Zhao Jiping, film and television music by Zhang Li and Xu Peidong, were considered as good examples of the rise of the pop music in China.

(5) Dance. The popularity of social dance, as well as the rise of modem dance, and the modernization of national dance became the new growth points of the development of Chinese dance in this period. Social dance includes western ballroom dance and 20

group dance. Dance became a fashionable and popular act in urban communities, universities as well as governmental agencies and organizations, which provided social foundation for the dance art. After learning from western dance, Chinese modem dance become active in stage and on television such as in various variety shows. Various performances by a modern dance troupe led by Tao Jin was made into Rock Youth by Tian Zhuangzhuang. National dance combined classic dance, folk dance and modern dance and attempted to find a new path. In the beginning of 1980s, experiments were done in Silk Road, Flower Rain. Creation and performance of artists such as Yang Liping and Shen Peiyi reached a relatively high level. The second culture movement characterized by anti-traditional, explorative, new, individual, modern styles. Reforms and creations were carried out with traditional creation concepts and methods. What's different from the first culture movement, Chinese film and television moved forward at an astonishing speed. The first Chinese film was made in 1905 and Chinese television industry was established in 1958. Film and television culture, as a new cultural existence, quickly surpassed the other artists' forms in literature and art in the ecological system and became a leading force in the second culture movement in the middle of 1980s. Filmmakers of five generations in China were all on the go in the same historical period. Xia Yan, Yan Hansheng, Wu Yongguang, and Sun Yu who began to work in the film sector in the 1920s were still active. Chen Huangmei, Situ Huimin, Bai Yang, Zhang Junxiang, Li Zifeng, Sang Hu, Zhang Ruifang, Sun Daolin and Qin Yi who began their career in the 1930s and 1940s attained new artistic achievements with their rich artistic experience. Xie Tieli, Cheng Meng, Tang Xiaodan, Wang Ping, Xie Jin, YuLan, Tian Hua, Wang Xiaotang, Yan Jizhou, Shui Hua, Xie Fang who were active in the film sector in the 1960s took the spotlight. Some of them even achieved their personal artistic climax. The artists from the fourth generation 21

including Wu Yigong, Huang Jianzhong, Zhang Yuanxi, Hu Bingliu, Ding Mengnan, Xie Feng, Zheng Tongtian who showed up prominently in the 1970s were the main force in the film creation. The fifth-generation directors including Zhang Yimou, Chen K.aige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Wu Ziniu, Zhang Junzhao, and He Qun created a number of refreshing films and began to win awards in international film festivals and made great contribution by presenting Chinese cinema to the world. Film creation in Taiwan and Hong Kong also reached a climax in this period. Hou Hsiaohsien, Ang Lee, Li Xing, Yang Dechang, and Wang Tong from Taiwan, directors such as Wong Kar-wai, John Woo, Hsu Feng, Tsui Hark and actors and actress such as Jacki Chen, Maggie Cheung, Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung ka-fai, Leslie Cheung, and Sylvia Chang from Hong Kong all made great contribution. The import and screening of foreign films bought new visual experience and pleasure to the Chinese audience and inspired their vivid imagination of vivid world culture. The translation and introduction of overseas academic titles on films broadened the horizon of creation and theory of filmmakers and intellectuals, and deepened people's understanding of the film culture and the film itself. Film education was included in the curriculum of universities and cultivated potential high-quality film audience and prepared talents for the future development of film culture. Affected by the second culture movement of Chinese film, Chinese film circle also participated in the cultural reflection and cultural criticism, which was fully demonstrated in the films directed by the artists of the fifth generation. lnfluences of the culture movement were also shown in the film criticism sector. Criticisms and reflections upon traditional culture reached a climax in the discussion ofXie Jin's film model. Chinese television industry made great progress in this period because of favorable conditions, which can be seen in the major changes of three systems. First, for the mass communication system, though traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, books maintained the dominating position, a considerable number of 22

readers began to read less and watch more. Modem mass communication media such as radio, television, and video had their audience respectively. Television was especially popular because of the information it can provide and the convenient way to watch. Second, in terms of the artistic system, literary genres such as poetry, novel, essay, still had a lot of readers, the prosperity of television art creation reduced the space for the creation oftraditionalliterary creation forms. The creation and dissemination of drama, music, dance, painting, and film was directly challenged by television. Television took in creation and performance artists of those artistic genres and expanded the artistic performance of its own. In the entertainment and leisure system, traditional entertainment forms such as lyreplaying, chess, calligraphy and painting still had relatively strong social foundation. Body-building, fishing, karaoke, Disco and travel became new fashionable ways of life. Each entertainment and leisure activity usually only has a special group of participants. However, television is not limited by age, career, region, class or gender and can be a true entertainment for the public. The most influential TV program genres in China in this period were TV dramas, TV documentaries and variety shows. Chinese TV dramas covered a wide range of subjects. Those which were adapted from classical works presented ancient stories on the screen. Melodramas achieved success through twisted plots. Historical

dramas and biographic TV dramas as well as modern dramas were based on the reforms of the social life. Those TV dramas are mainly about humanities and history as well as social reality and thus aroused much social reaction. TV documentaries especially scenery documentaries drew much social attention. Songs and music from soundtracks of many documentaries were very popular. Influenced by the second social moment, TV documentaries were instilled with humanistic care, which demonstrated that TV's potentiality in participating cultural criticism and reflection. A large number of TV dramas from Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA, UK and other 23

countries were on air in China. Quite a number of those TV dramas were very popular which greatly promoted the popularity of television culture. The co=unication between China and international television circles developed very fast. Television theories began to go beyond the developing level and the television criticism became more and more active. Chinese film culture had direct influence on Chinese television culture. Film and television began to interact with each other in China. Film and television became a whole entity and received enthusiastic attention from all sectors of society. Film and television culture became an important branch of social culture system and was influenced and restricted by social culture in China.

The two culture movements in China in the 20th century shaped culture into an independent force to participate in the development of the Chinese society. From appearance, the two social movements shared same features such as openness to the international society and accepting and learning from western culture. In the deep nature, the shock of foreign cultures was only an opportunity. Representatives in ideological and academic sectors, literature and art sectors, did not simply take foreign cultures, but created a new modem culture for Chinese nation based on the social conditions of China. Film and television culture in China is an organic part of modern culture in China. On the one hand, it was affected by Chinese culture in forms, contents, characters and qualities. On the other hand, it enriched and expanded the contents, qualities, and characters of modern Chinese culture with special contents, methods and ways.

0.3 The Cultural Landscape of the 1990s Since the 1990s, Chinese culture was placed against a more complex economic and political background both at the national and international level and demonstrated a more varied landscape. In general, China entered a transitional period in 1990s.

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(1) Economic and political background Culture is always closely related to the development of the society and politics. Though, the relationships are rather complex than simple. We can have a look at the development of culture from the observation of the economic and social backgrounds. 1) Economic background After the reform and opening-up, China began to change from a socialist planned economy to a planned economy combining market and planning. In the 1990s, especially after Deng Xiaoping's talk in 1992, the third generation of Chinese leaders represented by Jiang Zemin, clearly put forward "the grand objective to establish a socialist market economy" and issued a series of policies, regulations, measures which covered nearly all aspects of national economy and social development, which can be seen as a milestone in the history of China, especially in the economic construction. Many disadvantages of the planned economy, especially many disadvantages brought up by the double-track system in the transitional period, appeared in the reform of economic system such as the transition of medium and large state-owned enterprises, the laid-off workers, the corruption and criminal problems in the economic sector. The information revolution brought developed countries in the world to compete in the information industry. The developing countries don't want to suffer from the vicious circle of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer and adopted various strategies to cope with the shocks of the economic globalization and sought historical opportunities for their own development. 2) Political background. Domestically, the third generation of national leaders of PRC represented by Jiang Zemin put forward the general political objective of "fully advancing socialism with Chinese characteristics into the 21st century'', and formulated a series of complete, systematic and well-considered political guidelines, policies, and strategies, which covers various aspects of the political life of the party, the state and the people, including the state affairs, diplomacy as well basic principles and strategies 25

to adjust new complicated relationships such as the historical position of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the theory of the initial stage of socialism, the theory of socialist ownership, and the relationships among reform, development and stability. The call for "the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" demonstrated the great political vision and determined faith of the national leaders. Internationally, in the 1980s, the Soviet Union and the East European Social Countries collapsed, and the Cold War ended naturally. Peace and development became the themes of the era. The multipolar world began to take shape. However, national issues, religious issues as well as the conflicts and regional wars still were the barriers to world peace. 3) In the 1990s, globalization, internationalization and multi-polarization greatly expanded people's vision and impacted people's concept of value, way of thinking, social structure, lifestyle, and mentality. In the 1980s, people in China dreamed of the 21st century, which has arrived. Passion and romance often gave in for rationality and practicability. In the 1990s, the overall structure of Chinese culture was adjusted in such an economic, political background and demonstrated many characteristics. (2) Cultural landscape The mainstream culture, the elite culture, and the mass culture, the three cultural forms and modes coexist in the social culture. However, the relationships among the three as well as the contents, characteristics, and functions of each of them are constantly changing with the changes of the cultural culture. What is the general cultural landscape ofthe 1990s? 1) The strengthening of the mainstream ideology. The third generation of Chinese national leaders represented by Jiang Zernin paid high attention to the function of the mainstream ideology. They adopted vigorous strategies in the ideology sector and continued to intensity the mainstream ideology to guide the society. Jiang's responses to Deng Xiaoping's theory, his thoughts to empower people with scientific theories, guide them with correct opinions, imbue them with a noble spirit 26

and inspire them with excellent works, the ''three emphasis" education to pay more attention to theoretical study, improve their political awareness, and be honest and upright as well as his thoughts on ''three represents" were the main ideas of the mainstream ideology in 1990s. The production and dissemination of spiritual products are required to be in accordance with the main themes. Advanced heroes and models of the era were greatly praised such as Kong Fansen, Xu Hu, Li Suli, Gao Jiancheng, Li Xiangqun etc., backward, ignorant, and even reactionary ideas and actions were exposed and criticized, and outstanding spiritual products such as the Best Works Award by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee praised and encouraged. 2) The division of the elite culture circle. Different from the elite culture circle in the 1980s, in the 1990s, the elite culture circle was highly divided. In the transitional period, with the repaid development of Chinese economy, economic development became the focus of the society. The metaphysical position of ideas and culture began to fall. People in the elite culture circle felt that they were pushed to the margins of the discourse form the center of discourse. The pressure from the real survival and the shift of the discourse made the people of the elite culture feel lost. The elite culture circle began to divide. Some of them began to abandon writing and engage in business. Some of them joined the mainstream culture and some of them went to the mass culture. In fact, with the deepening of the revolution and the opening up, the exchange between Chinese culture and foreign cultures surpassed the past in terms of width and depth. However, there was no theory like the ones in the ones in the culture movement which can cause public stir. A lot of new theories, new discourses were only disseminated in a small circle. 3) The rise of the popular culture. The development of the popular culture is often associated with the vulgarity, low quality and other negative terms in modem China. In 1990s, the liveliness of the market economy and the popularity of the consciousness of commodity created an excellent space for the development of the 27

popular culture, which soon became the focus of the social attention and began to play a major role. There were two symbols. First, the mass communication media became the most influential as well as the largest source of social opinions. Newspapers, magazines, films, radio, videos and TV became integral parts of people's life. Second, the popularity of consumerism. Nearly all can be included in the consumerism and become the object of consumption. Even private life of celebrities, political secrets and inside stories of the society can be a part of public consumption. Various magazines and books in the street stalls were full of sensory stimulation and fashionable life. (3) Cultural characteristics The biggest characteristics of the culture in the 1990s was that the boundaries of the mainstream culture, the elite culture and the mass culture became blurrier and even converged in some aspects. 1) Chinese classics were favored again. It is known that during the two culture movements, Chinese classics, as an important part of traditional culture, were criticized. In 1990s, it regained social and media attention. The life and achievements of masters of Chinese classics became much speculated. After years of silence, Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei, Zhang Taiyan, Gu Hongming, Gu Zegang, Wu Bi, and Chen Yinque were rediscovered. Their biographies and academic works became bestsellers. Qian Zhongshu who was called a master of Chinese culture, was reluctant to deal with the media, which increased the mystery around him. Apart from his novel Fortress Besieged being adapted into a TV drama, his books such as Limited Views, and On the Art of Poetry were highly praised. To research Qian Zhongshu became a distinctive field, which is called Qian Studies. Overseas scholars such as Tu Wei-ming which researched Confucianism were considered as the representative figures of the third generation of new Confucianism, who are popular in mainland China. Many academic books on Chinese classics were 28

published and promoted. A number of scholars became famous after being in obscurity for half a century, such as Zhang Zhongxing, who published Following Fate and Shadows ofthe Years in his 80s and Ji Xianlin who researched the culture,

academia and history of ancient India and wrote Random Recollections of the Cow Shed. 2) Postmodern thoughts were extremely popular. After the second culture movement in the 1980s, there was a break of the import of western thoughts. In 1990s, a great number of western thoughts were brought in. Most of them are postmodem thoughts, such as post-modernism, post-colonialism etc. Words such as ''post" and ''new" were used often to describe social forms, such as "postindustrial age", "post information age" etc. In order to demonstrate their independent schools or thoughts, some scholars use ''post" to put behind ''post", such as ''post-postmodemism" and ''post-postmodem era". Western scholars whose names were often mentioned were Fredric Jameson, Eric Fromm, Daniel Bell, Samuel Huntington, Douwe Fokkema, Max Weber, Walter Benjamin, Edward Said and Nicholas Negroponte. 3) The fight for discourse, the establishment of many schools of thought. After the passion of the culture movement in 1980s, many intellectuals were in an awkward position because of indifferent treatments. During a heated discussion of ''humanities spirit", "compliance" and ''persevering" standpoints stand for different directions and roads of "compliance" and "persevering". Wang Meng and Wang Shuo, Zhang Chengzhi and Zhang Wei stood for representatives of the two standpoints. Later, discussion of the same scale rarely occurred. Many scholars were busy with the establishment of their own theories. Apart from imported schools, nationalism, neo-authoritarianism, new conservatism, liberalism, and new leftism appeared. I don't doubt the belief and pursuit of truth in those theories, but I believe most of the schools were established out of the desire to obtain the power of the academic discourse.

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4) Commercialization, popularization, fashion-oriented, and fragmentation Commercialization means ideological, academic and cultural products followed the market rule and became products for production, circulation and dissemination to awake people's desire for consumption and reach good market effects. Cultural produced which were named with "strange", "miraculous", "superb" and "most" and used various brands such as "revealing secrets" or "exploring secrets" to attract consumers, readers, listeners and audience. Popularization, on the one hand, refers to the popular characteristics of ideological, cultural and artistic products in the mass culture. On the other hand, it refers to the characteristics of spiritual cultural products which were handled by the value of the mass culture, and the method of consumption. In 1990s, after commercial speculation and packing, Louis Cha Leung-yung, Chiung Yao, and Wang Shuo became masters of popular culture. Louis Cha Leung-yung's martial arts novels started to enjoy great popularity in 1980s, and still enjoyed great popularity in 1990s. A lot of his works were adapted into films and TV dramas which nurtured a great number of fans. Chiung Yao rose to fame with her novels such as Memory in Water, and Six dreams. In 1990s, she became famous again with a new novel, Princess Pearl. Wang Shuo actively engaged in the literary world, the film circle and the television circle. His comments and words aroused great controversies. He is still busy with cursing celebrities on the internet. Many people still care what he is doing and is saying. Some of the writers used to be non-mainstream. After repackaging or speculation, their works became popular literature. Writings of Zhou Zuoren, Liang Shiqiu, Lin Yutang, Lu Yin, Xiao Hong, Zhang Ailing became bestsellers due to commercial exploitation. Fashionable trend refers to combine commercialization and popularity so that cultural products, cultural figures and cultural phenomenon became fashionable. The producers offashion used celebrity effect to reach their purposes. Singers, stars, television hosts, writers, scholars, sportsmen and other social celebrities all became objects of fashion. 30

Celebrities' speeches, acts, lifestyles as well as outfit, gestures, facial expressions all became fashionable to be imitated and pursued or at least talked by the public by lawsuits, appearance in media, social activities and autobiographies. Yu Qiuyu became a cultural celebrity and icon from a drama professor and an essayist in 1990s. Gu Zhun was a thinker and scholar who seriously explored the road of social democracy in China. After being covered up with dust for over 20 years, his works became fashionable products. Purchasers of Gu Zhun Anthology and Gu Zhun Diary might really care about Gu Zhun's in-depth thoughts. However, if one did not possess one or two Gu Zhun's books on their bookshelves, he or she would not appear fashionable. Controversies about writers such as Wang Xiaobo, Liang Xiaosheng, Jia Pingao, Ge Fei, Yu Hua, Liu Heng, Su Tong and their works became fashionable to some degree. Celebrities such as Liu Huan, Mao Amin, Wei Wei, Ma Junren, Lang Ping, Li Ning, Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Gong Li, Zhao Wei, Zhao Zhongxiang, Ni Ping, Wu Xiaoli and Yang Lan became widely published fashionable icons. Fragmentation refers to production and manufacturing of the spontaneous, fragmented, and instant cultural products. It is on the contrary to the complete, systematic and strict systematization. Maybe the rhythm of modem life is too tense. Maybe people are not used to read, understand or construct systems anymore. Fragmentation has become the main way of cultural production and manufacturing. Western and Chinese classics are often fragmentized into various sketches, let alone the contemporary works. It must be noted that in the cultural landscape in 1990s. The old generation of

intellectuals kept high sense of responsibility and mission, who always stood in the frontiers of new spiritual products and produced thought-provoking and powerful works though the quantity of their production can be compared to the new generation of intellectuals. Their characters have made them models of intellectuals. The outstanding intellectuals included Bing Xin, Ba Jin, Xia Yan and Fei Xiaotong. What kind of forms, characteristics and bearing did Chinese film and television culture 31

demonstrate under the grand cultural tide during the transitional period in 1990s? This book will discuss this topic in the following chapters. The power of culture is enormous. However, as the most concentrated achievements of human spiritual products, it is very difficult to evaluate culture. In this sense, culture can both great and trivial. People engaged in cultural creation can be considered as mentors of human progress, engineers of the human souls, useless scholars or pure theorists. Chinese ancient culture is long-standing and well-established, which is the pride of Chinese decedents. Modern Chinese culture is very colorful and variegated, which have left many topics to be explored and pursued. This introduction gives a panorama of Chinese culture in the 20th century. The intention is to provide a proper reference system for Chinese film and television culture in the 20th century so that the construction of Chinese film and television culture can have a possible objective, and proper historical position. This introduction has no intention to made a thorough and complete historical analysis and theoretical summarization of Chinese culture in the 20th century. Therefore, it serves only as a bird view or scanning.

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Part One Ontology

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Chapter 1 Culture What's culture? People seem to have a consensus about the definition of culture. However, it seems to be very difficult to give it a precise definition. It is understandable yet indescribable. Maybe there is no one single definition which can be inclusive and precise. Countless defmitions have described culture from different senses and different angles with different methods and in different levels. We might be able to grasp the essence of culture.

1.1 The Definition of Culture

Yu Ying-shih once mentioned in his book Modem Significance ofChinese Culture from

the Perspective of the Value System, "dozens of years ago, A. L. Kroeber and C. K.lukhohn once collected more than 160 definitions of culture. Today, our defmitions of culture are undoubtedly more varied. From limited materials, I will name a few representative ones. (1) The defmition from the perspective of achievements created by mankind. The definition of culture in Cihai3, published in China is as follows: A. From the broad sense, it refers to the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth during the social and historical practice of human society. From the narrow sense, it refers to the ideology and the matched system and institutions. Culture is a historical phenomenon. Each society will have a corresponding culture, which develops along the development of social material production. Culture, a form of ideology, is certain political and economic reflection of a certain society, which has strong influence upon the politics and economics of a certain society. In a society with social classes, culture is characterized by class. With the birth and development of a nation, culture is characterized by nation. With the development of the forms of a

' Cihai is a large-scale Chinese dictionary and encyclopedia. The quotation is based on the edition published by Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House in August 1980.

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nation, culture will have national traditions. The development of culture has historical continuity. The historical continuity of the social material development lays the foundation for the historical continuity. The proletarian culture inherits the outstanding historical and cultural heritage in a critical way, and summarizes the practice experience of periodical struggles, production struggles and scientific experiments. B. It makes a general reference includes language. For example, ''to learn culture" refers to learn language and knowledge in general. For an individual, the cultural level of an individual refers to the language and knowledge level of a person. C. It refers to the sum total of cultivation and education of Chinese ancient feudal dynasty.

This defmition starts from Marxist dialectical materialism and historical materialism and gives a comprehensive and systematic description of culture. At the same time, it also takes the cognitive habits and idiomatic expressions (including traditional cognition and traditional expression) into consideration.

(2) The defmition from the perspective of national survival. Ruth Benedict, an established scholar in cultural studies in the US, presented a series of significant academic achievements after observing and researching on different nations for a long term. Ruth Benedict understands culture as a form of national life and a method of survival and the fundamental difference of different nations.

(3) The defiuition from the perspective of wholeness and history. After sorting out previous over 160 definitions about culture, A.L. Kroeber and C. Klukhohn defmed culture as follows, " Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other, as conditional elements of future 35

action." Kroeber and Klukhobn emphasized the wholeness of culture, i.e., patterns. Patterns mean that culture is not dispersed, random, or accidental, but rather complete, organic and integrated. This definition in fact excludes a random and personalized meaning of culture. Only patterns of behavior and systems of life can be considered as culture. Their definition also emphasizes historic nature. Traditional ideas become the core of culture. Their definition highlights the significance of historical inheritance. (4) The definition from the contents and connotations ofhuman life (especially spiritual life. In the first chapter of Primitive Culture by Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, the founder of cultural anthropology, culture is defined as follows "Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other (capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. The condition of culture among the various societies of mankind, in so far as it is capable of being investigated on general principles, is a subject apt for the study oflaws ofhuman thought and action. On the one hand, the uniformity which so largely pervades civilization may be ascribed, in great measure, to the uniform action of uniform causes: while on the other hand its various grades may be regarded as stages of development or evolution, each the outcome of previous history, and about to do its proper part in shaping the history of the future." 4 The definition ofTylor has at least levels of meaning. First, culture is created by humankind, which makes human human. In other words, culture is creative life contents unique to humankind. Second, one important connotation of culture is spiritual creation, which is the exploration, inheritance and passing on. Thirdly, culture has the quality of stability as well as the quality of development and progress. Tylor realizes the historical inheritance of culture and the existence of culture or civilization is a result of the past, and will play a due role in creation history in the future."

' Edward Burnett Tylor, Primitive Culture, Cambridge University Press, 1871, page 1.

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(5) The definition from the perspective of system composition. Joyce White believes that culture consists of technology system, social system and concept system. Technology system defines social system. Conceptual systems such as art and philosophy use social system as medium, which is defined by technology system. White's definition shows that the technical system in the surface, the social system as the medium and the conceptual system in depth constitute culture. White pays special attention to the deciding effect of technological system. He believes that the cultural progress is closely related to the technical level of resources needed for the survival and development ofhumankind. The development of technological system decides the development and richness of culture as a whole. (6) Definition from the perspective of the control of human desire. In the correspondence between Sigmund Freud and Elbert Einstein, the topic of culture is often mentioned. Freud believes that culture is a defensive mechanism which can gradually shift the education purpose, and a constraining force of human desire and motive. Freud carries in-depth analysis of human desire and motive. His definition of culture shows the consistency with his research in human desire and motive. The existence of culture is the existence of human desire, which gives a binding force to the instinctive impulse, so that human can have a defensive mechanism against human instinctive impulse and primitive desire. From the above six representative defmitions, we have a rough idea of some of the basic characteristics. In order to carry out in-depth definition, we can start from analyzing the origins of the word culture C:ic at.! in Chinese) from the perspective of etymology.

In Chinese,

"::ic" means texture, which extends to mean decoration.

Human creations

such as words, ceremonies, laws and decrees, as well as cultivation, virtue and wisdom can all be called culture.

"1-t"

means to change and can also mean to " influence

unconsciously", " change the nature" or to " change the social customs". "::ic1-t" means 37

after artificial decoration and cultivation, changes will occur in nature and society and reach certain state. The two characters were firstly used together in the Legend of

Changes edited in the at the end of the warring states period, where the idea of educating through culture. By the time of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 24) , ")Cf.t" became a specific term and was used widely. The term was used throughout Chinese history. Culture in western civilization originated from the Latin word "culture", which had multiple meanings including cultivation, inhabitancy, attention and workshop. In the 16th and the 17th century, culture in English and Kultur in German and KY11 blJ'pa in

Russian extended the meaning from cultivation of plants to education of people's mind. From the understanding of culture in the east and the west, we can see the concepts share something in common, which aims to enter a certain state to get rid of natural state through human efforts. The difference lies in that the definition of culture in Chinese starts from spiritual production activities of humankind while the meaning of culture moves from the material production to spiritual production. In today's English, we can see the wide application of culture in material production such as agriculture, cultured pearls and physical culture. Culture as an independent discipline originated from modem Europe. After the middle of the 19th century, the research on culture studies in Europe became more and more prosperous and formed various schools. The culture studies in China started from modem China. After bringing western culture studies, Chinese academics combines the social reality and conditions of China and integrated rich heritage of Chinese traditions, and formed Chinese understanding and expression of culture, which had been widely demonstrated in the various sectors of each disciplines. To Sllmmarize, we can describe and defme culture as the following. Culture is existence which were created, influenced and remolded by human activities and the historical result of human spirits, consciousness, extemalization and internalization of the mind. 38

Various existence forms (such as different nations and difference regions) will form different culture forms. Two distinctive features or characteristics of culture are non-naturalism, reality and empmc1sm. First, Non-naturalism. Culture is a non-nature existence relative to nature. Neither Chinese cultivation nor western cultivation can exist without creative activities of human beings. As a form of artificial existence, culture will bind and regulate natural behavior of each member of the society. Non-natural regulations of culture will bind to behaviors of the members of human society with its value systems. How should we look at the um1atural and normative character? It should be noted that culture can contain natural and prinritive nature of human beings. On the other hand, it plays an integral part for the maintenance of the whole human society and social members. If there is no powerful cultural regulations and restrictions in the society, each society member will abuse their primitive nature and desires and the whole human society will be unstable and there will be no true development for each member. Food, clothing, housing and transportation which are closely related to human survival are bound by certain rules, as well as the customs of marriage, family and reproduction. Rousseau once wrote, "Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains." Erich From wrote, "We seek to avoid freedom." Milan Kundera wrote, "even if the true freedom can exist like vacuum, people will still feel the unbearable lightness of being." Therefore, the nonnaturalness of culture restricts the impulse of human nature. However, culture can be dispensed because it is an important symbol and evidence for making human and human society human society. Second, reality and empiricism. Reality refers to that culture is not an empty and abstract concept, but exists in human society. The observation of culture cannot be found in the books and papers, but should be based from the realistic existence. One can describe the truth about culture based on their understanding of daily practice. With 39

the understanding of human life, it is hard to give culture a precise analysis. The other is empiricism. The empiricism refers to the heritage of traditional, historical can previous experience. Culture is the result of heritage. No culture can come into being without historical heritage. For each individual, the process of accumulation experience is the process to demonstrate the unique culture character. For each area, the accumulation of experience means a certain custom or ritual. For each nation, the accumulation can mean certain national character, which can be demonstrated in national culture or psychologic culture or some collective unconsciousness or collective memory.

1.2 Composition of Culture

What elements make up culture? What are the relations between the elements? Those are questions we have to ask when comes to culture studies. (I) Cultural elements Cultural elements have been mentioned in the defmition of culture. There are various ideas, perspectives and methods in defining culture. Culture elements are described in different ways. Based on some widely accepted definitions, we can describe cultural elements from the perspective of human achievements. From this angle, cultural elements are material culture, institutional culture and spiritual culture. First, material culture refers to material wealth and material achievements. Trees, soil and earth exist in nature. With human minds, they are turned into desks and chairs, bricks and roads or material achievements by human kind. Classic Marxist writers often talk about ''humanized nature", which refers to the contribution of human beings in

material culture. People use nature as materials to shape, change and create material culture. With the development of science and technology as well as the ability to change nature, many created achievements might not be tangible, such as high-tech achievements related to information industry. They still belong to material 40

achievements. Second, institutional culture refers to the sum total of relations and institutions agreed by people for living and production. Institutions are sometimes referred as systems (Institutions are macroscopic, general descriptions while systems are often shown as actual schemes.) Economic systems or political systems refer to cultural creation in this level. Institutional culture is agreed by people to better form their life and production, whose connotations are extremely rich and complex. The largest system of institutional culture is social system. Marxism sees social development in several stages from primitive communism, slave society, feudalism, capitalism, socialism and communism and puts forwards a vision of communist society. Under each society system, there are subsystem cultures, such as capitalism with the union of church and state, capitalism with high social benefits. Socialism varies from different countries, such as socialism with Chinese characteristics. Each sector or each industry has different institutional culture. For example, enterprise ownerships in China include state-owned enterprise and private owned enterprises. To establish a modern enterprise system is an important strategic development objective of China. Another example is education system. In ancient China, imperial examination system was practiced, and the education method was often home school with a private tutor. After the imperial examination system was abolished, modern school education method and modern examination method were established. The production system of films was organized and implemented by film production companies. The production system of television is often organized and implemented by television stations or media. Third, spiritual culture. Spiritual culture refers to the sum total of human creation in ideology, spirit, psychology and consciousness sectors, which includes thinking methods, ideologies, knowledge, beliefs, laws, religions, arts as well as other spiritual achievements. The core is outlook on value. Contrary to material culture, spiritual culture is intangible. Spiritual culture is deep in people's mind. As ideologists and philosophers pointed out, an important difference between human beings and animals 41

is that human can think and create spiritual products. The rich and complex spiritual culture bought by different outlooks on values might be the difficult part to research in cultural studies. Different from the measurable, identifiable, and comparable, spiritual culture is difficult to explain clearly or measured exactly. The differences and incomparability among spiritual cultures form the richest and most complex part in culture. (2) Relations between different cultural relations Material culture, institutional culture and spiritual culture are three cultural elements in different levels. The three elements are both independent and complementary. Martial culture is the basis and premise for culture formation and culture creation. Institutional culture coordinates and ensures culture formation and culture creation. Spiritual culture is the core and foundation for cultural formation and culture creation. The development of material culture can greatly accelerate the creation of institutional culture and spiritual culture. It is unimaginable for people who lived in the primitive period to create modern systems and spiritual products. Once material culture develops to a certain degree, it will put forward requirements to change institutional culture and spiritual culture. Material culture is the most active and flexible part for cultural elements, as well as the most achievable part for the communication of different cultures and the most acceptable for different societies. Institutional culture is the middle link among different material culture and spiritual cultures. It is a very sensitive and flexible part in culture elements. Comparing to material culture, institutional culture seems to be somewhat abstract. Comparing to spiritual culture, institutional culture seems to somewhat real. This medium position plays an important role to coordinate material culture and spiritual culture. Within institutional culture, there are relations and organization methods to coordinate people's life and production. The more concrete, the easier for them to change. On the contrary, 42

the grander such as social system, the more unlikely to change. In the context of globalization, every country and every national are exploring different institutional culture who can both realize modernization as well as suit national traditions and situations. It comes to us that the construction of institutional culture will deeply influence the development of material culture. Spiritual culture is the core of cultural elements as well as the most stable and unchangeable part. As the concentration of spiritual culture, spiritual culture is demonstrated through conceptual forms in the whole. Various conceptual forms will have the support of value system accordingly. Therefore, in order to observe spiritual culture, various conceptual forms in the spiritual products can be observed fist and a relatively unified and fundamental system behind conceptual forms can be sought. Simply put, to grasp the value concepts of spiritual products means to grasp the essence of spiritual culture. Spiritual culture might appear abstract in the surface. However, it can play an enormous binding effect on the development and construction of material culture and institutional culture. In significant transitional periods of culture creation and culture reforms, the construction of spiritual culture can play a decisive effect. It should be noted that material culture, institutional culture and spiritual culture are

influencing, conditioning and accelerating each other. Their relations are by no means black or white nor unidirectional. There was an interesting story about the introduction of railways and telegrams from the west in modern China's history. During the Westernization Movement, when pioneers tried to bring in communication and transportation facilities such as railways and telegrams, they were heavily criticized by high rank officials in Qing Dynasty. In a memorial to the throne, a conservative official wrote to the emperor, "Cables can do countless harms. I will point out the biggest harm. East and west have different customs because of the will of heaven. Foreigners believe in gods but not their ancestors. Chinese who were converted into Christians, do not worship their ancestors anymore. 43

Chinese people are not afraid of death. For thousands of years, Chinese people have been cherishing the trust in our land. When cables are established, they will be installed deeply underground in all directions. Veins of China will be destroyed. How can we relax as descents of our ancestors?"

5

Even Li Hongzhang, a leader of the

westernization movement, opposed the construction of railways and cables in China. He thought that railways and cables will destroy Fengshui of China. 14 years later, Li Hongzhang changed his mind. He thought the construction of cables was the key to foreign affairs and military affairs. Cables can connect places thousands of miles away. Military affairs such as examining situation about enemies and dispatching armies deeply depend on it. Borders and coasts in south China were battlefields against enemies, which were separated by mountains and valleys. Deliveries were always late. After 1884, we relied much on cables to transmit information to the court and give orders to the armies. The benefits were enormous."

6

From the changes of attitudes towards the import of foreign material culture, it can be seen that the richness and of material culture and the vibrant activity of material culture facilitate the exchange of different cultures. Even Empress Dowager Cixi, the most conservative defender of the feudal system soon accepted achievements of western material culture such as watches, bicycles, telephones and movies. However, the change of institutional culture tends to be slow. The feudal social system lasted thousands of years in China. Though there were signs of seeds of capitalism, the change of material culture only touched some aspects of feudal society, but did not give imputes to the reform of the fundamental system. In a sense, the Hundred Days' Reform was a significant sign, because it intended to reform China in institutional culture. It turned out that the collapsing Qing court made Emperor Guangxi a house prisoner and beheaded six famous revolutionists. Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao were forced to leave China. ' Documents on the Westernization Movement. Volume 6, page 330. ' La Fargue, Thomas E., China's First Hundred, Translated by Gao Yan, Hong Kong Art Publishing House, 1980, plll. 44

The revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen overthrew Qing Court and established Republic of China for the first time with a revolutionary method. The feudal system which had existed for over 2000 years was completely destroyed. It is thoughtprovoking that though Republic of China was established, many people could not get used to the changed institutional culture, which was social background for the restoration of the feudal system by Yuan Shikai and Zhang Xun. The hardships of the reform of institutional culture can be seen. However, the spiritual culture tends to be more unlikely to change. Though the feudal social system was overthrown by the revolution led by Sun Yat-sun, the feudal value system and the feudal ideas existing in people's mind, did not change along with the change of the system, which was the huge barrier that hinders the modernization of China. That's why revolutionary pioneers began the radical and thorough criticism of traditional feudal culture and the new cultural movement, the efforts and exploration of abandoning the new and seeking the new. Movements of cultural criticism, cultural enlightenment and cultural reflection occurred once and again in the 20th century. Lu Xun, a great Chinese ideologists and writers devoted his life to ruthlessly criticize traditional feudal culture and praise new born culture. Lu Xun often talked about the absolutely indestructible iron house, which was in fact a metaphor to the stubbornness of the traditional feudal spiritual culture, as well as the in-depth illustration to the connotative characteristics and inherent drawbacks of the traditional feudal culture. The relations among material culture, institutional culture and spiritual culture are often inharmonious and unstable. In other words, the balance among them is relative. For example, the development and prosperity of material culture in a society doesn't necessary mean the development of institutional culture and spiritual culture. The developed and prosperous material culture in one society sometimes did not bring the progress of culture or even cause huge crisis of spiritual culture such as the collapse of the ideals, the loss of belief, morality declining, intense personal relationships and the endless social problems. Will the reform of institutional culture make the relationships 45

coordinated and balanced? Not necessarily. In many societies, there are vanous experiments on the reform of institutional culture, many of which fail to be successful. Institutional culture lies in the coordination and guarantee among the relations among social organizations social production and life. It must meet the needs of the universal understanding and needs of a society. It is to say that the reform of institutional culture cannot achieved only by the subjective actions or experiments of one or two pioneers. It must be in accordance with the general trend of social movements. The reform of

institutional culture should be carried out when material culture develops till a certain level and people's general needs call for a change in the institutional culture. If the issues ofspiritual culture are solved, can culture be balanced and harmonious in general? In fact, it is not that simple. The stability and spiritual culture has both historical factors and realistic reason. Though the course of spiritual culture is value concept system, the reform of value concept system does not only need historical permit, but also the allowance of the realistic conditions. Many complex and complicated forces restrict the reform. The change of spiritual culture cannot be completed at once, but takes a long process. Of course, on the basic of quantitative change, qualitive changes or abrupt changes can happen under certain historical and realistic conditions, such as the replacement of the new culture of the old culture. Even changes like that cannot be explained by the force of spiritual culture alone, but should be seen as a composition of forces in different levels such as material, institutional and spiritual cultures. Many people might feel spiritual culture is abstract. A main reason is that people who are engaged in the production of spiritual cultural products have absolute, isolated, lopsided and simplified understanding, recognition, evaluation of spiritual culture. As Lin Yusheng wrote about the ideological mode of traditionalists, "When Chinese traditional ideas and contents collapsed, anti-traditionalists used a holistic intellectual mode of thinking which comes from Chinese tradition to solve the eminent social, political and culture issues. This mode of thinking was an evolution of Chinese traditional monistic intellectual mode of thinking under the political and social pressure ... This overall mode of thinking which considers ideology as the foundation thinks each aspect of 46

Chinese tradition is decided and organically connected by the documental ideology .... The reason that the total ideological negation completely denies tradition so readily and drastically because it has monotonicity and reasonability in itself, which is insulated from other ideas and theories. 7

1.3 Several Relations and Features of Culture

The relations between culture and people, culture and civilization, culture and society are essential relations which comes to the observation of culture. Stability and variability are the general features of culture changes in inheritance and reform. ( 1) Culture and people There are two opposite propositions as to culture and people. First, culture is created by people. Second, people are created by culture. It is easy to understand that culture is created by people. People are higher animals with

consciousness, mind and creativity. People continuously transform, process, shape and create nature, society and people with their subjective consciousness through actions. To be able to create culture is also an important symbol for humankinds, which makes them different from animals. This proposition means that oulypeople can create culture. Though other animals live one generation after another, they can ouly passively adapt to nature. We can give it a name as "animal culture". However, it is ouly a personified expression. Without people, there is no culture. The existence and development of humankinds is the precondition for the existence and development of culture. It is humankinds and the creative activities of humankind makes the colorful culture. It seems to be more difficult to understand the proposition that "people are created by

culture." If we look more careful, we will understand this proposition. It means that

' Lin Yusheng, Creative Transformation of Chinese Tradition, Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore Publishing, 1988, page 156-157.

47

culture has enormous influence on people's survival and development. People don't live in isolation, but connect with certain cultural ecological environment. It is safely to say that a certain cultural and ecological environment creates certain people, no matter individuals or groups. When in a different environment, people can become different beings. In this sense, there is no abstract "human nature". Human nature is restricted by certain cultural and ecological environment. An extreme case would be a feral child. When babies or infants were taken by wolves and live with wolves for years, they would become assimilated. Without the certain cultural environment, people cannot become humans in the true sense. The proposition that culture creates people can be demonstrated in various aspects, such as region, nation, gender, profession, age, class, era, and education.

Regional culture. Regional cultures depend on nature geography environment. Human geography was formed by people's activities and historical accumulation. When natural geography and human geography are combined, a certain regional culture was formed. The cultural character of northern regions is usually solemn, magnificent, serious and strong. The cultural character of southern regions is usually elegant, open, vacant and romantic. Under the influence of different cultural characters, people in different regions will form different personal characters. In China, different regional cultures will brand different characteristics on the residents, such as Shandong, Shanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Lingnan. Many schools of thought, schools of literature, schools of art are all connected with a special regional culture. Many ideologists, scholars, men ofletters, artists all have distinctive regional characteristics. For example, Beijing culture is very different from Shanghai culture, each of which has influence upon many great figures. What kinds of regina! culture received during the most important growth years will play a crucial role in the formation of personal characteristics. In general, natural environment in different regions will form special cultural characteristics, and further from special regional cultures. This special regional culture will personal characteristics one generation after another with distinctive 48

regional cultures. •

Profession. A professional will play an important role in creating social role for a person. For example, a veteran detective tends to take everyone as an object of detection out his habit. A long-term teacher is used to patient and enjoys lecturing other people. A professional military man tends to be resolute and meticulous. Professions will shape people into different characters.

•

National culture. Different national cultures formed by different nations over a long period of time can deeply brand each member of the national cultural environment, so that their personal characteristics will have distinctive features. The typical ones are the romantic Frenchmen, the rigorous German, the serious Russian, and the moderate Chinese. Ruth Benedict expressed her understanding of the Japanese nation in The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. The branding of national culture is deep and hard to change.

•

Age. Each person will go through different stages his life, infancy, childhood, teenage, middle age and senior citizen. In each stage, he or she will be deeply restricted by age. For example, people are easy to be full of passion in his youth as well as impulsive and anti-tradition. Their minds are more radical, but also more pioneering. Old people like to cherish their life, not willing to accept new things. They tend to be more conservative, and mature due to their rich experience. In the history of culture and history of ideology, examples can often be found. Someone was anti-traditionalists when young. However, when he was old, he became a conservative who defends tradition and reject foreign cultures. In my onions, this change is closely related to the age.

•

Gender. Natural differences between men and women brought great differences in mentality. In history, matriarchal clan society appeared. In the slave-holding society, patriarchal clan societies emerged in most places. Male became the center of social power. Cultural creation are the results of male perspectives and male mentality. In 49

20th century, the rise and initiation of feminism was the requirement for the power of female culture. Different cultural creations bought by the difference between male and female bought great impact upon people of different genders. •

Era. Different cultural environment in different eras also play an important role in molding a person. In major historical periods, China was classified into ''the simple and honest period" (from the Yellow Emperor to the middle of Zhou Dynasty), ''the complex era" (the warring state period, and the two Han Dynasties), the ostentatious era ( Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui Tang and the Five Dynasties, and the changing period from extravagance to simplicity. 8 The rightness of the division will not be discussed here. Only from the names, we can see that people living in different eras tend to have different characters. Hence, the meaning of era culture is obvious. In China, we often hear people talk about themselves as "drinking from the Yanhe River", "born in the old era, growing under the red flag", "generation engaging in the Down to the Countryside Movement", ''the only child generation". Representative figures appear in each era, such as Lei Feng in the 1950s, Jiao Yulu in the 1960s, Zhang Haidi in the 1980s, Kong Fansen in the 1980s, who have enormous impact on the building of the spiritual character of each generation.

•

Class. Different social classes will have deep imprints on people. Interest conflicts and confrontations sometimes can become serious class struggles. In a large scale, there are rulers and ruled. The former is often called the upper class and the latter is often called the lower class. In a smaller scale, the situation is much more complex. In Chinese rural society, according to the possession of social properties as well as life situation, farmers are classified as poor peasants and farmer laborers, middle peasants, rich peasants, and landlords. We often talk about social management class, intellectuals, middle class etc.. The division of classes are relative. However, classes do play an enormous impact on the ideology and

' Zhang Liangcai, History of Chinese Customs, Beijing: Oriental Press, 1996.

50

activities. •

Education levels. Different education levels will make a great difference in person including personality, language, act, emotions, ideology, interests both inside and outside. We often call someone who have received good education, have higher life ideals, and high life taste as educated. Good education can help people to get rid of "evil" desires and habits and have more virtues.

Therefore, we should not only see culture is created by people, but also realize that cnlture is also creating people. In some sense, this premise "culture creates people" is more thought-provoking. (2) Culture and civilization Culture and civilization are very close. In many situations, culture and civilization can be synonyms. For example, material culture, material civilization, spiritual culture and spiritual civilization are often used as substitutions. For example, if we say we are very proud of splendid culture (civilization), culture and civilization are synonyms. The differences between culture and civilization are as follows: First, "culture" emphasizes concepts and methods created by humankinds. "Civilization" emphasizes more on the result of those concepts and methods. Chinese culture emphasizes practical reason. Under this value concept and mode of thinking, though we created "four great inventions", Chinese people did not develop the overall level of science and technology. Here, culture demonstrated more as a concept and a method. Civilization refers to the advanced and progressive state. Second, culture refers to all the creative fruits of humankinds, while civilization refers to the progressive and excellent part of human creations, or relatively advanced state. Lewis Henry Morgan divided human history into stage of savagery, stage of barbarism, stage of civilization. Here, civilization means relative progressive and advanced state. In fact, culture doesn't only include the achievements created by human beings in the stage of civilization, but also include 51

advisements of stage of savagery and stage of barbarism.

(3) Culture and Society Society is a realistic existence and situation accumulated by groups ofpeople. Therefore, culture cannot exist in an abstract form without society, which means culture must exist in society. On the other hand, culture is also a very strong driver of social development.

First, society is the carrier of culture. Any cultural creation cannot be separated from the actual development of society reality. In a lower state of social development, cultural creations by human beings are full of mystery and superstition, which is caused by the natural force and cannot be controlled by human society. Without concrete social development and situation, culture will become a castle in the air. The continuous progress of the society accelerates the continuous progress of culture. In fact, when human society develops from the primitive age, to the slavery age, the feudal age, the capitalist age and the socialist age, every time when the society makes a huge step, culture will make a huge step.

Second, culture creations accelerate social progress. Cultural creations by human beings means the creations made by advanced, progressive and outstanding individuals or groups of individuals in the society. Due to the creative achievements, they made, humankind made quantitative changes and qualitative changes in knowledge, beliefs, morality, laws, religions and art. The popularity, expansion, dissemination, inheritance of the achievements will make great impact on the overall development of the society, people's value concept, way of thinking, aesthetic taste, psychology and mentality, which will form various joint forces to promote social progress.

(4) Cultural Stability

Cultural stability can be understood as cultural invariability or cultural conventions. As the birth of individual, and the birth of human languages, during the primitive process 52

of culture formation, there are a lot of coincidences. Once formed, there is great stability. The origin of each individual is complex. The forms and characteristics are determined by genetics and environment, both of which are contingent to individuals. For example, the genetic genes from the male parent and the female parent might meet accidently. Once the process oflife begins, a whole life entity will appear. Many unchangeable life symbols and characteristics will appear. The birth of human language are the carriers of human culture. The birth oflanguage is also the process of human knowledge. Why human life, language, recognition, and culture have stable characteristics? To answer this question, we have to go back to the birth process of human life, language and recognition and fmd out the fundamental reasons. Jean Piaget points out, that the relation between stimuli(S) and response(R) is not one way, but mutual. The formula S-->R should be S--H-R or rather S(A)R. A refers to assimilation and the source of response. 9 The constructionism put forward by Piaget advocates constructionism. There is an inborn layout in the subject (individual life, language or cognization), so that individual will have the ability to assimilate and adjust to external objective environment. The stimuli of external environment will enter the model ofS(A)R though the adjustment and become a solid crystal. Once it has its own internal nature, it will the foundation for stability. The stable characteristics are constructed though the twoway movement between survival environment and subjective creation, which will be passed on to the next generations. (5) Cultural volatility Cultural stability or cultural establishment refers to the great and continuous assimilation power of cultural tradition. People develop in changes and societies develop in changes, which will come to volatility, another characteristic of culture. Volatility refers to the change and creation of culture. Just as the existence of an individual, the odds of inheritance and variability are high. ' Jean Pia get, The Principles of Genetic Epistemology, Commercial Press, 1991.

53

Short parents might have tall children, which is variability in inheritance. The same is with the situation oflanguages. From the whole, many contents and forms oflanguages in the ancient times and the classical times were inherited. However, the current languages have changed a lot, many of which cannot communicate directly with the languages in ancient times. There are various external factors of cultural variability such as the change of natural environment, the increasing exchange and fusion of different groups and races of humankinds, the change of times, the changes of social situation. The internal cause lies in people itself. The fundamental reason of cultural variability is the variability of human beings. Why cultural variability occurs? The reason is simple. Only the fittest will survive natural selection. If human beings want to adapt to new survival environment, they have to change and adjust themselves. The self-adjustment will bring changes in value concept, thinking mode, psychology, knowledge, morality, religion and art, which will cause the change variability of culture.

In general, the younger generation is very sensitive to new survival environment. Their willing and ability to change the current situation is the strongest. During cultural variability and creation, the young generation usually plays the main role. However, the cultural variability of the young generation and the conversation traditionalists will have conflicts in understanding. Therefore, generations gaps are easily to be formed. In fact, the appearance of generation gaps predicts cultural variability and cultural creation.

1.4 Significance of Cultural Studies The connotation is the research of cultural studies, which the research on all the targets of culture in broad and narrow sense. The extension of cultural studies includes culture in broad sense and in narrow sense. From cultural composition, material, institutional culture and spiritual culture are the three main elements of culture. In general, we will use cultural research to refer to the cultural sector in the narrow sense, which are the different departments of spiritual culture such as knowledge, morality, law, religion, custom, and art. The research objects include various departments of human spiritual 54

production. The richness and complexity of the departments determine the richness and complexity of cultural studies. However, the in-depth concept value is undoubtedly most eye-catching. We can use the following map to explore the unique significance of cultural studies. Nature----------Material---------Economy (First level) Society-------- System-----------Politics (Second level) People---------- Spirit--------------Culture (Third level) From the first level, during the process of conquering nature and transforming nature, humankinds accumulated material wealth, developed economy and satisfied the basic needs of the survival. In this level, people's concept value is often single and one-way. Nature used by human beings, rich material wealth, and economic growth are considered as positive. On the contrary, the opposite outcomes are considered as negative. From the second level, during the process of conquering nature and reforming nature, human kinds began to get rid of the primitive state and formed a way of life and production, which is called society. Thus, various originations, rules, regulations, and various systems were established. The establishment of systems, though confining human kinds, ensured an enhanced the ability, level, and quality of people's production and life. In society, the core to coordinate and implement various systems is politics. Politics is a power over society, which depends on power to implement various systems, coordinate social groups and benefits of groups. In this level, people's value orientation is often two-way or opposite. The two-way or opposite refer to the duality in value orientation and judgment. Sometimes, certain value concepts will be chosen as standards of right and wrong. When circumstances change, different or opposite value concepts might be chosen. Concepts differing from the chosen concepts will be 55

discarded as opposites. Due to the duality of two-way and opposition, a much more complicated situation will appear. Therefore, the value judgement of this level is often both clear and difficult. The clarity lies in the clear judgement and choice which social politics must make clear judgment and choice of value concepts, and the difficulties lie in that the choice of value and concept must be very cautious, because of the limitations of certain conditions and the conundrum of neglecting one or the other. In the third level, during the form and development of the society, human kinds may

obtain the guarantee of survival and development. Meanwhile, they may encounter difficulties due to the constraints of the society. In this level, we face one individual after one. In nature and society, individuals must follow rules and regulations unconditionally. However, everyone has different characters and morphological characteristics, which makes they yearn for freedom. Spiritual products occupied important positions in people's life, which may be caused by the colorful value concepts of spiritual production, which greatly satisfy mental needs of human kinds. In the world of art, classics of great masters are highly admired by people, because of the colorful value concepts. In this level, diverse rather than single or double concept values are advocated. In this level, the clear concept of natural world and social world is replaced by characteristic and colorful demonstration. In this sense, culture is a connotation, as well as a perspective and so does cultural

studies. The connotations and perspectives of cultural studies should be as colorful as culture, which should be tolerant. The so-called tolerance of cultural studies should not mean the loss of due national or class standpoints. Variety and particularity should be fully recognized. The co=unication between different nations, different countries and different regions will bring confrontations and conflicts of different cultures. The tolerance of cultural studies means a tolerant attitude towards the variety of cultures. As ouly one truly gets to the culture of a nation, means the true understanding of the nation as well as the healthy and normal cultural co=unication and social co=unication. The tolerance of cultural studies also means an attitude towards the 56

relations of cultures of different types and levels. For example, in the cultural composition of any country, cultures of different types and levels will be complementary rather than exclusive. The tolerance of cultural studies means an attitude towards the characteristic and special value of each individual. Each individual life being will have special value choice which is of great importance to the creation of spiritual products. Outstanding creators of spiritual products used their unique, imaginative and creative ways of expression to make the colorful spiritual world of humankinds. Pope John Paul II delivered an address on culture on June 2, 1980 at the UNESCO conference, ''we are in the presence so to speak, of a vast system of co=unicating vessels; the problems of culture, science and education do not arise, in the life of nations and in international relations. Independently of the other problems ofhuman existence, such as those of peace or hunger. The problems of culture are conditioned by other dimensions of human existence, just as the latter, in their tum condition them." His words illustrated the meaning of culture in human society in a brilliant way. The meaning of culture studies lies in using a tolerant and diversified perspective, to completely demonstrate the cultural creation ofhumankinds, explore the in-depth level of human cultural creation which will accelerate the construction and co=unication of human culture.

57

Chapter 2 Film and Television Culture Film and television culture was the latest achievement of human's technological development in the 20th century. Based on such a premise, film and television culture enjoys unique cultural morphology and particularity, complexity as well as richness in forms different from traditional culture. This chapter will approach film and television culture on theory in its definition, constitution and several fundamental relations.

2.1 Definition of Film and Television Culture

The definition of film and television culture encompasses two aspects, from connotation to denotation. One is the objective existence of film and television while the other one is a culture influencing human's life. (1) Film, television as well as film and television The first and foremost question is to defme film, television as well film and television when we talk about film and television culture. There are some different definitions of film. But there is a consensus on the basic objective existing form. The definition of film in Dictionary of Film Art is as follow. Based on the principle of "persistence of vision", it shoots the images and records the sound of the outside, puts active images on the screens with sound through projection and sound reproduction, serving as a technology to show something. Film is the product oflong-term science and technology as they develop to a certain level. 10 This definition makes an appropriate statement on film's objective existing form and elaborate clarification on its historical process, such as the phenomenon of"persistence of vision" and theory's founding, the development of photography, the invention of roll film and cinematography tachyscope as well as the creation of color film and talkie and so on. It is not easy to make a clear definition of television (bere television refers to television 10

Dictionary of Film Ann, China Film Press, 1986. 58

broadcasting). As far as the objective existing form is concerned, television program may be not more complex than film. But the elements constituting television are as rich as film. Its definition is stated in Encyclopedia of China's Television Broadcasting that is a modern communication medium by using electronic technology to transfer images and sound. Through photo-electronic inversion system, the receiver screen is instantly covered with images (including screen text), sound and color.

11

This statement has

further clarified the whole communication course of television broadcasting: first, a television station utilizes television camera tubes and microphones to collect images and their audio and then, according to certain conception and sequence, edit and combine them together so as to make them into various TV programs; second, TV program video signals are photo electronically broken down, which means that the images and sound of the programs are transferred into pulse signals by television camera tubes of the transmitting terminal and then send out through cables and antennas; third, the kinescope of the receiving terminal shifts the electronic pulse signals into photo grams, and sound and colors to restore a complete program. 12 It is also noticed in this statement that the reason why television program is comprehensive is that television program has integrated all kinds of traditional artistry and other media styles. As for the film and television culture, it can be defined on the basis of the abovementioned film and televisions. In terms of objective existing form, why we often put film and television together? Absolutely it is owing to the proximity and similarity of film and television. The most obvious, concentrated and audio-visual proximity or similarity is moving pictures with both sound and images. Though film and television are totally different in technological, artistic and disseminating features, they are the same in configuration features, moving pictures with sound and images, all of which have laid solid foundation for why we mention film and television together. We know that film and television have their respective specific regulations. But the general sense of the concept of film and television encompasses the whole production and " Ibid. " Encyclopedia of Radio and Television in China, China Radio Film & 1V Press, 1995. 59

dissemination of film and television. (2) Three Systems of Film and Television Culture ln a narrow sense, film and television culture refers to the common part of film and

television. ln a broad sense, film and television culture encompasses the whole production and dissemination of film and television. We can find out its features and positions from three systems. 1) Mass Communication System From the appearance of film and television, divergence from traditional print media has occurred as a result of their widespread coverage. Traditional print media, whatever its communication channel or type, receiving channel or type as well as its communication mechanism are, is endowed with pronounced features with individualism and personalization. However, with the development of modern technology, film and television have played important roles in mass communication system by means of their technological advantages. From print media to electronic media, all kinds of media of mass communication are advancing in competition.

newspaper mass communication system

magazine radio film television

We can learn from the diagram that film and television occupy many advantages in communication sphere and capability compared with traditional print media or radio. The text communication of newspaper and magazine is established on a knowledgeoriented foundation. ln addition, it's easy to lose many perceptive messages by single audio communication of radio. With the combination of sound and images, film and television enjoy "holographic" communication capability which can cover a larger 60

scope. 2) Artistic Creation System So farJ the artistic pattern created by mankind has encompassed three forms of scrip~ non-script and comprehensiveness, all of which have constituted the artistic creation system of mankind.

poetry (including prose, novel and so on)} literal pattern music painting non-literal pattern

artistry Artistic Creation System

dance architecture sculpture

}

drama film televison

comprehensive pattern

Whatever literal or non-literal artistic pattern or drama with a comprehensive patternJ they are all historical accumulation over the past thousands of years and have an important status in humanJs cultural history. Though appeared later, due to their inclusivenessJ film and televisionJ have assimilated many elements of the past human artistic creatures and set them as basis to creatively integrate them as a new artistryJ in which literal and non-literalJ time and space, vision and audition are organically combined. Owing to its powerful communication advantage, film and television have made new achievements in the 20th century and greatly influenced people's daily life. (3) Leisure and Entertainment System Leisure and entertainment has always played a necessary role in people's life. Different people have different ways to enjoy themselves during different historical periods. Comparing with other popular modem entertainment activities, film and television has particular features and positions. 61

Leisure

and

Entertainment System

workout recreation travel film television

As one of the ways of leisure and entertainment, workout includes skating, mountainclimbing, apparatus training, ball games and so on; recreation activities encompasses chess game, card game, dance, karaoke, painting and calligraphy and so forth; travel includes sightseeing, shopping, etc. No matter from the perspective of capital investment or consuming convenience, film and television are the most common and convenient way of leisure and entertainment. Moreover, because of its huge informative content, rich imaginative power or great artistic charm, people can get service of information acquiring and wholeheartedly enjoy themselves in the realm of artistry. (3) Similarities and Differences of Film and Television Culture From what analyzed, we can make a brief summary and definition of film and television culture. It refers to a kind of culture pattern in film and television by means of modem technology. From a concrete perspective, film and television culture is an important communication pattern for mankind, and also an important pattern and a type of leisure and entertainment. In a narrow sense, film and television culture refers to the active images with sound featured by both film and television, which means film and television and the influence they have exerted on people's social life. In a broad sense, film and television culture refers to all the cultural creations by means of film and television in general. What we need to point out here is that the description on film and television mainly focuses on the common points of film and television. In reality, the differences between film and television are quite obvious. From the perspective of subjective pattern, the manifestation of film is story while television's main form of expression is 62

documentary information. Film focuses more on art work's creation while television takes priority in conveying the information in daily life. In terms of aesthetic principles, film mainly deals with fictitious artistic information towards artistic expression while television mainly deals with non-fictitious primitive life information towards the achievement of sense of life reality. Film mainly pursues the art originality and its classical value while television mainly pursues the unique exploiting and actual value of real life information flow. As far as culture orientation is concerned, the mainstream culture holds the equivalent status in film and television. Film is more oriented towards elite culture in values while television is more oriented towards mass culture. Besides, film and television differ in technology, artistic pursuit, disseminator, disseminating methods, production mode, audience, disseminating and receiving contexts, importance, status, value, character and feature in the course of communication. Briefly speaking, many differences between film and television exist though there are many similarities and common points of film and television culture in the systems of mass communication, art creation as well as leisure and entertainment. As for film, artistry is superior to dissemination while dissemination claims precedence over artistry for television. Therefore, film culture is close to film artistry while television program culture interwoven with television communication. (4) Sllmmary The similarities and differences between film culture and television culture are listed above. Film and television culture, as an integration, can be further defined in a broad or a narrow sense. In a narrow sense, film and television culture should be embodied as "screen art", which is the screen pattern with relatively complete and independent film and television art work, including feature film, teleplay, artistic film documentary and the screen works in television such as artistic TV literature works, TV art film TV documentary. In a broad sense, film and television culture should demonstrate all forms of film and television. Though there are many differences between film and television, their similarities should be paid more attention to and further studied. On the other hand, 63

from the perspective of systems of mass communication, art creation as well as leisure and entertainment, they are close in significance, value and status. On the other hand, their relative similarities can be found by means of comparison and analysis of different aspects in material (technology and pattern), institution (production and communication) as well as perspective (various values and ideologies).

2.2 The Constitution of Film and Television Culture in a Broad Sense

In a broad sense, film and television is constituted with three aspects of material

(technology and pattern), institution (production and communication) and perception (values and ideologies). (I) Material Aspect Film and television culture is the directly perceptible and visual tangible existence in technology and pattern. In this aspect, film and television culture develops rapidly. Because of the continuous innovation and improvement in film and television technology, the pattern and dissemination mode of film and television change constantly. The development of film technology has gone through a long period. In the 17th century, Newton first found out an important phenomenon that the images reflected on human's retinas would not instantly disappear. In 1824, Peter Mark Rogert, an Englishman, declared his theory of persistence of vision in London. As for persistence of vision, it happens when people's eyes catch on the images in motion. After the disappearance of every image, it will also be reflected on people's retinas for less than I second or so. Because of this feature on vision, it is possible for people to make up images in motion on their retinas. Meanwhile, a Frenchman named Joseph Niepce started his research in photography. He took the first primitive photograph in 1822, with a fourteen-hour exposure time. After that, the French stage art designer Daguerre cooperated with him. By means of the invented iodine photoreception and mercury evaporation, the specific 64

images were finally fixed. The year 1839 marked the first success of such integral photography and the method of developing and printing. The photography technology named "Daguerre Photograph" soon developed at an enormous rate. In 1851, the invention of moist collotype ingot made it possible that many photographs can be developed by one negative. In 1888, George Eastman invented roll film and collaborated with Edison, a famous inventor, to make the first kinetovrapho sight glass, which nearly included three basic elements, film shooting, developing and printing as well as projecting. But a 15.24-meter-long (50 feet) perforating film was put into a huge case, in which only one person could watch the film once a time. In 1894, the Lumiere Brothers successfully made the cinematograph which could project the images on white curtain, which symbolized the technically mature period of film. The film was shot in silent and black-and-white at its preliminary stage. European films mainly recorded the actual life while American film mainly showed performances. In the first decade of the film's preliminary state, there was exploration in adding sound to silent films. Many bands and musicians synchronized to provide background music for silent films in many cinemas. Bell Telephone in America invented Vitaphone, a machinery coupling device of giant dis recorder. Based on synchronization of images and sound, Tobis Film, a German company soon carried out the system of optic sound recording and sound reproduction. The late 1920s witnessed the birth of sound film. Eisenstein and Clair, film masters of the Former Soviet Union managed to find out different patterns of the relations between sound and image, such as counterpoint and voiceover. Then, sound truly became as an important artistic element of film. Similar to the development of sound film, technicolor was made by mannal operation at its preliminary stage. During the period of silent film, many feature films colored the film of some scenes or sections to enhance the presence and some even colored the film frame by frame. In Pompeii's Diary, an Italian film shot in 1913, the scene of Vesuvius's eruption was colored into red, orange flame and deep blue sky. And in the film Bronenosets Potemkin, a former Soviet film in 1925, a red flag was raised in the 65

warship after its insurrection. Since 1920s, the subtractive process method had replaced the additive method. Some colorful scenes of American films used the subtractive process method, such as Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1927) and Blackbeard (1926). The year 1935 witnessed the success of tricolor color system and the first true color film VanityFairwas made. The color was applied in film until the 1950s and the 1960s. Film was born over a hundred years ago, which has gone through the technical innovation and transformation from black-and-white and silence to sound and color, from small screen to stereo screen and wide screen, which has changed and developed film patterns, enriched artistic elements of film and broadened forms and types of films. In recent decades, modem technologies have created further reform and innovation in

film. For instance, the addition of three-dimensional animation, digital special effects and modem technology of sound recording had developed the constitution elements and space-time concept and enhanced sound-picture, audio visual expression, impact force as well as influence of film. If film was based on modem photography and developing and printing technology (chemical industry), the television was born on the basis of wireless electronic technology. The technology of television was related to processing, broadcasting, rebroadcasting, emission and transmission and so on. The invention of television benefited from the discovery of electromagnetic induction. The television was originated from the invention of cable electronic communication media such as telegram and telephone. The invention of radio and communication made electronic media get rid of tangible wires and made the wireless electronic communication possible. Wireless electronic communication was first successfully applied in the transmission of sound, which marked the birth of broadcasting. After that, a British engineer found out the photoelectric effect of selenium, scientists in Germany, the former Soviet Union, America and other countries respectively invented the emission and receiving control 66

systems of television and solved the problems of principles of image encoding and scanning. Based on this, in 1920s, the mechanical television first came out in Britain and America. With the invention of television camera and receiving set, American scientists invented all-electronic televisions instead of mechanical televisions, which symbolized the real creation of modem television. In 1930s, the Britain Broadcasting Corporation regularly broadcasted programs. Televisions were produced one after another in Britain, Germany, America and the former Soviet Union. Every reform of television pattern accompanies with the improvement of new technology. In terms of the improvement of processing, the greater development is from the analogical phase to digital phase. During the analogical phase, the definition and reality of image and sound often improve with the transformation of technology. From the perspective of sound development, more and more technologies and inventions come out, such as hand-operated player, electric phonograph, wire type recorder, type recorder, CD, all of which have made the sound of television clearer and more realistic. As for the development of image, the television change from black-and-white, color to high-definition. The recording and camera device change from the separated to the integrated such as ENG, which has made the image clearer and more realistic to copy and reflect the real life. After stepping towards digital period, the computer special effects and multimedia production enhance the performance and influence of the television sound and image. Because it is more simple and convenient to make TV programs, the production capability of it is greatly strengthened and the patterns and types of TV program become more and more abundant. As for transmitting and receiving, the transmission developed from the wireless microwave to cable or light-guide fiber and now the satellite. The wider coverage, clearer TV signal, richer TV channel and greater capacity have made it possible that the production and co=unication capability can be greatly enhanced. The technological development in material aspect serves as the foundation, 67

precondition and power for the development of film and television culture. The improvement of film and television technology brings about the change and enrichment of the types, changes the ways and habits for people to accept, understand and participate in film and television and also changes people's thoughts and values towards film and television. (2) Institution Aspect The construction and development of institution plays an intermediary role in the constitution of film and television culture. The institution of film and television culture encompasses macro social systems and concrete production and management systems. 1) Social System The macro social system of film and television culture acts as the greatest restriction for its development. Generally speaking, in the capitalist society, the film and television industry usually regards the business profit maximization as its primary goal. However, under the socialist system, social effect is usually first taken into consideration and the realization of a better social effect serves as the primary goal. In the capitalist society, the film and television production seems like commodity while the film and television production focuses on dissemination and education in socialist society. 2) Production System The production of film and television is the main part of film and television culture institution. In order to produce film and television in an effective way, a series of organizations coordinate all relations, which is the specific expression of film and television production. In general, the production system is consistent with the social system, but has its own features. In a capitalist society, the production of film and television products are in accordance with the capitalist market rules, with production companies and media companies serving as the operation institutions. In a socialist 68

society, film and television production is usually consistent with the law of planned economy. The main body of the operation is production companies and television stations which are owned by the people. The establishment of production system is to run the production in the most effective way, adapt to constant transformation, progress of technologies and the needs of the development, achieve people's expectations to various new film and television production. It is not easy to set up a production system as a result of various actual difficulties of institution reform. In particular, China's film and television industry, which has existed in the socialist planned economic system for a long term, faced the transition towards socialist market economy. A series of problems left by the traditional planned economy cannot be solved in a short time. System and institution innovation was put forward in such background. In the digital age, film and television production really faces an Internet age which contains all the traditional media forms and generates huge power. The traditional production system is single but comprehensive, and every medium goes its own way without coordination and separated into strips, all of which are confronted with huge impact. In 1999, Time Warner, a traditional American entertainment group with the greatest calling power cooperated with American most fashionable and modern media group AOL Inc., which had shocked the world. This win-win cooperation attached richer and greater connotation to film and television and its relevant media production system. China's film and television industry is faced with another challenge, which is the impact of foreign media industry and their film and television industry after China entering WTO. All of these have brought about epochal opportunities and challenges for China to accelerate its film and television production system transformation. 3) Management System The management system of film and television production should be regarded as the specific demonstration of production system under its social system, which refers to the management system of every segment in the course of production and dissemination of 69

film and television, especially including human resource, capital and material. The management of the capitalist film and television production basically is in accordance with the regulation of capital operation. By means of cost check, it carries out the management of human capital and material with the guidance of profit maximization. In a socialist society, the management is basically the same as socialist film and

television production system. The administration type or method paralleled with the market type or method. In terms of the management system of China's film and television, the operation utilization of human resource, capital and production can be introduced from two aspects. On one hand, the administration method can serve as the guidance on the employment of managers, the capital investment and the examination of products. On the other hand, the market method is applied in macro administration management, such as employment, capital channels, the products entering into market competition and the high attachment to box office value and audience rating. Both macro and micro management of film and television production cannot be protected without laws and regulations. The production itself functions as not only a non-profit undertaking with huge social effect but also a culture industry with large profit. We need to find out how to keep the profit acquirement of film and television production and also provide beneficial spiritual support for society. If there is no specific law and regulation to restrict the production of film and television, the adjustment can only depend on administration and market methods, which is not effective enough. Therefore, relevant laws and regulations should be enacted. A series of management regulations can effectively play its role in production and further ensure a sound development of film and television culture. (3) Concept Aspect The concept of film and television culture is usually embodied by its value orientation and philosophy. The value orientation and philosophy infiltrate in every aspect of the production and dissemination of film and television. 70

The perception of film and television culture is people's rational knowledge of film and television. It serves as human social cultural perception embodiment of film and television culture. It also acts as rational knowledge of all value orientation and philosophy in the course of actual production and dissemination. From the comparison of the value philosophy in general social culture ofhuman beings with the value philosophy of film and television culture, we can know that the value philosophy sometimes is ahead of people's general social and the film and television culture may the role of a pioneer in social culture transformation. Sometimes the value philosophy of film and television culture falls behind the general social culture philosophy, and the film and television culture may play a conservative role in social culture development. In terms of the transformation of film and television culture, it must go through the

concept reform and transformation besides the impact of social life environment and social culture perception. Compared with the material transformation, tough and slow as it is, the perception transformation must be greatly stimulated and influenced by the transformation of material and institution. Once the perception of film and television culture dramatically change, it will exert great influence on its material and institution aspects. Dramatic changes will happen in material and institution levels. We just analyze the perception aspect of film and television culture from the perspective of the cultural roles and functions. The role definition of film and television culture includes mainstream culture, elite culture, mass culture and fringe culture. If the film and television culture is defined as the role of mainstream culture, the production and dissemination of film and television must satisfy the needs of mainstream ideology and showcase the will of mainstream ideology. (Mouthpiece, "for the people and for the socialism", theme, concepts in China's film and television culture, typically and vividly express their role defmition as mainstream culture.) When defined as elite culture, film and television culture should 71

focus on the personalization in production and dissemination and the needs of individual creation and consideration, which can embody more personalized and individual wills in production and dissemination, such as creativity, uniqueness and canonization. When defined as mass culture, the film and television culture should mainly target at current popular appealing of the general public in production and dissemination and satisfy their current popular emotional psychological needs, such as popularity, beauty and fashion. When defined as fringe culture, film and television culture should emphasize the extreme individual philosophy which is non-mainstream, non-popularity or non-elite in production and dissemination. Sometimes the subject of production and dissemination may use the screen method to emotionally express the existence and situation of human beings. Sometimes the subject just taps and exploits the possibility of the screen method itself, such as the experimental and pioneer qualities. As a result of the differences of value philosophies in mainstream culture, elite culture, mass culture and fringe culture, the role definition of film and television culture directly restrict the embodiment of film and television culture perception. We should also know that different roles of film and television culture above reveal the extremely typical examples. In reality, in the course of concrete production and dissemination, these concepts always mix together. We can only briefly judge the orientation instead of regarding it as a single accurate value orientation, or how we can explain that we can fmd something that highbrows and lowbrows admire in production and dissemination of film and television culture. It is more complicated to make a function definition for film and television culture. The

functions of film and television mainly encompass entertainment, popularization and education, information dissemination, beauty appreciation and acquaintance. Defming its function as entertainment, the production and dissemination of film and television culture should focus on the popular and relax sensory enjoyment even adapt to and cater 72

to the kitsch. Even though there is distinction in different levels of entertainment, the quality mentioned just before cannot be missed. The entertainment usually repels the deep and persoualized thoughts and experiences. However, it can easily satisfy the needs of some current emotional appealing even sensory stimulus for the general public. Therefore, greater bow office value and indigence rain can be achieved so that more profit can be acquired. What we need to make it clear is that it doesn't mean only if we pursue the function of entertainment can we achieve the profit maximization. The really highly lucrative and enjoyable products of film and television usually need some intelligence and wisdom. Popularization doesn't refer to vulgarization even kitsch. Defining its function as popularization and education, the production and dissemination of film and television culture should focus on the current mainstream ideology and the concepts universally approved by the general public for conveying. The current political and moral ideology is especially important. Any people, nation and region must restrict the production and dissemination of film and television by political and moral ideology to different extent and in different ways. Though there are a lot of differences in every country's institution of examination and supervision in the production and dissemination of film and television, there are also many common points. The extreme product of film and television with the function of popularization and education usually embody the features that concept is the priority to image and the abstract is the priority to the concrete. Some perfunctory products without hard effort in production and dissemination or not corresponding to this philosophy may get the approval by the mainstream culture or some receivers and acquire some social effects. However, because such kind product usually delivers an obvious sermon, it can hardly attain its expectation. Certainly, an excellent product with the function of popularization and education usually teach through lively activities so that satisfying social effects can be achieved. Though most of this kind products achieve good social effects, their economic returns are less. An excellent product usually achieves both social effects and economic returns or get a win-win outcome. Defining its function as beauty appreciation, the production and dissemination of film and television culture should 73

focus on the popular human aesthetic taste and orientation to satisfy the current popular aesthetic needs of people. But the aesthetic taste, need and orientation usually have both co=on points and distinctions. It not only can be expressed by concepts but also can be strange or impenetrable. The realization of aesthetic function can hardly be solely identified for it always connect with the overall thinking, psychological and emotional needs of people in a specific situation. Defining its function as information dissemination or acquaintance is quite a rational choice. As a medium of mass co=unication, the production and dissemination of film and television culture can never separate from its function of information dissemination and acquaintance. But can this rational function be achieved independently? The realization of this function seems like aesthetic function. The realization of the function of information dissemination and acquaintance usually need some extrinsic background and intrinsic connotation. It can depend on a touching story or a true event to showcase its contents. In any case, the concept of the film and television culture greatly constrains the

development of film and television culture. 3. Several Relations of Film and Television Culture in a Narrow Sense The constitution of film and television culture in a broad sense is complicated. There are overlapping parts, co=on points in film and television. Meanwhile, the realms and scopes of film and television are different, we need to make statements in several basic relations on film and television culture in narrow sense, which refers to the overlapping part of film and television, film and television. In the field of film and television, there are relations of three aspects, all of which are

social history, film and television and audience, which influence, restrict, accelerate, and promote each other. (1) Relation between Social History and Film and Television

74

The relation between social history and film and television can be embodied in two aspects. One aspect is that the social history restricts the creation of film and television. The other aspect one is that the film and television culture undertakes the functions towards social history. 1) Restriction ln different social historical periods, there were different restrictions on the creation of

film and television. The restrictions can be explained in three aspects. First, material restrictions. All the economic development, material wealth accumulation and the science and technology of social history can directly restrict the creation of film and television. If the overall social material wealth is rich enough, we can make more efforts and investment in the creation of film and television so that the productivity of film and television can be greatly enhanced. The development of science and technology has more restrictions on the creation of film and television. Without continuous progress of science and technology, there is no material base for the film and television culture to continue to exploit new patterns and develop new styles. In reality, from silence to sound, from the black-and-white to color, every progress in film has developed with the improvement in science and technology. The improvement of production and transmission of television program, from analog to digital, from primary broadcast then recorded broadcast to live broadcast, from microwave transmission to satellite transmission, also depends on the progress of science and technology. It is obvious that the production and dissemination of film and television can be greatly restricted without a high level of material investment. Second, institution restrictions. Both macro social systems and concrete regulations on production and management make great restrictions on the creation of film and television. With a system of putting profit-grabbing first, it is hard to fmd any space for the development and existence no matter how much exploration of the creation of film and television culture we have made. With a system of putting social effect first, if the 75

orientation cannot reach the requirement, the product of film and television culture cannot get access to the market no matter how much potential box office and audience rating it will have and how exciting and wonderful it will be. With the market method regarded as the main features of the regulation on production and management, film and television must follow the market law no matter how much breakthrough the artistic philosophy has made. With the administration measures regarded as the main feature of the regulation of production and management, the operation of film and television is hard to no be intervened and restricted by administration. Third, concept restrictions. There are certain values, thinking modes, faith, morality, religions and customs in certain societies, which have the greatest restrictions on film and television. With a profound religious tradition, some countries have the unification of the state and the church. They reject the modem artistic products even prohibit film projection. It makes no sense to mention the production and dissemination of film and television culture there. They are afraid of that film is destructive to morals and even damages their solemn and sacred religion. They regard film as a monster or a ghost and think it rebels against their god. Restrained by such thoughts, it is impossible to make production and dissemination for film and television culture. Moral restriction towards film and television are also very evident. We can see from an Italian film, Cinema Paradiso that the priest, as a film censor, is responsible for cutting kissing scenes films,

which cannot be accepted by the morality at that time. Moral concepts of different countries in different times have different levels of moral tolerance towards screen art. That's why censorship and rating system are made for film and television, both of which have embodied the moral restrictions on film and television. What we need to point out it that historical and social restricts on material, institution, and concept restrictions on film and television are not likely to be unidirectional or synchronous. It means that a developed country or region with rich material may not have developed production and dissemination of film and television products. Like what Marx has ever said that history usual!y does not keep balance between artistic 76

production and material production. For example, India is a poverty-stricken developing country, but it has great strength in film production and dissemination, which is a genuine powerful film country with great influence, while Saudi Arabia is on the contrary. 2)Function Corresponding to restrictions, film and television also have functions towards society and the history. Different countries, nations and regions have few distinctions of film and television in terms of technologies, forms and languages, but great differences in the functions of film and television in society and history. The nationalization of film and television is about the differences in functions to a large extent. People often say that art is beyond boundaries and art should be pure, which does not need undertake the function of social history. This viewpoint only sees the appearance of film and television from the perspective of its technology and artistry. In fact, film and television culture cannot get rid of functions in society and history. No matter which culture we are in, mainstream culture, elite culture or mass culture, or no matter what we like to pursue, entertainment, aesthetics, acquaintance or information dissemination, the creation of film and television products, restricted by certain social and historical background, has undertaken some functions consciously or unconsciously. Philosophy towards artistic functions formed in the course of social history development don't change with the change of the types, patterns, styles and varieties of artistic production. The concrete functional content and connotation can change, but the functional modes can hardly change. Education is the main function of the traditional Chinese literature artistry and has become a function mode with strong ethnic characteristics from generation to generation. Gao Zecheng, a Chinese playwright in Yuan Dynasty and the author of The Story ofPapi once wrote, "a drama is useless if it is not related to customs and culture". This statement emphasizes the education function of art. Though in the development of history, the connotation of "education" has been constantly changing, 77

the function mode has been handed down to influence the creation, production and dissemination of China's modem film and television products.

3) Lead and lag There are "lead" and "lag" relations between social history and film and television itself. When there is tremendous change in social history which is ahead of the creation of film and television, film and television is in a lag status. Greater efforts should be made in transformation to adapt to the change of history. In the critical moment of early 1930s, the whole China was fighting against Japan and saving the nation. Quite a number of China's filmmakers at that moment were still absorbed in old film production concepts, such as ghost, action, romance and family dramas. Some patriotic and progressive intellectuals and filmmakers stood out with their greatest determination to fight against Japanese aggression and save the nation. The late 1970s has witnessed China's new era, reform and opening up. But the film concept was relatively outdated. Therefore, the emancipation of thoughts was put forward to modernize the film language. When the creation of film and television is ahead of history development, people cannot constantly accept and be used to it in their common values, thinking modes or aesthetic psychological status. At this situation, social history falls behind the creation of film and television. Generally speaking, people who dare to explore the new style and potential of the film and television culture usually can't be understood because their exploration is ahead of the historical development. Zhang Yrmou, Chen Kaige and many directors, were representatives of the film artists in the new period, and have developed their new films dramatically different from traditional films, which have led to lots of controversy and criticism. The rise of entertainment films in the 1980s aroused more intense criticism from the society. Therefore, entertainment films were abandoned by the society before they have formed steady styles and characteristics.

(2) Several relations in film and television Film and television is consisted of products, artists (producers and disseminators) and 78

phenomenon (extending from the products and creators). Therefore, there are several relations in film and television: the relation between film and television and artistic cultural tradition and foreign culture (especially foreign film and television culture); the relation between the external presentative symbols and the internal artistic spirit; the relation between the individual creativity and the collective unconsciousness. 1) Relation between film and television and artistic cultural tradition and foreign culture (especially foreign film and television culture) When we make judgements on the value of certain art of film and television culture, we must fmd one way or one perspective so that we can have a criterion. In my opinion, we can find a relatively appropriate criterion to further make the value clear from the contrast and analysis of the vertical and historical relation of the artistic cultural tradition of the nationality as well as the horizontal and comparative foreign culture (especially foreign film and television culture). The contrast and analysis are as followed in the diagram:

Artistic

Film and television

•

cultural tradition

Foreign culture (Foreign screen culture) horizontal, comparative Vertical historical

The creation of film and television culture cannot separate from its ethnic artistic culture and the historical accumulation of artistic cultural tradition. Therefore, from the historical perspective in vertical method, we can compare and analyze successive and conservative aspects as well as evolutive and innovative aspects. We can also find out development and innovation in succession and conservation and succession and 79

conservation in development and innovation so that we can make it clear the value of film and television. We may as well judge and analyze controversial figures, works or phenomenon from this perspective.

Film and television was born in the 20th century with modem technologies. Different nations share similar technological and linguistic basis for film and television. So why there are so many huge differences in film and television in different nations? This question involves many aspects. But we can compare them within the scope of film and television culture. In the horizontal comparison of film and television and foreign film and television culture, we can find out which are common or individual, which are universal or national, which are progressive or backward and which are imitative or innovative. In the horizontal contrast, we can accurately find out the specific value of some certain phenomenon.

Combined the vertical historical contrast with the horizontal comparative contrast together, the creation of film and television was set in the relation axis of artistic cultural tradition and foreign film and television culture. By finding the accurate coordinate point, we can accurately and clearly estimate the status, sense and value of the creation of film and television.

2) Relation between the external presentative symbols and the internal artistic spirit

The most intuitive pattern of film and television culture is the comprehensive audiovisual image of the products of film and television culture. The image is composed of a series of audio and visual representative symbols which can directly exert influence on human perceptual system. These symbols include figure, scenery, scene, human voice, nature sound, music and sound effect. Having been processed by artistry and technology, these symbols are integrated in a whole part to express the understanding and feelings of the world and life by artists of film and television culture. Most of these symbols come from the primitive life of mankind and vividly reflect the real life in film and television. Creators and artists have used many technological and artistic method 80

to exaggeratedly transform and process the products, as well as combine and edit the products from different perspectives. The space and life on the screen is totally different from the primitive real life so that the artistic space and world of the screen is formed. We can see that there is a series of unique artistic expression methods and artistic linguistic methods in the development of history, such as montage and full-length film editing forms; photography skills of pushing, pulling, shaking, shifting and pitching; feature, close shot, met shot, long shot and pan shot; many combination styles and editing forms on vision and sound as well as sound and image. All of these have helped film and television to further reflect the human life and their spiritual ideologies and enable people to use the image thinking mode to perceive and understand the world. Therefore, the system of presentative symbols of film and television culture not only make the art forms more eloquent, but also lay audiovisual foundation for people to co=unicate. The coherence, interco=unity, proximity of representative symbols can't solve differences in film and television. There are many obstacles in the co=unication of film and television culture between different times, nations, countries and regions. What's the reason of this? In my opinion, the cause lies in the differences of artistic spirit behind the presentative

symbols of screen art. The spirit of screen art refers to the reflection of specific values, thinking modes and psychological connotation of artists in film and television culture products. Since different artists have different values, thinking modes, psychological connotations, and their feelings and understanding of the world and life are distinctive, the presentative symbols of film and television culture are entitled with different connotation and spirits. There are two conditions: one is the particularity of the presentative symbols; the other is that the same presentative symbol is entitled with different connotation and spirit. The former one is easy to understand. Like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, a Spielberg's 81

film, they are eerie and unique presentation symbols which are compounded by modem electronic technique. The symbol of this is quite particular. The artistic spirit behind it can be singly analyzed and studied. The latter one is complex, for it involves in different cultures of time, nationality, country and region, and spiritual differences of film and television culture artists.

The difference of time:

We take some sceneries as examples such as pine, ocean, sunrise and rainstorm. In China's films from the 1950s to the 1960s, these presentative symbols are entitled with the philosophy and connotation of heroism. These symbols are usually connected with lofty, sacrifice, selflessness, braveness and struggle. In Chinese films from the 1960s to the 1970s, political connotation added to these presentative symbols were greatly enhanced. We cannot connect "sunrise" with class enemy, because the enemy is always entitled with the label of "darkness". Even music and sound effect were entitled with clear and distinct role characteristics, positive or negative. However, there were no such evident difference in next few decades and more of those sceneries have been restored to their primitive natural features.

The difference of nationality:

Different nationals usually use different artistic spirits to deal with the presentative symbol of the same subject. The sacrifice scene in a war film can be entitled with different artistic spirit by different national. The profound humanism of Russia usually adds infmitely sorry emotion to death, such as the Russian film The Dawns Here Are

Quiet. The death of five female warriors is beautiful and touching. The spirit of freedom of America usually adds their indignation and resistance into the destroy of life and individual freedom, such as the hero Lonnie's death in the war in the American film

Born on the Fourth ofJuly. With strong spirit of nationalism, China is a peace-loving and aggression-resisting nationality and the Chinese nation has a clear-cut stand on what to love and what to hate. So they usually regard sacrifice as a heroism by laying 82

down the life for lofty goals and a noble sentiment to inspire the fighting determination, such as the death ofWang Cheng in Heroic Sons and Daughters, a Chinese film. The difference of country or region: The most visual of the presentative symbols in film and television culture is the people on the screen, especially the actors and actresses of films and television plays and the presenters of television programs. Different countries and regions show their own characteristics and features in presentative symbols. The performance style of Chinese films sometimes is implied and sometimes exaggerated. The style of European films is simple and profound and American films is open and impassioned. They all typically show their different artistic spirits. There are evident differences of film and television in different Chinese regions. As for family affection in the film, the mainland of China usually pays more connotation to it while Taiwan Province would like to add more tragic connotation to it. In terms of the film on royal court or history, the mainland of China focuses more on the truth of history while Hong Kong tends to make it funny. 3) Relation between the Individual Creativity and the Collective Unconsciousness The individual creativity lays foundation for film and television. successful and charming screen art products cannot separate from the unique creation of film and television culture artists. The "individual creation" originates from the independent artistic spirit of the artists. They have unique and special emotional feeling and practice of the world and life as well as ration thoughts, acquaintance and understanding. Based on this, they create unique artistic symbols of screen art and entitle unique artistic spirit to these presentative symbols. The collective unconsciousness originates from the values, thinking modes, cultural and psychological structure, habits and customs accumulated in long-term history by a nationality, a country and a group. Film and television can show this in two aspects. One is that film and television itself produces the collective unconsciousness from 83

production and creation. The other one is that the history of social cultural tradition accumulate the collective unconsciousness. It seems like that the individual creativity and the collective unconsciousness are incompatible as fire and water. But they have much relevance in reality. On one hand, without individual creativity as basis, the products cannot be long-lived if we just simply copy some popular modes. Lasting charm can be achieved by unique individual creativity. On the other hand, individual creativity does not mean we indulge in selfadmiration. Breaking all fixed "game rules" and exaggeratedly making things up never refer to getting rid of the popular customs of the pubic and the collective unconsciousness. Therefore, I tend to believe that the individual creation should be established on the basis of respecting and mastering the collective unconsciousness. From this perspective, it seems like that we are shackled while dancing and we are stepping from regulation towards freedom. We need to make further analysis on the collective unconsciousness. As for the modes, it can be regarded as a rule or regulation. Accumulated from the social cultural history, the collective unconsciousness has exerted great influence on the content, theme, narrative structure and perspectives of film and television and is featured with different nationality characteristics in different regions and times. From the macro perspective of human language, almost all the creation of film and television culture involves the theme oflife and death, love and hate, virtues and vices, war and peace, desire and morality, ideal and reality, as well as success and failure. The people's feeling, practice, acquaintance and understanding can be shown from these binary opposition concepts. From the micro perspective of people's sayings, hero in distress, death and departure, falling love at first sight, dreams coming true, weeding 84

out the wicked, rewarding virtue and punishing vice are always the themes or orientation in the film and television culture production of all countries and regions. The reason why some modes can be widely applied in the creation of world screen art is that they can read common expectations of people. As for some common sayings, the different processing and expression of different nationalities, regions and period lie in the differences of narrative structures and perspectives. We take the difference on nationality as an example. The tradition of pursuing the truth in European culture forms rigorous and thorough reason in their values and thinking modes, so is their selection on narrative structure and perspective of film and television culture. The European film and television culture is entitled with rational, philosophical and speculative features. The liberalism is the tradition in American culture. The desires and needs of individualism are paid much attention to. American films usually select narrative structure and perspective of individualism. Based on this, cowboys are typically showed in American westerns. Russia has a humanitarian tradition, so it focuses more on the whole fate of human beings. The ethical tradition of China tends to select ethical narrative structure and perspective. No matter which theme will be, marriage or family, politic and history or social life, the final will boil down to the ethical structure and perspective. One important topic in the discussion of "Xie Jin Mode" was the ethical narration structure and perspective.

13

As far as film and television itself is concerned, it has accumulated many collective unconscious modes in the production and creation course of history, all of which are concentrated to reflect in all kinds of production and creation of films from different aspects and perspectives. In terms of macro genres, the film and television culture corresponds to the mainstream 13

Xie Jin, a well-known Chinese film director.

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culture, elite culture and mass culture. The main genres are respectively divided into political films, artistic films and business films. These films all have their own rules on narrative methods, narrative strategies and creation goals. From the perspective of the content of theme, there are many genres of film and television culture, such as love film, war film, science fiction film, disaster film, historical film and biographical film and so on. Every genre has many famous works. With different plots and stories, these works are totally same in narrative methods and strategies. From a micro perspective, some products with regional characteristics are formed because of the differences of social culture in specific region and screen art traditions, such as the literary film in Taiwan Province from 1970s to 1980s, the long-lasting Kung Fu film in Hong Kong (Bruce Lee and Jackie Chen both made their names in Kung u films and became as international superstars), as well as the popular musical films in India. All these films have their own modes. No matter where the accumulation if from, social cultural history or the creation of screen art itself, it is definitely not occasional that the collective unconsciousness can form, exist, develop even thrive. There must be social source for it. Based on this, we can believe what exists is reasonable, so it is not important to scorn, neglect even destroy some modes, what we need to do is to deal with these modes in reasonable and speculative way. In my opinion, all the modes formed by the creation of screen art is a mature symbolization of itself. It is proved to be filled with vitality if the modes can be widely imitated and promoted. Sometimes a mode can be extended, enriched and entitled with new vitality in twists and turns. The "abandoned woman" has walked out of the classical Chinese literature and been the characters in creation of Chinese screen art, like in Goddess, The River Flows to The

East, New Year Sacrifice and the television play Expectation and so on. If there is no necessity to have one mode, it will be naturally weeded out, such as the noble, tremendous and comprehensive mode in the Cultural Revolution in China.

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A mode is like some kind of artistic form. There is no completely artistic form so there is no mode without any restriction. It is not important whether it exists or not. The key is how to deal with it in a speculative way. A scholar has ever said that never be afraid of repeating what others have already said because it belongs to you and is unique only if it is originated from your mind. Individual creation does not mean that we must make unprecedented miracles, in contrast, we should make new exploration based on the succession and appreciation of these already formed and mature modes. (3) Relation between film and television and the audience There are nations of mutual adaption and guidance between film and television and the audience. Paying attention to the audience in film and television practice had been well demonstrated.

The attention to the audience must be emphasized in order to meet the

needs of the production and dissemination of film and television or the continuous development of film and television. Only when the audience like the product, it can receive a good dissemination effect. The participation of the audience directly affects the box office and the audience rating and further influence the advertisement revenue. The theoretical exploration of screen art increasingly focuses more on the research of audience. The research is directly stimulated by the production and dissemination of screen art, and absorbs thoughts and methods of aesthetics, sociology, communication, survey statistics and so on. It gradually changes the opinions regarding audience as a negative receiving group and initiate that we should regard audience as active, positive, rich and energetic group who can greatly put ahead the products and dissemination of screen art. Meanwhile, this group can form different attitudes and selections because of different qualities, intelligence level, social class, age, profession, living condition and existence situation.

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Therefore, adaption and guidance are two-way. That is to say adaption refers to mutual adaption between film and television creation and the audience, and guidance refers to mutual guidance between film and television creation and the audience. The connotation of adaption and connotation involves in their value orientation, beauty appreciation, languages and methods. In fact, the social history and the collective unconsciousness of film and television can

usually be reflected and embodied by the audience. The judgement of audience value orientation, thinking mode, cultural and psychological structure successfully and effectively lay a solid foundation for film and television creation. Therefore, when film and television itself puts forward new value philosophies and tries new aesthetic styles, narrative and linguistic methods and new ways, most of the audience may not agree with and be accustomed to them. At this moment, film and television itself plays the guiding role and the audience need to gradually adapt to it. If the guidance and adaption are close to each other, the audience will be accustomed to it after a period. If they are totally different, we must have the psychological preparation that the adaption and guidance will be reflected by the audience. Many pioneers and experiments of film and television culture creation can't always establish an agreed and harmonious relation by audience so that it cannot deeply relate with the audience. In certain historical circumstances, when the values, thinking mode, cultural and

psychological structure and beauty appreciation of audience have changed greatly, the audience will make their expectations and requirements on film and television creation. At this time, the audience would play the guiding role to require film and television creation adapt to their demands. If a film or television creation still not change their past philosophy, method and style, they will be neglected even be abandoned by audience. The value of film and television creation will be examined and judged by the mass. It is a key factor that we need to be targeted to study audience and specific tailor to specific 88

audience. The dual relation between film and television and the audience, adaption and guidance, does not mean that one-way catering or satisfaction. The need and expectation of audience and the responsibility of film and television are equally important. In our past screen art creation, there are usually lessons of extreme adaption or guidance. In terms of adaption, Chinese films and television production used to catering to the audience's interests even their extremely vulgar interests. As for guidance, Chinese film and television tended to teach and inculcate opinions stifily regardless of their willingness, which lead to extreme examples of education. All of these are not correct attitudes. Certainly, the complexity of the audience and film and television creation determines that the exploration of adaption and guidance is an endless course, and the two always go through the stages of balance, breaking up and a new balance. As a result of this dynamic course, film and television continuously make progress and the audience continuously improve their appreciation capability of film and television, which can further accelerate the development film and television art and culture.

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Chapter 3 Film Culture and Film Art Film is a co=unication medium, a cultural industry, and a demonstration of ideology. First of all, film is a type of art. Due to the development of film art, peoples' ability to sense the world, understand the world and grasp the world have been greatly expanded and the power of film as a co=unication medium, a cultural industry and an ideology has been effectively and forcefully developed. Thus, a splendid landscape of film culture was created. This chapter will focus on the logical and historical development of film art in order to reveal the characteristics and charm of film culture.

3.1 The History of the Film Art: From a Logic Perspective

The history of film art is full of contingencies. It might not be easy to study and to explain in a rational. How could we find the logic and rules through the complicated historic phenomena of the film developing process? In fact, many scholars and researchers have illustrated the history of the film in their own ways, which have inevitably had certain marks of the times, nations, regions, positions or point of views. That is because their illustrations are rational and logic, and sometimes personal preferences, interests and academic backgrounds of researchers can also be the influence factors. Therefore, no one could say that his or her own way of illustration is the only correct way. No one could ever cover every comer of the history of film without missing anything. The author tries to illustrate the history in his own way, and to show the developing process of the art of film to the readers. Please see the table as follows.

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(Social)

Mind

Entertainment

Fantasy Creating

Reality Criticizing

Photograph

Shadow Plays

Images

Mirror Images

Montage

Long Take

Diversity

Expression

Functions Forms

Languages

Art

Creating Methods

Aesthetic Styles

Audieoce (Needs)

Live Photo Combination

Natoralism

Funny

Gracefulness, Elegance, Harmony

Classicism,

Romanticism

Depth, Plainoess

irregularity

Realism

Modernism

Life Reflecting

Self-discovering

Novelty Seeking

Making Dream

(Passive

Come True

Acceptance) The I" Stage

Eras

Disharmony,

(The start-up

The 2nd Stage

The 3"' Stage (1930-

period of

(1020s-1930-1940s)

40s-1950-60s)

film-1920s)

The 4"' Stage (1950s and 1960s later)

What should be pointed out is as follows: First, horizontally, this table illustrates from the most symbolic characteristics of film

art-{ social) functions, art itself (including forms, languages, creating methods and aesthetic styles), audience (needs), to form the different stages of the film (from a logic perspective). Second, vertically, the table illustrates the developing process of the film with the interlinked characteristics in every stage. 91

Third, overlaps exist in this table, horizontally or vertically, in the division of stages or in the expression of characteristics. Any kind of overlap is normal and acceptable, because horizontal expressions are illustrated from different perspectives, and vertical expressions are illustrated accord with the reality of history, which indeed has leading effect, hysteresis or repetition. Why I divide the history of the film into several stages? First, it is for the convenience of expression. Second, it is to show the typicality and representativeness of the film art in general. Other exceptions with on historical trend could be discussed later. This chapter is to focus on the horizontal illustration. Concerning the interconnection of (social) functions, audience (needs), creating methods and aesthetic styles, this chapter is to illustrate these aspects in a combined manner.

3.2 (Social) Functions and audience (needs) of film art

Film art has been through the stages of entertainment-fantasy creating-reality criticizing-mind expression in the progress of understanding, grasping and demonstration its social function. At the same time, the needs of audience have been through the stages of novelty seeking (passive acceptance}-making dream come true-life reflecting-self-discovering.

(1) Seeking entertainment and novelty (passive acceptance) The first inventors and creators of the film, such as Edison, the Lumiere Brothers, and Melies, had recorded people's daily life, social activities and entertainment in the unprecedented ways and methods by film. People watched the most realistic images on the screen. Compared with the static photographs, films could provide the continual movements and actions. Compared with the plays, the films had abandoned many artistic decorations. The function of film at that time was quite simple-for entertainment. Therefore, the films shot at that time often were short documentary, with simple plots and concepts, with little artistic ideas, and the social function of the films 92

were like that of variety show in the circus. The changing daily life, various social activities and entertainment have been enough to get people satisfied with the freshness, novelty, exciting and funny. Therefore, the psychological needs of the audience were to seek novelty from watching films at that time. The representative films include Lunch Hour at the Lumiere Factory, Tables Thmed on the Gardener, The Arrival of a Train and so on. (2) Creating fantasy and making dream come true After 20 years' development, film came into a stage of "creating fantasy" instead of only pursuing entertainment in the 1920s. In this phase, the global film industries represented by the Hollywood set "creating fantasy" as their highest pursuit. People called Hollywood the "dream works", which conld be a good proof. At that time, the creators and audience were not satisfied with only watching people's daily life, social life and entertainment on the screen, especially after World War I. Most people were living in the depression and the capitalist economic crisis swept the world. People were in need of mental comfort. Film begun to create a fantasy world on the screen with the accumulated technology and art experience. Therefore, we had witnessed the great changes of the images on the screen-the luxurious, noble and exquisite sceneries replaced real life situations; beautiful melodies and unrestrained tap dance appeared (in the transitional phase from silent films to sound films, while sound films was in the change from music accompaniment to recording and mixing); the exaggerated and attractive performance of actors replaced natural and unprofessional performance; meandering and dramatic plots took the place of films without plots or concepts. The establishment of the "star system" of film laid a solid foundation for "creating fantasy'' and making the dream of the public come true.

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The so called "star system" refers to the actor-centered system, which means that all of the parts like scripts, directors, shooting, make-up, lights, costume and etc. are working together for a certain actor with special charisma, personality or image. The contents and forms of a film are custom-made for him or her (e.g. the script is writing for him or her, the music is composed for him or her, and the character in the film is designed for him or her ...... ) to shape a glamorous and charming movie star on the screen. Once a star was made, he or she would become a brand and make a series of films to attract more audience. Thus, all-round profits of films will be achieved. Creating stars is the crucial part of "creating fantasy". Charles Chaplin, Garbo and Shirley Jane Temple were the dreamiest movie stars. Charlie Chaplin, with his unique performance, portrayed a figure of ''the Tramp" who was wearing a top hat and a pair of broken boots, with a crutch in hands in series of comedies like The Tramp, The Gold

Rush, City Lights, Modem Times and The Great Dictator. Charlie Chaplin's artistic expression of tearful smiling gave the tramp the characteristic of being strong and positive. Audience could burst into laughter from the destiny of a nobody and his performance and find the strength, hope and courage of life from his films. Right after Greta Garbo came to Hollywood from her homeland Sweden, she won the favor of moviernakers. The heroines she starred in films like Torrent, The Temptress, Camille,

Anna Karenina, Queen Christina and Grand Hotel, were always the "cool beauties" who were unsentimental, beautiful and noble, staying in peace mind but with a great inner strength, which had often posed the sense of endless isolation and mystery to the audience. This made Garbo's images on the screen outstanding, which could also give people the courage and power to show contempt for conventions as well as find comfort and inner peace. Shirley Temple, a little angel on the screen, made thousands of audiences fascinated to her. This gifted child star was full of innocence and liveliness. She was good at singing and dancing. Temple starred in films like The Littlest Rebel,

The Little Colonel, War Babies, Managed Money, Baby Take a Bow and Stand Up and Cheer. Her two sweet little dimples, her blonde curly hair, her innocent eyes, and her lovely tap dance not only earned box office successes for the Hollywood, but also 94

cheered thousands of people in depression up. Just as the presenter said when Shirley Temple won an Oscar at the age of six, she was the best gift that Santa Claus had given to human, and she had made this exhausted and old-aged world burst with joy. Spinoff items such as toys, clothing, daily necessities and all types of books, as well as picture albums, audio and video products with the image of Temple were popular worldwide over the years. In the same time era, China also adopted the "star system", and marketed a number of

movie stars such as Hu Die, Ruan Lingyu and Jin Yan. Their images on the screen and personal lives caught huge attention of other people, who had lots of fantasies and dreams on them and lived their own dreams through the movie stars. (3) Criticizing reality and reflecting life In the 1930s and the 1940s, especially in the late 1940s, European films rose, and the

films of the Soviet Union, Japan, and China also entered a new stage, breaking the global domination of the Hollywood. Technologies and artistic performing abilities of films were dramatically improved, and realism became one of the major film trends at that time. Filmmakers no longer focused on magnificent settings in the movie studios or the beautiful dance performances anymore. They no longer minded making screen icons or creating illusions on the screen anymore. They walked out of the film studios, and tried to walk into the real society and life of thousands of people. What they wanted to express in the films at that time were sharp social problems and strong social criticism. The films of the Soviet Union, such as Chapayev, The Childhood ofMaxim Gorky, The

Maxim Trilogy (The Youth of Maxim, The Return of Maxim, and New Horizons), Professor Mamlock, as well as documentaries like The 24 Hours in the Soviet Union and The Battle for Ukraine, showed the social life during the wartime of the Soviet Union with profound thoughts, strong resonation and great passion.

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The formation and rise of the Documentary Film Movement in the United Kingdom was a phenomenon that merited attention in this period. On the basis of inheriting the experiences of early documentary film and the Soviet Union's montage, filmmakers in UK gradually moved their focus from the aesthetics form of documentary to the real life of the society. Their documentary works included The Abundant World, Night Mail,

Desert Vzctory, Fires Were Started, Lili Marleen, Nine Warriors, London Can Take It! and The Road Ahead, etc. Italian neorealist films could be the best representative of the trend at that time. Italian film artists were exploring the reality-centered and criticizing-oriented "neorealism" films featured by the scenes of daily life and the nonprofessional actors. The representative films included Rome, Open City, The Bicycle Thief, Boot Polish, The

Guerrilla, and Umberto D, etc. During this period, China's realist films also reached its peak status. For example, films in the 1930s like Spring Silkworms, Song of the Fishermen, Street Angel, Crisscross

Streets, and films in the 1940s like The River Flows to the East, Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon, Myriads ofLights and Crow and Sparrow became the classics in the history of Chinese films. Why the film's social function of criticizing the reality was highlighted in this period? It should be noted that during the worldwide financial crisis in the late 1920s, the

German Fascism emerged, and the whole world had no peace because of the Second World War, which ruined lots of families, led to endless death, unemployment, school quitting, homelessness and hardships. That made film artists face the increasingly serious social problems and the cruel reality could not be replaced by fantasies. People needed the concern and criticism of the reality from an objective, serious and sober perspective. Audiences needed the reflection of daily life on the screen to find the resonation on the emotion and thoughts. (4) Mind expression and self-discovering 96

As a cultural product, film has many functions. The initial function of film was entertainment, then film's function of creating fantasy was discovered, and later people explored the function of criticizing the reality. Some functions have become the cornerstones of co=ercial films, and some have become the foundation of political films. As a type of art, one of the most important functions of film is the expression of mind, which often relies on the imaginative and creative film artists. As early as 1920s, European film artists began the exploration on films of modernism. In France and Germany, a number of film artists greatly influenced by the modernist art and philosophy proposed avant-garde film concepts, and put them into practice. For example, the German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the representative of Expressionism, and the French film The Seashell and the Clergyman andAnAndalusian Dog, the representatives of Surrealism, talked about human's psychological activities

in deformed expression ways, which became the beginning of exploring human's psychology through films. But it did not become a global trend until in the 1950s and 1960s when exploring human's mind became a crucial function of film, and the major symbol of it was the rise of the French New Wave film movement. The French New Wave film movement was initiated and promoted by a group of French critics of the film magazine Cahiers du cinema (the climax period was from 1959 to 1961 ). They put forward the views ofAuteur Theory, among which the most prominent view was that the film should fully reflect the original and unique personality of the artist, with the artist's personal signature. This signature should be visible from film to film, and from film techniques to shooting material. In a word, film should be the personalized art. Films could explore the deeper inner world of men. Some representative works included Godard's Breathless, Truffaut's The 400 Blows, Resnais's Hiroshima mon amour. Ingrnar Bergman, a Swedish director, had already explored the

path from Modernism to co=ercial exhibition in his films such as The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. Many directors made great efforts to explore the mind of human in their films such as Antonioni, an Italian director in his films The Eclipse and The Red Desert, as well as Fellini and his films like La Strada, La Dolce Vita and especially 8%. 97

Although cannot compete with Hollywood films in commercial value, these films were exhibited commercially, which proved that lots of audience accepted these films. Film is the showcasing of artists' personalities and human's mind. In films, audience can discover themselves who may have been neglected in the secular life but still exist deep in their heart.

3.3 History of Film Form

In general, the form of film has been through four stages- photograph, shadow play,

image and mirror image. In the four stages, film has followed the principle of photograph, the principle of drama, the principle of life and the principle of expressiveness. (!)The Stage of photograph The primitive form and structure of film was similar with that of photograph. Film was photographic film which was displayed in Kinetoscope as slides. In 1894, the world first Kinetoscope store was opened in New York, the USA by Edison. Photographic films could only be watched in Kinetoscope not on the screen, which were not what people called film today. In 1895, the Lumiere Brothers made revolutionary changes to the Kinetoscope and showed 12 films, each running I minute, in a cafe on December 28, 1895 for the first time in human history, which has become the birthday of world cinema. Four months later, the first cinema using cinematograph came out in New York. In this period, film followed the principle of photograph to record the reality. What was

different was that the Lumiere Brothers recorded the real situations of daily life in their films, such as trains pulling in, workers being off, cars speeding on the streets, nursing a baby and so on; while Edison recorded the entertainment for people, such as circus, singing and dancing performance and boxing in his films. Though they were recording different contents, they shared the same form and structure. Therefore, their films belonged to the stage of photograph in terms of the form of film. 98

There was an important figure during the transitional period from photograph and shadow play. He was a pioneer of French film named Georges Melies. He discovered special effects of filming in an incident, such as shooting in slow or fast motion, down to shoot, dissolving and other filming techniques. But Melies immersed himself in various special effects to create fantasy life in his films like A Trip to the Moon, which cut close connections between film and life, threw away the tradition of realism in the stage of photograph, and gradually collaborated with the American technologist films, and drove films into the stage of shadow play. From the development of film's artistic form, the discoveries and inventions ofMelies were definitely essential, and his filming techniques and skills dramatically enriched film's ability to reproduce and represent life, as well as film's unique thinking style and language style. On the whole, Melies' films did not get rid of the characteristic of recording the reality of the stage of photograph. He focused on fantasy filming rather than daily life in his later career, and what contained in the fantasies connected with the next stage--the stage of shadow play. (2) The stage of shadow play After a few decades, film studios were established, and simple films about daily life in the stage of photograph or simple singing and dancing shows could not meet the needs of the society and audience, as well as the exploration needs of filmmakers. In this case, some filmmakers started to draw plots, characters and performances from dramas into films to attract more audience, which became the start of the stage of shadow play. The stage of shadow play could also be called the stage of drama film. Despite differences in teclmiques or expressive styles, on the whole, films in the stage of shadow play followed the principle of drama in form, structure and other characteristics of theatricality. The so-called theatricality includes the following features, at least. First, fiction. The stage of drama is not a real space, but fictitious space, created by many departments like settings, stage properties, and art designs, through which people can imagine and create hallucination and illusion towards life. Time on stage is 99

fictitious as well. For example, an event lasting several weeks is only shown for two or three hours on stage. The surroundings in a certain space can only be fictitiously shown through setting, and several properties directly related to the plot.

Second, completeness. A play, especially a classical one, should have the unity in time, place and plot (the classical unities). Modern plays are free from specific rules of classical unities, but the consciousness of keeping the unity is still there-from a united perspective or focus (the audience's perspective, the focuses are actors, roles and characters, and other settings are all for coordinating the players}, to narrate the plot with a complete structure.

Third, exaggeration. In order to make audience in a certain space (the space of stage-theater) watch the entire play, playwriters are supposed to exaggerate every part in stage to make it differ from that in daily life. For example, the setting should suit the specific atmosphere and style of a certain plot in the play in an amplified or minified way; the properties, customs and make-ups should be in accordance with certain times, ethnic groups, nationalities and characters' style, while making the most expressive part prominent. Actors are required to act in a more dramatic, energetic and expressive way than daily life, which calls on exaggerated voices, facial expressions and body movements.

Principles of theatricality were fully demonstrated in films of the stage of shadow play. For example, the time and space on the screen is not real or natural living situations, but is created with the light, shadow and setting in film studios. The plot of a film is completed and united, and can be narrated in a story. Settings, customs, properties, make-ups, and especially performances were flowery and exaggerated.

Another prominent characteristic of the films in the stage of shadow play is actororiented, which is the same with the player-oriented plays. Plays rely on actors to demonstrate the ideas of playwriters Gust as someone has said that once the curtain is open, writers and actors are becoming one). As for the films in the stage of shadow play, 100

the establishment of the star system reflected the actor-oriented characteristic. Though directly originated from the commercial needs, the star system, on the other hand satisfied the psychological demands of audience to see stars on the screen (which was similar to the psychology of audience to see stars on the stage of plays).

The period of shadow play lasted for a long time (at least from the 1920s to the 1940s), during which the former period (before the 1930s) paid much attention to drama elements while the latter period (after the 1930s) gradually stepped into images. At the same time, films witnessed technical breakthroughs-from silent films to sound films, from black-and-white films to color films, and from small screen to wide screen, which made films get free from the drama tradition, and move forward to the cinematic direction.

The representatives in this period include Griffith, John Ford, Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Fred Zinnemann, George Stevens and other excellent directors and their masterpieces, such as The Birth ofa Nation, Intolerance, Singing in the Rain, The Sound

ofMusic, Red River, High Noon, Shane, Frankenstein, Rebecca, Gone with the Wind, Waterloo Bridge, For Whom the Bell Tolls and so on. Many film superstars rose in this period like Mary Pickford, John Wise, Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Ingrid Bergman, Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Gregory Peck, and Rob Taylor.

In this period, Chinese films have been dramatically influenced by Hollywood movies. At the same time, originated from national culture, Chinese films were influenced by Chinese traditional literature and art like Chinese traditional operas in terms of concepts, styles and methods, as well as by the stage plays at that time, with the special history situation and the reaction of the audience. Therefore, Chinese films developed into the form of shadow plays with unique national characteristics. Some representative figures in this period included screenwriters or directors such as Zheng Zhengqiu, Xia Yan, Yang Hansheng, Sun Yu, Wu Yonggang, Shi Dongshan, Shen J{iling, Cai Chusheng, Zheng Junli, Fei Mu, Yuan Muzhi, Chen Liting, Tang Xiaodan and Shen Fu, and 101

outstanding films included Crossroads, Street Angel, My Darling Sister, Fate of Graduates, Children ofTrouble Time, Storm on the Border, Remote Love, Ding's Spring Dream, The Holy City, Happiness Rhapsody, Along the Songhua River, Woman Side by Side, Winter of Three Hairs, Spring in a Small Town, Hope in the World and so on, and

movie stars like Bai Yang, Zhao Dan, Jin Shan, Shu Xiuwen, Zhou Xuan, Wu Yin, Shangguan Yunzhu, Zhang Ruifang, Qin Yi, Sun Daolin, Li Lili, Wang Renmei, and Tao Jin. (3) The stage of images Filmmakers in the stage of shadow plays paid much attention to ideal colors and filmed with unreal fantasies with hypothetical and exaggerated plots. But the two World Wars, various social problems, and national problems cannot be ignored by sharp filmmakers, which pushed some filmmakers to care the social reality, and to film with more natural and realistic daily life, instead of a fantasy world on the screen. That became film's basis characteristic and orientation in the stage of images. Film artists of Italian neorealism focused on the unprofessional performance, and even filmed small things in daily life like stealing cars. In their films, the completed plot has been replaced by natural scenes, the hypothetical time and space have been replaced by much more real living space, and unprofessional performances have become the trend. In this period, film theories have been through a leaping development. Some representatives such as Andre Bazin and his book What is the Cinema, and Siegfried Kracauerand his book

Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality played a significant role in

people's understanding the art of film. People called theories proposed by Bazin and Kracauer the recording theory, because they illustrated and analyzed the recording nature of film thoroughly. Filmmakers in the stage of images focused too much on the nature and authenticity of the images on the screen, and sometimes their films were lacking editing, which impacted the artistic inherent tension of their films. However, the period made 102

irreplaceable contributions to the exploration of the characteristics and peculiarity of the art of film. In comparison, European films inherited the original tradition of realism, paying more

attention to recoding. American films inherited the original tradition of technicism, paying more attention to fantasies. Therefore, in the stage of shadow play, American films represented by Hollywood became the leader in the world movie industry; in the stage of images, European films made enviable achievements. Influenced by the literary policy, traditions and culture of other nationalities and social demands, films of the Soviet Union were not as dreamy as American films, or as realistic as European films, instead, they were born with strong political intention. Some representative films were

Battleship Potemkin, October, Mother and Chapayev, all with strong political sense. Therefore, films of the Soviet Union at this time were between the stage of shadow play and the stage of images.

It seemed that Chinese films were like films of the Soviet Union and be between the

two stages. However, Chinese films were much more influenced by Hollywood movies, as well as by Chinese historical and cultural traditions, the reality of the society and the psychological needs of the audience. Therefore, Chinese films were more likely to be in the stage of shadow play. (4) The stage of mirror images Since the beginning of the 1920s, filmmakers have begun the exploration for the nonphotograph, non-shadow play and non-image films. After the 1950s, film moved forward towards the personalized and cinematic direction, and films entered the stage of mirror images. In the stage of shadow play, the actors or the movie stars were the center; in the stage of images, the actors were no longer the center, and the directors were becoming more and more essential; in the stage of mirror images, films are symbolized by showing the personal style of the directors, and director became the absolute center. 103

In the stage of mirror images, filmmakers focused on their personal feelings,

experiences and understandings towards life, and emphasized the personalized style of filming. Stories with similar plots, characters or source materials from life, as long as they were made by different directors, can be recreated with different personalized styles. Therefore, these directors did not seek stimulated plots, stories or characters, they used their feelings, experiences and expressive ways to film their own works, and to arouse people's interests. On the whole, films in the stage of photograph basically cannot be called artistic creation, and there was no the artistic style of film. The artistic style of films in the stage of shadow play was mainly shown by actors, stars and plot. When it comes to the age of images, especially the stage of mirror images, the artistic style of film is mainly displayed through the director's artistic style. The best representative of the films in the stage of mirror images is the auteur film (or author film). Film is different with regular personal writing (like literature), it is a special art product co-created by different links, different parts and with modern technologies. When we are illustrating personalized styles of film directors in the stage of mirror images (including auteur films), we have to face several relations as follows: Will the director's personalized style survive in the commercial management of film market? Will this personalized style get trouble with communication in terms of the relation between film and society? This is a real problem. The standard of measuring the films and personal contribution in the stage of mirror images is whether this director has made new exploration in the form or style in his films, but the operation of commercial films and the acceptability of the public care less about the art, which focuses on the demand of popularization of films. Although some film directors' personal styles have been accepted by people, and gained some commercial achievements, on the whole, the number of successors is limited. Commercial films need to have economic profit, and the regular audience need 104

time to get familiar with a new art concept, which always come into collision with the unique personalized style of film directors in this stage. How to coordinate the relationship between them is an important issue to display the artistic charm of film.

3.4 The development of f'Ilm language

The development of film language is directly related to the development of film in terms of techniques and art. In the era of silent films, film language mainly refers to the blackand-white picture language. In the era of sound films, sound (including voice, natural sound, music, and sound effect) became an essential part of film language. In the era of color film, color became an important part of film language. The following part is to focus on the development of the picture language of film, supplemented by the comprehensive audio-visual description.

(1) Combination of motion pictures

Films in the era of photograph were motion pictures consisted of static photos printed on the 16fps (24fps later) photographic films. Making use of people's persistence of vision, filmmakers connected the original static photos in 16fps (or 24fps), and showed them on the screen and photos became live in this way. The less the frames per second, the faster the motion pictures projecting on the screen; and the more the frames per second, the slower the motion pictures, and the closer to the speed of natural moves. Filnnnakers can use this kind of frames to film in slow motion or fast motion, as well as dissolve and down to shoot, often unconsciously. Since the frames are limited (16fps), the pictures seemed incoherent (the connection between the pictures looked very abrupt, because the cine cameras in this period were just like normal cameras, fixed in one track, did not or was unable to move, which caused pictures in different time and space often seems abrupt). Therefore, motion pictures combination is the right description of film language in this era. Short documentaries lasting one or two minutes each were popular at this time, and cinemas usually showed more than ten short films each time. 105

Basically, each short film contains one single lens, filming in full shot to record the daily life or other social situations. (2)Montage Montage was originated from a French word "montage", meaning to mount or assemble in architecture, and now means to cut and join in filmmaking. As a film language, montage contained at least three meanings: First, it refers to a thinking method in filmmaking (montage thinking). Second, it refers to a basic method to construct and narrate a story (including the skills to design and manage the scenes and acts, as well as the shooting scripts). Third, it refers to a specific editing technique and method in filmmaking. The development of montage as a film language has undergone a rather long time, and its connotations and styles have been expanded and enriched along with the progress of film. In the era of photograph, filmmakers accumulated some original experience in the

techniques of cinematography. The discovery and invention of some tricky photography techniques by Mtmes, laid the foundation for montage. On the basis ofMelies, Griffith made some breakthroughs. He changed the unit of film's frame from a single shot (usually a completed and continuous act and scene) to several shots, and continued with the editing of these shots in a certain logic way. Apparently, Griffith was not satisfied with showing scenes oflife only with single lens, because he was looking for a story on the screen with dramatic effect, and a kind of language to narrate this dramatic story on the screen. Griffith revealed to people with his films that film can also be as astonishing as drama. Griffith has created a classic scene in his masterpiece The Birth ofa Nation: the act was that Flora Cameron, a white girl, was forced by a black guy to jump from the cliff. If it 106

was to act on the stage, players were likely to act in conversations in only one scene. In order to make the act full of dramatic conflicts and suspense and to create better effect than that on the stage, Griffith cut this complete plot into different shots, and the perspectives were shifting from this white girl and the black guy, one was threatened to jump from the cliff while one was chasing. With the depth of field constantly narrowed from full shot, long shot, medium shot to close shot, the emotion of these assembled shots has been gradually pushed to the climax with strong artistic tension. The edit of these shots by Griffith promoted the language of film from the stage of original edit to the stage of narrative montage. The narrative montage greatly improved the expressive force of film language, made it free from the restriction of dramatic thinking. Film had its own unique and powerful language. In the era of photograph, cinematography and editing are basically in the same method with the play on the stage, which meant to record a scene or an act completely. In this case, films were not as charm as the real plays, because in theaters, players and audience had direct communication, and the audience wonld resonate with the players naturally, while watching films, actors and audience are separated by the screen. Obviously, films are defeated by plays. But if edited the films in the method of narrative montage, cutting a plot into different shots, with constantly changing depth of shots (full shot, long shot, medium shot and close shot, etc.), and proper length, tension and strong visual impact can be created, proper narration pace can be formed, and strong artistic tension can be reached (sometimes far more than being dramatic). On the basis of narrative montage of Griffith, films masters of the Soviet Union like Eisenstein explored the montage thought, making montage a kind of film language and a new level high. Griffith's montage is only a kind of film narrating skill for breaking through the limitation of dramatic narrow space, speeding up the rhythm of film narration, and enhancing the visual impact of film. Eisenstein's montage can not only speed up the film narrative rhythm, but also create new relations and meanings through the connection and combination of different shots. 107

In Eisenstein's film Bronenosets Potemkin, there is a group of classic scenes of the Odessa Steps-the long shots, medium shots, and close shots of the marching Cossack who are busy in suppressing the sailors' uprising, and the long shots, medium shots, and close shots of people on the steps have been edited together, which breaks a single point of view, and shows the scenes from the two perspectives of solders and the masses respectively. In this way, the war atmosphere can be shown to the audience through the marching footsteps of the army and the panic facial expression of people without showing any guns or bullets. The editing of the worker's movement and a thawing river in Pudovkin's film Mother is another typical example of montage. Combing social phenomenon like the worker's movement and the natural phenomenon like a thawing river can produce an effect of awaking people from ignorance and setting them off against the Czar's governance consciously, because people will understand that the worker's movement are just like the thawing river. This kind of thoughtful montage contains profound meaning. Just as Eisenstein has said, "montage is an idea that arises from the collision of independent shots," and "montage is the way that gives two static pictures to move (or think)". 14 Been created by Eisenstein and other filmmakers, the montage thought quickly influenced the production and creation of films globally. In Joris Ivens's film Nieuwe Gronden, the shot of people destroying the grain (burn the wheat or throw it into the

sea) during the financial crisis in the 1930s, and the shot of a skinny child with blue eyes were edited together. The two scenes may be not in the same time or space, or even with no relation with each other, but created an astonishing power when edited together in accordance with the principle of montage thought. Ivens's idea showing in this film was that the ugly and inhuman of humanity shown unconsciously was responsible for the destruction of property and the large number of people living in poverty_l5

" A Filmmakers Diary, Page 349 of the Chinese version of Eisenstein"s Selected Essays. " [French] Marcel Martin. The Film Language. page 121. translated by He Zhengan. China Film Press. the first edition. 1980. 108

Kuleshov once edited three separate static shots with various combinations, and produced completely different visual effects, which have been called Kuleshov effect. This is a montage test on the visual aspects. In the era of sound films, sound, as another important factor of montage, has made montage contain much more abundant and completed meanings, forms and genres. When using the language of montage, filmmakers from different countries, regions, or nationalities, with different personalities, have different preferences and style. In general, American films are more inclined to adopting the rhythmic montage and narrative montage to create smoother visual feeling; films of the Soviet Union are more inclined to the thought of montage for more clear and profound thinking and ideas (films after the founding of People's Republic of China were deeply influenced by the montage theory of the Soviet Union, and have adopted much the thought of montage). The European films seemed to be between them. The founding and use of montage as a language is an essential step in the history of the development of film. Since then, film has become the eighth art in human's history. The language of montage, together with characters, notes and other forms oflanguage, has become one of the most influential forms oflanguage among the languages of art. The montage language has developed from the connection of the original shots to the narrative montage and then to the montage of thought, which has dramatically expanded the vision and enriched the expressiveness of film, and promoted the art quality and cultural quality of film. (3) Long take The development of the film language has always been in the state of upward spiral. So is the popularization of the long take.

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The long take is originated from the stage of photograph, when filming was limited by the filming techniques. Though filmmakers invented filming techniques such as dolly shot, pan, fluid camera and following shot, they did not handle these techniques skillfully. The single shot at that time was the original long shot, which could not show the multi-dimensional and overall parts of the shooting objects naturally because of the limitation of photography. In the stage of montage, filming techniques, especially the editing skills, were improved greatly. But the sense of nature and authenticity of life was weakened by the man-made montage. In the stage of images, people have focused on the reproduction of the original life in a more vivid way along with the changes of people's views towards film. In this period, the film language was changed, and the subjective montage was minimized. On the basis of the advanced filming techniques, the long take was widely accepted and used, by which the rather completed human life can be shown in the film. The long take was not a step backward, since the art and techniques of photography were dramatically improved. The long take at this time should be considered as a recording of life at a much higher level. In a word, the long shot is the method to reproduce the reality, which can not only be achieved by the subjective montage. The long take was used in the film Citizen Kane (1941 ). In the film, Kane said to his second wife Susan, "Don't go." To show this scene in montage language, the camera might be shifting between Kane and Susan. Orson Welles, the director, chose to use a long take. The camera was moving naturally and slowly from Kane to Susan and slowly back to Kane. In the end, the camera focused on scene that Kane gazed at the back of Susan, and the doors were closed until the last one was closed in the distance. The camera was not cut back and forth, and it was finished at a dash, which had made the emotion and plot of this scene completed and smooth. The long take became a prominent symbol of the Italian neorealism. The constant use oflong takes can almost be seen in every film.

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The long take can be tedious, but it can greatly enhance the sense of reality of the real life on the screen. With the theoretical illustrations of Bazin and Kracauer in a systematic way, the long take has been widely accepted and applied in the film production and creation as a unique language worldwide. In the 1980s, Chines films made great achievements in studying, learning from and

using the technique of the long take. The use of the long take in numerous Chinese films hit a historical record in terms of number and unit length. For example, films like Neighbors (with 480 shots in total, the film's length 9854 feet 7 frames, 44 long takes

running more than 50 feet, the longest one running up to 142.7 mm), My Memories of Old Beijing (with 516 shots in total, the film's length is 8285 feet 7 frames, 18 long

takes running more than 50 mm, the longest one running up to 122.8 feet), Life (with 718 shots in total, the film's length is 13828 feet 7 frames, 39long takes running more than 50 feet, the longest one running up to 144 feet), In the Wild Mountains (with 450 shots in total, the film's length is 9054 feet 7 frames, 31 long takes running more than 50 feet, the longest one running up to 304 feet) .

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The long take used in the rain pray ceremony in Yellow Earth, Qiaozhen's wedding in Life, little Ymgzi looking after Mother Song in My Memories ofOld Beijing has become

the classical model in Chinese film history. The long take emphasizes the real sense of life and a relatively completed life process, which does not mean it shows nothing but trivial stuff in life, or the narrative rhythm or thought is stagnant, slow, with no change. On the contrary, with more long takes, filmmakers need to have excellent and ingenious artistic ideas, to film every comer of the scenes, to freely use various filming teclmiques as many as possible, and to design and show a complete multi-level, multi-angle, multiscene long take. As an important film language and an essential part of the documentary film theory, the long take plays an important role not only in the film's production and creation, but

" Zhang Fengzhu, The Art of Television's Sound and Picture, Beijing Broadcasting Institute Press, 1997: 414.

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also in the production and creation of television (like the production and creation ofTV documentary). (4) Diversity

The film language is enriched along with the development of filming techniques, methods and the means of co=unication. In the last twenty years, the sound of film (including voice, natural sound, music, and sound effects, etc.) the color of film and the lighting language have played vital roles in the production and creation of film. The relation between film's sound and picture is changing constantly, which has been especially attached great importance by film artists. They have been constantly introducing new languages of sounds and pictures. In the late period of the silent film era, some fil=akers tried to add sound into film, and audience watched music bands providing music accompaniment (or vocal accompaniment) along with the exhibition of a film. In this way, film and music were separated, and music was to adjust the atmosphere during the projection of silent films. Sometimes, music was synchronous with the plot and the picture, such as the picture ofjoy is accompanied by joyful melody, and the picture of melancholy is accompanied by melancholic music. The success of sound films made voice very important. Intertitles in the era of silent films were replaced by the dialogue or monologue of actors in this period. Music was no longer a band accompaniment (vocal accompaniment). Sound effects, including gasps and moans of human, cries of animals, and natural sounds like thunder and rain, all became an important component of film language.

For a long time, the sound and picture of a film were basically well synchronized. The emotion and style of the picture were completely consistent and synchronous with that of the sound. The synchronization effect can show the sense of real life in documentary (simultaneous recording), and it can strengthen the artistic effect used in feature films (synchronization of sound and picture).

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In the exploration of the artistic language of the sound and picture of film, filmmakers

also explored out of syn situations: the first one is the asynchronism; the other one is the counterpoint of sound and picture. Asynchronism means the sound and picture of a film are developed in their own logics, independently and complementarily to each other. The sound is voiceover, but on the whole, its emotion is echoed with the picture. For example, in Chinese film At Middle

Age, Lu Wenting, the heroine, in a coma, feels like she is difficultly crawling in an infmite desert. The picture shows she is crawling, while the music is a wordless sad song with the spirit of determination. In Red Sorghum, when the hero and heroine are having the intercourse in a sorghum field, a strong Suona music is inserted, with a roll of drums. This music contains various meanings, including joy, nobility, and grace, and even humor. The sound and picture are independent, but complementary to each other, and jointly create a profound time and space on the screen. The so-called counterpoint of sound and picture means the sound and picture are mismatched, opposite and with great contrast in the emotion, connotation, mood, atmosphere, and rhythm. The difference between sound and picture has formed a contrast, which can effectively show a powerful meaning through the contrast. The dialectics of the unity of opposites are the philosophical and aesthetic basis of the counterpoint of sound and picture, and the complicated social life is the practical basis of it. Various kinds of unity of opposites, such as being dynamic and being static, heat and cold, joy and sadness, light and heavy, and fast and slow have made film profound and with great artistic effects. In the 1930s, Eisenstein and Pudovkin have firstly tried and put forward the theoretical view of the counterpoint of sound and picture. Since then, many filmmakers have successfully used the counterpoint of sound and picture. In Chinese film Old Well, the blind woman's pitiful singing and the crowd's laughter

form a sharp contrast, which can provoke audience' emotion. The scene of Qiaozhen 's wedding in Life is brilliant. The sound is an extremely cheerful Suona melody, which is only played on celebrating days in the rural area of Shaanxi Province, but Qiaozhen 113

feels painful and helpless, and she even bursts into tears when she looks back to Gao Jialin's home. This sound and picture form a sharp contrast, and the sadness and joy are coming together, which can evoke audience's mixed feelings. Color, as an important element of film language, has been involved in the production and creation of film, and it has gone through a great progress. In the era of silent films and black-and-white films, people are not clear of the importance of color (although black and white also belong to color). In the era of color films, color is used to decorate, beautify and strengthen the specific meaning of a certain picture. For example, in Singin' in the Rain, colors like red, yellow, green and blue made everything in this film

so bright and gorgeous. Later, filmmakers gradually began to weaken the power of color in film (of course it is also due to the development of color techniques, which has made color in film much closer to its nature state), and begun to use color to display their unique feelings, experiences, and understanding towards life. Filmmakers understood colors better, including the colors ofblack and white. For example, Bergman, a Sweden director, showed two worlds in his subconsciousness by two colors-black and white in his masterpieces like The Seventh Seal, and Wild Strawberries, etc. One is the symbol of darkness, hell, and unbelievable fear; another is the symbol of purity, harmony, no boundary and rationality. Alain Resnais, a French director, combined black, white and other colors freely in his work Hiroshima Man Amour to symbolize different lives during and after World War II (Chinese film Xiao Hua is another good example for using the colorful colors and black and white colors.). In a word, in modem films, pictures, sounds (including music, audio and voice etc.), colors, customs, make-ups, lighting, props, or special effects, have been synchronized with each other but still hold its own feature, which has become a prominent characteristic of the plural language of film. It has also created a colorful style of the art of film.

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3.5 The Development of Film's Creation Methods and Its Aesthetic Style

ln the development of film's creation methods and its aesthetic style, film and other

contemporary art forms have influenced each other in thoughts. At the same time, filmmakers have gradually formed the creative ideas and aesthetic pursuit with artistic peculiarity. (1) Naturalism and comedy The so-called method of naturalism means the faithful recording of nature and social life without any editing. ln the initial stage of film, basically, filmmakers used the method of naturalism to record the daily life and entertainment scenes in society with their new machines, with no artistic ideas or skills, by which the deeper meanings of human society were not displayed in an artistic way. Even film masters like Melies who discovered and invented many filming teclmiques did not beyond the naturalism. People watched films out of curiosity just like watching a circus and vaudeville performance, so the aesthetic style of film in this period was comedy. (2) Classicism, romanticism and gracefulness, elegance, harmony Films in the era of shadow play had both commercial and artistic pursuits. Different from the creating methods of naturalism, films of this period added the filmmakers' emotion. ln accordance with the creating methods of classicism and romanticism, filmmakers created attractive plots and charming characters endowed with the dream of filmmakers. The method of classicism requires completed and standard plots, as well as rational characters. The method of romanticism requires imaginative and legendary plots, as well as passionate characters. Films of the stage of shadow play are both classic and romantic. Chaplin portrayed a tramp who lived in the bottom of a society and always got insulted, but he never bows to the evil easily-bosses, factory owners, polices and machines, and often fought with 115

them ingeniously. The tramp is a classic figure, because he is kind, optimistic, compassionate, and persevering; he is also romantic, because he is imaginative and passionate--he always changes danger into safety and embraces the bright future. Charlie in Modem Times entered prison for several times and got into depression, but he finally escaped and started a new journey with his beloved girl. Films created according to the creating methods of the classicism and romanticism often show the aesthetic style of gracefulness, elegance, and harmony, which is embodied in the plots and characters. The plots are usually completed and fluent. Films in the stage of shadow play have a good story, and a certain kind of ideal figure (with simple personality, and pure mind, an embodiment of certain ideal-who is kind, or brave, or smart, or loyal ... ). To make stars is not only for profit, but also for the need of films of shadow play. The charisma, emotion, and personality of stars are essential for the creation of typed and ideal characters with gracefulness, elegance, and harmony. We cannot forget the mysterious Garbo, noble Bergman, sweet Vivien Leigh, gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor, handsome Marlon Brando, humorous Clark Gable, or lovely Katharine Hepburn. They have made the screen full of charming. They have also become the popular icons in the process of building their characters on the screen. Chinese films in the era of shadow play were similar with that ofAmerica. The creating methods of classicism and romanticism, and the aesthetic style of gracefulness, elegance and harmony have shown on a number of outstanding films, stars and idols. We also cannot forget the glamorous icons on the screen, such as melancholic Ruan Lingyu, elegant Hu Die, vigorous Jin Yan, untrammeled Zhao Dan, generous Bai Yang, and pretty Zhou Xuan. (3) Realism, depth, and plainness The creating method of realism means to reveal the nature of life hidden behind the images in the original way of life. Compared with naturalism, it focuses on the revealing 116

of the essence of life (not just to show the surface oflife). Comparing with romanticism, it pays more attention to daily life (rather than a legendary life); comparing with classicism, it focuses on the vivid and perceptual details (not just the abstract or rational concepts). In the 19th century, the literature and artistic creation of realism in Europe reached a peak, and masters of realism like Balzac, Tolstoy, and Chekhov created a great number of immortal works, which became an important foundation of the realist films in the 20th Century. The creating methods of realism have made film, society, history and culture closely combined, which has also formed different creating styles of realism. •

Films of the realism in Europe. They basically belong to the school of critical realism. It has a deep relation with the literary and artistic tradition of critical realism in Europe in the 19th century. The film creations of realism in France, Germany, Britain and other countries, focus on the calm analysis and criticism of the social reality, and the standard is often the principle of humanitarianism, which means they have shown concern and criticism towards the unfair and unequal social phenomenon in the world, as well as their deep sympathy for the oppressed and the insulted. The Italian neorealism film is a typical representative of European realist films. Films like Rome 11:00, and Bicycle Thieves are typical examples of natural style and rich details, which are the new contribution of the Italian neorealism made on the basis of the critical realism.

•

Films of the realism in the Soviet Union: with the characteristic of socialist realism. It shows the reality, and especially focuses on the socialist political, propagandistic

and educational significances. In the 19th century, the humanitarian spirit rooted in Russian culture and the creation requirements of the socialist realism were combined together, which became the basic characteristic of the Soviet Union's realism. The spirit to seek the social educational significance has almost penetrated into the all the works of the Soviet Union. Representative works include Battleship

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Potemkin, October, Chapayev, Mother, And Quiet Flows the Don, The Dawns Here Are Quiet, and The Shore.

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Films of the realism in the United States: They are with a strong emotional color, belongs to the sensationalism. American films of realism paid much attention to emotion, love and destiny of an individual. Maybe it is because the American society was relatively safe that American people did not suffer much from war or because of the ingrained liberalism and individualism of the American society that many films revolved around emotion and love even in the films related to war or serious political and social problems, the theme was often emotion or love. Hollywood sensationalism has almost been seen in all of its realistic films, such as Waterloo Bridge and Gone with the Wind.

•

Films of the realism in China: on the one hand, they have been influenced by the Soviet Union to focus on the political and publicity role of film; on the other hand, has also been impacted by Hollywood films to pay attention to the sensational effect of film. The most important role is still to provoke directly the national peril and class conflict, with a strong color of realistic criticism. However, the most unique characteristic of Chinese realistic films is originated from the quality of the traditional ethical morals, which has evolved from the traditional rule of loyalty, piety, chastity and righteousness to the modem rule of being loyal to the nation and paying attention to integrity, and all of the rules have penetrated into love, marriage and family. The political, promotional, and educational functions as well as sensationalism of Chinese realistic films have to combine with the rules of ethics and morals. The typical works like The River Flows to the East, the most influential Chinese realistic film, are good examples of this characteristic.

In the aesthetic style, films of realism tend to pursue plain but in-depth style. The vivid,

real details and plots in daily life and the society are the major source for this aesthetic style. 118

(4) Modernism and disharmony and irregularities

Modernism makes a general reference to numerous cultural and artistic thoughts opposite to traditional principles of naturalism, classicism, romanticism and realism since the 201h century, such as surrealism, cubism, symbolism, futurism expressionism, symbolism, stream-of-consciousness, existentialism and the absurdism. Modernism came into being on the basis of the profound and important changes of the historical situations of human society, the natural science, the social science and the humanities in the 201h century. From the perspective of human social and historical circumstances, the constant breakout of the two world wars within 30 years has proved that human was not only facing the threat from the external nature, but facing much more threat from selfdestruction, which can be said that in a sense, the threat from the latter is far more troubling than the former. The realistic consequences have made many people reflect themselves. Many people feel that human beings are not mature, rational or noble creatures, but immature, irrational and humble creatures. From the perspective of the development of modem science, Einstein's theory of relativity and other discoveries have broken people's previous views on the universe and the existence of human beings. People have no longer shouted that ''the humanity, looks like a deity in the wisdom and the universe essence" because people have known how insignificant an individual is in the vast universe. From the perspective of the development of modem social science and the humanities, human beings have made great strides forward in the exploration of their own spirit and soul. The discovery of the outer space by the natural science has deeply changed the world view of human; while the discovery of inner space of human's mind by modem social 119

science and the humanities has brought a revolution to the world view of human. Representative ideas include theories put forward by Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Sartre, Freud. The literature and art formed on this basis in the 201h century have changed greatly in all aspects. Artists of literature, play, art, sculpture, music, and dancing began the exploration of modernism. The general characteristics are irrationality, abstract, and counter-tradition. Films of modernism were influenced by this trend of thought naturally. Many personalized, avant-garde and experimental films were of irrationality, abstract, and counter-tradition. Modernism has broken the tradition not only in creating methods but also in the unharmonious and irregular pursuit of aesthetic styles (to break the traditional harmony and regularity), such as the ugly beauty in the absurd and bizarre plots, in the abstract, symbolic, deformed and distorted characters, and even in the anti-classical aesthetics. Film culture has been moving forward in twists and turns from the interactions of functions, the film itself, and the audience. Strictly, this chapter is not a historical description, but a theoretical expression of the development of the concepts of film. It should be pointed out that the progressive development of each stage is only an overall framework, and does not represent all of the rich and complex artistic practices. The main effort of this chapter is the logical interpretation of the historical development of film from the form and language to creating methods and aesthetic styles, so as to approach the essence of film culture.

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Chapter 4 Television Culture and Television Communication With the development and prosperity of television media, a powerful shock wave from television has extended to every comer of the human society and formed a grand television culture. TV culture includes not only the information transmitted by TV media itself, but also the relationships among communicators, communicator and communication organization, communication systems, communicators and recipients in the TV communication process. It also includes profound changes brought by the TV communication in the social, national, state and individual values, ways of thinking, the pursuit of faith and mental state. Therefore, TV culture and TV communication have an inseparable relationship. It could be said that the TV culture is a result of TV communication and there will be no TV culture without TV communication, for the TV communication is the carrier of the TV culture. However, the realization of TV culture often cannot be controlled by TV communication; thus, how to predict, plan and design the TV culture in a global context has also become a big social issue faced by the human society.

4.1 Television as a Communication Medium and Culture Carrier

The emergence of any communication medium is based on a common need of human society and that is the need for communication. The history of human society is not only a history of continuous improvement of productive forces, but also can be seen as a history of continuous development of human relations. Either communication among people within one society or communication among societies can push the continuous improvement of our culture and civilization. In this sense, the extension of human communication is a significant mark of the progress of human culture and civilization. A Marxist writer once spoke highly of the "universal intercourse" in the development of society. He said "Communism... is premised on the universal development of productive forces and the universal development of world intercourse". One of the standards that measure the development of human intercourse is the medium of 121

intercourse and communication. From oral communication to the knot rope note and then to the emergence of text in the primitive era, it marks the initial accomplishment of human culture and civilization. The invention of printing tools made the large-scale spread of human culture and communication possible. With the scientific and technological revolution of the 20th century, an unprecedented revolution took place in the mass media. As a result, some new mediums, new ways of communication and new means of communication were created which could cross time, space and nations and national boundaries. Among mass communication mediums, radio is based on radio technology; films are based on the technology of the chemical industry; while television, with the use of the most advanced electronic technology, has made communication more extensive, more realistic and more convenient. So it has become the most modern and powerful carrier of culture. And it is no exaggeration to say that the birth of television has made us enter a new era that is characterized by a TV society and TV culture. The basic principle of culture study tells us that culture is created by man and the culture would in return affect, shape and change a man. Television culture is produced in the process of human communication mediums' evolution along with technological progress, and once it is created, the television culture in return affects, shapes and changes us. 4.2 Features of Television Culture

Compared with other cultures, what characteristics does television culture have? To answer this question, we must first study the TV communication process: first, how a TV program is produced? What kind of attitude do the communicator and recipient hold during the producing process and in what position? What special connotation requirements and formal requirements does TV program have? What influence does TV actually have on the society? In comparison with other cultures, we can find that TV culture has the following characteristics: 122

(1) High integration and compatibility of program production and program form Television can be said to be the latest and the most modern integrated information processing plant. In this plant, all materials can be processed whether it is political or .

social, news or entertaining, artistic or commercial. Thus, it could be seen that TV has a wide vision and a high degree of compatibility. The program production also has a very high degree of integration and compatibility. If media such as newspaper and magazine rely mainly on the text, radio broadcast mainly relies on sound, film mainly relies on grand pictures, TV program production is the highest integrated creation which integrates text, sound, picture and other audio-visual means in one. Some people say that drama and film are comprehensive art forms. It is true, but when you step into the television, the newest and the most modern comprehensive processing plant, you will fmd that the comprehensiveness and compatibility of TV is far more than that of drama and film. The production and form of TV program can naturally involve individuals into the communication process, just like the production line in the modern factory where one single part carmot exist independently, and all parts are linked closely. That is quite different from the printing media in the past, where the assembly line production replaced the individual "small but comprehensive" way of working. It is difficult to evaluate a television program, a TV documentary, a TV series, and a large variety show, by using the standards that are used to evaluate a literary work and a drama. Personal style and individual labor of these television programs are indispensable and carmot be denied, but in the sense of dissemination effect, what the audience accept is the overall information, atmosphere and feeling. In other words, the main purpose of watching television programs is not on personal style or individual labor, but on the overall information, atmosphere and feeling that TV programs can give to audience. With such a high degree of compatibility and comprehensiveness, television culture can truly, comprehensively and grandly show the characteristics of social and historical life and create a "second experience of the real space" which is almost synchronized with 123

the real social life, surpassing all the other media and being the most influential new culture. (2) The immediacy and popularity of content and form The so-called immediacy refers that the TV program is good at showing and reflecting the state of affairs as soon as they occur. The immediacy of television culture that is showed in program content and is determined by the "transient" nature of the television - the fleeting characteristics of television. The content showed by other mediums such as printings can be read repeatedly, while it is difficult to reread the content showed by television. Thus, to chase the current occurrence of various social events and circumstances and be keen to capture and reproduce them, that is, "instant" characteristics, has become an important feature of television content. According to some of the evaluation criteria of traditional media, the feature of "immediacy'' may seems to be too hasty and it is not easy to leave something classic that can live through the temper of time, but it can cater to the psychological needs of modem viewers, that is, hunting the latest social trends, in particular, those of rich sense of synchronization. Activities such as various art performances, sports competitions and campaign speeches, celebrations and other live lectures usually use the "on air" broadcast mode which is full of dramatic scenes. Thus, audience can get a great viewing experience and psychological stimulation. The live broadcast of events such as the World Cup, the live broadcast of the annual New Year's Concert in Vienna, the US presidential campaign speech, and the Oscar awards ceremony, can be seen in the same moment by people of different colors, different languages and different social backgrounds from all over the world and people can share the beauty and excitement brought by the unfolding situation through TY. Popularity refers to the wide dissemination range of TV communication. Because of immediacy, the content and form of TV programs should not be too complicated but be clear, concise, pure and popular, which enables TV programs to have a much wider 124

dissemination range and more recipient than traditional mediums. An uneducated people cannot read books or newspapers but can watch television. It does not mean that the culture of television can only reduce the taste to meet the needs of uneducated people. As a cultural variety, it is just more convenient for the public service than the traditional cultural varieties, which does not mean it forsakes its own cultural pursuit. In this sense, it is a culture that suits both refined and popular tastes. Popularity aims

not only to audience of low cultural level but also to audience of all cultural levels. Therefore, to cater to all tastes both refmed and popular has become one of the important standards to measure the disseminating effect and become an important feature of TV culture. The form of television interviews, the on-spot interviews and the colloquialization ofTV language, are also a very good embodiment of the "popularity" of TV culture. (3) Social education and orientation effects From the perspective of dissemination, the social education function of television is far better than that of other media and cultural styles. Books and specific social interactions (like the interactions at home, in school and society) can give people a profound social education,

but

television

culture

with

a

high

degree

of compatibility,

comprehensiveness, immediacy and popularity has been highly socialized, so the education function it plays has largely replaced that played by books and specific social interactions. The reason why social educational functions of television is so influential and powerful is that TV screen displays the world through images and people can intentionally or unintentionally know the gorgeous scenes of the world and all aspects of the society by watching television programs, without sparing any effort like reading and having classes. Another reason is that the education of television is to educate with fun. The form of television transmission is an unforced one and it is always based on satisfying the psychological recreational and entertaining needs of people, so that when people watch TV they won't feel tired and boring but extremely easy, relax and free. There is still another reason: the world of television is infmite. No matter it is a book 125

or a class, a major theme is required, but the television world is not subject to this restriction. It can be across different areas, different nationalities, different countries and different classes in an instant, so it can make people to get more knowledge, have an active thinking and imperceptibly accept the rich social education. Therefore, television culture can have such a high degree of exemplary and oriented features. Whether it is people's ideological tendencies and insights, or the way oflife and behavior, all are unknowingly accepting the impact of television. After Japanese TV series Akai Giwaku was displayed in China, Chinese young people started imitating the dressing style of the main characters in this TV series. The children' program Transformers attracted children to buy transformer toys, which won toy dealers great

profit. The impact of each news, program and advertisement can have an impact on the society and give direction to people intentionally or unintentionally. (4) Extensive public participation From the way of transmission, TV culture is one of the most open culture. It is not a closed one-way co=unicator-recipient co=unication, but an all-round and multilayer co=unication, requiring the participation of people from different classes, different countries, different regions and with different education backgrounds. With a broad public participation, using the general media and cultural carriers, recipients generally play a more passive role, while watching television is another case: the recipient is not only active, or even itself can assume the role of co=unicator and creator. The valuable information in the reports of Los Angeles shooting incident and the Red Square incidents did not come from the television producers but came from ordinary spectators. During the production of many documentaries and television dramas, subjects and viewers are both recipients and co=unicators. And often they

are not commanded by TV workers to take pictures; instead, they are involved and give their intentions and opinions to television workers and to complete the production of television programs with them. Television's extensiveness of public participation can 126

strengthen its immediacy and popularity and can also strengthen the compatibility and comprehensiveness of television programs. Some programs with strong public participation start to emerge such as on-demand programs, service programs, programs co-produced with various social strata and areas, programs for television information communication (such as match-making programs), and a large number of TV essays, TV competitions, TV singer contests, etc., all of which have received the audience's warm response and welcome. The prosperity and development of TV culture cannot be separated from the extensive participation of people from all walks of life. In a certain sense, it can be said that the broadness of people's participation is a necessary condition for maintaining the vitality and dynamics of TV culture and an important measurement to measure the development level of television culture. 4.3 Unprecedented Magnificent Cultural Landscape

As we have already mentioned, on the one hand, television culture is created by mankind, and on the other hand, it in turn has a powerful influence on shaping and changing human. The influence of television culture far outdoes that of other traditional mediums both in depth and in width, creating a magnificent cultural landscape of an unprecedented large scale in the world cultural history. (1) Creating a miracle of human cultural exchanges and communication TV culture has the most open and broad vision and mind and with its most advanced technological means, it makes the exchanges that across time and space among all ethnic groups, countries, all sectors of different cultures possible. With television, we can know what happens all over the world without going out of home. If traditional media and cultural carriers still have some limitations and constraints, for TY, there is almost nothing cannot be captured. The most important thing is that it can

transmit the dynamic information to all over the world simultaneously, rapidly, conveniently and realistically. Whether it is cultural accomplishments made by ancient 127

east or a new culture created by the west, whether it is the wonders outside world or the story happened on a comer on the earth all can be learned, grasped, and familiarized by people from all over the world. It is particularly noteworthy that due to the emergence of television, large-scale cultural transmission can be achieved. All the outstanding cultural achievements of all ethnic groups and countries have been protected, preserved and carried forward through television transmission. If literary works can be adapted on TV screen, they can be known by people of different colors, from different regions and different strata. And many outstanding scientific and technological achievements are also known and promoted through television. Although the emergence of television has brought a great impact on other media and cultural carriers, other media and cultural carriers also readjust their direction and further spread exist achievements through television. The development of television culture does not destroy the value of other media and cultural carriers. In its inclusive and positive development process, TV culture has created a miracle in the history ofhuman culture - it makes villagers in the global village become more general, more open-minded, and less and less biased and hostile to each other, and share enhanced friendship, more understanding and respect. In this sense, the television culture has extraordinary effects. (2) Accelerating the socialization of an individual Television culture is spreading extremely rich and varied information on an unprecedented scale and watching TV is random, free and familial. Therefore, people have found a new way of education outside family and school education. Children who study in school have more access to knowledge that cannot be provided by family or school, and adults can also receive social re-education through television while they are at work. Television makes people know more and that helps accelerate the process of our society. Socialization refers to the process in which each member of society consciously or 128

unconsciously adapts to social needs and tries to get the knowledge, skills, attitudes, feelings and behaviors that members of the society or group should have, and it is also a process in which each member constantly learns and adapts to behavior patterns and codes of conduct of the society and group. Television, through a large number of daily co=unication of information, can make people naturally become socialized through entertainment. Especially for young people who are still learning and growing, the images that are respected or derogated by television programs can infiltrate concepts and behavior standards, which will have a great impact on their socialization. (3) Changing people's way oflife and value orientation The influence of TV culture on people's life style and value orientation is latent and fundamental. If children who grow up watching TV are called the "people in TV era", they obviously have very different qualities and characteristics from that of people growing up under the cultivation of traditional culture. These people are knowledgeable, sensible, and interested in trendy things. They see the "reality" of television as the reality in life, and their value orientation is not traditioual and conservative but futureoriented and fresh. Television culture, of course, inevitably has a negative impact on these people, but I will not discuss it here in detail. Only analyzing "family", a cell of the society, can make us fmd many tendencies. In the past family life without television can run naturally, but once television entering a family, then the family's life will be impacted by television. Watching television has become the family's main recreatioual activity, occupying most of the family's leisure time, making entertainment more of home while family education and family rest more of television. Television culture depends on family, and the main content of family culture is television culture. Therefore, experts and scholars pointed out that television have moved theaters, cinemas, museums, galleries and even schools to people's family life. The change of people's value system brought by the change of lifestyle still needs to be further explored at present. However, at least some phenomena can confirm the profound influence of TV culture on the overall value orientation of human beings. For example, 129

changes in festival celebrations, funerals, wedding ceremonies, family reunions and gatherings (like on the eve of spring festival all family members will watch spring gala on TV together) and various popular "fever" all have a direct relation with TY. 4.4 Strategic Planning and Macro- Control of TV Culture Development Everything has two sides and television culture is no exception. When we praise the great contribution brought by TV culture, we can't ignore various side effects that it has brought to the society. Some people have criticized that TV may also be poisoning to the society and television is accused of using political, ideological and co=ercial propaganda to shape people's thinking. Every day there will be a lot of violence and pornography scenes on television, so some people criticize it as ''the devil's eyes". Some scholars have su=arized the television defects -- "TV diseases" into three types: the first type of defects are the drawbacks caused by television culture, such as "TV is an anesthetic"(watching TV is easy to destroy people's will and people may kill times just in front of TY, and gradually they will not want to or cannot concentrate on the complex issues in the reality and fail to do hard things); TV leads to ''the proliferation of violence and pornography" and leads to cultural infiltration and cultural aggression (Developed countries send their values and lifestyles to developing countries, causing serious social problems such as robbery, homicide, and moral degradation.); and it indirectly undermines and threatens original national culture (traditional and national culture individuality). The second type is the weakness caused by the limitations of television, such as the spread of ignorance (because television is suitable for showing images and something rather superficial, not suitable for showing something abstract and personalized. Over time, people may get lower and lower level of thinking and be easy to feel satisfied with the representations, rather than to do in-depth thinking; thus, illiteracy and semi-illiteracy will appear in large numbers). The third type of TV disease is due to the large amount of television information load and improper reception. The visual bombardment of the dazzling television information on the one hand damages people's ability to think and judge and on the other hand, the narrow reception 130

environment will result in social isolation. To be involved in group life is a tendency of human nature. Social interaction is the basic psychological needs of people, and once group communication is missing, it may cause mental depression and sufferings, bringing a lot of psychological barriers. The great social impact of television - whether it is to create a magnificent cultural spectacle, or to bring a variety of serious social problems, makes us see an inescapable major historical mission, that is to carry on the microscopical control and make strategic plan on television culture: from its highest goal to the specific television program production. To make strategic planning and macro-control on TV culture is to better carry forward its advantages and remove its drawbacks. For the development of China's television culture and according to China's special national conditions, the development of planning and regulations should follow such principles: first, the development of TV culture should be conducive to the building of the socialism with Chinese characteristics. China's reform and opening-up brought great changes in China's economy and society. In the new situation, how to grasp this direction should be the first question to consider. Second, the development of television culture should be conducive to absorbing the outstanding cultural achievements of all ethnic groups and countries. TV culture itself is very open and it is unimaginable to make the television culture flourish in a closed environment. We must create conditions to assure that Chinese culture can absorb and learn the outstanding cultural achievements of all nations and countries timely and creatively. To follow the above principles, we should pay attention to deal with a few relations: First, popular culture and high-level culture. From a large category, television culture is mainly a popular culture facing to the whole society. All cultures originated in folk culture, the future development of television culture would not just stay at the ''popular" level. Of course, the ''popular" nature of culture should not be removed, but we should also leave a larger development space for 131

the establishment and dissemination of high-level culture, because mass culture is mainly faced with the most extensive social groups, and the high-level culture is mainly faced with people who have higher cultural accomplishment, higher cultural tastes and higher cultural pursuit. Only to take both popular culture and high-level culture into account can make TV culture full ofvauity, or it will lose the strong driving force if the TV culture still stay at the ''popular level". Second, traditional culture and modern culture. Traditional culture is built on the traditional soil, adapts to traditional economic and social conditions and can bring a warm feeling for people who live in this soil. Modem culture is built on the development of modem cultural productive forces and production relations, and adapts to various survival and psychological needs of people in the modem society. From the technical level, television culture belongs to the category of modern culture; however, China is still a developing country and its modernity is not very high, so if the television shows too much about the lifestyles and values of modem society, it is may cause the overconsuming of people. Besides, these styles and values are not suitable for China's current social and economic development and won't be welcomed and understood by people. Therefore, it is necessary to inherit and carry forward excellent traditional culture; nevertheless, at the same time, we should not ignore the development of modern culture. Actually, coordinating both sides is a hard task. Third, national culture and foreign culture. National culture is the cornerstone of TV culture. On the one hand, leaving the root of national culture, it is impossible to build a television culture with Chinese characteristics, and on the other hand, foreign culture is also an indispensable supplement. Over the past decade or so, with the opening of the Chinese economy, foreign cultures have flooded into China, which is a good thing, because there will be 132

more to learn from and then there will be development. In our society there have been a lot of"fevers" brought by TV media, such as "disco fever'', "football fever'', "English fever" etc., all of which are related to foreign culture introduced by television. This is not terrible as long as we firmly grasp the relationship between national culture and foreign culture and boldly adopt the "taking-inism" of Lu Xun, and then we can create a television culture with Chinese air and Chinese style. Television culture is an undertaking of the whole society and it not only requires professionals engaged in television to work hard and struggle, but also needs the whole society to participate, care and cooperation. Although Chinese television culture started not early, its development speed and momentum are amazing. We believe that with the reform and opening up enterprise carrying forward rapidly, China's television culture will stand in the forest of world television culture self-confidently and dazzlingly with its own unique styles.

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Part 1\vo History

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Chapter 5 Retrospect and Prospect of Film and Television Culture in China after 1949 Film and Television Culture is an integral part of Chinese communist culture. The development of Chinese film and television culture has experienced three phases: the establishment period, the prosperity period and the transitional period and made a significant historical contribution to Chinese socialist culture. It is of great importance to review the development of Chinese film and television culture after 1949 and consider its films. In this chapter, looking both retrospectively and at the prospects, we will give an overall description and analysis of history and logic, macrostructure and microstructure, and the theory and practice of Chinese film and television culture. Film and television culture in fact consists of two categories: film and television. Film includes different aspects such as creation, production, and release as well as different genres such as feature films, documentaries, science education films and animation films. Television includes different aspects such as production, creation and broadcasting, covering both art and technology, as well as different genres such as TV dramas, feature programs, entertainment programs, education programs and service programs. Film and television differ from each other greatly in terms of historical, media and functional characteristics as well as broadcasting methods and production modes. Therefore, we should take the production and creation, characteristics of both film and television into consideration. This chapter will talk about common properties of Chinese film and television culture. To be exact, this chapter will focus on feature films and TV dramas and give considerable attention to other genres, forms and phenomena.

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5.1 Three Historical Phases of Chinese Film and Television Culture after 1949

(1) The establishment period (1949-1978)

The establishment of People's Republic of China in 1949 signified the establishment of Chinese film and television culture. From 1949 to 1958, Chinese film and television culture was mainly demonstrated through film culture. Chinese film and television only began to progress hand in hand after the birth of Chinese television in 1958. The 30-year establishment of Chinese film and television can be divided into three phases: the 17 years period, the Cultural Revolution period and the post-Cultural Revolution period. Though the three phases were different in various ways, they shared great similarities in general tendencies, basic forms and modes. First, the socialist film production system was basically established. According to the general requirement of the socialist planned economy, Chinese film and television culture during the establishment period had distinctive features of the planned economy. Every step in the film production was strictly examined and checked by the communist party from the choice of theme, the establishment of the shooting team, the selection of actors and actresses, and the implementation of a shooting plan. The production of television programs was similar to films. Due to the nature of "throat and tongue", each part of the production of television programs strictly followed relevant rules and regulations from the source to the production and the broadcasting and had a strong sense of discipline. The socialist film and television system with Chinese characteristics was beginning to take shape. It should be noted that this production system provided strong support, enabling the concentration of forces and complete large-scale film and television assignments. However, it should also be noted that this production system was mechanically pushed to the extreme and caused certain negative effects. The most obvious example was that the production of film and television was directly interfered by the "Gang of Four" during the Cultural Revolution. Even tiny details in the creation 136

had to be decided by them, which severely disturbed the subjective initiatives of film and television professionals, and severely affected the progress of film and television production. Secondly, the infrastructure of Chinese film and television was basically completed. The infrastructure hereafter referred to the material construction. The technologies and production facilities which were fundamental to Chinese film culture started from scratch. In Beijing, a dozen relatively large-scale film studios were established. Chinese films developed from black and white films to color films, from small screen to wide screens and stereophonic cinema. The screening of Chinese films in urban and rural areas and the establishment of the release network laid a solid material foundation for the development of Chinese film culture. Though starting fairly late and being constrained by various factors, Chinese television was fairly quickly developed from black and white to color, and from primitive live broadcasting to relatively advanced recorded broadcasting, as well as from small-scale microwave transmission to the extension of covered areas, all of which laid a solid foundation for the development of Chinese television culture. Thirdly, Chinese national film and television creation road was started. The creation of Chinese filmmaking after 1949 boasted itself of "national" creation concepts, creation methods, and creation ways, continuously making exploration on the road with distinctive Chinese style while still incorporating traditional culture. The source of the topic, the theme, the imagery, the language, the way of shooting, and the narration all followed this principle. Though Chinese television was far from mature during this period, it was heading the same direction in general. Fourth, it showed a high level of propaganda and education. Chinese film and television after 1949 inherited the Chinese tradition of''using writing to convey truth", and bought it to the fullest. In this period, Chinese films followed the propaganda guides of the Communist Party of China and cooperated the core assignments of each phase, 137

producing a batch of films which were adapted to the circumstances, and became an influential new force in the propaganda battlefield. In this period, Chinese television consciously played the role of a mouthpiece in the ideological sector and became a powerful instrument to directly issue government decrees, promote policies and educate people. Fifth, it cultivated a stable and special taste, value orientation and mentality of acceptance. In this period, the Chinese audience was influenced by the Chinese film and television, forming their stable and special appreciation taste in film and television productions, which meant that they used a complete story, a twisted plot, distinctive personalities and dramatic languages and a strong theme as the criteria to judge film and television productions. During this period, Chinese audiences most valued the political meaning, ideological tendency, realistic function of film and television productions most. Correct political views, optimistic ideological tendencies and realistic functions became the value standard of most Chinese audience. In this period, the mentality of Chinese audience was basically passive and their relationship with film and television creation was only one-way, passively accepting the concepts, ways and methods of film and television productions.

(2) The prosperity period (1978 - the end of 1980s)

The reform and opening infused new life into the development of Chinese film and television culture, and provided a historical opportunity for prosperity. In 1987, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China rejuvenated Chinese film and television culture and helped it enter the prosperity period. The prominent signs were as follows: First, the construction of film and television culture had progressively moved from infrastructure to the ontology construction. During the establishment period, Chinese film and television culture mainly focused on the infrastructure building. From ahistorical point of view, it was a necessary phase. When the infrastructure was 138

basically completed, the importance of the ontology construction started to grow. If the infrastructure of the film television meant the material and teclmology for film and television's survival, the ontology construction meant the discovery and exploration of the special and unique characteristics of film and television. During the prosperity period, the infrastructure of film and television demonstrated a colorful outlook with fruitful results. The director-centered system was gradually established in the

production system for Chinese films. Apart from traditional realistic products, poetic films, essay films, documentary films also appeared and new experiments were made in historical and realist films. The exploration of film language was unprecedentedly valued. Various narration methods, perspectives and skills were used and the artistic expression of films was greatly enhanced. The ontology construction of Chinese television also made great progress. Main genres such as television news, features and art programs were basically formed. TV commercials, TV dramas and TV documentaries also appeared with new looks. Second, the productivity of film and television was unprecedentedly liberated. The quantity and quality of film and television productions were greatly enhanced. During the prosperity period, the number of film and television creation and production units and institutes were greatly expanded. Many new units appeared, and old film studios and TV stations also expanded in terms of teclmology, material, professional staff. Under the "double hundred" policy and "for people and for communism" guidelines, film and television professionals created and produced new and good products, which were a few times more than the number in the establishment period. The establishment and the improvement of the prize selection mechanism became the catalyst for the productivity of film and television productions, and the increase of film and television quantity and quality. Chinese Film Governmental Award (later renamed as "Huabiao Award"), "Golden Rooster Film Award", "Hundred Flowers Awards" and other film awards, and various TV awards such as "Flying Apsaras Award" and "Golden Eagle Award" and "Star Award" were all set up during this period.

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Third, the creation and production team for film and television became more complete and rational, which demonstrated the vitality of film and television industries. During the establishment period, the creation and production team of film and television was limited by various conditions and circumstances, the personnel structure and layout was unsound and the composition was not complete. Only a few universities and schools can educate film and television talents and their education ability was quite weak. Affected by the Cultural Revolution, the creation and production for film and television suffered from a temporary shortage of talents. During the prosperity period, the production and creation team expanded greatly. The number of professionals in film and television industries was about half a million. Talents needed in various links in film and television creation and production was basically adequate. The age structure was also rational with the old, the middle-aged and the young all playing their roles. The area structure extended from the cultural center to the outpost. The development and popularity of film and television education made an active contribution to the longlast vitality of the creation and production team for film and television. Apart from Communication University of China and Beijing Film Academy, nearly 200 universities in China began to provide film and television education. Fourth, the film and television culture became more and more important in people's social life, and exerted increasing influence in social value and lifestyle. During the prosperity period, Chinese film and television culture was in the era of the opening up and the reform. The old and the new thinking modes and values were constantly conflicting and overlapping. Film and television culture provided an important thinking source, a psychological dependence and an emotional sustenance in the life and social reform. Many film and television especially behaviors and thoughts of film and television characters were followed, desired and imitated by the audience. The point of view, the emotional and aesthetic orientations greatly influenced and changed people's outlook on life, value, aesthetics and marriage, which had incomparable power over other media, especially in the shaping of new thoughts, new fashions, and new styles in the society. As an important venue for young people to have "spiritnal banquet", it has 140

a unique function of diverging, concentrating, releasing and channeling social spirits and social psychology. Television developed rapidly in this period. China became the country in the world who had the largest number of television stations. The number of the television audience in China exceeded 200 million, which greatly enhanced the position of television in the political, social, economic and cultural life in China. By the end of 1980s, television had gradually become the No.1 media in China. If film played a more important role than television in the establishment period, television certainly stood up as an equal to or even outplayed film in the prosperity period. No matter how much had changed in the influence and functions of film and television respectively, the influence of film and television culture had an unprecedentedly enormous impact on social life as a whole.

(4) The transitional period (the end of 1980s- the present)

In the end of 1980s and the beginning of 1990s, Chinese economy entered the new road

to explore the socialist market economy system. Chinese society began to transit. The traditional and unitary social landscape, political landscape and cultural landscape were broken, and the new mature and stable landscape had not been formed. This period was called the transitional period. As an active and sensitive sector in the traditional ideology, and the publicity department, film and television culture therefore entered the transitional period. During the transitional period, the characteristics of the film and television cultural were shown in the following aspects. First, new film and television production bases and the film and television production mechanism were formed and consolidated in accordance with the requirement of the changes in the new era. In the past, film and television production bases were all arranged, organized and managed by the state. In this period, the traditional advantages of those bases were kept while new production bases were established with new creation mechanism adapting to the requirements of the era. For example, the film studio brought foreign capital and cooperated with foreign partners in filmmaking. 141

Screenplays were collected from the society. Directors and actors were called for an open bid. Financing and distribution for film and television productions were carried out based on market rules. Film and television companies established by individuals or teams in the film and television industry sprang out. They developed fast and made great contribution in satisfying social demands in film and television production and creation. Secondly, division and cooperation between film and television and the form of the new pattern of interaction between film and television. Since Chinese television had a late start, in a relatively long period of time, television followed the concepts, methods and skills of Chinese film. During the prosperity period, television quickly became ''No.I media" in the mass media. However, film encountered great setups comparing with its glorious past. During this reciprocal process, a new interaction formed between film and television. On the one hand, film and television explored their own growth path respectively. After losing traditional market advantages, film began to develop new market and made relentless yet difficult exploration in the organization of creation and shooting to release and screening. Television, as the favored one of the time, played at ease in the gigantic market. An enviable enormous television industry was built with suitable creation, production, broadcasting and operation mechanism. It not only made great achievements in information dissemination, art creation, social education and entertainment, but also became the fastest growing sector in Chinese economy. On the other hand, during the division, film and television in China still sought new ways and channels to cooperate. In the establishment period, films were shown for free on television. In the prosperity period, the two competed and rivaled. In the transitional period, film and television tried to cooperate. In the transitional period, film professionals were also engaged in the television industry, and the television professionals were engaged in the creation, production and release of film products. TV co=ercials were shown in films and film channels were established in television. Those activities all formed a virtuous circle for the interaction between film and television in the future, and laid a solid foundation for the new landscape of film and 142

television culture. Third, excellent film and television productions came out one after another, which exerted great influence in the international film and television circle. After the establishment period and the prosperity period, film and television creation during the transitional period had been improved much both in quality and quantity. Excellent works appeared in various genres. Films directed by the fifth generation of directors and the sixth generation of directors attended many important international film festivals and won quite a number of significant film awards, which helped Chinese films obtain an important position in the world. A batch of Chinese big budget and large-scale TV dramas and programs were exported to the overseas market and exerted extensive influence in the Chinese language circle and in Asia, Europe and America. Fourth, industrialization and active participation of the audience greatly influenced the landscape and existence of film and television culture. During the transitional period, the transition of film and television laid in the fact that film and television were not ouly treated as products of ideology or artistic products, but as special co=odities with spiritual value to accept the test of the market, and began to have industrial functions. In the past, the ideological properties and artistic values of film and television culture were emphasized. Few considerations were given to its industrial and co=ercial properties and functions. During the transitional period, the exploration in the industrial properties and functions had much changed the forms, landscape and conditions of film and television. Film and television no longer just focused on political propaganda value and artificial value, but took co=ercial value into account as well. The creation and production of many film and television productions followed industrial and market rules. Investment was given to film and television productions with market values. Cost calculation, publicity and promotion were made according to market demands. The establishment of Beijing Forbidden City Film Co., Ltd and the successful films made by this company showed the success of the operation according to industrial and market rules. A lot of TV drama and programs consciously followed 143

the industrial requirements in operation, implementation and promotion. Due to the exploration of industrial properties and functions, the audience's role in the broadcasting of film and television also changed much. Previously, the audience would passively watch film and television productions, only passively receiving the education and cultivation of the film and television culture. In the transitional period, the role of the audience changed along with the change of the film and television creation. One striking change was that in the past the film and television creators focused more on the expression of themselves, their artistic characteristics and creation personalities. But during this time, they would first think of the audience's taste, their emotional and psychological needs. The production of some films was participated by the audience from beginning to the end. For example, when some film creations were semi-finished, they would hold a party and invite audience to come. They would then continue their next step with the audience's opinions and hopes. A number of TV drama creation teams invited the audience to the site as the feedback of the audience had become an integral part of the shooting and creation process. Fifth, in the transitional period, Chinese film and television culture became more secular in general. In the past, the stand point of the film and television culture was the stand point of the ideological department and the art creation department. To educate, cultivate and broadcast artistic ideals were the basic tendency. In the transitional period, the basic stand point of Chinese film and television culture gradually moved towards secularization. In the film and television creation, there was a tendency of anti-heroism and the equal co=unication between the creators and the audience. The creation methods tended to be realistic, the creation style tended to be entertaining and the operation mode was more market-oriented. The secular value orientation focusing on people and the audience required the film and television creation to be more secular in the transitional period.

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5.2 Four Waves in the Film and Television Culture Construction in China during the Transitional Period

During the transitional period, Chinese film and television culture experienced four influential waves, which are entertainment, realism, neo-heroism and plebification. Some of them have phasic influence while some have long lasting influence. Some film and television productions, and film and television phenomena showed the characteristics of one certain wave. Some of them showed the characteristics of several waves at the same time. Due to those complicated situations, we will discuss the above waves based on their intensity during the transitional period.

( 1) Entertainment

As a mass medium of communication, the functions of film and television have always been manipulated by the media authorities. Their functions cannot be separated from certain historical conditions, social and realist needs, political and economic status and cultural tradition. In western countries, film and television are controlled by the market economy and the entertainment function of film and television have never been given up. It is fair to call the film and television industries in western countries as the entertaimnent industries. The entertainment function of film and television has been very much emphasized, which is of unique value to western film and television industries. Therefore, entertainment is an inherent, irrefutable and irreplaceable function for the film and television industries in western countries. The entertainment function is not an issue of being allowed or not, should or should not, or how much proportion it is, but an issue how to play or how to achieve. However, under Chinese social and realist conditions, film and television have long been taken as a tool for education and cultivation, and the function for cognition and education has been long emphasized. Though the function of entertaimnent was occasionally mentioned, it was not emphasized. In the establishment period, the film 145

and television productions with entertainment function was rare, and in the prosperity period, the number of such products was still few. During the transitional period, there was a drastic increase of film and television productions with entertainment functions. However, the exploration of the entertainment function of film and television was anything but smooth. The first large-scale entertainment film and television productions reached the first peak in the end of 1980s and the beginning of 1990s, represented by films adapted from Wang Shuo's novels, which exerted a great influence. Most representative films were

The Trouble Shooters, Ocean Flame and After Separation. Those films adapted from Wang's novels are known for playful and teasing language and bitter satire, secular yet legendary plots aroused strong repercussions as well as heated debates towards "Wang Shuo Phenomenon" and "entertainment films". The supporters praised the strong impact of entertainment films on traditional film cultural contents and the construction of new film concepts, even believing that they were the hope of Chinese films in the future. The naysayers strongly criticized the negative values in Wang Shuo films such as the absurd subversion of history and the unserious attitude towards life, and the anticulture, anti-mainstream, and deconstruction style. More people were holding back to see what happened next. Later, Wang Shuo films' sudden popularity faded off due to various reasons. The second peak of entertainment was formed in the middle of 1990s. The representative works were mainly TV dramas such as Beijingers in New York, Stories

from the Editorial Board, Loving You without Negotiation, Seahorse Club, and SatisfYing a Craving. Films such as Don't Come to Me after Divorce, and entertainment TV programs such as Happy City, Golden Fairyland, and Midnight Fun Center also appeared during this period. Comparing with the first peak, the entertainment of film and television had made great progress in breadth, height and depth. Their social impact, production and creation were 146

stronger, with each aspect becoming more mature. First, those products were true and thoughtful in their observation, refming and generalization of social life. Many of them did not aim only for entertainment, but had their pursuits in themes, characters, language and style in the light of the true, the good and the beautiful. Secondly, the films had gone to the next level in the social life they were portraying. Various classes, various sectors, various areas, various cultures and various people were portrayed, which broke the singularity and thinness in the choice of the subject matter for entertainment films in the past. Comparing with the past, people began to watch those entertainment films from the perspective of aesthetics rather than ideology. This psychological adjustment helped the audience to appreciate those products in a purely aesthetic way, which greatly expanded the creation space and production size of entertainment films.

The conflicts and discoordination were also demonstrated in some entertainment films in this period. The failure of Seahorse Club and Loving You without Negotiation were good examples, which symbolized that the absolute nihilism and the talking for the sake of talking had been sifted out. In the end of 1990s, the entertainment of Chinese film and television culture reached

the third peak. The appearance and popularity of ''New Year Films" such as Be There

or Be Square, A Three in the House and The Dream Factory and feature films such as Keep Cool, Following Her Husband, Stand up and Don't Get Down, and sitcoms such as I Love My Family, Temporary Family, New 72 Tenants, and Our Parents and a group of TV entertainment programs showed that the entertainment creation of Chinese film and television culture in the transitional period had become relatively mature. They have achieved a high level in creation concepts, creation methods, production and operation mechanism and methods, as well as in social understanding, acceptance and participation.

What kind of inspiration does the eventful development of the entertainment of Chinese 147

film and television bring to us? First, great progress was made in understanding the entertainment function of the film and television. On the one hand, people began to realize that entertainment was the natural demonstration of people's instincts. The rising of the entertainment in fact set right the initial error of ignoring this side, as in the past, the entertainment function was utterly ignored under the ultra-leftist ideas. On the other hand, people began to realize that entertainment was not the sole function of film and television culture. Entertainment function was constrained by various factors such as national traditions, social history development, social life status, people's acceptance psychology. Entertainment should satisfy or agree with the audience's needs under the above conditions. The reason that some entertainment films failed or were harshly criticized, and some made detours in creation, was relevant to the fact that the creators did not dialectically understand and implement this point. Successful entertainment films, some of which became the classic works of the time, were popular because they correctly understood the dialectical relationship of the entertainment function of film and television. Second, a unique path was blazed in exploring the creation and production of entertainment film and television productions with Chinese characteristics. The exploration of the road was a process of proceeding from the surface to the center, from the exterior to the interior, and from the shallow to the deep. In the first peak, entertainment films first made breakthroughs in the language level first. The humorous, vivid and legendary Wang Shuo language style, known as Beijing ridiculing, became popular nationwide, and was a miniature of the new language in the new era. In the second peak, entertainment films began to explore the style of the plot in the film, which moved from the narration of one single character to the narration of the whole plot. The plot was based on one or several vivid characters. The structure of entertainment films was greatly enhanced during this period of time. In the third peak, entertainment films more focused on heated topics in social life and made in-depth planning, designing and 148

creation in an all-around way. Valuable experience was learned from the creation and production of western film and television productions, such as the planning system for the screenplay, the assembly line mechanism in creation (a coordinated process from planning to screenplay, directing, editing and production) and the market promotion system (the "selling points" before shooting, the shaping of image during creation, and the publicity and promotion of post-production). Those mechanisms were learned from western experience and deeply rooted in the management and operation with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, one important reason for the entertainment films becoming mature was that a balance point was found between the social realist life and people's psychological needs and life needs, which was shown in the heated topics, focuses and themes of the contemporary social life. Therefore, entertainment films made great achievements in combining modem film and television production mechanisms and the zeitgeist, and established an irreplaceable image and position amongst the audience. Third, Chinese film and television went through a road to place themselves in the correct position in their attitude and relationship with the audience. In the first peak of the entertainment wave, many entertainment films adopted the strategy of "despising oneself as well as others". In the name of anti-tradition, anti-mainstream and anticulture, they seemed to make fun of themselves, but in fact also make fun of the audience. Besides, the audience were not used to, did not understand and did not accept this kind of work. Therefore, they remained only a flash in the pan. In the second peak of the entertainment wave, many entertainment films began to correct this wrong tendency and changed it into "despising oneself but not others". There was selfmockery as well as good-willed and honest communication between people. The creators began to seek methods to communicate with audience in an equal way. In the third peak, the creation of entertainment films in general turned to the strategy of ''respecting oneself and respecting others". They aimed to invite the audience to participate through various methods, as long as no harm was done to the complete images of the characters and the complete life and ideological contents of the product. 149

Creators began to consider themselves professionals, producing entertainment film and television productions for the audience, and placing the audience in the role of customers. The degree and level of the audience's participation and their function, influence and control over the creation of entertainment films was growing. During this process, the psychology of both the creators and the audience became more and more normal and mature and a virtuous circle was gradually formed.

(2) Realism

For a long time, the Soviet theory of montage dominated creation and thinking of Chinese film and television, which was closely related to the historical and social situation of China. After the reform and opening up, Chinese film and television opened the long-closed gate. People were amazed at how colorful and diversified the world of film and television had developed. After opening the gate, they began to realize how monotonous Chinese film and television productions were in terms of creation methods, thinking methods and narration tools. Therefore, a loud slogan was put forward to modernize film language. In this context, the documentary aesthetics popular in western countries was brought into China. Andre Bazin and Siegfried Kracauer soon became frequently quoted names by professionals in Chinese film and television industries. The fast expansion of their theories combined with the social and realistic conditions of Chinese social realities, the needs of the audience and the possibilities of film and television industries and formed the long-lasting wave of''realism". The core of documentary aesthetics in film theory is ''to reappear material reality" or "to restore material reality''. To be concrete, long shots which can demonstrate the flow oflife, nonprofessional performance as much as possible, life scenery and natural light are most typical methods applied in realism. After those realist concepts and methods were brought into China, quite a number of excellent realist films were produced in the prosperity period in 1980s, such as Sha Ou, and Neighbor. Realist factors were also used in the creation of some major historical films such as Nanchang Uprising, Xi 'an 150

Incident, and The Battle of Taierzhuang. The creators consciously pursued the combination of documentary and realism, and made breakthroughs in major evolution and historical films. However, the film creation during the prosperity period only demonstrated many different factors of realism. At that time, the film and television professional were not skillful in using realistic film language. The theatrical and literary factors in traditional filmmaking thinking pattern, narration methods and expression methods were still penetrated in every aspect of filmmaking. Moreover, people were used to the documentary style of expression which did not feel like a play. The main guiding principle for filmmaking was how to refine ideological implications especially the political connotations of a film. Therefore, as a film theory and creation method for film art thinking and film art expression, realism was in a beginning stage in general. While realism slowly entered the mainstream of Chinese films with increasing influence, entertainment films suddenly rose which greatly impacted Chinese realist films in their exploration. Realism did not disappear in filmmaking, but just failed to become the strongest trend. Surprisingly, television, which was long neglected, grew vigorously and became the most influential and appealing mass media in the end of 1980s and the beginning of 1990s, after more than 30 years of accumulation. What greatly enhanced television's strength was the release of a series of realist TV documentaries. On the one hand, the realism in television, was influenced by the realism in film. On the other hand, the realism in television had social and historical factors as well the television construction. The realism in television also used long shots to continuously record the natural process of life and objected the excessive subjective interference. The difference was that at first realism first emphasized the follow-up shooting of nonfictional life. Therefore, on location recording became especially important. Good examples were TV documentaries including Northern Tibetan Families, Home at 151

Beijing, A 15 Year Old Middle School Student, Dexin Fang, Long Ji, Boat Home in the Mountains, Back Home, and Stories behind the Mural, and the appearance and development ofLife Space in Oriental Horizon helped TV reach a peak in documentary style. Realism first expedited the prosperity of Chinese films. When this theory extended into the creation of Chinese TY, it combined the special background and the current status and produced fruitful results of realism. The realism in TV was not only of great significance to TV media, but also greatly influenced other media sectors such as film, newspapers and magazines, journals, radio and drama. For example, many journals and magazines issued important articles named "documentary of ... ", "realist portrait of ... " Hotlines appeared in the radio. Nonprofessional performance and location shooting were further explored in the film. The documentary in TV in fact was setting things straight after years of implementation of "theme first", "subjective judgment of life" and "whitewash of reality". It was thought that people had the right to see real life, share true emotions of the characters and make their own judgment on this basis. People were tired of the condescending and lecturing TV programs which were unable to reflect the realist life logic and emotional goals. This is the important social reason for the documentary wave in the TV sector. In the middle and late 1990s, realism had become more and more mature in the film

and television creation in China, following this time of development. The fast-growing Chinese society brought endless inspirations and materials to the creation of realism. Audiences became more and more familiar with the methods of thinking, narration, and demonstration. Therefore, the traditional excessively closed, dramatic and typical creation methods were no longer the main stream. In the blending of the traditional and modem ideas, ''realist" film and television creation became more and more mature. A number of excellent films with strong realist style appeared, such as Story of Qiuju and Keep Cool by Zhang Yrmou, New Year by Huang Jianzhong, Nanking Massacre by Wu 152

Ziyu, The Days without Lei Feng by the Youth Film Factory, Looking for Fun and The

Police Diary by Ning Ying, In the Heart of the Sun by Jiang Wen, Premier Zhou Enlai by Ding Yingnan, and Decisive Engagement and Turning Point by August lstFilm Studio and TV dramas such as Desire, Stories from the Editorial Board, I Love My

Home, Temporary Family, SatisfYing a Craving, Beijingers in New York, and New 72 Tenants and a number of TV talk shows, under the banner of realism. On the surface, realism is only a thinking method, a narrative method, and an expressive method of film and television creation. In the deep sense, it reflects people's care to the true social life, true social psychology, and individuals' mentality. It is a symbol of the awareness of people's dignity, subjectivity, and self-consciousness, which is of potential significance in advancing the democracy of the social democracy, enhancing people's judgment, identification, understanding, and abilities to feel the society and feel themselves, and thus improves the nation's quality in the whole.

(3) Neo-heroism

In the establishment period, one distinctive sign of the time and the ideology was the worship of heroism. After China was established in 1949, many heroic characters appeared on the screen, such as Zhao Yrman, Shi Donggen, Li Xiangyang, Zhan Changhe, Dong Cunrui, Li Shuangshuang, Qionghua, Deng Shichang, Jiang Jie, Xu Yunfeng, Zhang Ga, Lin Zexun, Lin Xiangqian, Shi Yang, Han Ying, and Liu Wenxue. These names have become household names and idols for several generations of audience, and these characters had enormous influence over their outlooks on life, value and world, and even their outlooks on love, living and aesthetics.

The Cultural Revolution pushed the pursuit of heroism into the extreme. Creation methods such as "the lofty, the noble and the perfect", and "three standouts", which violated life logic and historical facts, and people's emotional logic, were used to create a number of abstract and stereotype fake heroes in lack of inherent basis and vividness, such as main characters in the 8 model operas, From Victory to Victory, Guerilla of the 153

Plain, Scouting Across the Yangtze River, and main characters in Spring Seedlings, Strike Back, and A Grand Festival. Though these films gave one generation of the audience the ideal and education of heroism, the creation concepts of those heroes and this kind of heroism were isolated from real and objective social reality and history. They were pure products of the ultra-leftism in artistic creation, and soon became obsolete. However, as a concept, it still exerted influence by inertia, such as the identical characters, stereotype images, conceptual personalities, and modular language. In the prosperity period, the concept of heroism began to have major changes in Chinese film and television. Represented by the fifth generation of directors, heroism was given new contemporary and historical connotations. In the fifth-generation films, abstract conceptual, identifiable, modular, and stereotype characters, images, personalities and language were replaced by emotional, personal, emotional, and legendary characters, images, personalities and language, which was a reaction against the creation concept and methods. In the films such as One and Eight, Evening Bell, Yellow Earth, Red

Sorghum, The Horse Thief, and Steel Meets Fire, heroes were not heartless or flawless and they did not proceed without hesitation and did not break into the enemy ranks without any selfish thoughts. Under certain circumstances, heroes would make compromises, give up, become anxious or impulsive or even make mistakes, which constituted the concept of heroism in this period. Heroism went closer to the real life and history, and went closer to the audience's life and mind. Film and television creation in the theme of major historical events rose side by side with the fifth-generation film, which also exerted great influence and shock over Chinese film and television culture. For a long period of time, film and television creation in the theme of major historical events was a sensitive area with many taboos. Sometimes, if those events had to be mentioned, they were only shown very briefly. For example, the national leaders only very occasionally appeared in the film and TV creation. During the prosperity period, 154

breakthroughs were made in film and television creation in the theme of major historical events. Xi'an Incident, Nanchang Uprising, and The Battle of Taierzhuang demonstrated major historical events and some important historical figures on the screen in a relatively complete way. However, the demonstration of historical events and figures were annalistic narration. No major breakthroughs were made in the concept of heroism on the screen. In the transitional period, the creation of film and television creation in the theme of major historical events challenged the taboos in this area and made fruitful achievements. New vitality was brought into in the creation film and television creation in the theme of major historical events with the liberation and update of people's thoughts and ideas. The traditional heroism creation concepts and methods were moving towards the neo-heroism creation concepts and methods. In the transitional period, representative film and television productions in the theme of major historical events are films including The Birth of New China, Zhou Enlai,

Chongqing Negotiation, The Creation of a New World, Zunyi Conference, Sun Yat-sen, Baise Uprising, Stories ofMao Zedong, 44 Days ofLiu Shaoqi, Decisive Engagement and Turning Point, and TV dramas including The Death ofQiu Qiubai, Handshakes of

Giants, Soong Ching-ling and Her Sisters, Mao Zedong in China, and Pan Hannian. Those film and television productions were created by the neo-heroism concepts and methods, which accelerated, influenced and changed people's concept of heroes and heroism. From the films made by the fifth generation of directors and the latest results of film and television productions in the theme of major historical events, we can see that the neo-heroism adopted two complementary strategies and methods in the transitional period. One is the heroisation of the secular. The other is the secularization of heroes. The heroisation of the secular means to find extraordinary and refined spirits and characters from the secular life, common people and common events. In this colorful world, the mainstream of life is not those figures and events which can startle the 155

universe and move the gods, but the common life and existence. However, the nobility, the dignity, and the strength of human beings were hidden in the ordinary life. In the transitional period, the creation of film and television productions concerned the search, the exploration and the demonstration of the spiritual characters. Thus, a creation road with the sense of the time was found and exerted an active and important impact on the audience. In the films created by the fifth generation of directors, the images of new heroes were

different from the heroes in the past. The common characteristics of those heroes were true, natural, noble but not flawless. In Red Sorghum, "my grandpa" and "my grandma" were common farmers. But they despised the power and traditional customs. They dared to love and hate, no matter whether it was in front of the avaricious father, traitors, or Japanese invaders. They fought for their happiness, though sometimes they looked too indulgent (outdoor sex and undisguised flirting). But their unyielding strength to live was the most desirable character. In The Story of Qiuju, Qiuju was not very educated, superstitious and very gullible. Despite of her pregnancy, she travelled to a nearby town, and then a big city to fight for justice. Though she did not have the personality of a hero, her obsession and stubbornness to defend her family's dignity brought extraordinary elements to her ordinary life. The poor but determined country teachers in Country Teachers(l994), the gambling, playful, yet kind and passionate shadow play artist in To Live, and Qiao Anshan who regretted to hit Lei Feng in a car accident and spent his life learning from him in Days without Lei Feng, various Beijing citizens in Desire, a TV drama, odd but loving urban young people in SatisfYing a

Craving, and the contradictory, flawed but bold and forthright leading roles in Beijingers in New York were different from the images of heroes in the past. They had the same or similar experiences with thousands of ordinary people. They had inevitable, imperfect and flawed issues and problems from their personalities or characteristics, from their physical or mental status, from their understanding and judgment of life. However, in those imperfections, in this common life, their extraordinariness, patience, struggle, or optimistic personality or pursuit resonated with common people. 156

The secularization of heroes refers to treating mighty heroes who used to be very powerful, and liked to comment on state affairs, as ordinary people. Their feelings and their normal status were shown behind their extraordinariness. Even extraordinary heroes were ordinary. In those film and television productions in the theme of major historical events, some

unimaginative plots and stories in the past were shown, which were also touching because of their commonness. For example, in The Creation of a New World, in the contrast of two pairs of fathers and sons, Mao Zedong and Mao Anying with Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo, a message was revealed that the victory of the people's revolution was the choice of the history. Overall, the film was grand and majestic because it showed the most grand and heroic historical scene in modern Chinese history. The core structure was formed by the stories and emotional struggles of the two pairs of fathers and sons. In the two scenes of worshiping ancestors and sweeping tomb, the helplessness and the sadness of the Chiangs due to their departure of the hometown and the depth and passion of the Maos in their reflection upon lost close ones in the revolution, helped us to communicate with those historical figures through the time tunnel after so many years. In Zhou Enlai, not only the grand image of the Premier and his splendid achievements were shown, but also his pains in his heart, his unspeakable anger, his depression in adversity, and his struggle against an incurable disease were demonstrated. In TV dramas such as Handshakes of Giants and Soong Ching-ling and Her Sisters, the rich and complicated ordinary emotions behind their great achievements can be felt by the audience, such as during the angry yelling of Sun Yat-sen towards the rogue warlords, and Soong's breaking off with her family for the sake of seeking truth. Their sorrow and happiness are like personal feelings of ordinary people, which made the images of the great men and the heroes seem closer to the audience. In film and television productions which aimed to restore or demonstrate revolutionary

history or modem heroes and models, the neo-heroism creation concept abandoned the 157

pursuit of perfection and grandness as in heroism and demonstrates natural, emotional and accessible life contents through the heroisation of the secular and the secularization of heroes as seen in films including Steel Meets Fire, Jiang Zhuying, Jiao Yulu, Wives ofSoldiers, and Kong Fansen, and TV dramas such as Putting Down Bandits in Wulong Mountain, Behind Enemy Lines, Song of Youth, and Struggles in An Ancient City. This

change revealed people's pursuit of natural and true life, and personal happiness in the peaceful era. The creation concepts and methods of neo-heroism agreed with the mental, emotional, and aesthetic needs of the society and the audience in the transitional period of time, and thus had strong vitality. Some film and television productions still conservatively followed the old heroism creation pattern, and some even still worked toward"the lofty, the noble and the perfect", but received poor reaction among audience and were even eliminated. There were many reasons, such as lack of life experience in presenting life, as well as the backwardness in creation concepts and methods. It has to be pointed out that, the two basic strategies of neo-heroism: the heroisation of

the secular and the secularization ofheroes, were not a betrayal of the values ofheroism. On the contrast, neo-heroism was developed fully based on the values of heroism, which got rid of the outdated parts in the traditional creation method ofheroism. Noble spiritual pursuit and the value in the pursuit in justice, sympathy, responsibility, a clear mission and sacrifice, all of which were advocated in heroism were still celebrated in neo-heroism. Neo-heroism became closer, truer, more natural and approachable in creation concepts and methods in accordance with the changes of the times and the audience's needs.

(4) Plebification

The most traditional value and function of Chinese film and TV culture are education and civilization, which are deeply rooted in the overall value and function 158

characteristics of Chinese culture for thousands of years. The contents of education and civilization change along with the time, but the education and civilization model has never changed. It is safe to say that the emphasis, advocacy and implementation of the education and civilization are very beneficial to form a cohesive and centripetal force for people and for culture, which cannot be simply denied or abandoned. However, during the Cultural Revolution, this value orientation was pushed to the extreme. "8 operas for 800 million people" was lecturing and education from top to down. In the prosperity period, this condescending education and civilization model began to collapse. However, new value orientation was not established. Along with entertainment, realism, and neo-heroism, the plebification became more and more prominent, and turned into an important trend in the establishment of new value orientation models for film and television culture for film and television culture in the transitional period. Plebification means the closeness to life and audience in contents, theme, and topic in film and TV creation, and the civilian consciousness in creation perspective, demonstration perspective, and narration perspective (rather than condescending aristocratic consciousness), and the civilian consciousness in creation psychology (not to give audience instructional conclusions, but to provide a way to participate, share, think and enjoy). In the transitional period, the civilian trend in film and television creation was shown

in the appearance or exploration of new film and television productions, such as new folk films, new experience films, New Year films, romance TV dramas, historical TV dramas, comedies, and a large number of brand TV programs. New folk films usually use typical environment with strong local culture, such as the yellow earth, the Yellow River, water towns along the Yangtze River, Shanghai Bund, and northern courtyards to build a special atmosphere and unfold a legendary and romantic story. The red sorghum field and the love story between ''my grandpa" and 159

"my grandma" started the tradition of new folk films, which were further demonstrated in Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, Ermo, The Wooden Man's Bride, Ballad ofthe Yellow River, Story of Qiu Ju, Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker, Peach Blossom, Inkstone, A Virtuous Widow, and Temptress Moon, which opened new perspectives and ways to

present history, present traditional and present love stories. In fact, new folk films indulge imagination on the basis of traditional customs, and bring more legend, story, emotion and excitement to those customers. Due to the free use of film and television artistic and technical methods, the visual value of the films is much enhanced and become an interesting topic to film and TV professionals home and abroad. New folk films have made breakthroughs in the plain or splendid, fresh or fiery exterior color and placed dramatic stories inside and given new life to the folk customs. Some criticized new folk films to be the absurd interpretation and ruthless deconstruction of Chinese folk customs. Some criticized new folk films to be stereotype films which catered to the taste of westerners. People tended to have different viewpoints from different perspectives. However, from the perspective of the overall tendency of the film and television culture, new folk films have made valuable efforts in the plebification of film and television productions, and hid the deep humanistic concern and ideological pursuit within the visual and ornamental sceneries, atmosphere and legendary plots. New experience films demonstrate the life experience of common people to replace the typical, the allegorical and the legendary. They often choose common people who cannot control their fate in reality and common dilemmas, and difficulties in their life journey, and their struggle to get out of the dilemmas. In narration and demonstration, new experience films are plain in style and rhythm. Representative works for new experience films are Heartstrings, Family Portrait, After Separation, No More Applause, Magpie, Looking for Fun, The Story of the Police, Stand up and Don 't Get Down, Back to Back, Face to Face, Surveillance, Days without Lei Feng, Keep Cool, Lifetimes, The Days, and In Expectation. In value orientation, new experience films not 160

only concern social problems normal people often face in work, career and life, but also concern many inevitable life issues such as unexpected embarrassment, awkwardness, trauma, and hardships. Under those circumstances, contingency replaces necessity. Real life is usually more colorful than artificial dramas. The new experience films also present wisdom and strength, or self-mockery, letting off, and comprise of common people in difficnlties, showing sympathy and understanding. In a word, new experience films are about normal people meeting challenges in life in a normal and ordinary way. Therefore, new experience films have won the audience's strong response and, high recognition, because what is shown in the films is the same as they encounter in life. People often identify themselves as characters in the films to find solace and comfort in their mind.

With the rise ofNew Year films, a new beautiful landscape is formed. The screening of The Dream Factory, Be There or Be Square, A Tree in House, and Three and HalfMen,

pushed the plebification of film and television creation to a higher level. New Year films usually adopt comedy style and often use the familiar and popular comedians. The stories are about daily life or even the trivial matters of normal people. The atmosphere is very festive. The narration and demonstration have the same common life contents as new experience film, though slightly exaggerated, and general dramatic plot and contents. More importantly, New Year films show the wisdom of adapting oneself to changing conditions, and self-mockery in face of various life circumstances. New Year films have strengthened normal people's faith, confidence and strength in life, which is the reason for the popularity of those films. The plebification tendency of TV dramas creation was more conscious and common, which may be rooted from the increasing marketization of TV dramas, which more and more needed the increasing audience rating to survive. The plebification strategy can help TV dramas to attract more ordinary audience.

Historical TV dramas, especially those which use the past to allude to the present are 161

one of the most important genres of the plebification. Yongzheng Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong, Prime Minister Liu the Hunchback, Emperor Kangxi's Traveling Incognito, and Empress Dowager Cixi Going West used reasonable and artistic imagination and

process, and gave contemporary and legendary contents to main characters as well as different roles based on historical facts. One of the sources for the adaptation and creation is folk legends and stories. The other is people's imagination and hope. The casual and elegant bearing of Qianlong in Emperor Qianlong, the witty Liu, the hunchback who dared to confront the emperor with his wit and wisdom, mock the powerful, criticize social evils of the day and combat corruption. In Emperor Kangxi's Traveling Incognito, Kangxi was fooled and bullied and fought the corrupt with justice

from time to time. In Empress Dowager Going to the West, Empress Dowager escaped in panic, and went through the rigors ofliving in the wilderness. All of them gave the audience great satisfaction, because they can mock or laugh about the mighty and supreme authorities and bigwigs, or just watch the scenes of bustle and enjoy themselves. Though the TV dramas are not historical facts, nor of realistic significance. The characters, stories, emotions, thoughts and language can recall the past in the light of the present, and fall into a reverie and thus have a substitute satisfaction. The audience often takes pleasure in the misfortunes of the heroes or big shots. It is said that TV has three functions: to solve the puzzle, to relieve boredom and to work off one's anger. TV can provide people with information to solve the puzzle, entertain people to relieve boredom and uphold justice to work off the audience's anger. The above historical TV dramas can often play the above three functions, and thus are very popular among audience. The popularity of romance TV dramas and the popularity of romantic novels have similar audience background. The psychological basis for the vast number of TV audience is that they desire more romantic, more sentimental, more beautiful and more enthusiastic emotions than in real life. Some romance novels written in 1930s and 1940s were adapted into TV series in 1980s and later time, such as Fate in Tears and Laughter written by Zhang Henshui. TV dramas adapted from romance novels written by Chiung 162

Yao, a woman writer in Taiwan, enjoyed great popularity both in mainland and in Taiwan, such as Memory in Water and Moon Fascinating, Bird Sweet. In the transitional period, representative works were Thunderstorm, a TV drama adapted from a classic play of the same name, Butterfly Orchid, Zhou Xuan, and My Fair Princess. In those TV dramas, heroes and heroines are usually kind, beautiful, pure and sentimental. They are bestowed with the most beautiful, exciting and perfect love, but often were trapped in a helpless and dangerous situation, where strength oflove will be demonstrated in front oflife and death. The audience would usually put themselves in certain situations, experience joys and misery, love and hatred and release their feelings in the dramatic ups and downs, and become greatly satisfied mentally and physically. TV comedy occupied an important position in film and television creation due to its humorous, funny, wise and vivid style, and became the most prominent in plebification. TV comedies such as Stories from the Editorial Board, I Love My Home, Temporary

Family, Good Men, Good Women, SatisfYing a Craving, and New 72 Tenants were household names. Those comedies shared a lot of similarities. For example, the main characters were usually good, kind, sympathetic and helpful, but also conceited, complacent, sensitive about reputation, and very gullible. Therefore, a lot of comic situations will appear such as "doing the wrong things with good intentions.", "catching one and losing another", ''being victims of their own cleverness", "scoring a lucky hit", "good people being bullied", "regarding a goodwill as a malice", or "being penny wise, but pound foolish". The audience often can obtain insights on life, inspirations for life, wisdom for life, and comforts oflife through laughter. For example, in Stories from the

Editorial Board, though there are three generations of editors with different personalities, they shared some common characteristics such as kindness, helpfulness, nosiness, being fond of teaching others, and self-approbation. Sometimes, they would rack their brains to help others to get out of dilemmas. But their efforts would be futile, and they had to escape themselves and got a reputation for meddling. Those dramas were full of witty dialogues showing resourcefulness in an emergency. Therefore, many 163

dialogues in those comedies became popular sayings among the audience. Apart from the above films and TV dramas in the traditional period, the plebification is also shown in the establishment and operation of the brand TV program. For example, Oriental Horizon (especially Life Space in it where common people tell their stories) and Tell It Like It is by CCTV as various themed programs, entertainment programs, service programs, and entertainment programs all advertised themselves as "being truly at your service". The old tone oflecturing and the condescending gesture were changed into "equal communication", opening your heart and talking about your true feelings. Even the greetings from TV hosts gradually changed from "comrades", to "audience comrade" to "audience friends", which showed that TV programs became closer and closer to common people. The plebification value tendency in film and TV creation in the transitional period showed the change in value orientation of the whole Chinese society. The overall transition in political system, economic system, and social system provided a large background for the plebification creation. The audience's appreciation taste, aesthetics taste, life taste, psychology and emotions were the most important basis for the plebification of a great number of films and TV dramas. Entertainment, realism, neo-heroism and plebification, the four waves in the film and television culture construction in the transitional period in China are established facts and footprints, which clearly recorded the development of Chinese TV and film culture. Though people have mixed opinions about them, the four waves infused new vitality to Chinese film and television culture, which satisfied people's increasing needs for excellent film and television productions and had a far-reaching influence on the future development of Chinese film and television.

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5.3 Strategic Aims and Strategic Assignments of Chinese Film and Television

Culture at the Turn of the Century With what kind of image, style, and outlook should Chinese film and television culture enter the 21 ' 1 century? What kind of role will Chinese film and television play in the social and cultural pattern of the new century? In other words, what are the strategic aims and strategic assignments of Chinese film and television culture at the turn of the century? It is an important question we have to think about.

Film and television culture in the new century is based on the film and television culture construction in People's Republic of China after 1949. There is an old saying in China, "to gain new insights through reviewing old material". After we have reviewed the development of film and television culture in China after 1949, especially the prosperity period and the transitional period, we are full ofhopes and expectations of Chinese film and television culture in the new century.

(1)

Strategic objectives of Chinese film and television culture in the new century

On the one hand, Chinese film and television culture has to systemize, inherit, explore and recreate the traditional culture on a large scale. On the other hand, Chinese film and television industries have to respond the challenges of the development of film and television culture in the world and present itself in a way that is more in accordance with the status, methods and level of world film and television culture. Chinese film and television culture shall further get closer to life of common people and the era, and be loved by the people based on previous achievements in the transitional period. Meanwhile, Chinese film and television culture shall improve the taste and level, produce more excellent works and leave a deep impression. In summary, the strategic aims of Chinese film and television culture are nationalization, internationalization, popularization and humanization.

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1) Nationalization Speaking of nationalization, people would think of the yellow earth, the Yangtze River, the Great Wall, the Yellow Mountain and the Yellow River, the vast grassland, and the Tibet Plateau, which are the most typical landscapes in China. For film and television culture, it is an integral part to present and demonstrate those landscape with distinctive national characteristics. However, it is far from enough to just restore and present merely from forms and appearance. If that is the first level of nationalization, to vividly present the life behind the form and landscape is the next level for nationalization. In the new era, great changes have taken place in people's lifestyle, life status, and life concepts. It is the film and television professionals' historical responsibility to fmd the most representative and the most contemporary contents in this diversified life. It is even more important to go beyond the life forms, life style, life status and life concept in the appearance and extract, sublimate, and summarize the special spiritual qualities of Chinese people. All the classic works in the film and television history all have deeply revealed the spiritual qualities of a nation. Another issue of the nationalization of film and television culture is that the nationalization is no longer about the past and distant historical life, which is surely of great importance. It shall also include modern and contemporary creation of latest material and spiritual treasures of the Chinese nation. In the prosperity period and the transitional period, many film, and television products were adapted from outstanding contemporary literature. In the future, literature will still be an important source for film and television creation. Film and television shall expand the horizon and fmd materials in a wider world, such as from news, newspapers and journals, the latest research results of humanities and social science, and popular trends in society. A co=onplace question about film and television culture is the problem of inheritance and development, how to inherit outstanding national cultural achievements and continue to explore the contemporary connotations and transform the old into 166

something new, which is inheritance in the development. Based on national traditional culture, to form new words, new modes of thinking, new creation methods, and new expression methods is also inheritance in the development. It is conservative to ouly talk about inheritance, but not about development. Only talking about development but

not about inheritance is likely to produce thoughts without long vitality. In the new century, Chinese film and television shall draw on traditional national culture and especially traditional film and television culture, and make a great contribution to creating national film and television with Chinese style, Chinese manner and Chinese characteristics. 2) Internationalization From the 1980s, Chinese film and television culture has begun the journey of internationalization. With the efforts of Chinese film and television professionals, Chinese film and television began to have a place for itself in the world. For example, Chinese film and television productions have won various international awards. The success of Sino-foreign cooperated films, and more and more frequent exchange between China film and television with overseas countries as well as the entering of outstanding Chinese film and television works into the international market are all good examples. In the new century, how shall Chinese film and television continue to complete its more ambitious aim of internationalization? First, in the operation mode, Chinese film and television shall follow international rules and codes. As a large cultural industry, film and television creation in developed countries has formed a relatively mature and stable operation mode and system. International rules and codes have been formed in management, negotiation, and control in material, technology, copy right and production. Chinese film and television industries were long constrained by the planned management system of national economy, and were not used to the international rules and codes. During the co=unication and cooperation with overseas film and TV industries, we either blindly 167

followed the partners, or unconsciously did not follow international rules, which affected our image and hindered the internationalization of film and television culture. If we strictly follow international conventions, we will have the power of initiative and can defend our own interests without hurting others. Second, we shall seek co=on points while reserving differences and treat the inside and the outside differently in the ideological strategy. We shall encourage the release of the international version of film and television productions. For a long time, we have had serious disagreements with western countries regarding ideology. It is the same case with film and television creation. It is understandable that many film and television productions after 1949 did not win international recognition. In the transitional period, some outstanding Chinese film and television productions entered the international film and television circle through various ways. However, in the ideological strategy, many films and television products adopted the way of catering to the taste of the westerners, and often failed to gain recognition from home audience. From the trends of the international film and television circles, westerners want to suppress the development of film and television in developing countries by using their advantages in economics, politics and culture. Little changes can be made in ideological forms. Facing this situation, we shall transform our passiveness into the initiative and hold the principle of seeking co=on points while preserving difference. We can avoid major differences but make no concession in places involving the national dignity. We can treat the inside and the outside differently in the ideological strategy. We can make two versions of one product: A domestic version which can be made in accordance with mainstream ideology and an international version which can be easily accepted and recognized by the international circle and is used exclusively for the international audience. This method will greatly improve our ideological strategies and strengthen overseas publicity. Thirdly, the key for the internationalization of film and television culture lies in the outstanding talents. We shall concentrate on strength and adopt active measures to 168

provide necessary conditions for film and television professionals who are politically strong, professionally proficient and correct in style and have international cooperation experience so that they can make achievements in the international film and television circle as soon as possible. As long as we have a long-term plan, we can surely cultivate a number of outstanding talents in the frontiers of the world film and television circle. It is not a far stretch from achieving the internationalization of Chinese film and

television culture.

3) Popularization

The most prominent achievement of Chinese film and television culture was the establishment and realization of the popularity in the transitional period. In the road of popularity, many valuable experience and thought-provoking lessons have been made. First, in the value orientation, it is necessary to combine "adaptation" with "guidance". Adaptation means to adapt to the needs of changing value orientation of the vast number of audience. Guidance means to guide the audience in their choice of value in the adaptation. If there is no adaptation, film and television productions will be isolated from the audience. If there is no guidance, film and television productions might pander to low or even vulgar tastes. Many successful film and television productions during

the transitional period found the balance in handling this relationship. However, some productions such as "hotel film and TV productions" lost the balance in this aspect.

Second, in the aesthetics of film and television creation, elegance and popularity shall be combined, and film and television productions shall suit both refmed and popular tastes. Though it is difficult for a film or TV product to suit both refmed and popular tastes, some outstanding works did achieve this aim. "Popularity" refers to the expression of a concept, thought and emotion in a plain, easy and straightforward way. Elegance refers to the sophistication, precision and excellence in expression. Wisdom is very important in the creation of film and television productions. If more wisdom is applied, there is more attraction in film and television creation, and more ways to 169

combine popularity and elegance. Third, in the production and broadcasting of film and television products, the creativity of the creators and the participation of the audience shall be combined. Before the transitional period, constrained by various conditions, the production and broadcasting of film and television products seemed only to be a matter of film and television creation. The "design" of film and television products came from the creator's accumulation. In the transitional period, the design of film and television creation cannot be separated from the audience's participation. The production and broadcasting of some film and television productions were participated in by the audience from the early beginning to the end. Some film and television products completely took the audience's opinions into consideration. They asked the audience to design their products. The close combination between the design of the creators and the participation of the audience greatly enhanced the production and broadcasting of film and television products, which was an important channel to realize the popularity of the film and television. 4) Humanization Humanization refers to the humanistic value of film and television creation, which are original and unique value existence expressing unique life philosophy or humanistic ideals in film and television creation. Chinese film and television culture have made explorations in these areas during the transitional period, but it is still to be strengthened in the whole. First, presenting and exploring sensitive and important life questions in real life shall be emphasized. This era is full of changes. People face many life problems in their drastically changing lives. They have pains, puzzles, questions, concerns, and worries about many life questions such as work, career, love, friendship, marriage and family. How to deal with those ancient yet new life problems, is a topic that film and television creation shall not avoid or be distant from. Film and television shall solidly abstract the 170

real life, make a high generalization and exaction, and give a unique narration and demonstration. Second, new propositions with a strong sense of the zeitgeist can be explored in historical materials. History often repeats itself. Many treasures people need today were hidden in historical materials. The secrets of many successful film and television productions lie in using the past to criticize the present, or using the past to allude to the present. Many life questions are reviewed by the people through the new interpretation of historical materials within the zeitgeist. Third, latest results of film and television culture and the humanities and social science shall be drawn upon to explore more expressive and diversified methods of narration and expression. Perspectives of narration and expression are often related to the overall quality of the film and television creators. It is not only a matter of artistic techniques as well as humane qualities. To have richer film and television demonstration and acquire more diversified narration and expression methods, it is necessary to draw from the new results of film and television culture have made or is making now or even learn from the latest research results of humanities and social sciences so that the film and television creators can open their mind and explore new narrative and expressive methods. Nationalization, internationalization, popularization, and humanization are strategic aims of Chinese film and television culture in the new century, which needs joint efforts from various aspects. It is still a long way to Chinese film and television professionals as well as relevant sectors and departments.

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(2) Strategic assignments of Chinese film and television culture in the new century

1) To provide new film and television texts to achieve the "quality strategy" of national film and television In the 1990s, the state begun to do a lot works focusing on quality production of film

and television from macroscopic plan to implementation at the micro-level. The release of a series of relevant guidelines, policies and measures was called the "quality strategy". The "quality strategy" pointed out clear directors for the development of Chinese film and television culture. The priority of Chinese film and television culture in the new century is to make a new contribution to the realization of the "quality strategy" of nation film and television and provide new film and television texts. First, to identify the range of the topics of the "quality strategy" of Chinese film and television at the turn of the century. Topics shall be identified according to the needs of the society, culture and people's life, and the production and quality shall be guaranteed. Second, the planning scheme shall be strengthened for the quality film and television productions. Planning is essential for film and TV proposals which have shortlisted for the "quality'' film and TV productions. The careful design shall be given in the preliminary planning, which shall cover and include representative opinions and hopes. Third, the post-development shall be strengthened for quality film and television productions. The selected quality film and television productions shall not only be controlled artistically, but also be supported in post-development, such as in news broadcasting, favorable policies of the sales, and release channels, so that they can play an influential role. 3) To explore new growth points for future film and television construction In the transitional period, useful explorations were made in entertairnnent, realism, neo172

heroism and plebfication in film and television in China, which made a great contribution to the construction of film and television culture. At the turn of the century, how shall we explore new growth points for the future film and television construction? First, in film and television creation, synergic advantages shall be continued, and the individualities of creators shall be blended to form a film and television production and creation mode with Chinese characteristics. In the creation of film and television culture in the world, no mature film and television creation can work without the support from a basic production and creation mode. It is not a rigid routine, but a pattern. During development, Chinese film and television culture also found certain laws, which are guided by the individualities of creators and supported by the creation and production groups, and forming film and television creation production methods with distinctive characteristics. On this basis, we shall move on and extract, concentrate and improve those film and television production and creation methods with characteristics into film and television production and creation modes with Chinese characteristics, which will greatly accelerate the productivity of film and television culture in China. Second, in the film and television broadcasting, we shall fully use various media and improve the strength and effects of film and television broadcasting. If various broadcasting media such as newspapers, journals and radio can work with film and television and reinforce each other, new sectors are very likely to be brought along, which will have bright prospects in the future. Therefore, to strengthen broadcasting is of positive impact on the development of film and television industries as well as the media industry. Third, in the operation of film and television, new markets shall be explored to enhance "comprehensive effects". Post-development of film and television products has been operated for many years in developed countries and a relatively mature and complete film and television market has been formed. Chinese film and television has just started to explore the marketization of operations in recent years. The film and television 173

system is far from mature and complete. Under this situation, we will explore a benign marketization road for the development of film and television culture in China, though it might be a tough road. We are nevertheless on the road, and all the success and failure are valuable gifts. One thing should be pointed out that we should think of the market exploration from one angle, such as from winning commercial profits or catering for low tastes, which can only have short term and short-sighted effects. We should advocate comprehensive effects, as well as considering both social benefits and economic benefits, considering both elegance and popularity, which might be able to educate and cultivate a long term and vibrant socialist film and television market economy.

(3)

To provide new concepts for the progress of culture in Chinese society

Chinese film and television in an integral part of Chinese social culture. Therefore, it has every reason to make its contribution to the development of culture in Chinese society, which are mainly demonstrated to provide new concepts to the progress of Chinese social culture. The acquisition of concepts is indispensable from theoretical construction. Therefore, it is of great importance to focus on and strengthen the theoretical construction of Chinese film and television culture. How shall the theoretic construction of Chinese film and television culture be strengthened? First, the theory team for Chinese film and television shall be strengthened. We not only need a number of film and television professionals to work in the frontline of film and television industries, but also a number of film and TV theory critics. Long term plans shall be made from the origins, layout and current status of Chinese film and TV theory critics. Arrangements shall be made in information communication channels, research projects, the releasing of the results, capital investment and backup talents to keep the team's vitality. 174

Second, in order to strengthen the theory construction of Chinese film and television culture, we shall make the full use of the film and television research frontiers so that the film and television research results can be promoted in various layers and various aspects. We should pay special attention to basic theory research to improve the authority, the guidance and the construction of theoretic results. Third, aiming to strengthen the construction of incentive mechanism in various aspects, we should emphasize theory research as well as the creation of film and television productions and provide more opportunities for film and television theoretic research to achieve the maximum functions and benefits. In the construction of the incentive mechanism, various methods can be used to guide, publicize and encourage the ensured growth of theoretical research. Apart from exterior conditions and environment, the most important is the improvement of the quality and level of the theoretic research of Chinese film and television culture. The professionals shall rise to the new century and the world to advance despite difficulties and continue to explore the new situation and new problems faced by Chinese film and television culture in the new century, giving strategically situated explanation and expression with high responsibility, sense of mission, scientific attitude and great courage. Overviewing the three historical periods of the development of Chinese film and television culture, especially the four waves of Chinese film and television culture construction, we feel deeply that the historical mission of Chinese film and television culture in the new century still has a long way to go.

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Chapter 6 Two Traditions of Chinese Film Culture Chinese film industry has created splendid cultural landscape over its century-old history. Through the variegated appearance, there are in fact two traditions running through: the Confucian worldly spirit and the poetic style. The two traditions are not groundless. Instead, they are closely related to Chinese national cultural tradition, especially with Chinese national art cultural tradition, and become more and more mature with the development of Chinese history, Chinese society as well as Chinese culture in the 20th century.

6.1 Formation and Development of the Two Traditions

The Confucian worldly spirit means to care about social reality, interfere social activities, cultivate the society, influence people and thus reach social effects such as changing the world and transforming social traditions. The poetic style means to go beyond the constraints of certain realistic time and space which is poetic observation and demonstration of a permanent circumstance of life, turos of life, life philosophy and mental state of living. The two traditions of Chinese film culture are the continuance and reflection of Chinese art cultural tradition in Chinese film. (1) Two traditions of Chinese art culture

Chinese art culture is an importaot integral part of Chinese traditional culture. Like Chinese traditional philosophy, literature and aesthetic conceptions, Chinese art culture also formed two related and complementary traditions in the historical development, which are expression and poetization. It is a demonstration of Confucianism and Taoism in the art culture sector. There is a famous saying in Confucianism "In times ofhardship, one should treasure himself at first; in times of success, one is expected to benefit others." The expression function means to benefit other ways and the poetization function means to treasure oneself. We can see the differences between the two 176

traditions in purpose, function and pursuit. The former is more utilitarian and societyoriented, and pursues realistic achievements, which are practical, objective, directive, and purposive. The latter is more detached, individual and pursues ideals and realm beyond reality, which is romantic, idealistic, temperamental, and individualistic. The expression tradition is demonstrated in the optimistic Confucian spirit concerning the social reality and people's livelihood in outlooks on life, value, or life attitude and state of life. The worldly spirit also formed the same art culture tradition. The poetization refers to the poetic style which cares about the individual life feelings and permanent life philosophy in outlooks on life, value, or life attitude and state of life. The poetization tradition formed the poetic style art cultural tradition. It should be noted that the worldly spirit and the poetic style were not completely

separated and opposite in the history of Chinese art and culture. Influenced by exterior social and historical situations and the life of artists, the two traditions are often interrelated and can transmute into each other. Under certain special external and internal factors, some characteristics of the two traditions will be pushed to the extreme and demonstrate the pure worldly spirit or the poetic style orientation, taste, traits or characteristics. As to the pure and typical forms, in the history of Chinese art culture, the worldly spirit can be best demonstrated in Du Fu's poems, Han Yu's articles, Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy, Gao Zecheng's opera, and a few novels created in Ming and Qing periods. Bai Juyi once wrote, "Articles are written for the times and poetry and songs are written for the affairs." The worldly spirit tradition emphasizes the social value of art, especially direct practical function on realistic ethical norms. Bai Juyi gave the best summary of the worldly spirit. In summary, the articles are written for the emperor, for the people, for matters and for affairs, but not for articles themselves." "The words are true and plain and easy for people to understand, and the meaning is direct and to the

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point, and awakening for those who want to hear."

17

This allegory poem ofBai Juyi

pushed the realistic function of the worldly spirit into the extreme. These are some concrete connotations and thoughts of "writing for conveying the truth" and "songs for reflecting people's life" in Chinese art tradition. What can best demonstrate the poetic style tradition of Chinese art culture development is the artistic creation with strong personal style by writers and artists, such as pastoral poems, landscape paintings, songs and sketches. Tao Yuanming, Wang Wei, Li Qingzhao, Ma Zhiyuan, Li Zhi, Tang Xianzu, Kong Shangren created masterpieces of the times. When writers or artists encountered misfortunes, felt frustrated in official careers, or retired and abandoned themselves to nature, they often wrote philosophical and talented articles or songs about the universe or life. On the surface, their writings were about nature, such as wind, flower, snow and moonlight, cloud, fog, rain, land, river, lake, or creek. The details or the plots were often about a scene which can show the hero's thoughts and emotions such as fishing alone, tasting tea, sleeping alone, being back from herding, meditating, playing lyre or chess, writing calligraphy or painting. However, the philosophical ideas and emotions were often connected to the rise and fall of the country or of family, the transience of human life, the feeling of separation, and an indescribable sadness. The image of the natural landscape and the meaning of the emotions and thoughts of the writers and artists were integrated and formed various meaningful images, which have internal power. The feelings, emotions and sadness of the writers or the artists were externalized as different things in the universe, and formed various Zen images, which was a typical feature of the poetic style. There are various theories of poetization. We can give a few examples here. "There is the essence of hermit life here, but it is beyond my words." "To walk to the end of the water and see the rise of clouds", "Withered vine, old tree, crows at dusk, tiny bridge, flowing brook, and cottages, ancient road, bleak wink, bony steed. The sun sinking west, a heart-tom traveler at the end of the world."

"The two lines are quoted from Preface to New Lyric Poet!}'. written by Bai Juyi (772-846). a famous poet in Tang Dynasty. 178

The division of the two traditions does not mean that they are entirely different. For example, the poems of Du Fu, a famous poet in Tang Dynasty reflected two traditions. On the one hand, he wished ''where can I get a big broad shelter a thousand, ten thousand spans wide, huge roof that all the world's poor people can share with smiling faces?" On the other hand, he also wrote, "Petals have been shed like tears and lonely birds have sung their grief." Li Qingzhao, who wrote subtle poems all her life, wrote "Oh, I cannot say it is not endearing, Only, when the west wind stirs the curtain, I see that I am more gracile than the yellow flowers." as well as "Alive, be man of men; dead, be soul of souls." Many poets and writers wrote in these two traditions, such as Li Bai, Su Shi, Guan Hanqing, Luo Guanzhong, and Cao Xueqin. They combined the worldly spirit of "shining spears and armored horses" and ''the mighty river flows eastward." with the poetic style such as "life is like a dream", and "about to say, but say nothing", and constructed the grand and splendid Chinese ancient classics with oriental spirit and style which had been carried generations after generations. The two traditions ''the worldly spirit" and ''the poetic style" were reciprocal and complementary in the historical development of Chinese art culture. In general, the pursuit of the worldly spirit was closely related to the mainstream ideology of the feudal society, neither in positive defense nor in negative criticism. The direction formed the harmonious relationship between the two traditions, as well as the traditional ethical and moral norms. The worldly spirit often started and ended with the pursuit of ethical and moral norms, which aroused the writers and the artists' thoughts and emotions upon social reality, and their emotional or rational feelings, experience, judgment and recognition. Therefore, the worldly spirit has become a leading trend in Chinese art culture tradition. The pursuit to poeticize is closely related to the individual, the mental emotions and status of the writers or artists. Though varied in tones such as elegance, openmindedness, ease, sighing, recalling, sentimental, the poetic style has a similar principle, taste and orientation. The pursuit to poeticize aimed to get rid of the constraints of certain ethical and moral norms, and thus reach the liberation and surpassing of individualist emotion, senses or life statues. Therefore, many scholars think that the 179

poetic style is the most oriental art culture tradition with Chinese national characteristics. The worldly spirit and the poetic style have changed with the changes of times, social and historical conditions and the changes of writers and artists and have demonstrated differences in different eras, societies and individuals with distinctive contents, connotations, forms and patterns respectively. However, in the new era, the two traditions did not disappear, but demonstrated new forms and appearances while characteristics of the new era, the society and individuals.

(2)

Formation and development of two traditions of Chinese film culture

Though originating in foreign countries, films in China have never been able to get rid of influence and constraints of Chinese national traditional culture. The development of Chinese films since 1895 fully demonstrated that it was indispensable with Chinese

art culture tradition and Chinese social reality. From this sense and perspective, Chinese film culture was a continuity of the Chinese traditional art tradition of the 20thcentury. The Chinese film industry also has two traditions: the worldly spirit and the poetic style. Due to the changes in the era as well as in the society, the two traditions have formed certain characteristics and features in contents and forms.

In the first half of the 20th century in China, there were great changes in the Chinese society, intense national and domestic class struggles, which caused the unprecedented changes in China. In the art and culture sector, different trends of thoughts rose one after another. The new film culture was influenced by various different schools of thought, followed the pulse of the time, described, reflected and demonstrated social life and personal life with unique methods, ways and language and gradnally formed two traditions with distinctive characteristics. The worldly spirit in Chinese film culture is mainly demonstrated in two aspects: One is the revolutionary struggle spirit led by strong patriotism and nationalism. The other 180

is the ethical social judgment against old ritualism, customs and ethics. 1) Revolutionary struggle spirit: one aspect of the worldly spirit News documentaries were the earliest ones to reflect the revolutionary struggles and progressive political tendencies. Wuhan War, a news short, recorded the success of the Revolution of 1911, and Shanghai War, a news short recorded the Second Revolution can still be watched today. Later, National Diplomatic Parade and documentaries which reflected the May 30th Movement, and Northern Expedition clearly recorded the revolutionary struggles of Chinese people against imperialism for national liberation. Under the influence of the revolutionary films of the Soviet Union after the October Revolution (1917), under the direct leadership of Communist Party of China, many progressive, revolutionary intellectuals jointed the leftist cultural movement, and made fundamental adjustments and changes to the modem Chinese film culture. In September 1931, under the underground organization and leadership of the CPC, the

leftist "drama union" passed Latest Programs of Action, which clearly put forward the direction and assignments of the leftist film movement. It was put forward in the Action, "apart from performing drama, the union shall also consider Chinese film movement. Apart from producing screenplays for film companies and motivate the members to attend the activities of film companies, the union shall manage to raise fund to produce films of its own." "To organize the Film Research Association, attract progressive actors and actresses and technicians and lay foundation for the leftist film movement", "Meanwhile, to prepare and start the proletariat movement in Chinese film circle and fight against the bourgeois and feudal inclinations, it is necessary to expose and criticize Chinese film movement at the present stage." After the issue of the Action, Chinese leftist film movement joined the leftist culture campaign with the high revolution spirit and became an important cultural instrument to unite people, educate people, fight against enemies and eliminate enemies. The revolutionary, fighting and progressive films became the leading components of 181

Chinese film culture, and formed an important tradition to continuously cooperate with the needs of the progressive political movements and revolutionary struggles. A number of revolutionary and progressive film artists including Tian Han, Xia Yan, A Ying, Yang Hansheng, Nie Er, Sun Yu, Shen Xiling, and Cai Chuseng, produced a great number of outstanding films with zeitgeist, national passion and political passion in the dark old China. These films touched the life of workers, peasants, women and intellectuals and presented vivid, wide and in-depth portrays of modem Chinese social life. Important films can best demonstrate the revolutionary fighting spirit of the leftist film movement are Raging Waves, Silkworms, Outcry of Women, 24 Hours in Shanghai, Oppression, Salt Upheaval, A Brave Girl, Children of the Time, Save the Nation, Night in the City, Light of Women, Morning in the City, Survival of the Nation, Three Modern Ladies, New Women, The Road and Plunder ofPeach and Plum.

Before the China's war against Japan, another group of film artists joined the leftist film movement campaign, and expanded the horizon for their creation under the influence of ''the revolutionary struggle" and produced excellent films including Crossroads, Street Angel, Red Bag, Life and Death, March of Youth and Soaring Aspiration.

Under the extreme difficult conditions in the war against Japan, progressive film artists conquered various difficulties and created Defend Our Land, Ardent, Loyal Souls, Eight Hundred Heroes, Young China, Storm on the Border, Children of China, and Wings of China with great revolutionary enthusiasm and greatly encouraged people's

determination and confidence in fighting against the Japanese aggressors to the end. In the days of the people's liberation wars, revolutionary and progressive film artists

fought a battle of wits and courage with the Kuomintang reactionaries and produced excellent films such as Distant Love, Spring Dream of Heaven, The Holy City, Ideal 182

Son-in-law, Happiness Rhapsody, Along the Sungari River, Complaint of New Wife, Adventures ofSan Mao, The Barber Takes a Wife, Women Side by Side, especially Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon, Myriads of Lights, and Crow and Sparrow, which

symbolized Chinese films enter a mature and splendid stage. In the 1930s and 1940s, Chinese documentaries also grew up in the war. Those

documentaries clearly recorded the moving heroic deeds of Chinese and the revolutionary struggles of Chinese people, and were strong evidence of the revolutionary spirit tradition of Chinese film culture. The film industry in the liberated areas was directly led by the CPC as early as the in 1938 through Ylhan Film Troup. In the extremely hard and bitter conditions, it filmed the historical figures and their lives such as Yan 'an and the Eighth Route Army, Dr. Bethune, The 7th People's Congress of the CPC, and A Labor Hero. Like progressive

films in the KMT-ruled area, films in the liberated areas also expressed and demonstrated the revolutionary and struggle spirit in filming and creation. The establishment of People's Republic of China made the revolutionary fighting spirit become the leading and primary tradition in Chinese film industry, which ran through in different aspects. A great number of outstanding and influential films, were created, based on the patriotic acts of saving the country by men and women with high ideals, especially the moving stories in the people revolutionary struggles lead by the CPC, such as Children ofChina, White-haired Girl, From Victory to Victory, Scouting Across the Yangtze River, Dong Cunrui, Railway Guerrillas, Plain Guerrillas, Story ofLiubo Village, Breaking Through the Darkness, Youth in Flames of War, Storm, Nie Er, Lin Zexun, Song of Youth, New Story ofAn Old Soldier, Long March, The Naval Battle of 1894, Little Soldier Zhang Ga, The Red Detachment of Women, A Revolutionary Family, Eternity in Flames, Enemy at the Gates, and The Eternal Wave. Some films were

adapted from modem literature, such as Blessing, The Shop of the Lin Family, Red Flag Chronicle, and Red Sun, which also increased the strength of revolutionary struggle. 183

Major events that happened after 1949 also provided rich sources for film creation, such as the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea. Films with strong revolutionary heroism such as The Battle ofTriangle Hill and Heroic Sons and Daughters have moved generations of audience. Distinctive revolution struggle characteristics have also lent themselves to other films, such as musical films, opera films, children's films, comedies, and films focusing on the life of ethnic minorities. 2)

Ethical social judgment: the other aspect of the worldly spirit

One important demonstration of the worldly spirit in Chinese films is ethical and social judgment focusing on ethnic and moral judgment. It is a promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice through films. Films can criticize social injustice, demonstrate vicissitudes of life, and arouse the audience's sympathy and resonance through the ethical and moral judgment and the release of ethnical emotions. China is a country highly relying on norms of ethics and morals to maintain social relationships. There is a complete set of strict norms of ethics and morals from personal cultivation to state ruling. The norms and rules have become irreplaceable methods for Chinese people to understand, judge and control the world. An important aspect of the worldly spirit in Chinese art culture is to present life and the world through the perspective of norms of ethics and morals. Chinese film professionals understood this rule from the very beginning. They knew if they wanted to attract audience, they had to start with the moral perspective. Therefore, the social judgment in the worldly spirit in Chinese films was often realized through the ethical and moral level. In a word, the opposition between the good and the bad was understood, judged and demonstrated through ethical and moral level and social judgment was then proceeded. In order to have the deeply moving effect, suffering play was often used in which the cruelty and oppression of the bad to the good is presented. Orphan Saving His Grandfather (1923) by Zheng Zhengqiu laid a solid foundation for

the creation of ethnical and social judgmental films. A series of Zheng's films including 184

The Death ofYuli, The Last Conscience, A Shanghai Woman, A Blind Orphan Girl, The Couple in Name, and Twin Sisters vividly described the damage of the feudal system

especially the feudal marriage system to the human nature, especially the insult to women. Those films criticized irrational systems such as the chastity of widows, child brides, servants and prostitutes, and criticized various social injustice and social evils of the feudal social system. Cai Chusheng moved further on the road blazed by Zheng Zhengqiu. Song ofFishermen tells a sad story of a fisherman's family due to bankruptcy. The kindhearted and diligent laborers of the lower class cannot escape misfortune under the oppression and exploitation by the cruel and ruthless vicious power. This film presented the society through the tragedy of one family, seek the social origins of the tragedy. After screening, the film was warmly welcomed by the audience and exported to foreign countries and exerted certain influence. The Spring River Flows East depicted the 8-year antiJapanese war in it through the vicissitudes of the life of a family. It clearly compared the great pain the people in the enemy-occupied areas and the corruption of the upper class in the KMT controlled areas, presented the enormous and deep historical contents in an ethnical way, caused unprecedented social influence and pushed the ethical and social judgment movies to an extreme. This film is considered to be a classical milestone in the history of Chinese films. The ethical social judgment inherited many factors in the traditional Chinese Confucianism and had deep social psychological basis. On the one hand, it made judgment through the rise and the fall of ethnical emotions such as kinship and friendship, to present social judgment of the good and the bad, which was the continuity of traditional modernism in modem times. On the other hand, the ethnical social judgment was in accordance with the appreciation habits and aesthetic taste of the co=on audience. Sensational presentation of bitterness and hardship can arouse the audience's resonance of ethnical emotions to satisfy the release of their anxiety over social conflicts and emotional conflicts, and comfort them emotionally and 185

psychologically. Therefore, ethnical social judgment has become an integrate part of the worldly spirit tradition with strong national characteristics. 3) The poetic style The poetic style tradition in Chinese films was formed in the 1920s. In fact, the poetic style and the worldly spirit choose similar topics. Their differences are mainly in standing points and artistic characteristics. From the standing point, they all use sources from social reality. The worldly spirit usually pays more attention to the concrete demonstration of social history, and cares the political appeal, the revolutionary character and the social judgment. On the contrary, the poetic style pays more attention to revealing the universal life problems, existence issues of human beings, people's emotions, and the emotions deeply hidden in people's mind. From artistic character, the worldly spirit pursues the realization of pragmatic social function, the interference, judgment and touching of realistic social problems, the reflection and criticism upon the current ethical rules and social phenomenon, the affirmation, celebration and praise of positive social forces. The poetic style does not necessarily pursue the ethnical judgment of realistic society, but cares more about universal human nature, emotions and fate. In the perspective of tone, the worldly spirit is usually tumultuous and aggrieved while the poetic style is usually slow and sad. The worldly spirit cares more about social functions and the poetic style cares more about individual characteristics. Sun Yu and Wu Yonggang are representative figures of the first-generation directors of the poetic style. The Dream of the Ancient Capital (1930) directed by Sun Yu told a story of the main character who climbed from the bottom of the society to the top and dropped from the top to the bottom again, and made acclamations of the fate, "the rise and fall in the official career is like a dream." Wild Flowers (1930) told a winded story between a rich young man and a flower girl, which was like The Lady of the Camellias with a bright ending. The two films are full of petty bourgeoisie taste, romantic, sentimental, sad and sorrowful. Many shots combined the imagination and the reality 186

well and reached good artistic results. Goddess (1934) by Wu Yonggang was a classical piece of the poetic style in this period. A prostitute who had to sell her body for her child, and fought with the society for her dignity. However, the society cannot tolerate her. In Goddess, the complicated human nature was well interwoven in the story. The survival and fate of the oppressed and the insulted was long reflected by the audience. It is to be pointed out that, the leading roles of the above films were all played by Ruan

Lingyu. Ruan portrayed a number of strong and beautiful Chinese women who were gentle outside and tough inside and suffered insults, yet fought persistently. Those images were noble, elegant, plain and natural. They were both charming and demure, and both glamorous and subtle. Ruan's exquisite performance gave the most direct and clear interpretation to the poetic style of Chinese films. In the 1930s to the 1940s, the fierce national struggle and domestic class struggle left

little room for the poetic style of Chinese films. Spring in a Small Town is a rare piece of the poetic style among the films in the 1940s. This great film directed by Fei Mu has long been ignored by the film circle and beyond. However, during the formation and development of the poetic style of Chinese films, Spring in a Small Town occupied an important position. It was a story about the love struggle among the heroine, her husband and her former lover, who suddenly came for a visit. In the conflicts between sense and sensitivity, between desire and morality, between ideals and reality, between freedom and responsibility, between the concept oflove and the behavior oflove were tangled and mixed and caused the pain of human nature, the puzzle of life and the awareness in existence. Though in the end, the film adopted the choice of"the affection growing out of passion but is restrained by the ritual. However, the influence over the audience will linger. The slow rhythm, the light sadness, the lingering sound runs through the whole film, which gives the audience universal feeling, experience, inspiration and reflections." In the 1950s and the 1960s, the poetic style tradition of Chinese films reached certain 187

developed in the atmosphere of "letting a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend". Films including Blessing adapted by Xia Yan and directed by Sang Gu, The Shop ofLin Family directed by Shui Hua, Story ofLiubao Village directed by Wang Ping, and films with the life of ethuic groups such Five Flowers and Third Sister Liu cannot be called as the pure poetic style films, but the exquisite images, the elegant emotional tone, the emotional expression style and the ideographic style follow the poetic style tradition. In this period, the most representative film is Early Spring by Xie Tieli. This film is

adapted from a novel of the same name written by Ruo Shi. The film kept the basic story, characters and the plot of the novel. The director brought individualistic and characteristic feeling, experience, thinking and expression into the film. In the typical scene of a water town in southern Yangtze River such as bridges, creeks, boats, lotus ponds, and willow trees, the hero struggles between the ideal and the reality, the sense and sensibility, the lust and the responsibilities, suffered from the puzzle and embarrassment brought by omnipresent and intangible pressure caused by rwnors and jealousy. It bought us shocks beyond the historical contents of the era, and caused a long-lasting stir in the audience's mind. In the 1960s and the 1970s, Chinese films cannot get rid of the constraints of the overall

cultural disciplines of the era. Though in the era of cultural autocracy, we can still feel fresh, elegant, romantic and sentimental poetic style in Sparkling Red Star by Wang Ping and Hai Xia by Xie Tieli. In the 1980s, the poetic style tradition makes developments characterized by seeking

feelings and contemplations of life and elegant, romantic temperament. Directors including Wu Yigong, Hu Bingliu, and Huang Jianzhong made an important contribution in this aspect.

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6.2 A Modern Interpretation of the Worldly Spirit: Xie Jin and His Hibiscus Town In the development of films in China after 1949, the worldly spirit combined with the social reality life, the socialist ethnical moral norms, customs and spirits, and demonstrated a new ideological level with Chinese characteristics. Xie Jin and his films well demonstrated this spiritual tradition.

( 1) Epic style, passion of the times, and ethical perspective

Strictly speaking, Xie Jin did not become famous or known for one single film. He had directed 27 films since he began to direct films independently in thel950s. Most of his films won national and international film awards and exerted wide influence in the international film circle and established a milestone in Chinese film history. Hibiscus Town was the most typical and most representative film among his films. Hibiscus Town won the Excellent Feature Film Award issued by the State Administration of Film, Radio and Television of China, Best Film for the 7th Golden Rooster Awards in 1987, Best Film for the 1Oth Hundred Flowers Awards in 1987, and the Crystal Globe Award in the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1988, the People's Award of the 28th Valladolid International Film Festival and the Spanish National Radio Audience Award, the Golden Panda Award of the 5th Montpellier FilmAward(France), the 40th Laborer's Film Festival Award (Czech), and the best foreign film critic's award issued by the Film Association of the German Democratic Republic.

1) Plot

Hu Yuyin was a young woman living in a small town in the west of Hunan Province. She was happily married and ran a successful roadside food stall selling spicy bean curd. Hu was pretty, warm, and smart and hardworking. Her food stall attracted the people of the town. However, Li Guoxiang, the manager in the state-owned grain shop across the road, felt dismayed and jealous.

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Hu and her husband Li Guigui, worked very hard and built a new house with their savings. When the house was completed, Li Mangeng, the town party secretary, Gu Yanshan, the director of the grain shop and her fellow villagers came to congratulate her. The Four Cleanups soon started in 1964. Li Guoxiang became the work-team leader due to the support from her uncle, the county party secretary. The work-team's task is to focus on class conflicts. Wang Qiushe, an idler, became a core member of the ''the land reform", because he was completely poor. Wang Qiushe turned Hu Yuyin and Li Guigui in, because he sold his land to them.

Li Guoxiang came to investigate in Hu Yuyin's home and told Hu what Wang had said about them. Li Guigui was terrified. To avoid troubles in the class conflicts, Hu Yinyin gave Li Mangeng all their savings 1500 RMB and Hu then hid herself in a relative's home. Li Mangeng and Hu Yuyin were once lovers. They could not get married because of Hu's family background. Li Mangeng once swore to protect Hu his whole life. However, the cruel class conflicts forced Lito hand in the 1500 RMB to the work team and exposed Hu Yuyin and Li Guigui. Gu Yanshan, was dismissed for selling Hu Yuyin's broken rice. Li Guigui could not take the blow and committed suicide.

When Hu Yueyin returned to Hibiscus Town, her new house was confiscated. Her husband died, and she was classified as a new rich peasant. Hu could not help crying in the graveyard in the moonlight. At that time, a ghostlike figure appeared. He was Qin Shutian, who was a rightist and the former curator of the county cultural center and was reformed in Hibiscus Town. ln 1966, the Cultural Revolution began. Li Guoxiang was criticized along Hu Yuyin,

the new rich peasant and the rightist Qian Shutian. Wang Qiushe, who was promoted by Li Guoxiang is now the town party secretary and Li Mangeng became Wang's secretary. When Wang was promoted rapidly and dreaming of becoming a high rank official, Li Guoxiang became the member of the County Reform Standing Committee 190

and the director of the Co=une Reform Committee, which made Wang regret so much. However, the speculative and unabashed Wang went into Li Guoxiang's home at night. He kneed and slapped himself to show his loyalty and won Li's favor back. Qin Shutian and Hu Yueyin were punished to be street sweepers. At first, Hu resented Qin for being a ghost and put her family in danger. Year after year, they slowly started to have feelings for each other. In the difficult years, the two twisted souls fell in love. Hu Yuyin became passionate about life again. She secretly made rice bean curd for Qin Shutian. They embraced each other tightly. Hu Yuyin was pregnant soon. The excited Qin went to apply to get married in the town. However, he was scolded by Wang Qiushe, who told them to paste white couplets on their door with words like ''two bad persons and one black couple." Gu Yanshan felt disgusted with the extreme leftist actions. However, he felt quite powerless. He drank with Li Mangeng to forget their sorrows and cursed the world after he was drunk. When Hu Yuyin and Qin Shutian were having a secret wedding, Gu Yanshan suddenly showed up to congratulate them. Hu Yuyin felt so excited that she fell upon her knees and cried happy tears. Li Guoxiang believed that the secret wedding was lawless and despised the dictatorship of the proletariat. She ordered to take them in and sentenced Qin 10 years in prison and Hu 3 years. Hu served a sentence out of prison due to her pregnancy. Before going to prison, Qin said to Hu, "You have to survive, even like an animal." Hu had a difficult labor. Gu came in time and drove her to the hospital. Hu gave birth to a boy. In order to thank Gu, Hu named the child Gujun. Hu struggled to live with her son. In 1979, the long-expected policy finally was issued. Hu was given back her house and

money. Now she wanted her husband back.

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In a boat, the newly released Qin encountered Li Guoxiang. They all aged much. Qin

said, "Get married and have a normal life. Don't think about of persecuting others every day." Qin returned to Hibiscus Town. Qin, Hu and their son finally got together after a long time. Their rice bean curd stall was as busy as before. Wang Qiushe, who was so devoted to movements, went crazy and his house collapsed. Only his gong was still there, making harsh sounds, "another movement after 7-8 years." 2) Directing style Xie Jin created and shot a series of extraordinary films with his intelligence and talents, and became one of the most extraordinary directors in China today and formed a unique and distinctive directing style. Some believe that Xie Jin is a classic example of Chinese national cinema. Some consider Xie Jin is a milestone figure in Chinese cinema. Some think Xie Jin's films are the demonstration of"Confucianism in films", which was inherited from traditional culture. Some think that Xie Jin's films lack of avant garde concepts and are the results of the over popular and kitsch "Xie Jin model". Speaking ofXie Jin, it is inevitable to mention the discussion of"Xie Jin model" which caused a stir in the film circle and the whole society in China. No matter how much the two sides or multiple sides differed in viewpoints, positions, methods, none of them denied the irreplaceable position of Xie Jin in the history of Chinese films, or denied the mature and unique directing and creation style of Xie Jin. In the film Hibiscus Town, where the shooting of the film was carried out in the heated

discussion of Xie Jin Model, we can still feel and understand the style of Xie Jin. His directing style can be summarized as "epic style, passion of the time and ethnical perspective". 192

Epic style: Xie Jin's films often break the limitations of one matter, one person and one emotion, as well as one individual. He places the characters, matters and emotion in the magnificent historical background, enlarges one individual to the greater self and enlarge individual, individuality, and special persons, matters and emotions into the whole and universal of individual, matters and emotions of the whole state, nation and group through historical time and space and achieves enormous national character. This epic style comes from Xie Jin's rich personal experiences, high sense of historical responsibility, and special creation habits and pursuits formed through a long period of time. The novel Hibiscus Town laid a solid foundation for the creation of the film. The epic style was fully demonstrated through the adaption of Xie Jin and Acheng. The development and changes of each character's emotion and fate were closely related to the 20 years of history from the beginning of the 1960s to end of the 1970s. Some characters such as Gu Yanshan have a long span of time, (the earliest time of him can be traced back to 1940s.) Xie Jin did not only use one story, one plot or one fate, but presented a panoramic picture of the society in the drastic historical reform on the screen in epic style. Therefore, the fate of woman was shown through Hu Yuyin, the fate of an intellectual through Qin Shutian, and the fate of good but weak cadres and people from Li Mangeng ... More than one character impress us, and the whole group inspires our imagination. It is the result ofXie Jin's epic style. The audience will have reflections upon Hu Ymyus, Qin Shutians, Li Guoxiangs, and Wang Qiushes. The epic style gives Xie Jin's films wide vision, broad spirit and gives audience the feeling of grandness and magnificence. Passion of the times: Xie Jin's films have long followed the changes of the era, and always focused on the newest propositions of the era and answered the newest questions of the times, and aimed to give the best contemporary answers with the passion of the 193

times. The passion of the times of Xie Jin' s films are shown in people's social and political life and demonstrated in the life status, emotion and mentality of the people or the complicated changes in the drastic social and political changes. The main characteristics of the passion of the times in Xie Jin's films before the Cultural Revolution are heated in praise and celebrations such as Red Detachment of Women. After the Cultural Revolution, the passion of the times is more inclined to be sharp and indignant lash and explosion. In Legend ofTianyun Mountain (1980) and Wreaths at

the Foot of the Mountain (1984), we can understand deeply how badly extreme leftism has devastated and oppressed the people. Those excellent films shining with critic realism appeared to be fierce and precocious at that time. However, once they were released, they caused a huge stir among the audience and can be called the strongest voice of the era. Therefore, Xie Jin's films were called the worldly spirit films with good reasons.

Hibiscus Town followed the creation train of Legend ofTianyun Mountain and Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain, and reached a new latitude in the demonstration of the passion of the era. Through a series of characters, we are able to see a more complicated and thought-provoking world than in his previous films. In this world, the honest Guigni committed suicide because of the insult. The wise Qin Shutian had to pretend to be mad to survive. The diligent and beautiful Hu Yuyin was warm and outgoing at first, and horrified and desperate. She had to endure humiliation to survive. The battle-scared Gu Jushan was loyal and devoted, but took to drinking to forget his sorrows. Li Guoxiang, the elder umnarried woman turned from jealousy to political darkness, and then emptiness and sensitiveness. The idle Wang Qiushe went from cowering and sneaking to a bully to insane ... What was happening? Why were these normal people twisted by the drastic changes of the enormous social and political changes? Xie Jin put forward those thought-provoking questions with the passion of the era. He touched the nature of the extreme ultra-leftist line vividly and deeply. At the end of the film, when Wang Qiushe beat his gong and shouted, "Movement, movement. Another movement in 7-8 years." The audience felt alarmed: Will the suffering days of the ultra-leftist line be 194

gone? No, we have to be alert, because the roots for the ultra-leftist line is still there. The epochal questions put forward in Hibiscus Town showed the high historical mission and reasonability of an artist. We are often touched by the strong epochal spirit when we play Hibiscus Town once again. The ethical perspective: Chinese culture is a mature culture, which is famous for its highly developed ethical and moral system. In our cultural tradition, the largest and most influential resource is the ethical and moral system. The ethical and moral concepts are in every area and aspect of our national life. Chinese films have learned technologies, art forms, techniques, methods and ways from western films. However, in intrinsic spirits and spiritual functions, they inevitably follow the mainstream traditional ethical and moral concepts. The ethical social criticism films are an important branch of the worldly spirit tradition of Chinese films, which is the most influential, appealing and popular tradition in Chinese history. From Orphan Saving His Grandfather by Zheng Zhengqiu in the 1920s the worldly spirit reached a peak in to Song of Fishermen and The Spring River Flows East by Cai Chusheng in 1930s and 1940s. Xie Jin inherited the tradition of his predecessors and pushed the worldly spirit, the ethical social criticism films into a new high level. The judgment of the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the true and the false and the right and wrong of the history according to the ethical and moral concepts is the basic standing point of those films. The ethical perspective was often the basic or the only perspective of those films. In Hibiscus Town, though Xie Jin gave a rich and varied perspective to the movements,

the characters and the relationships, the basic perspective through the film is still "the ethical perspective", especially in the judgment of the good and the bad as well as the right and the wrong. The distinctive ethical judgment brought the ethical perspective is very clear. The treatment of Li Guoxiang and Wang Qiushe, if analyzed calmly, while the two characters were creating tragedies to other people, they were the victim of the 195

social and political moments. However, during the expansion of the plot, little was shown in this aspect. Maybe people who experienced this kind of movements, hated characters like Li and Wang too much. Maybe Xie Jin and his fellow artists were reluctant to show sympathy to them emotionally and psychologically. Therefore, the two characters appeared to have bad morality from the beginning to the end. Some criticized Xie Jin's ethical perspective weakened the historical depth and aesthetic height of this him. This point of view is beyond reproach from the perspective of artistic criticism. However, the era of his films, the inbred appreciation and acceptance psychology of Chinese audience, as well as the society reality of China, including the emotional psychological, Xie Jin chose to adopt the ethnical perspective and use the popular ethical and moral concepts which were acceptable to most Chinese, which is also beyond reproach. In a way, it was one of the most important factors that won Xie Jin's films great social success. 3) Characters The success of Hibiscus Town also lies in the portrayal of the characters. Hibiscus Town created a series of splendid screen images and created a vivid portrait of characters. Hu Yueyin is the heroine of the film. Her experience represented the bitterness and hardship low-class women had all faced in 1960s to 1980s. The film gave her distinctive personalities. First, she has a lot of female qualities: beautiful, affectionate, candid and lovely... No wonder her rice bean curd stall always attracted so many customers, and no wonder so many men admired her. The film showed her female charm thoroughly through her relationship with various people, such as praise, flirting and slapstick. Her emotional entanglements with Li Mangeng, Li Guigui and Qin Shutian also well demonstrated this point. Secondly, she was both gentle and strong. As a gentle woman, she was terrified when she saw people were prosecuted by Li Guoxiang. When her husband committed suicide, she hardly wished to live. When she was punished to be a street sweeper, she felt desperate ... As a strong woman, she can support the family by 196

her own. She was both courageous and knowledgeable. She made through one blow after another. She fell in love with Qin Shutian in difficulties and hardships, and she was determined to give her love to him. She survived in humiliation and hardships in her pregnancy, her difficult labor and her raising her son alone. The audience can feel the unity of the opposites in her. Third, the film showed show Hu Yuyin's growth from innocent to mature. We can feel her special character in the conflicts between her ideal and the reality. As an ordinary woman in a small town, she had dreams of getting prosperity and having a happy family when she was young. However, her beautiful dreams were crushed by the cruel class conflicts and the ultra-leftist political movement. When she was in pain, she simply blamed the rightist Qin Shutian. At last, she understood that her suffering was caused by the ultra-leftist movement which confused the right and the wrong. She became a woman fighter against the oppression from an obedient and superstitious woman. The film gave Hu Yuyin various and multiple personalities, which undoubtedly increase the depth of the film. Qin Shutian was the leading male character in the film. He was different from the petty intellectuals whom we usually see in screen, stage or literature. The stereotype is overcautious, not familiar with the ways of the world, dorky and prudent. We can see some praiseworthy personalities of him. The successful portrayal of this character added special color to the images of modern Chinese films. The specialties of Qin's image lie in fighting against the mad era in a mad way, and presenting the twisted era in a twisted way. Qin often appeared to be crazy and silly on the screen. When the "bad people" were gathered, he seemed to be serious, but in fact be sarcastic. When he reported himself as "Qin Shutian, the leftist", the audience cannot help laughing, Qin can have fun even with the most ordinary job like sweeping streets. He swept in waltz steps and played with his broom to the streets. The mad appearance with sane spirit, Qin fought against the mad era in a silent way. It was also his wise survival strategy. Facing the hard time given by Li Guoxiang and Wang Qiushe, Qin Shutian, who wanted 197

to get married in a legal way, yet did not obtain permission. On the contrary, he was ordered to paste white couplets on their door. Hu Yuyin burst into tears. Their neighbor shook their heads. But Qin Shutian was very calm. He pasted carefully the white couples ''two bad people, and one black couple". Facing the insulting white couplets ordered by Wang Qiushe, Qin outwitted Wang with his own trick. No matter how bad the insult was, he felt relieved that their marriage was acknowledged. This unnatural and twisted way strongly revealed the distortion and absurdness. Qin hid his pursuit to the true, the good and the beautiful deeply in his heart. From the scene that he looked at the old photos with Hu Yuyin, we can see that he was very manly and generous. His talk to Hu Yuyin in the graveyard after Guigui's death, his care to Hu when they were sweeping the streets, his words to Hu, ''to survive, even like an animal" before he went to jail, we can see his optimistic and thorough understanding oflife. In summary, Qin's humorous, optimistic, wise and open personalities changed the week and pale image of petty intellectuals, and his acts, thoughts and expressions in a diametrically opposite way added bright color to the film. Gu Yanshan and Lin Mangeng were two typical complementary types of grassroots cadres. Gu Yanshan kept the dignity as a person and never groveled under any circumstances. Even when he could not change the era, he would uphold justice and protect innocent Hu Yuyin and her family. His military experience also added the historical sense of the film. Under the oppression of the ultra-leftism, Li Mangeng stooped to comprise and even sold his first love to protect himself and betrayed his promise. He was not able to extricate himself because of a guilty conscience. The two images well portrayed the noble and the menial, the brave and the timid. Li Guoxiang and Wang Qiushe were another pair of complementary types of figures.

They shared something in common: both of them have ''red roots". It is the reason that both of them became the main force of the movements. They habitually lived on movements. Their person lives were void and helpless. (One was an elder unmarried 198

female, and the other was a poor bachelor.) The characteristics of the two figures were: Li Guoxiang showed the double "abnormalities" bought by the twisted era as well as her personal life. Wang Qiushe had the characteristics of a poor tramp's speculation and rascality. In Li Guoxiang's mind, class was everything. Her education, her position caused her

stubborn standpoint. From her conversations with Hu Yuyin, her superiority as an "a state-owned shop manager", ''the work team leader", ''the commune revolutionary committee chairman" over a "self-employed", "new rich peasant", and "object of dictatorship." The change of her attitude towards Qian Shutian also clearly showed her position. She regarded Qin as beneath her notice at first. In the Cultural Revolution, she was criticized along with him and could not help complaining, "How can I be criticized along with a rightist?" She gave dictatorship to Qin's lawless behavior. At last, when they met, she called him "comrade". (Qin was redressed). Her relationship with Wang Qiushe was also thought-provoking. She took Wang into the work team because he was from a poor family. In the Cultural Revolution, Wang turned against her and criticized her. She boiled with anger. At last, she took Wang back. Her value outlook played a decisive role in her thoughts, emotions, and behavior. As an elder unmarried woman, she turned her jealousy, hatred and unbalance into revulsion and release against healthy people. Her torture towards Hu Yuyin also showed her dark side. Wang Qiushe, an ignorant, idle, lazy and unprincipled person, had a meteoric rise and became the party secretary for the commune. It was indeed an absurd thing in that absurd era. He was jealous of talented people, liked to sabotage and extort, and profit from other people's toil. He directly caused the tragedies ofHu Yuyin, Qin Shutian, and

Li Guigui, and put Gu Yanshan in a difficult situation. The most unbelievable as that he picked Li Guoxiang to criticize, his lifesaver in the Cultural Revolution. Once Li was back in power, he kneed to her shamelessly, cringed, and served his personal interests 199

through trickery. This clown-like figure put on one drama after another. Li Guoxiang and Wang Qiushe were two rare twisted figures among the images of contemporary Chinese cinema. On the one hand, they added fuel to the fire to the twisted era. On the other hand, they had twisted mentality and personality. We come to understand in-depth connotations deeply buried in that special and disastrous era.

(2) Interpretation of audiovisual language

Chinese films tend to adapt to the mainstream tradition of most Chinese audience in appreciation habits, aesthetic taste, dramatic stature and dramatic narration. Usually people call this kind of films as "shadow plays". Xie Jin is an expert of directing shadow plays. He skillfully used the methods of shadow plays in audiovisual language composition and completed the creation and shooting of films. Hibiscus Town is made up of the structure of a shadow play. 1) Scene design Various methods are used to demonstrate scenes with audiovisual impact in Hibiscus Town. Dramatic conflicts and suspense, characters' emotions and plot development

were brewed and accumulated through scene design. Several minutes were used in the opening of Hibiscus Town to give a panoramic instruction of the main background (time and space), main characters and main plot factors. In a group of scenes, the shots were mainly medium and close shots, which were widely used in Xie Jin's films. If the busting and rustling street of Hibiscus Town is whole, which was shown in panorama, the ends of the whole were Hu Yuyin's bean curd stall and Li Guoxiang's state-owned grain shop. What happened in the two ends completed the image of the set of scenes. 200

In Hu's bean curd stall, Hu is welcoming customers in the center of the scene. No matter

shooting from front, back or side, we can feel that the core character is Hu Yuyin and she is in complete control. From Hu, the audience get to know Li Guigui, Li Mangeng, Wang Qiushe, Qin Shutian. From their looks and expressions, we can estimate their relationships and the personalities of characters as they began to reveal themselves. From the several appearance ofQin Shutian in which he is silent and the shots ofhim are from side, we can estimate his social position and role.

Li Guoxiang's state-owned grain shop was at the other end. There were no customers and had a black background. It formed a sharp contrast with the busy bean curd stall of Hu Yuyin. Li Guoxiang was in the center of this end. We can feel her dissatisfaction and her eagerness in control from her expression, appearance and words. We get to know Gu Yanshan through her, as a simple and experienced elder who appeared on the screen. The two ends were shown in montage in parallel and contrast. The panoramic picture of the street of Hibiscus Town connected at the two ends. Moving shots especially panuing shots were used to shoot Hu' s bean curd stall while static shots were used to shoot Li's state-owned grain shop. Two different atmospheres were shown in the same big picture. The set of scenes ended with the meeting of Hu and Li. Li came to Hu's stand in commanding air and asked Hu to show the business permit. The main dramatic conflict was foreshadowed here.

The design of the set of scenes were dramatic (the foreshadowing of conflicts and suspense's), natural and smooth. The extraordinary design quickly expanded the plot and reached satisfYing artistic effects. Besides, there were other impressive scenes with strong dramatic effects. In the Cultural Revolution, Li Guoxiang were criticized together with Hu Yuyin and Qin Shutian. Hu 201

Yuyin and Qin Shutian were pasting white couplets. Wang Qiushe's house collapsed and Wang turned insane and was shouting "movement" while beating his broken tong at Hu's rice bean curd stall. 2) The contrast artistic method

One of the reasons for Xie Jin to be an expert of shadow play was because he was good at using dramatic methods to create and shoot films. As a dramatic method, contrast was used skillfully by Xie Jin.

The contrast method was mainly used in three aspects in Hibiscus Town: the contrast between characters, the contrast between scenes and the contrast between difference time and space. The contrast between characters: Contrast was used between Hu Yuyin and Li Guoxiang. One was beautiful, sentimental and capable while the other was dark, jealousy and abnormal. One was self-employed, and the other was working in a state-owned shop. One was in difficulties and misfortunes, while the other was having a successfully official career. One had an honest loving relationship and the other was looking for love. Li Guigui and Qin Shutian were Hu Yuyin's two husbands successfully. One was honest and timid, while the other was smart and brave. One was a yes-man while the other always had a way to survive. One could not take the blow and commit suicide while the other was determined to live even like an animal. Gu Yanshan and Li Mangeng were two officials. One adhered to principles, was helpful and willing to sacrifice himself for others. The other was cautious, and was afraid of risks and just wanted to protect himself. The personalities of the characters formed pairs of conflict and sharp contrast, which greatly increased the theatricality of the film.

The contrast between scenes: Apart from the dramatic contrast between the two ends in the opening scene (Hu Yuyin's rice bean curd stall and Li Guoxiang's state-owned grain shop), a number of scenes in contrast were shown in Hibiscus Town. For example, Wang 202

Qiushe went to connect with other revolutionist, when he came back to Hibiscus Town, he was warmly welcomed by the people. When Li Guoxiang was reinstated in office and got off from a car, a number of people rushed to welcome her. The scene where Li Mangeng and Gu Yashan were drinking and the scene Qin Shutian was looking after the sick Hu Yuyin appeared alternately and formed contest. While the scenes were similar in forms (such as welcoming or getting together), the meaning and the nature were different, which greatly increased the dramatic effect of the film. The contrast between different time and space. In Hibiscus Town, flashback was used in some scenes. Characters, matters and things from the past were introduced to expand the historical span of the film as well as the depth and thickness. For example, when Hu Yuyin was sick in bed, the screen showed the present time and space. When the camera was pushed for a close-up of Hu, the past flashed back, such as the happy life ofHu Yuyin and Li Guigui, especially their rousing wedding. When Gu was drunk or in hospital, the past was flashed back at the close up ofGu, in which he fought fearlessly in the battles. 3) Choice and demonstration of image In Hibiscus Town, two impressive images were used throughout the film. One was a

broom and the other was a broken tong. The broom was first in the hand of Qin Shutian. He used it every day to sweep the streets. When Hu Yuyin became a new rich peasant, she also picked a broom and sent to sweep streets together with Qin Shutian. Day after day, the two brooms were swept together. During the Cultural Revolution, Li Guoxiang was criticized and punished to sweep street. Qin Shutian gave a broom to Li Guoxiang. After Qin Shutian was sentenced, the pregnant Hu swept the sweet alone. Later Hu swept the street with her son and the broom was in the hand of Hu's son. The broom symbolized the changes of times, as well as the changes of the society as well as people's attitudes, the love of the main characters as well as the whole plot. Due to the careful design of the director, the image of broom was given rich 203

connotations. When the broom was in Hu Yuyin's hand, it looked lonely and painful. When the broom was in the hand of Qin, it danced Waltz. When Qin and Hu began to see other together, the two booms stood on the two side ofHu's door. When Hu and her son depended on each with brooms in hands, the sound of the brooms was slow but determined and forceful. The broken tong was an important instrument for Wang Qiushe, as well as the barometer for the era. When Wang Qiushe was a reporter who was ordered by other people, the sound of his tong was timid and dull. When Wang was promoted by Li Guoxiang, his tong became louder and louder. When Wang Qiushe fell from power at last, the sound of his tong was broken. The broken tong was connected to Wang Qiushe, as well as movements. After watching this film, many audience could not forget the broken tong ofWang and his shouting ''movement." The enormous success of Hibiscus Town also benefited from the excellent performance of first class actors and actresses. Liu Xiaoqing, Jiang Wen, Xu Songzi and others interpreted their characters precisely, subtly and with layers based on their in-depth life experience, which helped the film to reach a higher level.

6.3 A Classical Interpretation of "Poetic Style" -- Wu Yigong and An Old Story

in Southern Beijing

The poetic style of Chinese films survived in the fierce national struggle and class struggle. In the 1980s, the good political and cultural atmosphere provided rare creation space for the exploration of film artists. The poetic style traditional obtained new development. An Old Story in Southern Beijing is a classical film which can best illustrate the poetic style in this period.

(1) A representative film of the poetic style in 1980s

An Old Story in Southern Beijing was filmed from 1981 to 1982. It was adapted from a 204

novel of the same name written by Lin Haiyin. The unique connotation, style and artistic exploration of the film has left a deep mark in the history of Chinese films and become a representative piece of Chinese films in the world. An Old Story in Southern Beijing has won the best director in the third Golden Rooster Award in 1983, the best film in the second Manila International Film Award and the Second Equator Prize in the 1Oth Quito (Ecuador) International Film Festival.

1) The story of the film

An Old Story in Southern Beijing shows the society and life in Beijing in the 1920s through the eyes of a 6-year old girl, in other words, episodes ofYmgzi's childhood. The film is composed by three parts which are the gathering and parting ofYangzi and Xiuzhen as well as Niuer, Yingzi and the thief and Ymgzi and Amah Song. In the first part, Ymgzi encountered a mad woman named Xiuzhen, whose husband was a college student. He was arrested by the authorities due to participation in the revolutionary activities and never came back. Xiaoguizi, their child, was treated as a bastard since he was born and sent to the city wall for adoption. Xiuzhen thus went mad. Yingzi got to know that Xiuzhen was still looking for her child.

Niuer was a playmate ofYmgzi, who was forced to learn opera by her father. She was often beaten. Once Niuer told Ymgzi that she was adopted and wanted to look for her birth parents. Yingzi saw the blue marks in Niner's neck and sensed that Niuer had the same mark as Xiaoguizi. Ymgzi took Niuer to Xiuzhen's home. The exciting Xiuzhen took Niuer as her child. The two took their suitcase and went to the railway station. They wanted to take a train to find Xiaozhuzi's father. Xiuzhen and Niuer disappeared in a train in the misty night. Yingzi moved to a new home in Xinlianzi lane and kept hearing stories about a thief nearby. Once, she ran into a young girl in the grass. The curious Ymgzi made friends with him and heard vague words and stories. Ymgzi later saw him attend his brother's 205

graduation ceremony. Once when hanging out with him, she took a vessel which he hid in the grass and found by the adults. Soon the police came and arrested him. People were all happy about the thief was caught. Ymgzi sent another friend away in surprise. Amah Song was a maid in Yingzi's home. She was born in a very poor family and worked as a maid to support her husband and her son. After working in Yingzi's home for several years, Amah Song got to know that her son died of a disease several years ago and her daughter was sold by her husband. Yingzi' s father is both kind and strict. He was a professor in a university. He often received students who were engaged in revolutionary activities. He died oflung disease. After her father's death, her whole family left Beijing.

The last scene in the film, Yingzi, her mother and her brother went to sweep her father's tomb. In the cold wind in autumn, they took a carriage and left Beijing. Amah Song and her husband rode on a donkey and took the opposite side and went back to her village. In tears, Yingzi and Amah watched each other disappeared in the winding road strewn

with red leaves.

2) Style of the film Wu Yigong is very clear and conscious about the style of the film. He used the words "subtle sadness and deep yearning" to describe the tone of the whole film.

The subtle sadness was shown in stories where Yingzi got to know people around her and parted with them. Yingzi 's encounter with those friends added many interesting and meaningful parts to her simple and naive childhood. The different tragic life of her friends surprised and puzzled her. Her friends left her one by one though she did not want to part which added many sorrows and heartache. Other directors may treat the same stories with a strong tragic and strong emotional style. However, Wu Yigong focused on the sadness but transmit the tension in a subtle way at the tragic conflicts 206

and emotional breaking points. The end of the three parts could be handled with strong dramatic effects (the parting scenes ofYangzi and three of her friends) was unfolded in a slow and calm tone. The deep yearning refers to the rational thinking of the film towards social life, which was based on the author's strong homesickness as well as the director's philosophical thinking towards the changing world. The yearning for her hometown, her childhood, for her departed friends was shown to the audience through the eyes of little Yingzi. The yearning was not strong or exciting but in depth, which is deeply in Yingzi's heart. The different lives ofYingzi's friend in the three episodes including the mad woman, the thief and Amah Song helped us understand the true life situation of the people of the era. Though the film did not depict the revolution, poverty and the pains of life directly, the audience could deeply feel and relate those through the lives ofYingzi's friends. The ideas also accompanied Yingzi's growth, which was deeply shown in Yingzi's continuously seeking answers. Wu Yigong once made a concrete description of the style of the film, and thought it should be "a slow creek, sad but not angry. One leave fell on the surface of the water. When the water flows down, and the leave was blocked by a tree stump or accumulated waterweeds. But the creek carries it forward. The leave ran into a small whirlpool. The leave was turned in the water and but fmally carried down by the creek."

18

Both "the

subtle sadness" and the "deep yearning" aimed for the natural and smooth effect.

3) A classic film of the poetic style

In the history of over I 00 years, Chinese films inherited excellent traditions of Chinese

art and culture and formed two traditions which are the worldly spirit and the poetic style. The worldly spirit aims to describe, represent, and criticize social life. The poetic style aims to present, realize the universal life experience. The films with the worldly " Wu Yigong. The Expiation of the Director for An Old Story in Southern Beijing. materials for An Old Story in Southern Beijing. editored by the Art Thory Department of China Film Association.

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spirit base on the real life while the films with the poetic style aim to express eternity. To categorize Chinse films into the two categories is merely for the convenience of the theoretical illustration. In fact, nearly all the outstanding Chinese films have both the character and the pursuit of the worldly spirit and the poetic style. A number of films can be considered as the classic pieces of the poetic style. In the 1930s, there were films made by Sun Yu and Wu Yonggang, such as Goddess. In the 1940s, there were films made by Fu Mu, such as Spring in a Small Town. In the 1950s and the 1960s, there were films made by Xie Tieli such as February. In the 1980s, the most important film of the poetic style was An Old Story in Southern Beijing, which has strong national characteristics and the spirit of the times. 1) Demonstration of national characteristics The film has fully demonstration national characteristics in the spiritual and artistic realm. The spiritual realm. "Parting" or "the grief of parting" has long been a prototype and the motif in Chinese literature and art tradition, which have been sung and expressed by writers and artists in the past hundreds of years. The theme is sometimes connected with the rise and fall of the country. Sometimes the theme is connected with the rise and fall of a family or the rise and fall of a person. More often it is the feeling between families or friends at parting. This feeling, experience, emotion and thought have become a unique type in the national spiritual realm. This them is closely connected with the agricultural civilization of the ancient nation, the agricultural social structure and the changes of the ancient nation and the changes of dynasties, and the national cultural psychological structure and the national cultural character structure forged accordingly. Therefore, the demonstration of the parting and the sorrow of parting in the film An Old Story in Southern Beijing has become a spiritual realm with national characteristics and can easily arouse the response from the rich emotional psychological accumulation. 208

Artistic realm. The pursuit of the artistic state is a sign of unique symbol of Chinese art and culture tradition. The composition of the artistic state is unlike western artistic and cultural tradition which separates natural landscape and humanistic feelings, and the objective scenery and the subjective feeling, but combines sense and reason, and the subject and the object. It gives strong subject personal characteristics and emotional characteristics to the objective and natural scenery, objects and landscape, and infuse subjective emotion, experience, though into the objective scenery, objects and landscape. The tone of An Old Story in Southern Beijing is "subtle sadness and deep yearning". The concrete emotions are the feeling for the time fleeting by, the feeling of looking back with nostalgia and the feelings against the ever-changing life. Those emotions are infused in the well store, the camel team, the ruins, the wild grassland, the playground, the red leaves in the hills, the rugged mountain roads, which greatly enhanced the thoughts, emotion and the artistic demonstration of the film. 2) The infiltration of the atmosphere of the times Though the films with the poetic style may not stand on the realistic social life, nor directly demonstrate the indication and attitude towards the society, but pursue the demonstration and revelation of universal and eternal human nature. Those films cannot escape from the traces and prints of certain times. The film An Old Story in Southern

Beijing also shows the characteristics of China in 1980s, both in ideological implication and artistic expression. Ideological implication. Why An Old Story in Southern Beijing was filmed in the

beginning of 1980s? It seems to be an accident, but in fact follows the trend of the era, which is represented by scar literature. It focuses on the reflection and recollection of the tragic experiences, matters and phenomenon bought by the great turmoil and the calling and pursuit of the true, the good and the beautiful. An Old Story in Southern

Beijing precisely followed the ideological trend of the time. Artistic expression. The creation and filming of An Old Story in Southern Beijing was 209

in the trend of the times to set wrong things right and call for creation and modernization. The artistic exploration in this film by Wu Yigong fully demonstrated the artistic creation of filmmakers at that time. An Old Story in Southern Beijing has made various achievements in different aspects. From the method of artistic expression in films, it typically showed the latest exploration about the narrative language of films in the beginning of 1980s, which moved from the dramatic montage to the use of long take to present a closer look to life. For example, a long take of 122.8 inches was used in An Old Story in Southern Beijing to show that Yingzi in the carriage, looking at the world

she was soon to part away. This method of expression has become the most characteristic exploration of Chinese films in 1980s, and greatly affected the creation and filming of Chinese films. (2) lllustration to the audiovisual language An Old Story in Southern Beijing have made original exploration in the selection and

creation of images, the design and use of music and sound, and the use of artistic repetition. 1) The choice and creation of the screen images The screen images refer to people, sceneries, articles, which can arouse the audience's imagination, evoke an ambiance, and express certain thoughts, emotions and feelings. These images can be ordinary people, sceneries and articles. However, once they are filmed, they are given certain emotions, thoughts and feelings. Some images are open to different interpretations by different people. The images in An Old Story in Southern Beijing are enriched, and have strong artistic demonstration and artistic appeal. People as images. The most memorable image in the films is the eyes ofYingzi. Her eyes play an irreplaceable role in identifying the perspective of the film, construct the 210

episodes of the film. The rich connotations accumulated in the eyes are noteworthy. The pair of eyes demonstrated the innocence and purity of the little girl, as well as her honesty and kindness, her sharpness and smartness, as well as her sorrow and thoughtfulness ... The thoughts, emotions and feelings in the film are expressed by her eyes directly or indirectly. The successful selection and creation ofYingzi's eyes as an image is one of the most important reasons why the film is such as success. The wrinkles of Songma have also appeared in various scenes through different angles and locations. The audience can feel the honesty and good-heartedness as well as the misery, difficulties, hardships and sadness of a laborer of the lower class at the era. Scenes as images. In order to demonstrate old Peking in 1920s, and create the feelings of nostalgia and memories, the creators of the film racked their brains to build scenes such as the old well shop, the Marco Polo Bridge etc. Among them, the old well, the school's playground, the grassland where the they hid, and the mountain roads covered by maple leaves are most impressive. Articles as images. Similar to the scenes in the films, articles such as camels, crows, chickens, swings, rainy nights, trains, donkeys, and water wheels, which appear in the original novel, now appear in the film after recreation and become intertwined with the activities, emotions, thoughts of the characters in the film. Those images can arouse the audience's imagination and association in one's mind, so that they will think of the past and reflect upon the truthfulness of the life. 2) The design and use of sound and music The design and usage of sound and music has also made outstanding achievements. Wu Yigong's father was a disciple of Li Shutong, a famous scholar. When Wu started to shoot An Old Story of Southern Beijing, his father read him many popular songs in schools of that era written by Li Shutong. Those songs inspired Wu very much. He rewrote the play script with stage directions. Lv Qiming designed the sound and music 211

of the film based on the new play script.

The theme music of the film uses a famous song named Farewell written by Li Shutong as the theme music for the film. The beautiful lyrics go like this "On the ancient road by the Farewell Pavilion, green grass stretches far into the sky. With willow trees in evening wind and sounds of a staccato flute, the setting sun silhouettes layers of hills. In the far distant quarters of heaven and earth, half of my friends are gone. With a cup of turbid wine to swallow my retirement, I wait for a chilly farewell dream tonight. The lyrics are intertwined with the melancholic melody. The song appeared in the film various times which slowly bought the sorrow of farewell to the climax and achieved amazing artistic results.

The exquisite design of the sound in the film is spoken highly by the insiders. Next to the old well, the sound of the flowing water, the twittering of crows, the bustle of hawkers, and the bell sound of the camels are mixed together, which presented the unique atmosphere of old Beijing in the 1920s. In the playground of the school, the ringing of the bell, the rollick of children rushing out of the school, and the music of the song Farewell brought the feeling of reflection and longing to the extreme. In the scene where the mad woman Xiuzhen took Niuer as her daughter, and took her to hurry to the railway station, a train was roaring down with thick white steam. The subtle music, the roaring train, the shouting ofXiuzhen and Niuer, the crying ofYmgzi and the sound of the train and the thunder are all mixed together which implied the tragic end in a striking way.

3) The use of artistic repetition

Artistic repetition is a technique often used in the artistic creation, which means the repetition of some artistic elements such as language, melody, notes, lines, body movements, color in the same piece of artistic work. The use of artistic repetition might be very difficult in films, which interrogate various art forms. Instead of facilitating the development the film, and strengthening the expressiveness of the film, it may cause 212

the slippage of the rhythm, the slow movement, the tediousness and the audience might feel bored or tired. The artistic repetition in An Old Story of Southern Beijing was not only necessary, but also a most valuable part of the artistic exploration.

Artistic repetition of the overall structure. The film is composed of three episodes. To the completeness of the film, the film focuses on the theme of farewell. Each episode narrates, expresses and unfolds as the method of "gathering and leaving". After Xiuzhen and Ymgzi took Niuer to Xiuzhen's home, Xiuzhen and Niuer (Xiao Guizi) left Ymgzi. The thief met Yingzi in the grassland and became friends. They often hanged out. At last, the thief was taken by the detective and left Yingzi. Songma lived together with Yingzi and was like a family to her. At least, she had to bid farewell to Yingzi with tears. "Gathering and farewell" becomes the artistic repetition of the narration method of the whole structure, which unfolds and deepens farewell step by step and forms a unified and complete artistic characteristic for the whole film. Artistic repetition in screen language. The image ofYingzi's eyes is shown through different angles and different locations. Yingzi's eyes have become the most powerful image language which is repeatedly used in the film. The water flowing slowly from the well along the camels, along the peddlers in the streets creates the sense of days going by and the changing of worldly affairs. Fetching water from the well and the after-school times in the playground also appear several times. Every time the scenes accompany Yangzi to go through an incident in her life, such as saying goodbye to an old friend or making a new friend, or leaving her old home or moving into her new home, or some family incidents such as the death of her father. This kind of repetition helps the transition of artistic demonstration.

Artistic repetition of the sound language. Farewell Song appears in the film several times, at the beginning, in the middle and in the end through various forms. Apart from forming a structure, repetition can bring the accumulation of feelings and emotions and 213

brining increasing impact on people's emotional and psychological world. Farwell Song was popular in schools in China in the 1920s. After the screening of An Old Story of Southern Beijing, Farewell Song became popular again and was sung widely. With the artistic repetition of Farewell Song, An Old Story of Southern Beijing has obtained un unique charm. The artistic repetition of the song also gave new life to the old song in a new era. A textbook article "Let's go to the Ocean" was also recited by Yingzi many times in the film. "Let's go to the ocean. Let's go to the ocean. White sails are floating in the blue ocean. The golden sun rising above the ocean shines over the boat. Let's go to the ocean ... " The child's voice carries the reflection of the creators upon the past, the childhood and the bygones, which will resonate the audience. Artistic repetition of rhythm. The film uses quite a number oflong shots and long pauses. When the film develops into a state of mood or the end of an episode, long shots and long pauses are often used to pursue the combination of the movement and the motionlessness, the hotness and the coldness, the tension and the relaxation which can bring a special artistic tension. The shots where Yingzi was lying in bed and meditating and Songma was staring blankly in the kitchen after she heard that her child died are all big pauses and long shots. In the film, the shots ofYmgzi staring with others appear many times, such as Ymgzi and Xiuzhen (talking about Xiaoguizi), Ymgzi and the thief (when the thief was taken away), Yingzi and her father (at her fahter's sickbed, Ymgzi and Songma (at the parting scene in the end of the film), are lengthened and given bigger pause. Every time when long shots and big pauses are adopted, the speed of the camera moving, and the length of the shots are similar which form a varied and unified rhythm of the whole film. The repetition of the unified rhythm created the artistic lingering effect. 4) Perspectives and the demonstration In order to achieve a unified artistic effect, the perspective of the film is the eyes of Yingzi. All the things happened are through the eyes ofYmgzi. All the shots are the 214

subjective shots of Yingzi. What Yingzi sees, hears, thinks can all be shown on the screen. To make the perspective follow the life logic as well as the emotional logic, a low perspective shooting was used in the shooting of the film. What can be seen by Yingzi was shown. What cannot be seen or thought by Yingzi was not shown. The unique perspective is another important factor for the success of the film.

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Chapter 7 The Evolution of China's Television Concepts Television concepts are deeply rooted in television culture, which are also core concepts of television culture. The description of television concepts is also a discussion of the nature of television culture. This chapter will tell the evolution of China's television concepts, and reveal the nature of Chinese television culture.

7.1 Background: Two Phases in the Development of China's Television

Television industry started in China in 1958 and has gone through 2 main phases since then. The first phase is the basic development phase from 1958 to 1978. First, from the system of mass communication, television as a communication media, merely used the video form to reproduce the information which had already appeared in radio, newspaper or magazines. At that time, television was dependent on radio, newspaper, magazine and news agencies. It had not formed its own broadcasting characteristics and forms. In other words, the independence of television in China had not been demonstrated at that time. During the 20 years, various aspects of television were in the exploratory stage, such as the talents development, the equipment development, the technology development or the transmission system construction etc., which were related to the size as well as the communicative effects of the television industry at that time. It was a necessary phase. From the perspective of the artistic system, traditional art forms such as drama, film, music, dance and painting were relevantly mature and had formed artistic characteristics of each own. Television merely reproduced those art forms through TV screen by the way of videos, such as the broadcasting of evening shows, concerts, drama and opera performance or stage plays. The kind ofbroadcasting was live broadcast. Due to the lack of ENG equipment, the television broadcast was ouly a one-time activity. If the show needed to be broadcast the next day, it needed to be performed again. The number of television sets was also very limited in China at that time. Statistics showed that there were only 50 television sets in China. In 1978, the number was less than 10,000. Therefore, no matter the information broadcasting or 216

the artistic broadcasting, the television industry bad not formed its own independent forms for characteristics. In the eyes of the audience, television did not stand for any particular image. However, in the meantime, with the increasing coverage of transmission network and the establishment of television stations, the number of television professionals bad increased. This 20-year period can be called the basic construction period. The reform and opening up which started in 1978 brought new opportunities to the television industry. From 1978 to 1984, the position of television became more and more important. In 1984, the Ministry of Radio and Television was established, while the film industry was under the administration of Ministry of Culture. Since then, the television industry entered the second phase, which was the ontology construction. The position of television rose rapidly.

After 1978, ENG equipment was brought into China and solved the problem of the synchronization of sound and picture. Video tapes also appeared. In the past, the news program on TV was not live broadcast in the real sense or can only be called primitive live broadcast. At that time, at each the live broadcast, TV hosts would first memorize the script. The live broadcast at that time was as difficult as fighting a war. In the past, people had to record the images of TV programs first and then the sound and integrate the two. With ENG equipment, making TV programs became much easier. hnages and sound can be recorded at the same time. TV programs can be produced and storage in large quantities. The broadcasting of TV shows is no longer limited by time and space and recorded broadcast became possible. Solving this problem was a big step for the development of the television industry in China, which greatly enhanced the productivity of TV programs. Meanwhile, the increasing purchasing power of Chinese customers enabled the popularity of television. Television has become a communication form as well as an art form familiar and acceptable to the audience. In fact, the television industry was forced to become independent like other art forms. 217

In the past, television can depend on the film industry to provide films for broadcasting.

With the increasing coverage of television and the increasing communication power of television, especially after the first advertisement, which was about alcohol was broadcast in Shanghai, television can make money, the film industry, the drama circle and the news agencies were no longer willing to provide information or programs for television. Therefore, to produce TV dramas, TV feature programs, and documentaries became an urgent matter. The process went from consciously to unconsciously. From the 1980s, the television industry in China has entered the phase of ontology construction.

7.2 The Ontology Construction ofthe Television Industry in China

After entering the ontology construction period, the television industry in China experienced an evolution from programs, to fixed programs and channels in terms of subjective forms; and the evolution from program makers to producers to creators. In the 1980s, the television industry in China focused on the construction of programs

with the program makers as the core. In the 1990s, the television industry in China focused on the construction of fixed

programs with the producers as the core. In the beginning of the 21st century, the television industry in China is focusing on

channel construction with planners as the core.

( 1) External factors and internal driving forces to the television industry in China in the 1980s

First, around 1980, provincial television stations sprung up in China. In 1983, Wu Lengxi, Minister of the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television put forward the concept of ''television stations at 4 levels" in a national radio and television work conference, 218

which extended the coverage of television stations to the county level. In the past, many places cannot receive TV signals, which had to be transferred by microwaves. The measure of television stations at 4 levels solved the coverage problems. At the beginning, countries set up television stations to broadcast information released by the central government. However, during the construction process, leaders at different levels realized the advantages of local television stations, and thus had the impetus to invest and establish local TV stations. These TV station not only broadcast the information from the central government, but also made their own programs. In 1980s, TV developed rapidly. It is safe to say that TV industry was one of most fast-growing sectors in China. TV industry not only became an important part of social life, but also a productive force, even a very important new source of economic growth in China. Besides, in the 1980s, facing the fast-growing TV industry, people often wondered what TV was. No one seemed to have answer for it. Therefore, people wanted to learn. What should they learn from? TV shared great similarities with films. Therefore, TV professionals began to learn from films. They followed the mode, the production method and the cutting method of films and used the terminology and the concepts of films as well as the aesthetics of films to guide the production of TV programs. At that time or even today, film is an artistic creation. A good director means a good film, and a big star might be able to bring a good film. Therefore, the cooperation among a good screenwriter, a good director and a good actor might accomplish a good film. The mode doesn't always work, but works most of the time. It means that the productivity, and the quality of a film depends on filmmakers. In the 1980s, the situation was similar in TV industry in China. If a TV station had excellent writers and directors, it might stand out among national TV media. Therefore, all the TV stations competed for production talents. Education for TV industry also aimed to meet and satisfy this kind of needs. What kind of talents did TV industry need urgently? A number of operational personnel such as TV hosts, writers, editors, news journalists, TV directors, and TV cameramen. The college education for TV industry also aimed to meet these demands. In the 1980s, the main esthetic principles or creation principles in TV were based on films. The 219

understanding of TV by TV professional or the whole society was to make programs. Therefore, the competition depended on the opportunities, level and ability of program makers. (2) Main characteristics of the TV industry in China in the 1990s

With the enhancement of the industrialization level of the TV industry as well as the increasing interactions between TV professionals in China and the world, people began to consider TV more than as an art form, but as a co=unication medium. What was competitiveness in TV industry? To spend millions to make a great program to prove your ability was a symbol of pride for a TV station in the 1980s. In the 1990s, professionals realized this method costed more than the gains. Even if there were a few high-level writers and editors, you might still lose in the competition. The level of survival and development of a TV station was not only decided by the level of a few writers and producers, but by the operation level of the renowned fixed programs in your station. If a TV station had one or more renowned fixed TV programs, the TV station may receive a large amount of advertisement income. If the income can be invested in the programs you wanted to invest, you might be able to win in the competition. If the 1980s can be called the era of the program makers, or the era of competition among program writers, directors or makers, the 1990s can be called the era of producers, who led a production team. If there were a few excellent producers including producers for TV drama, TV films, and TV programs, who did not only have knowledge of art, but also of economics and operation, they might able to seize opportunities and bring both social benefits and economic benefits. Under those circumstances can a TV station stand out. Since the competition in the 1990s was mainly a competition over producers, we can call this period the era of producers. (3) Leading force and major trends in the TV industry

Personally, I think after the 1990s, the TV industry in China will enter an era of planners. It is co=on to see similar programs in different TV stations, which wasted valuable 220

channel resources. After a program becomes famous in one TV station, other TV stations will start to make similar programs. It shows that Chinese TV programs lack in planning resources and original ideas. This problem cannot be solved by a producer, even a producer with artistic and economic talents. It needs a wise brain. A wise brain can integrate political, economic and cultural operation and make prompt judgments, and put forward operational plans. A wise brain is a planner. In the end of 1990s, professionals in the TV industry felt that every TV station and every channel needs planners. I can say that the future is the era of creators. If a TV station or a channel can have a few excellent creators, who are familiar with both social operation and TV industry, it can greatly enhance its competitiveness. In summary, I think the ontology construction of the TV industry in China can be

summarized as the process from the construction of programs to the construction of fixed programs and the construction of channels and from the era of program makers to the era of producers and the era of planners

7.3 The Evolution of Chinese TV Programs in the 1980s and the 1990s

From the 1980s to the 1990s, it was an era of TV feature programs, variety shows and TV dramas since great changes took place in the society, after the reform and opening, there were a lot of matters to be expressed in various sectors. TV programs can be used to express them and they were mainly expressed via TV specials. Therefore, TV specials with definite themes, complete concept and specific purposes were the main body in the television screen. Since 1983, evening entertainment shows have appeared in the TV industry in China such as CCTV New Year's Gala. Therefore, evening entertainment shows became the main focus of TV aesthetic consumption in China from 1980s to 1990s. Therefore, Ni Ping can be seen as Chinese TV in miniature from the 1980s to the 1990s. Why Ni Ping was no longer in the middle and later the 1990s? The reasons were personal as well as impersonal, mainly due to the decline of the type of TV programs represented by her. 221

The audience had new interests. In the 1980s and the 1990s, there was a need for her and the evening entertainment shows. The whole society was developing rapidly. People need to watch something pleasant, something which can represent traditional culture as well as meet the aesthetic taste of modern people. The form of evening entertainment shows can meet the demands. At that time, people started to live in apartments instead of warrens. People saw each other less and watched TV more. Besides, in some cities, fireworks were not allowed to be played and no temple fairs were held during the Spring Festival. Under those circumstances, spring festival galas or evening entertainment shows compensate people's needs for ceremonies. People like

to have group experience. When they lived in warrens, they often chatted and visited each other and had less time to watch evening galas. Once their lifestyles were changed and they began to live in apartments, evening galas can satisfy their psychological needs. There were a lot of people in evening galas and various performances. Therefore, evening galas became the most popular communication form and art form in the TV industry in China. In the 1980s, the development of TV dramas was no less significant. The productivity

of films was declining, and the low cost of TV drama production made mass production possible. For example, Three Kingdoms had 84 episodes and The Dream of Red

Mansion had 37 episodes. When many episodes were shot, the cost was relatively less. Besides, post development can bring new benefits. For example, film and television bass can bring tourist income. Therefore, the production of TV dramas increased rapidly. People could not watch films at home and it was inconvenient for them to watch films in the cinema all the time. Therefore, TV dramas slowly replaced the position of films. Though crudely made, some good TV dramas were produced. Slowly, TV dramas also formed their own characteristics. Therefore, in the 1980s, it was an era of producers which was shown in TV dramas, variety shows and TV specials. In the beginning of the 1990s, people noticed drastic changes in television, especially

in news. The 1980s was the beginning of the reform and opening in China. In the 1990s, 222

in a sense, it was a period of development or social transition. Especially in the end of the 1980s, and the beginning of the 1990s, there were drastic changes in the international society, which made social culture composition and social life mode more complicated both nationally and internationally. Under the complicated situation, people felt the needs for something practical and real. In China, the planning mechanism was slowly transformed into the market mechanism. In developed areas, market economy had occupied a larger share. However, in the backward areas, there were no signs of market economy. People began to feel the pain in the adjustment from the planning mechanism to the market economy. People were not in the mood for entertainment or fun. What they needed most was emotional release and answers. People felt angry and needed to release their anger through TV programs. People were puzzled, and they needed TV programs which can give them answers. Therefore, a large quantity of news programs was needed, especially in-depth reports. The appearance of Focus Report was a climax. Focus Report grew out of a program named Observation and Reflection, which was started in the beginning of the 1980s.

Observation and Reflection had certain influence and went through ups and downs. Focus Report found a way, which can be sununarized as what leaders cared about, people concerned and universally existed in the society. Those words were hard-earned experience of Chinese characteristics and of great value, which contained great wisdom of publicity including timing, scale and propriety. The reform in TV news program brought new demands. The audience put forward high demands on the timeliness, intuitiveness, and pragmatism. Under those circumstances, the whole concept of television changed greatly during the ontology construction period in the 1990s. The growth speed of television in the 1990s exceeded was unprecedented in China.

7.4 Evolution of Five Concepts of Chinese Television in the 1990s

In my opinion, in the 1990s, Chinese television mainly experienced the evolution of

five new concepts. 223

The first new concept was the documentary concept in television. The technical issues were solved for TV recording in the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, and the appearance of ENG equipment made the integrated recording of sound and image possible. However, people's concepts of television were limited to the old specials which were antecedence of themes and image plus voiceover. This type was a dominant form in the beginuing of the 1980s. The presentation of social life through this mode was processed with strong prescriptive nature and subjective orientation. Under extreme circumstances, this mode might present a false appearance of the reality. This mode was no longer popular in the 1990s. In this practical environment, people call for a new mode of TV programs. After 1985, the screening and communication of Sino-Japan documentaries were held seven times. During the communication between documentaries of the two countries, TV professionals discovered a new mode of documentary, which was the way of documenting.

What is TV documentary? It has a few characteristics. First, antecedence of themes became post themes. During the recording and the film of the life status, no themes were set in advance. Themes were concluded during the process of the following life.

It was no need to point out themes and the audience will feel the theme. This characteristic was a huge requirement on the theme during creation. The second characteristic was making tracks. The following shooting was contrary to posing. In the past, posing was often used in making TV specials. The audience often watch the main character walking from background to foreground. A professional would recognize the posing immediately. This method is fine in films. However, when applied in television, it looked fictional. The true TV documentary can follow the characteristics. You cannot change him, manipulate him, but still follow the nature course of life and show the utmost respect for life. The third characteristic was to catch the unpredictable details in life, even those with suspense. The unpredictable details are not completely unpredictable. Though the documentary is to keep tracks oflife instead of changing the flow of life, it does not mean that no imagination should be used. The directors and creators of the programs should use their life experience to predict possible results. 224

Sometimes, some results are completely out of expectation. Those details should be caught and often become the truest and powerful details in life. The reason for doing this is to arouse the audience's expectation and achieve a good viewing result. The fourth characteristic is to keep a relative complete life episode or life flow, which should not be cut randomly. In a complete documentary, there are should be at least one or two complete and uninterrupted life low. The traditional montage method was to cut. However, the documentary television programs tend to use more long shots. Following this new requirement, documentary television has demonstrated two technical characteristics. First, the use of long shots. Long shots can record a relative complete episode oflife instead of randomly cutting. Second, actnal recording. Actnal recording refers to the record of the voices of the characters as well as the sound of the environment. A representative piece of TV documentary television series was Odyssey of the Great Wall, the successful production of which marked a new phase for television

documentary series in China. Documentary has become a popular concept among TV professionals in China, which was even called "documentary doctrine". From then on, the ontology construction of television also entered a new phase of great development. This transition also began to influence other media and art forms. For example, the documentary play appeared in stage, documentary reports appeared in newspapers and documentary style even influenced TV documentaries. Though they were needed by the society, the influence of television should not be underestimated. The documentary concept in television was significant, one of the striking contributions was to facilitate the growth of a large number of TV documentaries. After the 1990s, Chinese TV documentaries began to win international awards, including Families in North Tibet and Home by Sichuan TV Station, Stories behind Murals by Shandong TV, Dexing Fang and Crossroads by Shanghai TV. In the late 1990s, we saw the profound

impact of documentary doctrine from two representative documentaries Deng Xiaoping and Stories ofHong Kong. Though termed as traditional political documentaries, Deng 225

Xiaoping and Stories of Hong Kong demonstrate strong documentary characteristics. The Military Department of CCTV, The International Documentary Department of Shanghai TV, Shandong TV, Sichuan TV, Zhejiang TV are outstanding TV stations in making TV documentaries. The production mode of such programs is best shown in "Life Space" of Oriental Horizon. The shooting of Life Space follows the way of the television documentary, the concept of which was a new concept appeared in the 1990s. The second new concept: the concept of fixed programs. The broadcasting of Oriental

Horizon on May 1•t, 1993 by CCTV symbolized that TV in China entered the phase of fixed programs. Fixed programs mean the programs should have unified symbols, unified time slots, unified edition and unified connection, and unified style and formed stable norms. Before the appearance of fixed programs, the broadcasting and the production of Chinese TV programs were often decided by individual will. For example, if a producer had personal interests or his boss gave him an assignment, he would produce a certain program. What does fixed programs mean? Regardless of orders from the upper level or personal interests, the structure, the style of the edition, the production and the music of an episode of a fixed program will remain unified. For example, if you watch Oriental Horizon at 7 am, the first part would be "Children ofOrientaf', and the second part would be "Life Space" or "Music TV", the third part would be "Oriental

Reports". The relatively stable production and broadcasting will have at least two results. First, it would make a number of relatively well-known journalists, directors, hosts and producers. Before the appearance of fixed programs, we might wonder what was going to be shown today. However, fixed programs will appear regularly on a certain time. Especially for daily fixed problems such as Oriental Space which appears several times on several channels in one day, Bai Yansong, the host appears every day. He appears even more often than national leaders. Here comes the celebrity effect. If a channel has a celebrity team, it will have benefits. If you see those names and the faces every day, you will know the producers, the directors, the hosts, the journalists of

Oriental Horizon. The celebrity effect will bring enormous social benefits and economic benefits. The second result, it would cultivate a stable audience. Watching it 226

at a certain time will become a habit. In fact, what fixed programs bought was a big enhancement of social benefits and economic benefits, and method needed in modem TV broadcasting. One of the strategies to gain successful for a channel was to promote its own programs. The third new concept is the concept of TV talk shows. The launching of Tell It Like It Is on March 16, 1996 represented the rise of TV talk shows. All channels tried to copy

this production and broadcast method. Talk show is a mainstream television program genre in western television, which dominates 60-70% of all western TV programs. Talk shows demonstrate true value of media because it can realize direct participation and co=unication from audience. Talk shows in fact are extension of personal co=unication in media. Questions will be put forward based on the audience's interests, or on the predictions of the audience's needs to invite the audience or representatives of the audience to conduct a dialogue. Documentaries and fixed programs only achieved openness to a certain degree. Talks shows are more open. The participation of the audience is quite limited in documentaries and fixed programs. However, in talk shows, there are much less restrictions. For example, Behind the Headlines by Hong Kong Phoenix TY, only has an opening but the end is unpredictable,

which fully demonstrates the openness of talk shows. If documentaries have achieved the partial unpredictability, when they catch the unpredicted details in life, talk shows are constantly in a state of openness and unpredictability. In a free and open dialogue environment, as to a certain topic, no one is sure what a person will say about it. Therefore, the participation of the audience will be at a high level. In real life, daily conservation can contain many trivial things. Talk shows on TV are both highly condensed and fully developed. The relatively large scaled and in-depth participation from the audience shows the charm of talk shows. It is pointed by some scholars that 21 ' 1 century is a century of dialogues, which means that talk shows rather than other forms will be in the dominant role among television programs. The fourth new concept: TV live broadcasting Talk shows like Tell It Like It Is are open, 227

but they are still cut and edited and partially designed. The openness as well as the shocking effect have not appeared or not been enough. Therefore, simultaneous reports become a focus point. How can we simultaneously be connected to major historical moments and important information? If a large-scale TV live broadcasting can be realized, every audience can have direct access to the development of major historical moments. The unique charm of television lies in live broadcasting, and no medium can replace it. The breakthrough was made in 1997. CCTV conducted a few representative live broadcasting pieces. Two were social events including The Yellow River Xiaolangdi

Project and The Closure of Yangtze River Three-gorges Project. One was a social event, which was the live broadcast of''tbe return ofHong Kong". The live broadcast amazed the world and was one of the most watched Chinese events on TV, the benefits of which was incomparable. Another live broadcast was held by CCTV and Phoenix TV, which was "Flying over the Yellow River by Blackie Ko". After 1997, a large number of economic programs was broadcast lively, such as Special Actions on March 15. Live broadcast has become a symbol for the ability, level, and charm of a television medium. In 1998, an unprecedented live television broadcast of a joint press conference by US

President Bill Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin showed great courage. The frank exchanges between the two leaders during their 70-minute session with the press-an event which was broadcast live over Chinese television, which showed that China's courage to show the world the dialogue between the leaders of the two countries and exerted enormous politician effect and international influence. Live broadcast including talk shows can best demonstrate the characteristics of television. The simultaneous recording of voice, image and words and the use of satellite transmission and microwave transmission nearly used all the technical methods of television. The threedimensional, all-around and multi-layered broadcast firstly relied on the technical ability and reporting ability of television. Secondly, it relied on the democratic level of the society. Meanwhile, live broadcast can accelerate the demonstration of the society in a positive way, which cannot be replaced by other media or art form. The meaning of live broadcast cannot be underestimated. 228

The fifth new concept: television entertainment concept. A number of TV entertainment programs represented by Happy Camp by Hunan TV became popular all over China in the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999. It was a miracle for Hunan TV as a local TV station to lead a new trend in television industry in China. In 2016, the advertisement income of Happy Camp reached 1.4 billion RMB, and the influence and charm of which reached a high level. Entertainment programs named after "camp", or ''happy'' became new featured programs of different TV stations. What are the in-depth reasons behind this phenomenon? I believe that each ontology construction period is, in fact, a compensation for the underdevelopment of a certain concept. The rising of entertainment programs showed that in the past television in China paid much attention to lecturing and little attention to entertainment. Entertainment is a basic instinct of human nature. The popularity of entertainment program is a release of the entertainment indistinct of the audience through television. However, all compensations were temporary. The rising of a trend can compensate what was lacked in the past. Once the compensation is in place, it has completed its historical mission and become a regular concept and form. Therefore, the audience should not be amazed by the sudden popularity of a concept or form. When documentary appeared, people said the nature of television was documentary. When programs are addressed, the nature of television became programs. When talk shows are talked about, television is all about talk shows. When live broadcast is the subject, television is all about live broadcast. When entertainment programs are mentioned, other programs mean nothing and only entertainment programs are the nature. This type of thinking is wrong. Television is a prism, and a medium which integrates various functions and forms. No matter how many desires and needs people have, television should satisfY and meet those desires and needs. Therefore, the development of television is an ongoing process. All the concepts are periodical. Surely, we have to see the historical inevitability of the rising of a new concept. Documentary was to rectifY the pre-designed theme. Live broadcast was to rectifY the closed co=unication method in the past. Talk shows were 229

to rectify the closed mental state of the audience. Fixed programs were to rectify the chaotic production of TV programs. Entertainment programs were to rectify the lecturing programs in the past. I think it is the reasonable way to understand. Therefore, the above five concepts are the new concepts which both meet the actual Chinese situation as well as the universal laws of the television industry. The rising of the concepts has accelerated the fast development. The development of television in the 1990s was faster than any other media forms and television became the well-deserved No.1 broadcasting medium. Where will the new growth points and the tide of the ontological construction of Chinese television? Personally, I think it would be the raising of service programs. People need more convenient, faster and more direct life service programs. However, the development of those programs is still quite backward on television, especially true-life service programs with true planning. The rising of this concept can be a form and concept needed in television, though it is only a personal prediction.

7.5 Thoughts upon Heated Issues

(1) System

When I went to the USA as a visiting scholar for three months, I was deeply impressed by the operation system of the television. The development of the television industry in the US is basically commercial, because media is established and run by market rules within the legal norms in the whole country. The operation method is the company or enterprise method. A media company will establish branches in different cities and communities. The information source of each branch is unified, and the branches are interconnected. At the same time, each branch will also adjust to the local conditions while the main programs remain the same. I think the television broadcasting in the US following several concepts: First, the market concept. Second, the cooperation. Third, 230

market needs. It can change some components to meet market needs. For example, it can recreate and use actors to play a character like Bill Clinton to increase the audience rating. The main goal to win profit. Therefore, it needs to create heroes on screen. The hosts are the first above the surface. Characteristic channels need characteristic hosts. Behind a host are there a large crew. A featured host usually works over 6 hours a day, which means the host appears more than 6 hours a day on screen. There are mainly three systems in the operation of Chinese TV programs. First, the system with the director as the core. Second, the system with the producer as the core. Third, the system with the host as the core. The advantage of the system with the director as the core can best use the personal advantages and interests of the director. Just like a film, the system will have a strong personal color. The disadvantage of the system was that the image of the programs is hard to be unified. Each director will have his or her own style. The system with the producer as the core can unify the style of the programs, but will also face the risk of erasing the personal style of a director. The system with the host as the core is the best. All the directors, producers and the planners focus on the host, which is similar to the system with the movie star as the core in the film industry. The program will gain popularity depending on the star. Behind the star, there are a large crew to build the image. Therefore, a top TV host can be among the richest in the US. Sports stars, movie stars, singers and hosts can be the richest people in the US. The star system is the commercial system, which has strong market appeal, which can manipulate and influence social entertainment and guide people's consumption. Television was treated as a tool in China in the past. Later, the industry attributes were explored. After advertisements appeared on TV, people realized that television can make money. Enormous profit can be earned if you are willing to give up some time on

TY. Therefore, television industry in China has to meet two functions. Frist, the publicity function. Second, the market value. Why a successful TV program can have both social and economic profits? The secret is that it completes the publicity function, 231

wins support from the leaders and satisfies the social needs. At the same time, it has strong appeal due to the universal contents. It is also the art of Chinese broadcasting. The relationship between television and society is supplementary to each other. On the one hand, the gradual development of television broadcasting depends on the social conditions, including the openness of the society as well as the modernization level and economic strength. Chinese media faces the international competition both economically and politically. Culture competition is there as well, which can be shown by people's familiarity, understanding and acceptance of a certain concept. In this way, television can influence the society by its reform and development and gradually changing ideas. It can promote social democracy, enrich social life and social culture. On the other hand, social development can also promote the development of television. The degree of social progress, the development of economic and political culture will also constrain and affect television broadcasting.

(2) Specialization of channels

The specialization of channels is the most basic concept in television production and operation. The organization of television is in three forms: channels, programs and fixed programs. In the past, the focus of the operation was on programs. Later it changed to fixed programs. In the next phase, the focus of the operation was channels. In the future, the competition will mainly abut channels. A channel without characteristics is certainly not vital. Channels will become more and more specialized. Each channel will have their own distinctive style and featured contents, such as movie channel, sports channel, reading channel. A viewer can choose a specialized channel about what he likes. It is the general trend. However, the situation is a little more complicated when comes to the television industry in China. Television stations run by four levels in China are basically administrative. Some may not survive if the market rules the television industry. With other complicated factors, specialization of channels in China will still be a long process. A priority for industrialization is to achieve specialization. Why should corporations be bnilt? Cooperation is an operation method. The cooperation and industrialization is to 232

create one or several professional channels with characteristics, which are the backbone for the operation.

(3) Industrial operation, theoretical operation and talents cultivation

Now all the technical problems are basically fixed for the development of Chinese television industry. If the television wants to achieve the development in a larger scale, what are the key issues to be dealt with? The priority in my opinion is to accelerate specialization or partial specialization and follow market rules. Now 10 hours' efforts and time are usually spent on one-hour program. This problem can only be solved by specialization and conglomeration. For example, to produce an enormous effect with limited manpower and material resources. How to achieve the effect of a 10-minute program by making one-minute program can only be solved by industrialization? The second issue is to solve the development gap between different regions. The industrial function or market effect of television should have conditions, because the social development in China is imbalanced. There are different ethnic groups and unbalanced development of different regions. The five concepts I mentioned are the five most advance television concepts in China. Television can basically cover all the comers in China. However, the imbalanced development of different regions causes many problems. If those problems cannot be solved, the backwardness of some regions will hinder the development of the overall development of television. For example, the annual income of a provincial or prefectural television station in some underdeveloped regions is less than a county level TV station in the developed area. How can the television industry go to the next level if this situation will not be changed? We take those problems into consideration while doing media planning. Second, theoretical construction is also very important. The fast development of Chinese television is also the result of updated concepts. Constant development of concepts is crucial for the development of Chinese television. If leaders, or decision makers and television professionals don't have advanced concepts to guide and operate, 233

television will fall behind the times. If one doesn't update concepts, and doesn't realize that media needs openness, and the value of media lies in serving the public and follows the needs of the public and the society to fill the time on screen, one will be very likely to be knocked out of the game in the future. On the one hand, the birth of a new concept comes from the exploration of the practice. On the other hand, more importantly, it comes from solid theoretical construction and operable television application research. In this sense, the theoretical construction is pressing. We need visionary decision

research, solid foundation theoretical research and operable television application research. Basic theory needs to provide principles, decision research needs to ensure the direction and application research shall meet the actual needs of the professionals. Third, the talents cultivation or education issue in the television industry. Television industry needs to strengthen its foundation and extend the integration. Now, the inter-disciplinary quality of talents is very important. In 1980s, knowledge in one area was sufficient. For example, if one learns camera, all he needed to know was camera. If one learned hosting, all he needed to know was hosting. However, it is not the case in the future. All professions including producers and planners all need to have inter-disciplinary knowledge structure to meet future needs. In the future, no major will be designed especially for one professional. A single major will not be able to meet the needs of social development. Therefore, radio and television talents with interdisciplinary knowledge will be needed most, around which we should design our curriculum and knowledge structure. Besides, television research should be enhanced. Currently, in general, the academic level of television education is not high. Under the fast development of television, if you cannot bring in the latest results and concepts, you will be very passive. If the education concepts are dated, the students will fall behind once they graduate. The revolution of Chinese television concepts depends on the enhancement of the quality of numerous professionals. Therefore, we should pass on the latest television 234

concepts to students. When they become the backbone of Chinese television, they can combine the concepts with practice, and continuously create splendid achievements.

7.6 Localization: Strategies and Countermeasures of the Production of Chinese Television Programs

The localization of the production of Chinese television programs is put forward under the fierce competition of media. Therefore, it covers three aspects: First, the new media environment Chinese television faces; second, the localization of Chinese television programs in the new media environment; third, concepts in the localization of the production of Chinese television programs. (1) New media environment Chinese television faces What kind of media environment are we facing in the new century? How to understand the basic nature and functions of the media environment? How to deal with the complicated relationships in the media environment? What kind of challenges will television meet? What kind of role will it play? What kind of status will be television culture layout, television creation status, television broadcast form, television operation method, television artistic form? Those are inevitable issues for television professionals and followers. We have to face the following facts: 1. The internet broadcasting is nibbling the audience and the market of television away in a fast way. 2. Globalization makes strong pressure upon the survival of local culture. 3. Traditional television art forms and creations have collapsed in a large scale. 4. The conflicts, separation and isolation of different media forms are broken up. There 235

is a tendency of integration and merging ... The inclusive media which integrates all the traditional media forms such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, animation and entertainment is called the new media or the all-media or the integrated media. No matter what the name is, a new media environment in fact appears in front of us, which is expanding in an unstoppable manner. Traditional media including television will either feel unworthy, collapse or have new opportunities. In the information age, no one can ignore the important and irreplaceable influence of

the new media upon the social life of the mankind. Even from the development of media, the coming of the new media era is an epoch-making event. The development moves from the broadcasting of oral language to words, pictures and videos to the internet broadcast. Comparing with the previous revolution in broadcasting, the rise of the new media is not a simple replacement, but more inclusive and intense integration. Television professionals in China are more sensitive to the rise of the new media and the survival of television in the new media. When the entitled Chinese television faces challenges, some television professionals with thoughts, culture, responsibility and mission began to have serious can calm thinking. In the new media environment, what kind of strategies and countermeasure should

Chinese television take? I think integration should be carried out in several aspects, including technologies, systems, concepts. Technically, the general trend is the digitalization of equipment, the internationalization of production standards, the internet broadcasting, and the global coverage. In terms of the concept, the corporation organization, the industrial operation, the diversified financing channels, and the management which separates production and broadcasting will be the main contents of system innovation. In terms of concept, people-oriented concepts including talents oriented and audience oriented concepts, success through quality including optimum product strategy, the professionalism as the goal including the professional of channels, 236

and the professionalism of the service targets, as well as the localization including the contents of programs, cultural components, aesthetic character, and expression methods are what we pursue. Only in this direction, can Chinese television keep up with the competition in the world. (2) The localization of Chinese television programs What is the localization of Chinese television programs production? In simple words, it means to organize, produce, and disseminate Chinese television programs with Chinese national characteristics, styles, and tastes according to China's national conditions, and the acceptance habits and actual needs of Chinese television audience. It is noted that localization is not a closed and stagnate concept, but a constantly

changing concept in accordance with the development of Chinese society. The localization is shown in the contents of television programs, cultural components, aesthetic characters or expression methods. 1) Localization in the contents of Chinese television programs The contents of television programs are gradually established and developed between the interaction between television and audience. What programs television should broadcast and what programs television audience need are two sides of the same coin. The localization of Chinese television programs should take the two aspects into consideration. When television was in the monopoly position, the audience of television usually was in the passive position, because television programs were like scare resources. If audience only has few programs to watch, they have no choice but watch those programs from the beginning to the end. In this case, the contents of television programs are not the issue. When there are more and more resources in the channels, television programs are no 237

longer scarce resources, the audience will have more choices. The contents of television programs become the issue. When television becomes more and more international, the competition between television channels become fiercer and fiercer, television programs become surplus resources. The participation of the audience becomes especially important and the localization of television programs becomes a pressing issue. During the basic construction period of Chinese television (1958-1978), the localization of Chinese television programs was not a prominent problem. During the ontology construction period of Chinese television, it became more and more prominent after the 1980s. During the reform and opening up in the 1980s, on the one hand, we began to bring in foreign television programs including TV dramas, TV documentaries, TV entertainment programs. On the other hand, we began the exploration of the localization of Chinese television programs, especially in teleplays, entertaimnent programs and variety shows. A number of teleplays which were close to the social reality in China, criticized social evils, reflected upon history, and played out the notes of the era were very welcomed by the audience. A number of featured films which demonstrated the beautiful landscape of China, praised people's achievements, reflected upon the history, and played the main theme of the era were produced. Variety shows represented by the CCTV New Year's Gala sprung up and became a new folk custom in the celebration of Chinese New Year. In the 1990s, with the development of the reform and opening-up, China experienced

the transformation from the socialist planned economic system to the socialist market economy system and Chinese television industry experienced the evolution from documentaries, fixed programs, talk shows, live programs and entertainment programs. Undoubtedly, the concepts and the ideas of those television programs were affected by the concepts of overseas TV programs. Overseas concepts became more and more localized after brought in and were accepted and enjoyed by Chinese television 238

audience. In the new century, the localization of Chinese television program shall go a step further.

Exploration should be focused on brand channels and programs. Efforts should be focused on the construction and the exploration of quality programs which can represent national television production level and co=on programs which are popular among audience. 2) Localization of cultural composition of television Cultural composition of television refers to the composition of different value orientations, and different value orientations, and different value layers. Generally, the culture composition of television is divided into three parts: main stream culture, elite culture and popular culture. Different from western media which was established on the capitalist market system, the primary functions and basic value orientations of Chinese television are the publicity and dissemination of mainstream ideology. Mainstream culture is the most important and fundamental as well as the leading culture composition of Chinese television media. During the establishment of the socialist market economy system, mass culture has obtained unprecedented development and prosperity. However, mass culture in China doesn't simply caters to certain tastes of television audience (including vulgar taste), but is established on the leading mainstream culture. In recent years, the development of Chinese television overall completes the mission of the construction of mainstream culture as well as the mission of mass culture dissemination. In comparison, television products characterized by personality, depth, creativity and innovation in the elite culture are relatively weak in the composition of television culture, which needs to be further developed and explored. China has a long history of 5000 years as well as abundant human resources, and intellectual resources. In a good system, a modem landscape of Chinese television culture will be created with Chinese style, national characteristics as well as zeitgeist.

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3) Localization of television aesthetic characters The differences in aesthetic tradition and aesthetic taste of different nations, different countries cause the differences in television aesthetic characters, which is the premise for us to discuss the possibility of the localization of television aesthetic characters. The aesthetic tradition and aesthetic taste of Chinese television is closely related to the aesthetic tradition and aesthetic taste of Chinese television. Between the 1950s to the 1970s, socialist realism was the main creation method and idealism and heroism were the aim of pursuit. The sublime and magnificence was the leading aesthetic type. In the 1980s, the zeitgeist of the reform and opening was the new aesthetic factors instilled new aesthetic factors for Chinese television. Critical realism was the main creation method. The combination of cultural reflection and romantic passion was the main characteristics. Elegance and harmony was the leading aesthetic type. In the 1990s, Chinese television culture became more diversified. Realism, romanticism, modernism coexist with post-modernism with realism, entertainment, neo-heroism and popularity as the new characteristics. Depth, solernuity, elegance, harmony, humor, and disharmony coexist, and a diversified and complicated aesthetic character structure appeared. In any case, harmony and unity are the most basic and important types of Chinese television characters. It means to pursue harmony and unity in conflicts, which is also the modem continuity of Chinese harmony aesthetic tradition. 4) Localization oftelevision expression method Television expression method, or television narration style includes television narration method, language style etc. Television narration method must be in accordance with television communicators, television audience as well as the relationship between the two in special time and space. The localization of television expression method mean that television must meet the requirements of national characteristics, regional 240

characteristics and characteristics of the times. The narration method of Chinese television is based on the Chinese traditional mentality, such as the combination oflinear logical thinking and perceptual imaginal thinking, the expression of personal feelings, the unfolding and the reproduction of images, the combination of single viewpoint and multi-viewpoints, the combination of reality and imagination, as well as emphasis on plot, story, reality, cultivation, wholeness, unity as well as on integrity and collectiveness. The language style of Chinese television is closely related to Chinese language. Chinese language system with the integration of shape, sound and meaning as well as the combination of spoken and written is one of distinctive characteristics of Chinese national culture. During the long historical reform, Chinese language has demonstrated colorful and harmonious regional characteristics such as the coexistence of numerous dialects in Chinese language system. In the new era of opening-up and reform, foreign cultures especially foreign languages have continuously enriched Chinese language system with characteristics of the times. The language style of Chinese television like the face and clothes of Chinese television, which is the most direct part of the localization of Chinese television. The polishing of the language style of Chinese television including various television language methods such as television images, sound, lightening, clothes, style plays an important part is driving the localization of Chinese television. The localization of Chinese television of the narration method of Chinese television meets and satisfies the appreciation habits and traditional tastes of Chinese television. Western food is delicious. However, for Chinese, Chinese food is irreplaceable. The localization of the narration method of Chinese television means that Chinese television need to make Chinese banquet loved by Chinese audience. (2) Several concepts during the localization of the production of Chinese television 241

program production New media is both a challenge and an opportunity for the production of Chinese television programs. Some feel terrified in front of the overwhelming new media. Some feel quite anxious about the crisis of Chinese television after China's entry to WTO. Some make alarmist talks on the competition of technologies, funds, talents worldwide. This sense of urgency and crisis is understandable. However, it has to be analyzed seriously and rationally. We also have to see that if the localization of the production of Chinese television programs, Chinese television will have a great historic opportunity. In my opinion, several concepts are necessary to grasp this historic opportunity.

1) The concept of fme works Fine works refer to Chinese television products carefully designed, planned, produced by Chinese television professionals and admired and loved by Chinese audience, which include programs and channels. Fine works will only be loved by Chinese television audience, but also be welcomed by people in other regions in the world. 2) The concept of brand Fine works with in-depth thoughts, exquisite artistry and fine production should be forged to well-known brands. Objectively, due to economic, political and cultural differences, the establishment of renowned brands face many difficulties. However, as long as we are not discouraged, and build and promote our products actively, we are confident that renowned brands will appear on the screen. 3) Combination oflocalization and internationalization The localization of Chinese television program does not mean to go back to the past and to the tradition. We should not stand still and refuse to make progress. Localization and internationalization should complement each other so that localization will obtain 242

more tension and space. In fact, the establishment of the fine work concept and the brand concept cannot be

separated from international perspectives and methods. We should handle all the aspects and links of the production of Chinese television programs from creative planning, creation and production, operation and promotion, so that the localization of the production of Chinese television programs will be promoted effectively and stably.

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Part Three Analysis, Interviews and Lectures

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Chapter 8 Choices in Fission and Introduction: Creation, Development and Cultural Characteristic of Chinese Spoken Drama Chinese modern drama culture, represented by Chinese spoken drama has zigzagged for almost 90 years. Unfortunately, it still has not been systematically studied and summarized to make pertinent evaluation and conclusion. This article is not aimed to analyze writers and their works but to inspect the theater culture as a whole, and to discover and analyze how social history, creation entities, and audience adapt to each other, influence each other, and interact each other. China's modern drama culture had undergone three stages. The first is the creation period, which is from the end of the 18th century or the start of 19th century to the end of 1920s. The second is the developing period, starting from the end of 1920s to the Cultural Revolution. The third is the exploration period from the Cultural Revolution to now. The creation period also can be separated into two fissions and two introductions. The fission means to separate from the traditional theater culture, while introduction means to bring in foreign plays-- they happened simultaneously. Taking the May Fourth Movement as a watershed, before the movement, it was the first fission and introduction, which created China's early spoken drama. After the movement, it was the second fission and introduction, during which China's modem spoken drama was formed. The reason why I selected this topic is that I feel the weakness of the spoken drama in the creation period, and secondly, what's more important, is that the drama in this period bred some inherent feature of spoken drama. Further studying the spoken drama in the creation period can help us clearly understand China's modem culture of dramatic literature. Therefore, for the whole study of China's modern dramatic culture, to find its general features in the process of the creation period 245

is not only of the academic significance but methodological significance.

What has China's drama gone through?

During the end of the 19th century to the 20th century, China suffered from aggression and oppression by imperialist powers and great changes took place.

Severe national crisis and increasingly contentious domestic class contradictions made the traditional patriotism of the Chinese nation and the moral spirit of nationalism became the mainstream political awareness. Everything was used to serve politics in thinking and literature and art. Compatible with bourgeois democratic revolutionaries' theories, people in literature and art raised improvement" and revolution as slogans. Theatrical reforms were put forward at that time along with the fiction revolution and the prose revolution.

Emergence of current affairs dramas created by artists of Peking Opera such as Wang

Xiaonong, was concrete achievements at the end of the Qing Dynasty. With the spread of the bourgeois movement and the promotion of theatrical reform, students who studied abroad were involved, and they might unintentionally start a new movement different from the opera reform.

According to Wang Youyou's My Life as an Actor,

One winter (1899-?), I was invited to by students at John's College to watch their performance for Christmas and I heard there were some new plays; first it came a western drama. Because of language difficulties, I had little interest. Then a fashion drama was put on the stage. I was not so sure about its name, maybe A Scandal in the

Officialdom. This is the oldest record about new drama. The theater plays at this time can be divided into two categories. One is religious drama in English or French; the other is the drama 246

in Chinese modeled after the fashion at that time. The fashion dramas were acted by students interested in drama, and the only difference between the fashion drama and Peking Opera was that drums, gongs as well as singing are not needed. The fashion drama, which used the Shanghai dialect rather than Beijing colloquial speech and recitative speech became popular among schools in Shanghai. By 1905, more than 10 plays were performed including Six Gentlemen, On the Nation, Boxer

Uprising, Zhang Wenxiang Assassinated Ma Xinyi, Arrest An Dehai, Cases in Jiangxi. Activists among the students and those who loved the fashion went to Japan. Enlightened by shinpa (a form of theater in Japan influenced by western drama), they founded Spring Willow Society and performed some full-length plays like The Lady of

the Camellias, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Blood, helped China' new spoken drama step into a new stage. The main figures in the Spring Willow Society are Li Shutong, Zheng Xiaogu, Lu Jingruo, Ouyang Yuqian.

Wang Zhongsheng, Ren Tianzhi, and Liu Yizhou, were early activists at that time. They worked hard to bring drama to the public and made the new drama a new form of theatre different from traditional opera. And the new drama played an important role in promoting the Revolution of 1911. The new dramas included Tum Round Quickly, A

Flower in the Sea of Sins, Qiu Jin, Patriotic Blood, The Rise and Fall of East Asia, Long Live the Republic, Gold and Blood, Yellow Crane Tower, Hototogisu, and Joan Haste. When the new drama was developed rapidly during the Revolution of 1911, it was often called "civilized drama" or "civilized new drama". Because of its popularity, it greatly influenced early spoken drama. To some extent, it was a synonym to "early spoken drama". The dramas played by Wang Zhongsheng, Ren Tianzhi, and Liu Yizhou, were on the stage at that time. As the Revolution of 1911 ended, the theme of the civilized drama changed from political drama to family drama. Representative dramas included

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Empress Dowager, Orchid ofthe Valley, Bad Family, Fall ofthe Plum Blossoms, Hatred, Three Charming Smiles, Pearl Pagoda, and Tablet ofBlood and Tears.

The civilized drama was popular for more than a decade. Because of the commercial pursuit and actors' degeneration, it was gradually rejected. When the drama was in its declining year, students' theatrical groups sprung up with a fresh style. Nankai New Group was the most famous one. Under the guidance of Zhang Boling and his brother Zhang Pengchun, they rehearsed the plays in the western way. They thought highly of the drama's function in enlightening the society and educating students. They were among the first in China to put forward the creation principle of realism (see Views from Our School on New Drama by Zhou Enlai). Many scripts with high quality were created and were known to the society, for example New Village Head and One Yuan. If students in the south (especially in Shanghai) started the China's spoken drama, students in north (in Beijing and Tianjin) corrected the bad habits of pandering to people's vulgar tastes. They were the predecessors of the Amateur Movement after The May Fourth Movement. Compared with the first fission and introduction, the second fission and introduction after the May Fourth Movement was stronger. First in the drama concepts, it tended to take western drama as a reference and thoroughly denied traditional Chinese opera culture including the civilized drama. Representative figures included Hu Shi, Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun and Qian Xuantong. Second in creation and performance, it tended to imitate western dramatic patterns, and imitate the "social problem drama" by Henrik Ibsen became a popular trend, for example, Guo Moruo and his ''treason of the three women", Tian Han and his The Night of Catching the Tiger, and One Night in a Coffee Shop --- the two dramatists 248

spontaneously followed the western drama. Tian Han once said he wanted to be the "Chinese Ibsen". Hong Shen brought in a complete set of western rehearsal system, strengthening the role of the director. He also made many bold innovations in stage art, lighting, property design, and performance (men and women on the same stage).

The two fissions and introductions indicate the formation of Chinese spoken drama, and the formation of a new modern drama culture different from the traditional one.

If we take the origin of the Chinese drama as a dynamic process rather than a static product; if we take its originating process as a result affected by many factors rather than just a theatrical form (the opera improvement, shinpa from Japan, or western drama). Then the origin of Chinese spoken drama can be viewed as follows:

The source of Chinese spoken drama is not merely one form of theater like the theater improvement (the current affairs drama), the traditional theater, the shinpa from Japan, or the western drama. It is the hybrid of all these forms of theater above. In other words, all these forms of theater played certain roles in the two fissions and two introductions. And the spoken drama in the creation period was a mixture of all these elements. Of course, the most quantitative was the western drama. But its quantitative change was not something happened overnight. It went through a developing procedure gradually. (The introduction changed from simple to complex, and the fission developed from small to large).

Specifically, the new drama that students performed at the beginning showed the nonprogrammed dialogues and actions in western dramas separated from traditional operas. Though the fission and introduction were superficial, there were still some marks of theatrical reform movement. Then Wang Zhongsheng introduced the new stage setting in the western drama to the audience or the first time. It was the first time that the scenery set, lighting, and act-division system, and a new stage were introduced, while the introduction of Japan's shinpa drama led to a bigger fission. The popularity of the civilized drama consolidated the introduction like non-programmed dialogues, 249

performance, setting, lighting, the act-division system and the advanced stages. When Nankai New Group was rising, especially after the May Fourth Movement, there were another wave of introduction in western theatrical concepts, method, creation principles, and rehearsal system. Thus, it can be seen that the introduction of western drama though a process from spontaneity to self-consciousness, from simple to complex, from direct to indirect. The two fissions and introductions didn't happen by accident. They had deep social and historical reasons and factors of theater development itself. Chinese spoken drama met the needs of the time at the beginning. The needs of"social improvement" and "transforming social traditions" promoted the Melioration of Drama in Late-Qing Dynasty, thus giving birth to the initial "new drama". While The Lady of

the Camellias performed by the Spring Willow Society, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Wang Zhongsheng and Ren Tianzhi's Joan Haste, especially The Rise and Fall ofEast Asia, Gold and Blood, and Long Live the Republic were the results that the bourgeois democratic revolution gained more and more popularity. Many dramatic works in the May Fourth Movement mostly became some parts of the ideological emancipation of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. Historically, the western drama has experienced four periods: the classic drama, the romantic drama, and the trend of the realistic drama in in the nineteenth century, and the trend of the realism drama, which hit the ancient oriental empire whose door was widely open, and brought a realistic tendency to China's traditional theater. It was the western realism that had a big impact on the traditional Chinese drama and

combined with the social changes of modern China and the need in that revolutionary age, thus making the fissions and introductions more influential and finally became a new form of art. The above is a brief description of the two fissions. However, as a new prototype of 250

dramatic culture, the external historical phenomenon cannot show its relationship between Chinese and foreign dramatic culture. Does the fission mean the complete separation? Does the introduction mean totally introducing western drama? If not, what is the significance and degree? What was lost and what was retained in the fission? What was introduced and what was not introduced? The historical description cannot answer these questions. Therefore, it is necessary to take the creation period as a whole

to study its intrinsic features which are also the features of Chinese modern dramatic culture.

8.1 The Inheritance of Functioning Pattern and Conversion of the Functional Content

The drama in the creation period, as a new form of dramatic culture which was on the initial stage of Chinese dramatic culture, is relatively different from traditional Chinese theaters in its ''new" and "civilized". Traditional Chinese opera culture was born in a closed environment, adjusted with the need of China feudal social order and the psychological need of people in that era. On the one hand, it assumed the social function of preach and moralization. On the other hand, it assumed the function of recreation to let audience express their emotions. The former function is to preach and moralize, which indicates it cannot break the orthodox moral doctrines like loyalty and filial piety, punishing the evil and praising the good, karma, and happy ending. The latter is a mixture of gags and unorthodox relaxation to cater their audience with plots full of tease, erotic elements, and stage combats. In the process of the development of Chinese opera, Chinese spoken drama is a fruit of

Chinese traditional theater culture, which first focused on creation which meant the literary creation in drama played a dominant role. With the hard work of dramatists and writers in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, they left a rich literary heritage. On this basis, in the mid-Qing Dyoasty, Chinese opera paid more attention to the stage art that actors and their performance were put in the first place. The accumulation of 251

predecessors' dramatic literary creation and the stage art was all reflected on actors' performance, forming a set of stage art system which absorbing all kinds of formal beauty typically marked by sing, speech, dance-acting and combat. This stage art system had the two functions. It was an important way to realize the two functions for moralization and for recreation. It got rid of utility pursuing to have its own aesthetic value. For Chinese audience who were influenced by it, every single lyrics, speech, dancing and combat can be appreciated independently. In the growing chorus of the theatrical reform movement, political subjects like

patriotism and nationalism were incorporated in Chinese operas to take the place of the functional contents of feudal moralization. And the recreational function was also weakened. The new drama also absorbed patriotic and nationalistic elements. That is to say, the functional content which was used to educate people was converted, but pattern was reserved. During the climax of the Revolution of 1911, the new drama was inspired by the revolution and fully exerted its function in political appeal. When the revolution failed, it fully exerted another function---recreation, to cater to audience. The emergence of student troupes eliminated some vulgar factors but there was no difference in functional mode. The second fission and introduction after the May Fourth Movement, was to reject all traditions and to be westernized on the surface. However, on the contrary, the function of moralization was still alive taking on a new form. Taking the introduction of Ibsen's social problem play as an example, the philosophical consideration and independent thinking towards life and society was not introduced while we just saw the superficial "social problems". It meant that the connotation of mental emancipation and individual liberation in Ibsen's dramas changed into the "mental emancipation" and "individual liberation" in works of Guo Moruo and Tian Han, not presented in the ways of critical thinking. Another school represented by Chen Dabei, Yu Shangyuan, Xiong Fuxi, and Ding Xilin, who advocated ''the National Drama Movement" and "art is supreme", continued the recreation function and could not get rid of the traditional functional 252

mode. Though the two fissions and introductions were different in degree and scale, still the introductions are on the surface level and the fissions were mainly in the change of the functional contents--- from patriotism and traditional loyalty and filial piety to mental emancipation and individual liberation. Deep down, the potential functions of translation drama culture were still inherited. In the pursuit and emphasis on the functions, many dramatists paid more attention to

the nation and people. Great importance was attached to the fate of the country and nation. Differing in personalities and emotions, dramatists were surprisingly similar in writing tendency and style. They all aim to express their patriotism, to advocate revolution, or to expose the darkness of the society and family, or to push mental emancipation and individual liberation. This pursuit of dramatic function was rooted in our traditional drama culture as an innate characteristic of Chinese spoken drama which was indelible in the fissions and introductions. Chinese special social historical forms which were characterized by the intense national conflicts and the complex class struggles, made political issues become top concerns. Therefore, the pursuit came back to its political function. It is the result of reality and struggle of Chinese spoken drama. On the one hand, the pursuit and emphasis on political function made the drama, the proceeding social history and the audience form a relationship, reflecting the times, people's wishes, and drama became the important weapon to encourage people to fight for national liberation and democratic revolution. On the other hand, too much emphasis on political function would make us pay much attention to the practical significance drama brought, while neglecting its aesthetic value. Both drama literature and the stage art lack exploration and research in art itself. Zhang Geng once said:

11

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the history of Chinese drama is not only a history of the development of theatre art, but the history how modem drama supported revolutionary movements. 11 253

8.2 Obstacles in the Formation of Artistic Individuality: Imagery of Ideas, Categories, and Stylization When it comes to the relationship with the social history, the drama in creation inherited the function of traditional Chinese drama and developed further than the traditional Chinese drama (including the plays during the Opera Improvement. Correspondingly, it also opened a new way to create a new way to create different forms of traditional drama. If the Opera Improvement Movement retained the artistic system based on typical features, the drama in the creation period drama discarded the artistic system at the beginning. It followed ''the western mode", "new school performing arts" and ''realism" introduced from western countries. In the drama practice, it developed from introducing western action forms without stylized gestures to adopt setting, lighting, and act-division system in western drama and to the complete rehearsal system centered with the director. It broke the stylization and began a real imitation of life. The trend started when student troupes like Nankai New Drama Troupe sprung up. The pursuit of trueness was demonstrated in performance in the early Chinese spoken drama and demonstrated in the trueness to the creation of playwrights in later Chinese spoken drama. Hong Shen took off his scholarly gowns and experience the ordinary life of ordinary people. Tian Han's creation was life experiences of his friends and students. Through the trueness in the surface level in the early Chines spoken drama, we realized that behind the trueness, playwrights were still lack of individual thoughts and emotional expressions. What are the reasons? What was brought to China from western dramas in the creation period was the expression forms, non-programmed talking, actions, act division, setting, lighting. However, in the creation concepts, Chinese spoken drama still inherited traditional dramas, what are idea, geure and typification and programmed acts.

Ideas refers to playwrights follow existing political or ethnical ideas to create a theme 254

and made characters and plots which can best demonstrate this theme. Loyalty, filial piety, chastity and righteousness in the traditional dramas and karma were typical ideas. In the modern drama, nationalism, racialism, freedom in marriage and woman

emancipation were the typical ideas. In this sense, the thinking mode of the traditional opera and the modem spoken drama were similar.

Ideas will bring typification in plots, characters and roles, which means one idea will have certain genre. In Chinese traditional opera, characters can be divided into Sheng Male Role, Dan- Female Role, Jing- Painted Face Male and Chou- The Comedy Role. Sheng has some sub-categories, including Senior, Junior, Acrobatic, Junior Acrobatic, Child, Red-face, Poor, Official, etc. Dan or female role can be divided into six main parts which principally indicate character; Qing Yi (Ch'ing I), modest and virtuous; Hua dan (Hua tan) flirtatious; Gui Men Dan (Kuei Men Tan), a young, married girl; Dao Ma Dan (Tao Ma Tan), a stronger, more forceful character, usually a woman general; Wu Dan(Wu Tan), the female acrobat; and Lao Dan(Lao Tan), an old woman. In the civilization play, there are also different division as written in New Drama

History by Zhu Shuangyun:

Males roles: fierce male, who are emotional, angry, and careless.

Females roles: sad and beautiful female, who are beautiful, but misfortune, sentimental.

The division of different roles are typification. It can show the complexity, diversity of people in real life, but creates characters with certain characteristics. Each character follows a certain idea and demonstrated a single and fixed characteristic. It did differ much from Chinese opera masks.

After the May 4th Movement, though the drama creation seemed get rid of the classification of "male roles, female roles, painted roles and clowns", but characters didn't have independent personalities. What's the difference between Guo Moruo's three rebellious women and Lian Gu in Tian Han's play? They are all women eager for 255

individual emancipation, marriage independence, and their "declarations" are also the same. Ideas and categories are single, fixed and invariable as well as the plots, characters, languages, performance in traditional Chinese drama. The spoken drama in the creation period broke the old pattern including sing, speech, dance-acting and combats and created a new form unconsciously. Ideas, categories and stylizations are integrated. Ideas are on the connotation level, while the latter two are the manifestation of this connotation. From student troupes to Wang Zhongsheng and Ren Tianzhi's "make-up speech", and to the drama writing during the May fourth movement, there were always a male role or a female role who is to express the author's intentions or ideas. For example, in Zhu Shuayun's The History ofEarly Professional Drama, "Zhang Heting in The Hatred, when his wouldbe son in law died distressingly and his daughter cut hair to show her aspiration, he would make remarks, "when one is addicted to opium, the two families will be destroyed. When most people become addicted to opium, the nation will be destroyed." This is what the author wanted to convey. In short, the drama in the creation period abandoned the traditional drama culture and

stylized aesthetic system, introduced a new form of performance from the west, brought a trend of pursuing the "trueness" in real life, but it remained at the imitation level. As for the essence of drama creation, it followed the traditional theatre which aimed to realize the function and to show the characteristics of ideas, categories and stylizations. It is undeniable that something typed, stylized and programmed is straight and clear,

which is helpful to express functional contents directly and can strengthen drama's function, especially the function of political propaganda. The three features greatly restricted dramatists' creativity and imagination, and thus became the barriers in drama creation.

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8.3 Audience's Separation, Adaptation and Creation

If the drama's function to society and history is more abstract, the display of the function depends on audience reception. In other words, audience reception is the concrete reflection how drama realizes its social and historical function. The functions of drama canoot be realized without audience. Therefore, the forming of theatrical culture is a result of the interactions among social history, drama creation and audience, which will be achieved through audience reception. In the creation period, the audience were separated since amateur student troupes. New

dramas were watched mainly by intellectuals like young students and revolutionists.

When the new drama changed from amateur performance to professional performance, from foreign to home, from schools to out of schools, audience shifted from intellectuals to citizens. Till the second fission and introduction, audience were intellectuals again. So, the drama in the creation period had two groups of audience who were intellectuals and civilians. Differences of the two groups indicated the features of the dramas they watched. At the beginning, student troupes like the Spring Willow Society and Nankai New Group and the amateur movement were all amateur, creators and audience were mainly intellectuals and students. They were mostly western-educated and had their own understanding about western civilization and China's backwardness. They hoped to study from western culture and civilization to change the backward situation of China. Western drama as one of the most important part of western culture obviously was a good choice. Free and easy to learn, and unlike the traditional theatre which needs special training, the western drama became a great way for revolutionary propaganda. It could directly to express one's feelings and experience the joy of performing. As

audience, young intellectuals could also see the real life they were concerned about, hear the co=ents on political issues they were sensitive to, and share the joy of being free in drama creation. 257

The reason why the drama could be widely spread among young intellectuals was because of audience's appreciation psychology.

Hoping to be free from old traditions and yearmng for western civilizations, intellectuals attached importance to introduction. Their introduction was conscious and intentional, which was closely related to their political awareness and active worldly spirit. They rejected traditional culture, which impacted on creators and audience influenced by the traditional theatrical culture.

Another group who experienced the drama culture shock was citizens. They were passively recipients. Chinese modem urban citizens were a special group. They neither took any clear and firm position in politics nor would they became an independent and strong social force. They liked to focus on short-term benefits, which was similar to Chinese farmers, who were small producers were narrow minded and conservative. However, they also encountered with capitalist civilization so that they were longing for the life of desire indulgence, both in love and money. That was something different from farmers. Honesty and tolerance were replaced by "carpe diem". But their desires for indulgence were still tinged with strong feudal consciousness that had sense of hierarchy. They always advocated traditional morality while indulging their desires. The 1911 Revolution aimed to overthrow the Qing government. The Qing government was of urban capitalism, which became a barrier constraining the interests of citizens. The 1991 Revolution was a capitalist democratic revolution that was good for the citizens. Therefore, Ren Tianzhi and his Evolution Troupe was greatly welcomed. Once the revolution was going downhill, they would be what they used to be, focusing on temporary benefits. What the audience liked most were dramas that showed love, wickedness of families and shady court cases, for they could get satisfaction in these dramas. The reason why civilized drama became the combination of the form of western drama and the concept of traditional Chinese theatre was because of the audience's special psychology of pursuing the western civilization and the infiltration of strong sense of traditions 258

The two groups that had different psychological impression and different aesthetic interests determined two different styles and schools in the creation period. The two different styles and schools were the source of China's modern drama. One followed the direction of student troupes, and became the mainstream drama popular with intellectuals. Another followed the direction of the civilized drama and developed various kinds of comedies and dialect dramas. Chinese dramas in the creation period had all these characteristics. Whether good or bad, these characteristics are unchangeable and are the premise of dramatic cultural development. Hence, when we want to draw the blueprint for the future drama, the first task is to have a clear understanding of these characteristics, and that's why I wrote this paper.

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Chapter 9 Film and Television Between Mainland China and Taiwan

- An Investigation on Film and Television Industries in Taiwan A delegation of Chinese Collegial Association for Visual Art, consisting of Zhang Fengzhu, Sun Qinhua, Zhang Zhenhua and Hu Zhifeng, made a ten-day visit to Taiwan, which started from June 6 to 12, 1997. The visit, investigation and communicative activities gained substantial achievements.

9.1 The Origin and Aim of This Visit

In the summer of 1995, Chinese Collegial Association for Visual Art, together with the Beijing Broadcasting Institute, Beijing Film Academy, CCTV and the other eight organizations, organized the annual conference and held a "Symposium on Expectations for Visual Art in the 21 '' Century'',

which was attended by professionals

and scholars from America, Japan and many other countries, since the year of 1995 witnessed the lOOth anniversary of the birth of world's first film and the 90th anniversary of the birth of China's first film. As soon as the symposium ended, Chinese Collegial Association for Visual Art started planning and organizing the gth annual conference. In the symposium, the theme of the gth annual conference was determined as "research on film and television education". It had 5 sub-themes including the research on the film and television education in Taiwan and Hongkong, which had not been researched much before. Therefore, it was necessary to make a visit to Taiwan and Hongkong and to make an on-the-spot investigation on their visual art education and collect firsthand materials. Meanwhile, it was also needed to invite professionals and scholars of film and television industries from Taiwan and Hongkong to visit mainland China and exchange experience with their mainland counterparts.

Promoting the development and progress of the visual art education in mainland China, Taiwan and Hongkong by enhancing their mutual communication, inter-exchanges and 260

cross reference was the other reason for which we decided to make such a visit to Taiwan and Hongkong. In 1995, not long after the 7th annual conference (i.e. the Symposium on Expectations for Visual Art in the 21 ' 1 Century), the committee of the Association decided that the visiting group were made up of four members from the committee, they were, Zhang Fengzhu, the deputy president, the general secretary of the Association and the dean of the Visual Art Research School in Beijing Broadcasting Institute; Sun Qinhua, the member of the committee and professor in the Chinese department of Yunnan University; Zhang Zhenhua, the member of the committee and associate professor in the Chinese department ofFudan University; Hu Zhifeng, the member of the committee, the deputy secretary and the deputy dean and an associate professor of the art department in Beijing Broadcasting Institute.

9.2 Main Activities during the Taiwan Visit

The four members of the delegation departed respectively from Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming, and arrived in Taiwan via Hongkong. In Taiwan, they were received by Shih Hsin University, which was also called Institute of International News and Communication. From June 3"' to June 9th, 1997, we visited the following institutes and companies: Central Motion Picture Corp (Chinese Culture and Movie Center}, China Film Archive, CTV, TTY, Radio and Television Foundation, TVBS, the Palace Museum, Central Museum of Arts and Crafts, Shih Hsin University, National Taiwan University of Arts, National Chengchi University, Wu Nan Press, San Min Press, etc. From June lOth to June 111h, we had a trip to Sun Moon Lake and had a stay in Sanyi Art Museum and Purl Woodcarving Art Gallery. On June 11th, we returned to Taipei, and on June 12th we left Taipei and respectively went back to Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming via Hongkong. Though short, this visit to Taiwan left me a deep and enduring impression. 261

Firstly, the familial affection showed by our Taiwan colleagues to us was quite touching. To ensure that our investigation can go smoothly, the Shih Hsin University made a thoughtful plan for us, made advancing preparations and arrangements for each step of our investigation and treated us well. Secondly, with the same root, we found no cultural barriers when co=uuicating with our Taiwan compatriots. Our value orientation and ways of thinking were similar or even the same. Thirdly, the historical stages of Taiwan's film industry and film and television education was basically similar to ours, so was the problems we were facing. However, their construction, distribution and management possessed many distinguishing features which were worth our studying and borrowing. Fourthly, the co=unication between us and Taiwan film and television industries, especially the film and television education still needed to be strengthened both in scale and effect, and there were many opportunities for us to build future cooperation.

9.3 A Brieflntroduction to Taiwan's Film Industry

The present situation of Taiwan's film industry is generally depressed. The prime of Taiwan's film industry seems to be over and many film practitioners have given up and turned to other businesses. Film as an art and film industry as an industry and business are contradictory, which puts film practitioners into a dilemma. In order to make a living, many film practitioners start doing other businesses. Some of

them became taxi drivers, and some even opened restaurants and stands. Even the wellknown director Hou Hsiao-hsien even started recording pop songs. Shooting advertisements is a comparatively profitable and decent way of making a living for film directors like Hou Hsiao-hsien. Therefore, we can fmd that many film directors start shooting TV ads. Of course, their aim is not simply to shoot ads but to earn money. 262

(1) Central Motion Picture Corp is the biggest film company in Taiwan, which has cultivated famous directors such as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Ang Lee. However, the prosperity in the 1980s has nowhere to be found now and its ways of getting profits has been constantly changed and extended. Its stereoscopic cinemas and dynamic cinemas which were popular once upon a time now have fallen into depression and have been sold to Vietnam and Cambodia. Its Culture and Movie Center which is similar to a street of Beijing Opera and Film Factory is no more than 2 kilometers long. Along the two sides of the street, there are city walls, residential buildings and stores which provides equipment for shooting films and also sells souvenirs and food for travelers. But with the depression of the film industry, businesses in the center goes down as well. Now the place has been overgrown by weeds and left visitors a very bleak and desolate

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We had a long discussion with the Xu Fuming, the deputy manager of Central Motion Picture Corp, Wang Tong, the director of the Central Motion Picture Factory, and the other dozens of figures. Mr. Wang Tong proposed several of his ideas which can present the current situation of Taiwan's film industry. Now I summarize his ideas as follows:

1) There are two kinds of film artists, one struggling for art and the other struggling for box office. The former lives a hard life with lower box office but has better achievements in art, while the latter has better box office but is less successful in art. Directors like Ang Lee who combines art and commerce so well and gets success both in art and box office are really rare.

2) The existence and development of film needs caring, nurturing and various support from film lovers. For example, in Europe, nations like Hungary, Italy, France and Germany have nationals who have better cultural and art attainment, who start enjoying sculptures even after birth and who would like to share one dollar to invest into art, films and film artists even if they have only five dollars. Thus, they have the condition to cultivate and support artists like Fellini, Antonioni and Fassbender; 263

however, Taiwan can't support Hou Hsiao-hsien, which is not because Taiwan people are poor but because no one would like to pay for art and film. 3) Under the current predicament, to fmd the correct aim and direction, film and its practitioners need to make a huge adjustment in the value orientation and aesthetic orientation of film. ln the past, film was taken as a tool to express the hardship and pains of the era and

the nation, and what films more often than not show were cry, abreaction, struggles, or a try to break away from fate. This was true of both Taiwan and Mainland China. It might be meaningful for the past years, while it is not for now. Nowadays, the

younger generation has no deep feeling and personal experience for historical events. They would reject to watch something about history, about the national struggle of Ireland, which compels us to think of one question: can films that are too historical, too national, or too philosophical survive today? What kind of film can cater to the needs of our young generation? 4) The solution and method of Chaplin, Ang Lee, Jackie Chan, Huang Jianxin and Zhao Jiping may shed light on today's film practitioners. Chaplin's films are still popular today, why? Chaplin's films also concern big issues of age, then why only his films could still shine glamorous rays as before? There are two reasons: first, his films show an everlasting willingness and expectation in human nature, that is, a nobody can defeat a somebody and the weak can beat the strong; second, his films are not serious and ponderous but relaxed and ironic, showing the meaning of life through laughter. Ang Lee's success lies in his perfect combination of commerce and art, eastern cultures and western cnltures, history and reality, sensibility and morality, etc. He is good at mixing together different perspectives that seem to be contradictory and conflict with each other. Although he is a special case, his success is still inspiring.

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Both Jackie Chan and Jet Li play in Kungfu, but the former wins a success far better than the latter. Why? The reason is quite similar to Chaplin's case. Characters played by Jackie Chan are not great figures but ordinary people. In mainland China, director Huang Jianxin may have found a possible solution by

showing the life and living conditions of people today, rather than going back to history and fables, because film belongs to the present time and would not be noticed if failed to show the contemporary situation and problems. This may be different from the works of Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou and Hou Hsiao-hsien and his films are not so serious. What kind of films do we need? Mr. Zhao Jiping gave out a wonderful answer during our interview. He said that art should not try too hard. Yes, only when it does not try too hard are there possibilities to produce a good film. Trying too hard often fails to reach a good result. (2) National Film Archive of Taiwan is in a small humble building which stands on the east Tsingtao East Road of Taipei. It has a limited number of staff and limited space. The curator Huang Jianye talked with us for more than two hours, and showed us offices, studios, periodical rooms, reference rooms, etc. Here are film-related books and periodicals that were published from all over the world. What attracted us most was the computer control system. According to Mr. Huang, they would soon connect with the international network and then it would be much more convenient to exchange film-related resources. Like the Central Motion Picture Corp the Film Archive also faces financial problems, so it is difficult to collect film resource on a large scale. Curator Huang told us that part of the received resource was from the government, part from personal donation and others from various exchanges. It is hard to enlarge the scale under current circumstances. The Film Archive associates with junior colleges, sometimes with some film 265

practitioners, has held many activities. During our visit in Taiwan, Canadian Film Festival was just being held by the Archive and Taipei Youth Film Association whose members are mainly college students. Besides, they had also held Classical Chinese Films in the 1930s and 1940s, Classical Taiwan Films, Post-Colonial Films in the Third World. The Film Archive has collected 6000 Chinese films, 400 documentaries, nearly 200 foreign films, more than 1000 video disks, more than 4500 video tapes, over 5000 Chinese books and 6000 foreign books. There are also almost 100 kinds of periodicals, 6000 posters, 15000 stage photos, 1000 screen script and over 400 scrapbooks. And every year the Archive would produce a Film Yearbook, six Movie Appreciation--a bimonthly magazine, and other film-related works. (3) The Management and Operation of the Film Business and Relative Awards Taiwan's film industry is administered by the Government Information Office. Each year the office would invest 100 million NT to support the film industry. The money is mainly used in the production of films and also used to make a macro control on the planning, designing and management of Taiwan's film initiative. Taiwan's business is mainly managed by private enterprises which have boards of directors and managers, and it is the managers who are directly in charge of running the business and who are always multitaskers. For example, big as the Central Motion Picture Corp is, it has no more than 120 staff. This kind of management is very efficient and worth of learning. In order to encourage the filmmaking, the Information Office set up Golden Harvest Awards for outstanding short films and videos within an hour. The 18th Golden Harvest Awards of 1996 winners are as follows: Short films: 266

1. The best dramatic short film: Forced Exposure (Chen Ruofei) 2. The best experimental short film: 7086MTV (Guan Wensheng)

3. The best animated short film: Chu He Han Jie (Shi Minghui) 4. The best short documentary: Vacant 5. Excellent short films: The Lost Camera (Chen Yixiong) and other eight works.

Video tapes:

1. The best dramatic video tape: Outside the String (Liang Shurong) 2. The best experimental video tape: Sound ofBell (Chen Zhengcai) 3. The best animated video tape: Belonging (Chen Jinghua) 4. The best video tape documentary: Taiwan Soldiers (Chen Rongxian) 5. Excellent video tapes: Keep the Love (Qiu Yingzheng) and other eight works. The Golden Horse Awards winners of 1996 are as the follows: The best drama: Summer Snow (Jiahe Entertainment Limited) The best director: Hou Hsiao-hsien Good Men Good Women The best original screenplay: Chen Yu Tropical Fish The best screenplay adaptation: Zhu Tianwen Good Men, Good Women The best actor: Lin Yang Super Citizen The best actress: Xiao Fangfang Summer Snow The best supporting actor: Luo Jiaying Summer Snow The best supporting actress: Wen Ying Tropical Fish 267

The best cinematographer: Li Pingbin Summer Snow The best editor: Zhang Jingping, Huang Minglin Fallen Angels The best art designer: Zhang Jingping Fallen Angels The best style designer: Ding Yuanda Evening liaison The best action director: Yuan Kui, Jackie Chan Stunt Team, Hong Ding Stunt Team The best film music: Li Chunquan, Fan Zongpei Super Citizen The best film song: Chen Xin The Peony Pavilion The best recording: Du Duzhi Summer Snow The best audio-visual techuique: Zhu Jiaxin The Umbrella Story The best auimated film: Post Human (art commuuication) The best documentary report: omission The special award for actors from mainland China: Jet Li The life achievement award: Li Zhu The most popular film: Summer Snow Even though it is in recession, Taiwan's film industry is still full of potentials and its practitioners are still working hard to make more achievements. As the cross-strait cooperation goes deeper and Taiwan's films wins an increasingly higher position in the world, I believe that Taiwan's film industry would make a special contribution to the development of Chinese film industry. 9.4 A Brief Introduction of Taiwan's Television Industry

Taiwan's television industry started later than that of mainland China. Beijing TV station (now CCTV) was first launched on May 1, 1958, while Taiwan's first TV station 268

TTV was launched on October 10, 1962. From then on, Taiwan's television industry started growing and CTV, TTV and CTS, three biggest wireless TV stations in Taiwan, gradually formed a situation of tripartite confrontation. In 1996, the fourth wireless TV station FTV was established. TTV, CTV, CTS and FTV were regarded as the four most influential wireless TV stations in Taiwan. In addition, during the last five years, Taiwan's cable television grew fast. Among all cable television stations in Taiwan, TVBS was the most influential one. Taiwan's various television institutions have something in common such as background, environment, configuration and structure, etc.: Firstly, they are all affiliated to the Government Information Office. It is the Government Information Office who is in charge of establishing and issuing all kinds of regulations on television administration, including Radio and Television Law, Specifications for Television Program Production, Rules on the Management ofRadio and Television Officials and Practitioners, Specification for Television Advertising, Regulations on the Development Fund for Radio and Television Undertakings, Rules for the Management of Radio and Television Program Supply, Cable Television Law and Related Regulations. These laws and regulations have provided unified, detailed rules concerning various aspects of Taiwan's television enterprise including its practitioners, funding, and possessions, and ensure that all TV institutions can equally compete with each other under unified laws. Secondly, all TV stations are entities affiliated to TV companies and in administration and management, they are led by boards of companies. Since Taiwan's TV companies are private-owned, these companies' administration and management are not under control of government. Therefore, managers in these companies, who are led by boards, directly manage and regulate TV stations and their relevant departments, but big decisions are still made by boards. Boards and TV stations have the same benefits and goals, so boards' decisions have a strong relation to TV stations' economic benefits and 269

social benefits and stations' level in return has a direct influence on companies' economic benefits and social benefits. Thirdly, Taiwan's big TV stations have no big difference in size. The three biggest wireless TV stations are TTY, CTV and CTS, which all have around 800 employees, have similar equipment condition, and even have similar broadcasting volume. According to statistics, in 1994, TTY's broadcasting volume was 7153 hours, CTV's broadcasting volume was 7041 hours, and CTS's 7023; in 1995, the broadcasting volume ofTTV was 8437 hours, CTV 8130 hours, and CTS 7955 hours. Fourthly, the organizational structures of these TV stations are almost the same. Taking TTV as an example, under the chairman of the board, there are manager, deputy manager and chief secretary; and the affiliated departments are: news department (including interview group, news program group, producing group, sports group, and international news group), program department (including planning group, art group, managing group, film group, editorial group, broadcasting group, director group and coordination group), engineering department (including master control group, assistant control group, recording group, works group and transmitting station), business department (including sales group, advertise group), consulting department (including operation group, designing group and reference room), financing department (including audit group, financing group, cashier group and accounting group), public relationship department (including service group and welfare group), human resources office, safety and health office, research development office and sectary office, etc. The other TV companies and stations all basically have the same organizational structure. Fifthly, these TV stations have similar types of programs, and they all have the following types of programs: news programs, education and culture programs, public service programs, dramas, variety shows, films, and special programs. Besides, Taiwan's TV stations, especially the three biggest wireless TV stations also face the same challenge, which can be summarized into one word "competition", the 270

competition on programs, advertisements and talents. First, the competition on programs. During my visit to CTV, TTC and TVBS, I got a deep sense of the fierce competition among programs. The news programs in different TV stations would report the same piece of news in different ways. For example, to report the news about the problem of Taiwan's garbage disposal and the problem of the consecutive heavy rain in southern Taiwan, different TV stations would organize their staff to report the problems from various perspectives such as authority's response, citizen's review and comparison with other areas, and they would use all kinds of report forms like live report, inter-cut, background analysis, studio comments. They compete in perspective, in depth, in width and in height, and we can see these TV stations' levels and characteristics through their reports. Special reports have also become the trump card of these TV stations. For instance, TVBS hired Taiwan's famous woman TV reporter Li Yanqiu with a high salary to go to Hongkong and report Hongkong's return. Her special report "Li Yanqiu's report on Hongkong's Return" won a very high audience rating. Second, the competition on the advertisement. Advertisement revenue is TV stations' main source of income, so running advertisements has become a matter oflife and death for them. The distribution of advertisements in TTV, CTV and CTS were almost equal. However, the distribution has changed in recent years. The biggest change is that cable televisions have started being involved in the competition on ads. The rising of cable television stations not only take away many audience and ad agencies from wireless televisions, but also take away at least 10% of ad revenue. Wireless television means higher cost and heavier burden, facing much pressure, while cable television costs less, has less burden and its operation is simpler and faster. Therefore, ad audience and agencies show more preference for cable television. In order to survive and develop, TV stations try their best to find possible solutions. TTY, on the one hand, takes advantage of its identity as a "big wheel" in this trade and holds the banner of "fair trade", trying to stop illegal practices in some TV stations; on the other hand, it itself 271

sets an example to win a good reputation and maintain some old ad agencies and customers. CTV tries to win a higher audience rating, by ensuring the quality of its programs and the well-management of its advertisements and tries to enlarge its advertising business network to get more ad revenue. Third, the competition on talents. Taiwan's TV stations have gradually recognized that the most important competition is the competition on talents. Thus, they spare no effort to get talents from all walks oflife. The above-mentioned Li Yanqiu is just taken away by TVBS from CTS. Besides, all TV stations have taken talents training into their critical agendas. TTY not only provides professional training for its own employees, but also entrusts TTY cultural company to publicly recruit social members to reserve talents. They have provided courses of acting, singing, program producing, programming, dubbing, hosting, television engineering, children' drama and children' chorus, etc. CTV has made rules on employee training, which aims to unify talents selection, talents training and talents using, and it has also signed an agreement with the news department of National Chengchi University: both sides select student talents who would get TTY's sponsor and work in TTY after graduation. CTS entrusts CTS Culture and Education Foundation to train its employees. It has the similar courses in TTY and CTV; besides, it also has training courses on photographing, editing, program making, computer graphing, animation, etc. What kind of characteristics do Taiwan's TV stations show in these competitions? First, channels are abundant and specialized. There are almost 70 or 80 channels, and all have high utilization ratio. Apart from some local TV programs, there are also foreign programs. Programs from America, Australia, Japan, France, Germany and mainland China all can be seen in Taiwan. Taiwan's TV stations are specialized and have specific tasks, such as film channel, variety channel, TV drama channel, children channel, entertainment channel, news channel, sports channel, etc. The division is quite clear, and they even have integrated channel. Of course, the three biggest stations also 272

have their own Synthetical channels. These Synthetical channels can be regarded as an enrichment to the specialization of channels. Second, Taiwan's TV programs are generally of entertainment and of life. Among all kinds of programs, variety shows and TV dramas account for 80%-90%, bringing much relaxation and recreation to audience. To show something full of life is the main goal of TV stations. The well-known dramas made in recent years have: The Legend ofChu Liuxiang, Li Shimin, Taiwan's Water Margin, Mundane Love, This Life made by TTY; Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai, Happy Together, The Secret Children, Spring Wind is Passing made by CTV; Justice Bao, The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, Overlord Flower, The Road ofLove is Long, A Building ofJoy, Brotherhood, Qin terracotta made by CTS. Hokkienesse (a Southern Fujian dialect) TV dramas are also very popular among Taiwan audience, such as Beggar and Geisha, Bean Curd Man, Feng Guan Love, Princess, Love for Hometown, Spring Flower and Autumn Moon. The variety shows in Taiwan are also multifarious and the outstanding ones are: TTY's Brother, The Night ofRoses, Five Light Award (a variety show of more than 30 years, the oldest one in Taiwan), Super Sunday, A Full Show in Weekends, etc.; CTV'sMeeting ofJoy, Eggs Against Stones, Happy 100, Happy Fax, etc.; and CTS' Big League, Victory, Top Songs in the Last 50 Years, Variety Kaleidoscope, TV UN, etc. Third, the forms of TV programs are flexible, varied, and active. Much attention has been paid on the promotion of programs and the image of the channels and on the various ways in which audience can participate in. Taiwan's TV stations care much about the viewing effect, so they prefer a uniqueness on form of programs. In Taiwan, pure talk shows account for a large proportion, and the forms of on-the-spot report, studio recording, hot line, virtual performance, square ring, remote transmission are flexible. Reports on big events can cut in at any time in any forms like pictures, subtitles and calls to follow the events up. For example, when Bai Xiaoyan, the daughter of TV celebrity Bai Bingbing, was kidnapped and killed, all stations followed and reported 273

this event as it was going on. When entering into the building of CTV and TTV, the first thing one can notice is the giant poster of their newly made TV dramas. The warm slogans on the posters like "Please don't leave long, the excellent play will be back soon" just indicate the attentiveness of producers. Fourth, the style of Taiwan's TV programs is fast-paced and natural and has distinctive local characteristics. Because of competition, Taiwan's TV reporters and producers all work at a fast pace and so do the TV programs. Taking the news program as an example, the news programs in Taiwan have pungent and substantial news content, which are spread very fast. And while the news is broadcasting, relative background information would be cut in and with the news event going on, new information and new comments would be added. Even the broadcasters' speaking speed in Taiwan is much faster than that in mainland China. During our visit in CTV, TTV and TVBS, we found the same situation: in the journalists' room places a table on which there is a microphone. And on the other side, journalists are working. Once there is news needed to be report, they will sit by the table and report the news immediately. Other kinds of programs also need to be "fast". Even the variety shows must constantly show new punchlines, giving audience unexpected information and joy through new stimulation. Many TV programs are live broadcasting, so to improvise has become familiar to TV journalists, hosts, and other people who are involved in the programs. And improvisation often creates some unexpected "wisdom" and "inspiration", and that's why Taiwan's TV programs can have such a natural and fluent style. Emphasizing ethics and education is part of Chinese traditional culture, which is inherited by Taiwan. However, with Taiwan's subtropical natural landscape and special humanity landscape, Taiwan has formed a local culture that is different from mainland China and Hongkong. And that can be seen through Taiwan's TV programs, which has a feature of being warm and nostalgic. 274

Problems in Taiwan's television industry are also obvious:

First, with the island mentality, Taiwan's TV works are lack in momentum and magnificent air and have few masterpieces. For a long time, in a special and historical environment, Taiwan was alone and gradually formed an island mentality. The limitations of the environment make people parochial. Even though there numerous TV programs, programs that can have momentum and magnificent air are rare. Programs like large-scale TV dramas and documents in mainland China can seldom be found in Taiwan.

Second, Taiwan's TV programs are flexible, varied, entertaining and life-related, but sometimes also show a tendency of vulgarization. Some topics they choose like ''under what circumstance men do not wear underpants" are like fast food, without any meaning. Sometimes they would make fuss over trifle issues. For example, they once made a competition on ''which actor has poorer acting skills".

Third, the producing of programs is fast but the quality of programs is relatively rough. When we visited the photography and television studios of CTV and TTY, we saw that many programs like TV dramas were made randomly by the playwrights, directors, actors and staff in the technology department. This phenomenon is quite co=on in Taiwan and that's why Taiwan's TV programs could not achieve to a high level.

Besides, another phenomenon that needs noticing is the Public Television Service Fund and its co=onweal programs. The Fund is to build a broadcast and television institution based on the remaining sum of all TV stations' revenue. Its aim is to make up the shortcomings of TV stations, to make co=onweal programs, and to provide advice, training and service. For example, generally TV stations won't invest much on programs such as science programs, ecology and environmental protection programs, tourism programs, children programs, teenage programs, professional education programs, domestic service programs, health programs, tradition and culture programs, art programs, etc. These programs are not good for gaining direct benefit but are very 275

necessary for the society. Therefore, each year this Fund would invest a large amount of money to produce these kinds of programs, which is worthy ofleaming.

9.5 A Brieflntroduction of Taiwan's Film and Television Education

Film and television education is an indispensable part of Taiwan's film industry, and it develops with the development of Taiwan's economy and society and progresses with the progress of Taiwan's film industry. Taiwan's film and television education is generally divided into two types: one belongs to the category of art, and the other belongs to the category of communication. The representative of the former category is National Taiwan University of Arts, and the representatives of the latter category are National Chengchi University and Shih Hsin University. The art university sets departments according to the types of art, such as the department of drama, the department of printing art, the department of technology, the department of fine arts, the department of sculpture, the department of Chinese music, the department of dancing, etc. Film and radio and television are also included into the art category and form the film department and the radio and television department. The level and accomplishments of Taiwan's film education concentrate on the film department, which was established on October 31'1, 1955.At the very beginning, there were no full-time professional teachers in this department but some part-time teachers from other department to teach film knowledge. In 1957, the department set a threeyear discipline of film writing and directing, and then in the same year it was changed into five-year and was divided into four sub-disciplines: playwriting, directing, acting, and technology, which started to show the features of junior college education. In 1960, the discipline of film writing and directing was formally involved into junior college education and started to recruit students from the society and it won a lot of preference and favors of many film lovers. It seems that Taiwan's film education at the beginning 276

was not very systemic and impact, and had no distinct difference from drama education. Until to 1981 was the film education independent from drama education. In 1994, the film discipline was upgraded as the film department. Since then, Taiwan's film education can be basically divided into three stages: the first stage was a period where film education was attached to the drama education; the second stage was a period of film discipline which mainly focused on film producing and was assisted with film theories; the third stage was a period of the film department which focused on both film producing and theories. At the first stage, the main courses of film education were all attached to drama courses, and even the film writing and directing courses were just the extension of drama writing and directing courses. And there were also film shooting course, film technology course and so on. The basic courses were comparatively okay, but with various limitations, the film producing education was very poor. At the second stage, the film producing education was enormously improved. In the first year photographing and three-minute film shooting would be taught, and in the second year Scm film producing, documentary and cartoon making would be taught; in the third year, students would learn how to make 16cm films and cartoons, and they should finish their graduation film products. In this period, the film producing education was quite good, but the basic education went poorer. At the third stage, the aim and structure of the film education in Taiwan became more impact, clearer and more reasonable, and it stopped emphasizing merely basic education or merely producing education, but to emphasize both of them. The aim of film education was to cultivate film talents like playwrights, directors, technologists, and focus on both theories and practices to develop students who could have both film creation ability and academic research ability.

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Now under this rum, the structure of courses is made to serve for cultivating comprehensive film talents, whose personal interests, will and personality are fully respected. In the first year, students are mainly taught film theories and basic film producing practices; in the second year and third year there are three groups of courses, there are theories and screenwriting, directing and producing, and teclmology; in the fourth year, students are mainly busy with their graduation work. The three-group course is of distinctive characteristics. In the first year, it is consisted of basic film writing course, basic film directing and basic film teclmology course; in the second year is consisted of film writing practice (level 1) course, film directing practice (level 1) course and film technology practice (level 1) course; in the third year, it is consisted of film theory research, film directing research, film technology research, and practices of film writing , directing and technology(level2); in the fourth it mainly consists of research on the history of film theory, research on the film directors, and research on film technologies, etc. The teaching of"theory and writing", "directing and producing" and "technology" goes deeper as students entering a higher grade. Combining theory and practice with a clear aim and scientific logic is a rule for the cultivation of film talents. Besides, courses like film literature, film aesthetics, iconic psychology, multimedia animation producing, advertisement planning and producing, film promoting research and film company management are also listed in the class timetable.

The film department owns the only film studio for an internship in Taiwan, and in 1990 it fmished its first independent-made film-- Rebelliousness and Love.

Among all film talents they have cultivated, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Ang Lee are the most famous directors. Due to the economic issues, the student emollment is not big. At present there are less than 80 students in the whole school.

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The future goal of film department is to make further progress in theory research, resource construction, equipment construction and practice training, and to cultivate more talents and prepare for new challenges. Taiwan's film education has been through many difficulties and has accumulated may precious experience and achievements.

First, curriculum system becomes more and more complete, systemic and reasonable. At present, three-group courses are still at the core, and at different grades there are also different compulsory courses and optional courses. The total credit point is around 200 and the class hours are around 220. Second, the faculty team grows stronger. Ten years ago, there are only two full-time professional teachers, but now the number has grown into seven. Professor Chen Meiqing, the dean, who is a senior expert in Taiwan's film education is still playing a leading role.

Third, the condition of equipment has also been improved. Now there are three sets of 16cm synchronous cameras, seven sets of 16cm cameras, synchronous recorders, editing machines, film studios, animation studios, and computers for animation making. Fourth, a film repertory has been established, which contains the graduation works of all students who have graduated and also contains 500 rolls of video tapes that are used in teaching. Fifth, there are many local and international film exchange and communication activities including International Students Film Education and Production Seminar, animation film seminar and college students' Gold Lion Award Ceremony, etc. Sixth, students' works have won many prizes and often participated in international communication activities, such as Taiwan's Golden Harvest Awards and students film festivals in Tokyo, Spain, Oscar, Belgium and France. 279

The predicament of Taiwan's film education is also worrying. First, it fails to get the due attention from the authority and enough support from the society. No matter it is form the perspective of film or from the perspective of education, the film education can't be ranked at a high position. And few public figures and groups show attention to film education, which is the biggest problem. Second, the funds are not enough and there are no opportunities to submit budget, so many plans fail to be accomplished. Third, the problem of teacher shortage is very serious. People who have the knowledge ofboth film theories and producing practices and have enthusiasm for teaching are rare, which prevents the scale of film education from being larger. Fourth, the student pool is not good enough. Students of Taiwan's film education are recruited through college entrance examination. The result is that among the students they recruit, there are some who could study well but have no interest in film and it hard to expect that these students could be trained as a professional. Another limitation of student pool is that they only recruit students who come from Taiwan. The radio and television department which belongs to the academy of art tends to cultivate radio and television talents through art. This department grew out of the radio and television night division, established in 1963, and the radio and television day division, established in 1968, which aims mainly to train TV program producers and technologists to meet the need of the society. In 1994, as the Art Training School was upgraded as a college, the major of radio and television was upgraded as a department. The aim of the radio and television department is to cultivate radio and television talents of program making, professional techniques and academic research. Now the department has 34 teachers and it would recruit a day class and a night class every year. In these years, the radio and television department has discovered an education system 280

and method that are full of distinctive characteristics and has achieved many accomplishments. First, the department has gradually formed a curriculum system that is based both on radio and television and on art. Based on radio and television, it differs from the dramatic study and film study. Courses such as "radio and television study", ''the history of public communication", "broadcasting engineering", ''radio program producing", "television program producing", "monographic studies on radio and television", ''radio and television advertisements producing", are all listed on the class timetables of all grades. Meanwhile, there are also some courses about art in every grade like "music appreciation", "acting art",

"lighting design", ''play writing", "professional

photography", which are the basic courses of some traditional disciplines such as music, drama, film and so on. This curriculum system can help students absorb more aesthetic knowledge and get more inspiration for creation. Combining the professional courses of radio and television and basic courses of art is a special design of the radio and television department. Second, it has formed a complete equipment system. There are recording studios, audiovisual rooms, and multimedia projection rooms that are used for making radio programs and photo studios, editing rooms, dubbing rooms, and special effect rooms that are used for making TV programs. And there are also equipment rooms, reference rooms and video reference rooms. Therefore, students produce high-quality radio and television programs just within the campus. Third, the teaching and research achievements are remarkable. From having only night division, then only day division to having both day and night divisions and then to recruiting post-graduates, the radio and television department insistently enrich its teaching arrangements and enlarge its scale. Students from the department of radio and television have won many awards in the "College Students Radio and Television Programs Competition" and they are increasingly interested in academic activities. In 281

1992, the deparbnent held "Taipei HDTV Academic Seminar and Equipment Exhibition". In 1995, the deparbnent imported the HDTV static image presenting system, which has further consolidated the foundation of radio and television education. In the conference room of the radio and television deparbnent, we saw many golden trophies and we got some books such as Image Aesthetics and Symposium of HDTV

Seminar given by Professor Xie Fuzhang, the current director of this deparbnent. The radio and television deparbnent is facing the same problem with the film deparbnent, but it seems that the radio and television deparbnent is more active and does better in creating social and economic effects.

The film deparbnent in the Art Academy has similar teaching contents, educational system and educational goals with our Beijing Film Academy, but its general level is far weaker than ours, no matter it is in the depth of theory or in faculty teams, students pool and students' making and producing ability. However, they do well in creating a good teacher-student relationship and teaching flexibly and vividly, which are not weaker than us at all. The radio and television deparbnent in the Art Academy is similar to some art majors in our Beijing Broadcasting Institute. Their curriculum arrangements are almost the same, their teaching goals and methods are quite similar, and because they belong to one discipline, their general levels are also similar. Nevertheless, the scales of the radio and television deparbnent is apparently poorer than that of Beijing Broadcasting Institute, for example our Beijing Broadcasting Institute recruits hundreds of students every year including post-graduates, post-graduates for advanced studies, undergraduates and cadres for training, etc.

The film deparbnent and radio and television deparbnent in the Art Academy are generally based on art. They take film and television as a variety and a branch of art to unfold their teaching and research and to cultivate talents. There is another section in Taiwan which also concerns film education and this section is based on communication, 282

taking film and television as medium to unfold their teaching and research and to cultivate talents. The representatives of this section are the film and television departments in National Chengchi University and Shih Hsin University. National Chengchi University is a prestigious university with a long history in Taiwan and its precursor is the Central Chengchi University, established in 1935. As the development ofTaiwan's film and television medium, the film and television education started in Taiwan in 1954. Relative departments were set sincel935. In 1954, 1987 and 1988 the news department, the advertisement department and the radio and television department were respectively established. Based on these three departments, the co=unication school of National Chengchi University was established in 1989. The first dean of this school is Professor Yan Qinheng, his successor is Professor Pan Jiaqing and the current dean is Professor Zheng Rnicheng. The teaching goal of the co=unication school of National Chengchi University is to cultivate talents for the development of co=unication theory and research and for co=unication practice. The teaching contents can be divided into six parts: 1. Humanity and social sciences: Chinese, English, History, Sociology, Psychology, etc. 2. Co=unication theory: the history of co=unication, media criticism, journalism, co=unication studies, etc. 3. Co=unication practice skills: interviewing and writing, copywriting, radiotelevision production, advertising marketing, project design, etc. 4. Co=unication ethics and regulations: co=unication laws, advertising laws, journalistic ethics, etc. 5. Internship: arranging su=er internship in relative companies

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The radio and television department is the newest department in the communication school, but it is the earliest radio and television department in Taiwan. Its aim is to unfold professional and ethical education around theories to cultivate professionals who have dream, responsibility, potential and creativity. Its short-term goals are:

1. To cultivate talents for radio and television programs' planning, writing and producing.

2. To cultivate professional journalists for radio and television news. 3. To cultivate talents for managing radio and television medium. 4. To cultivate talents for the radio and television theory studies.

5. To promote the academic studies on radio and television, which would help solve practical problems. Its long-term goals are:

1. To improve the content and qnality of radio and television culture. 2. To do research on the communication technology and new medias, trying to contribute to policies, systems, effects and assessments. 3. To build a data of radio and television and to build a research model of radio and television.

4. To develop more college teachers for radio and television education. 5. To cooperate with the organizations and companies in this trade to find problems and provide solutions. 6. To promote the radio and television education and provide advanced training. 284

7. To improve the life quality of community members and realize the idea that universities serve the society. The development of this department has three directions: medium managing, radio and television news and educational and cultural programs. And there are three kinds of courses: the first kind of courses are general courses of university and humanity science courses (this kind of courses are equal to our basic courses); the second kind are general communication courses (these courses teach general communication theories and are equal to our basic specialized courses); the third kind are specialized courses on radio and television (their radio and television practice courses are equal to our specialized courses). On their class timetable, we saw courses, like "film principles", "film history'', "film language", "screenplay writing", "computer graphics" and so on, are listed in major courses. Courses such as ''television aesthetics", ''television programs production", ''television programs strategies", "public television", ''television documentary production", "television collecting and editing training", are also listed into major courses. This department now has 16 full-time teachers and 9 part-time teachers, and it owns institutes and equipment like radio and television production center, collecting and editing automatic laboratory and multimedia audiovisual education center and it shares facilities with communication school, such as theaters, newspaper editing rooms, libraries, seminar rooms, writing rooms, research and development centers, photo studios, photography darkrooms. This department also has its own academic periodicals: Radio and Television (a semi-annual issue) and Radio and Television Century (a semi-

annual issue). With many professors who are doctors and masters of communication studies graduated from American universities, the department has made many distinctive academic 285

achievements, which are quite influential in Taiwan and even in the international co=unication field. Professors like Guan Shangren, Liu Youli, Wu Cuizhen and Cai Yan have high attainments respectively in medium managing, co=unication theory, medium design and production, and television fine art. Generally, each professor teaches more than three courses and even seven or eight courses. The department imitates the education method of art and implements small class teaching, which is a distinctive characteristic of its teaching. This department also regularly holds some special activities. Activities such as "Radio and Television Practices Academic Seminar", "Graduation Works Exhibition", "Sophomore Television Exhibition", "Plays exhibition" have good influence not only on activating campus culture and improving students' quality, but also on strengthening teaching effects. We also visited and saw the infrastructure and equipment of the co=unication school, especially that of the radio and television department, finding that their radio and television production center, theater and multimedia center are of the top rank in Taiwan. There are two more amazing places: one is the library and the other is the professor research room. The library of co=unication school has books and periodicals from all over the world, and its computer managing level is amazing. We asked a staff to inquire Mr. Zhang Zhenhua's works and Mr. Zhang's papers that published on academic periodicals in mainland China were presented soon. Each senior professor is provided a research room, a computer and other office supplies, and each of them has a young assistant who helps professor to do the research and deals with all kinds of chores. From 1994, the department started recruiting post-graduates, marking a new progress of its education scale. Another university that provides a film and television education based on co=unication studies is the audio-visual co=unication department of Shih Hsin 286

University (the former International News and Communication College). The precursor of this department is the ''radio and television discipline" and the "film production discipline", which were set when Shih Hsin University was still a junior college. Now the audio-visual communication department is divided into three groups: ''radio group", "television group" and "film group", and has 16 classes including two advanced classes. Now the department has more than 1000 students.

The ''television group" and "film group" in the audiovisual communication department aim to respectively cultivate television talents and film talents, and their curriculum arrangements are based on communication studies, which is special. In the first year, the main courses of the ''television group" and "film group" are the medium of mass communication and the society, and the introduction of computer and communication. Besides, the "film group" also has courses like the introduction of drama. In the second year, the main courses of these two groups are the theory of mass communication, communication technology and the history of communication. Besides, the ''television group" also has primary courses of TV programs production and TV writing, while the "film group" has courses like history of film, screenplay writing and cinematic photography. In the third year, the main courses are mass communication regulations and the methods of communication research. The ''television group" also has the course of television aesthetics and advanced course of television programs production, while the "film group" has courses such as film theory, film criticism, film production and research on documentaries. In the fourth year, the main course is media appreciation and criticism. And the ''television group" has the course of television independent research and graduation work production and the course of television management, while the "film group" sets the course of film independent research and the course of film management, etc.

Shih Hsin University is a private university founded by the late famous newspaperman Mr. Cheng Shewo, so it owns more rights to manage its own affairs and founds. Therefore, it can be well-appointed has two photo studios, many special classrooms for 287

practice, editing rooms, dubbing classrooms, small-scale theaters, audio-visual rooms, make-up rooms, and advertising graphic design rooms. It is so well-appointed that it can stand first in the field of film education in Taiwan. Now it has a faculty team of more than 80 people and the incumbent director of the department is Professor Cai Nianzhong, who completed his PhD in America. The department has contributed many academic accomplishments to the society. Teachers in this department are all scholars in the field of communication, who have enjoyed a reputation in Taiwan or even in the world. The department has cultivated millions of students, many of whom have become the backbone power in Taiwan's film communication field. In Taiwan, many universities including some well-known universities such as the

National Taiwan University, Tamkang University, have the film education, but the film department in National Taiwan University of Art, the radio and television department in National Chengchi University and the audiovisual communication department in Shih Hsin University can basically reflect the history, the present situation and the general features of Taiwan's film education. First, on the one hand, the film education and television education are separated and are independent from each other; on the other hand, they are integrated and cooperate with each other. The film education started earlier and has formed a comparatively complete and scientific education system, while the television education started later, but with the more active medium, the television education is more socialized and has more potential than the film education. The film education has its own independent department, but it is integrated with something of television, while the television education has its own independent department, but it is also integrated with something of film. Thus, the interaction between the film and television does not only lie in medium but also in the medium education, which is in consist with the trend of film and television interaction in mainland China and in the whole world. 288

Second, the film and television education is divided into two kinds: one is based on art and the other is based on communication. These two kinds have difference from each other and also have something in common. The film and television education that is based on art emphasizes the development of art cultivation and artistic personality, so when they make the curriculum arrangements and choose teaching methods, more considerations are paid to develop students' artistic connotation. However, the one that is based on communication puts more emphasis on the cultivation of students' comprehensive quality and sociality, so more considerations were paid to develop students' connotation of social communication. Generally speaking, the former lays more emphasis on the development of sensibility, personality and comprehension, while the later lays more emphasis on the development of reason, sociality and normalization. And this are the differences of these two kinds of film and television education. Their similarities are also obvious, and it can be seen from their teaching contents which have the knowledge both from art and communication. Third, there are two basic trends in film and television education: theory and practice, which are also mutually antagonistic and integration. Taiwan's film and television education practitioners have two sources: practitioners who are engaged in the practice of film and television and practitioners who are engaged in other areas of teaching or teachers trained by relative institutions. The former kind of practitioners focus on practice training, while the latter kind of practitioners focus more on theory and research. Generally speaking, special universities such as National Taiwan University of Art and Shih Hsin University have more advantages on practice, while comprehensive universities like National Chengchi University have more advantages on theory. As the film itself is highly practical, theories that are out of practice are meaningless. And as the film and television development has a close relationship with social development and cultural development, without theoretical support practical training is easy to become a pure artisan operation. Therefore, the film and television education emphasizes both practice and theory, and pushes the further integration of practice with theoretical support and theory with practical foundation. 289

The characteristics of Taiwan's film and television education are in fact, similar to that in mainland China. The development stages that it has gone through are almost the same with ours and the challenges it faces are almost the same with the challenges we face. Thus, film and television educations cross the strait have a strong foundation to make extensive exchanges and cooperation. First, academic exchange and cooperation. Cross-strait film and television educations can further close their relationship and to promote their academic research through mutual visits, co-sponsoring academic activities of film and television, co-publishing academic works, co-organizing film and television awards, doing joint research and exchanging papers, academic journals, etc. Second, the exchange and cooperation of teaching. The cross-strait co=unication and cooperation on the film and television education are promising. From the aspects of teaching objectives, major setting, curriculum system, teaching practice and practical training, the two sides can be drawn on and understood from each other, so as to clearly define the teaching objectives, rationally carry out the teaching objectives, make proper major setting, enrich curriculum content, and strengthen the practice and practical training. In particular, the exchanges among teachers cross the strait can provide them opportunities to learn from each other and will have a positive effect. Third, the exchange and cooperation of talents. From the experts, scholars, professors, to the graduate students and the junior college students, the talents exchange and cooperation on film and television education cross the strait can unfold at all levels. Through the exchange of lectures, mutual training, co-cultivation of graduate students and the junior college students, and even exchanging teachers and students, talents cross the strait can get their new harvest in different environments. Fourth, the exchange and cooperation of products. Teachers and students' teaching products and practice products, such as films, TV programs and television programs, can be regularly exchanged, and even can work together to select topics of interest and 290

co-produce films, TV dramas and television programs and then at an appropriate time to showcase the practical results of China's film and television education in international film festivals, television festivals, film exhibitions and other activities. Film and television play an important role in the 20th century and they have a significant effect on promoting people's mutual understanding, spreading information, improving the life quality of people, enhancing the course of democracy and catering to people's material and spiritual needs. As the 21 ' 1 century is approaching, the film and television media and art would continue to create a new social and cultural landscape with a new posture and image. Therefore, the film and television education need to explore how to form a profound understanding about the film and television media and art and how to use film and television to create new cultural landscape and improve the society and cultural quality of people. With the new historical challenges, the film and television also face many opportunities and its objectives, patterns, connotations need to be practiced, explored and extended with wider horizon, broader knowledge and more effective methods. The film and education sectors on both sides of the strait have seen the prospect. We believe that, as the cross-strait exchange and cooperation of film and television education going deeper, we can build a film and television education system with Chinese characteristics and make a unique and important contribution to the development and prosperity of the global film and television education.

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Chapter 10 Interviews and Lectures 10.1 An Interview to Wu Yigong

Hu refers to Hu Zhifeng, the author of the article. Wu refers to Wu Yigong is a famous Chinese film director and producer. His first solo film, My Memories of Old Beijing, won the 3rd Golden Rooster Award for best director. His other films include Evening Rain (co-directed with Wu Yonggang), which won the 1st Golden Rooster Award for

best motion picture, The Tribulations of a Young Master, and A Corifitcius Family, among others. Hu: Mr. Wu, your movies have exerted deep influence on the whole society. Could you please tell us a bit about your creation? Wu: I entered the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy in 1956. After my graduation in 1960, I became assistant director in Haiyan Film Studio (one of the three feature film studios set up by Shanghai Film Studio), following the famous masters like Shen Fu, Zheng Junli to shoot films. A period of time after the Cultural Revolution (the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China from the year 1966 to 1976), I have cooperated with senior artists such as Lu Ren, Wu Yonggang. The first independent film I have shot was Our Little Cat and other three short films in 1978. From 1979 to 1980, I made Evening Rain; from 1981 to 1982, My Memory of Old Beijing; in 1983, Sister; 1984, University in Exile; 1987, The Tribulations of a Young Master; 1990 to 1991, Eternal Moonlight; 1991 to 1992, A Family in Queli Street and another teleplay in 1989, An Eighteen-Year-Old Man.

Hu: There are many remarks on your films. When I taught students Film and Play lessons, from the perspective of film cultural development history, I regarded your work as the representative of the poetic style in the 1980's China. I thought that your films and Xie Jin's films with the label of worldly spirit commonly constitute two trends in modern China, which are naturally handed down and have spread in 292

China's film cultural development history, even China's artistic cultural development history. Wu: I have never made special discussion on theoretical level. You can regard my work as poetic films. During the shooting period, instead of pursuing a style, I preferred to demonstrate a true portrayal of my mind, without any deliberate idea to pursue or show something.

Hu: How do you think of the remarks on your films by the theoretical and critical cycles, satisfying or not? Wu: Both of them have their own criteria and freedom. Some films were not paid enough attention to which they should have been, while I held preference to them.

Sister is one of them evoking general repercussions which was not successful no matter in social benefits or economic benefits. But I have all along preferred to it. Hu: Mr. Wu, it's such a pity that I haven't watched this film. Could you please tell a bit about the shooting background? Wu: This film told us a story that the Female Independent Regiment of the of the Xilu Army's withdrawal to the west in Linze County (the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province, China). This piece of history was positively depicted in The Echo of

Qilian Mountain, shot by August First Film Studio (the only military film studio in China located in Beijing). Without any plot, there were only three characters, the sister, a red army woman, a little girl ofYugur nationality. Shabby in clothes like beggars, they wandered through the Gobi Desert. The sister whose severe injure led to a coma, encountered a little bugler and a Yugur girl on her way to look for the forces. Encountered with the enemies, the sister and little bugler died one after another. The only little girl took out the female company roster form the sister, which was regarded as important as her life, and continued to step forward on the Gobi Desert, disappearing into the dust bowl. 293

Hu: How could you think of such a theme? Wu: I have made an appointment with Ye Nan (a well-known film playwright) in Hexi Corridor, and both of us were thinking of making a country film. After walking along the ancient Great Wall in Hexi Corridor, we saw five pointed stars carved on the brick wall

as well as " ~" ( a Chinese character referring to plough)

symbolizing the Chinese Workers and Peasants Red Army. We also heard many legendary stories about the Xilu Army soldiers. So, we changed our mind to make this scenario at last. Hu: Just now you mentioned that you had partiality for this film, is it maiuly because of its story or something else? Wu: In my opinion, it's the artistry. I have managed to use new film language to express some idea, emotion and sentiment of mine. The voice and images interlaced while being independent. Such as the troop's laughter, the sound of marching, drilling and fighting and their corresponding images are carried out in a double line. Then some people said they could not well understand and had to supplement the images, which had broken the original and conception. It was really a pity. For instance, in the scene of the sister's death along the Ancient Great Wall, carving the Chinese character "~", the voice of the fight brings with the image. The interlace and independence are well applied. The scene satisfied me most is the watching sunset by the three characters. I chose sunset instead of sunrise because I thought sunset was more magnificent in some sense with a desolate and pathetic meaning. Especially the sunset in Gobi Desert, it can be clearly seen how the sun moved down to the horizon with colorful lights, which has made you feel the struggle and strong power of life. The OST (the original soundtrack) was also terrific and the symphony was majestic. There was no dialogue in this scene. They were shocked and surprised by the majesty. The sister only said at last, ''the sun will rise tomorrow." 294

Hu: It can be imagined how charming the scene of your sunset was. I think the reason why an artistic had to choose sunset instead of sunrise is that it encompasses the fascinated and regretful emotion towards decline of beautiful and valuable things, isn't? Just like what Lu Xun (a well-known Chinese literature figure) said that tragedy was to show people ruining the beautiful. And tragedy is always soulstirring.

Wu: Yes. Villains are not often shown in my films, for I'd like to demonstrate the kindness of human nature. Evening Rain is a reflection of Cultural Revolution, which is an aspect of"Scar Literature" at that time. It appealed for terminating the abnormal situation that people hurt each other and appraising the shinning and beautiful things deep in human's heart. Even the Tribulations ofa Young Master, a comedy, also displayed the same keynote. Therefore, I was regarded as an idealist, for my films are permeated with deal flavor.

Hu: Mr. Wu, I have always thought that artistry can never exist without idealism. Realism as we always emphasize, idealism can never be abandoned, for ideal can appeal for people's faith, power and aesthetic sense.

Wu: Yeah, my film University in Exile was to show such kind of faith. This film told us a story about Zhejiang University during the period of the War of Resistance against Japan. Under president Zhu Kezhen's leadership, the university survived in extremely tough conditions in spite of heavy gunfire of Japanese invaders. I am from Hangzhou, so I am familiar with this piece of history, and I would like to let the public know that these people are the real torch bearers of Chinese culture. Thanks to their efforts, our Chinese glories culture didn't die out. They are worthy of appraising and admiring. What they have declared to next generations is that the torch of Chinese cultural can never be out, it will hand down at any circumstance.

Hu: I think most of your films are about the past and the lost, and increasingly much farther from today, from the film Evening Rain reflecting on the Cultural 295

Revolution to 1920's and 1930's films such as My Memory of Old Beijing, Sister,

University in Exile, and now A Family in Queli Street. A Family in Queli Street told us a story with a larger span from the 75th generation to the 77th generation of Confucius. Different from many artists "Worldly-Spirit" films, you would like to look back instead of looking ahead. Why you have such keen interests in the subjects on the past? Wu: It is hard to answer this question. Unconsciously, maybe some are just because of my personal preference. And more of them seem to be produced by chance. Of course, some of my own potential aesthetic orientation and psychological situation cannot be eliminated. Yi Ming from Beijing Film Studio created the original script of My Memory of Old Beijing at that time and Chen Hangmen recommended it to Shanghai Film Studio. She Fangyu recommended it to me, and Yi Ming sent both the original and the copy of the novel My Memory of Old Beijing written by Lin Haiyin. My father was a disciple ofLi Shutong, and a fellow student ofF eng Zikai (an eminent essayist and artist). Once I mentioned this script to him, he recited many songs, the lyrics of which were written by Li Shutong. (At that time, many school songs were composed by verses.) This has aroused my keen interest. Hence, I rewrote the play script according to the original version, cutting down some of the and focusing on "departure" at great length. At last, my play script was passed by Shanghai Film Studio. Everyone has his or her own familiar, wonderful, vague but concrete childhood. The review of the past childhood can arouse people's memory and make them savor life, which is a kind emotion beyond description. Hu: Which part have made you most satisfied about My Memory of Old Beijing? Wu: The casting. The young actress Shen Jie are blessed with a pair of innocent eyes which seemed to talk and well fit that time. So fantastic was her performance. Wu Tianren was the assistant director of that film. Xu Sangchu, the leader of Shanghai Film Studio, is an admirable senior with great artistic appreciation ability. He was 296

courageous and said such an excellent script was worthy of shooting regardless of money loss. Chu Sang has played an important role on the choice of casting. At first, we planned to invite Zheng Xiao to play the role ofYing Zi's mother. Then the actress of old lady Song wasn't found an appropriate one, so Chu Sang recommended Zheng Zhenyao, for this role, old lady Song, was an important role worthy of an excellent actress. A well-selected casting is the promise of a good film. Hu: What was the most memorable moment during the shooting of My Memory of Old Beijing?

Wu: One was the shooting of the Lugou Bridge (the oldest arch bridge in Southwest Beijing), the other one was construction a deep well. "Daybreak above Lugou Bridge" were carved on the bridge were so distinctive and commemorative that we cannot neglect them. But they pointed to Baoding (a city next to Beijing on the south) direction. They were hard to shoot and the effect was not satisfYing. Therefore, the set designer used a piece of cystosepiment to make new "Lu Gou Xiao Yue" towards the opposite direction. Setting the camera in the public lavatory under the bridge, all the crew were inside it to shoot to for the most satisfYing shooting effect. We made some flexible changes there, but no one put forward any doubt after watching it. The well was constructed in Shanghai Hangman military airfield. The trees were man-made and planted in the lawn of the airfield two months before shooting. Two months later, wormwood grew around those man-made trees, and the setting looked very natural. Hu: Childhood is an interesting topic. The memory for the passing gives everyone different experience but similar feeling. It is true for an individual. Is it the same for human being, a piece of history or some cultural traditions ? 297

Wu: I think the principle was the same. The contrast between reality and history is more complex. Before My Memory of Old Beijing, Bai Hua has written a script named

Green Grass about a revolutionary elder returning to the old revolutionary base areas to visit the family who had saved his life before. This family had sacrificed three young lives in order to save him, but they still led a destitute life without any complaint. The revolutionary elder felt extremely sorry for that, but his granddaughter seemed not to care much. The script aimed at describing the exclamations with emotion of the revolutionary elder that the success of revolution depended not only on big trees but also the sacrifice of the general public like grass covering the ground. People only remembered those big trees but forgot the grass after the revolutionary. This is a beautiful script with positive sense, but it really was a pity that some reasons retarded its shooting.

Hu: It seems like that you are fond of scripts like Green Grass. Some thoughts in it are extremely similar to the ideas in your films Sister and My Memory in Old Beijing, all of which have revealed nostalgia of the genial, kindly, sincere things or people passing away. It is typical, just like the sunset in Sister and the repeatedly broadcasting farewell songs in My Memory in Old Beijing.

Wu: You are right. I have tried to make further considerations in A Family in Queli

Street. This film aimed at deploying the external clash between the moral responsibility and historical responsibility. History always repeats itself in an amazing way. The modem history has witnessed a Chinese-laborer migration that many of the drifted form Chinese provinces such as Guangdong Province, Fujian Province to the overseas. The contemporary history has also marked a wave of moving overseas up to now. From the perspective of historical category, every migration of human being can make further communication among different cnltures, nations and peoples, which has pushed forward the advance of our history. While in micro historical category, we have given up moral responsibility to pay price for it. We uprooted ourselves, abandoned our families and even betrayed 298

ourselves for existence. Such migration has unceasingly marched on. I have keenly felt that historical and moral responsibilities can never keep balance to humanism aspect. It's hard to say whether the contemporary will learn from the experiences of the predecessors to make their relations better or not.

Hu: Mr. Wu, the reflection you left for us on historical and moral responsibilities is thought-provoking. How do you show this kind of clash?

Wu: The main protagonist of A Family in Queli Street is Kong Lintan, the 76th generation of Confucius. Courageous as many senior revolutionaries, he went straight adhered and resolutely committed himself into revolutions. As the bugle sounded, he ran to the frontline with such full of drive in fight by which he contributed to the foundation of People's Republic of China. However, in order to fulfill the mission from history, he had to abandon his family. Therefore, in his declining years, the moral responsibilities inside of him floated in in his mind. He felt guilty and apologized for what he had done before. He was condemned by morality, by others and himself. We can't simply criticize him for his abandoning moralities which he should be responsible for, for the completion of historical responsibility forced him to do that. I felt greatly satisfied about the scene Kong Lingtan laid a handle of snow on the altar. Advanced in age, Kong Lingtan returned back to his home village and laid a pile of snow for the tomb in the severe winter. Normally people pile soil for tombs in China. Because of the season, he had to pile snow. The pure and white snow symbolized the sincerity and kindness deep in the protagonist's heart which referred to self-improvement in morality. What's more, the snow was like a mere illusion for it would melt after the sun came out. These have demonstrated that the past can never come back, and historical and moral responsibilities can never keep balanced without any compensation.

Hu: As we know, A Family in Queli Street has been run for the public, could you please introduce some shooting details about it for us? 299

Wu: It went on smoothly. It was shot in last winter. The snow scene we needed was soon ready after we came to Confucius' hometown. It had snowed for several days. It was said that there hadn't been such a heavy snow for many years. The casting

of this film was terrific. We were overwhelmed with admiration for the superb performance of this two famous actors Zhu Xu, Zhao Erkang. In my opinion, there should be one theme song displaying our film's subject. Later we had discussed several times and wrote eight sentences for it, all of which were written in the vernacular with a simple indigenous Shandong-style popular tune. Some lyrics were like that ''my father's father is my grandfather, my son's son is my grandson", which had expressed a sense of historical circulation. That is to say, the external clash between historical and moral responsibilities will appear generation by generation. We needed a monument without any words. The one in the hometown of Confucius was broken and historical. It is a pity that people used cement to strengthen it. It destroyed the sense of history.

So, we had to ask the art designer to make another one. I had similar feeling like this on my traveling to Jiayuguan (the most west pass of the Ming Great Wall located in Gansu Province, China). With dilapidated walls, the old ruined ancient war overgrown, which was filled with deep sense of history and inspired me with a kind of reminiscence of the past. But when visiting the restored Jiayuguan, I felt the original Jiayuguan had disappeared.

10.2 My Hope on Future Artist

A Speech by a Stanislav Rostotsky

Stanislav Rostotsky, a film master of the Soviet Union and director of The Dawns Here

Are Quiet and White Bim Black Ear, is a film artist with world fame. He has been chosen as president of Moscow International Film Festival for five times. He is also wellknown in China. From 17 to 22 of April in 1992, Mr. Rostotsky was invited to Beijing Broadcasting Institute (today's Communication University of China) to have some 300

academic discussions with some of the teachers and students there. He then delivered brilliant and ardent speeches. I was fortunate to be one of the witnesses and have the opportunity to discuss with him in private. Mr. Rostotsky had left a deep impression on me with his experiences, thoughts and ideas on art, life, as well as on the art of film and television. Right after that meeting, I wrote an article about Mr. Rostotsky's two speeches, which were published in the 3rd issue of Journal of Beijing Broadcasting Institute in 1992. What was coincident was that 21 April was his birthday, so he paid his visit to Beijing Broadcasting Institute on his 70th birthday. Five years later, on April, I recalled Mr. Rostotsky again who was far away in Moscow. I was willing to send him the Russian version of my article as a birthday present from a Chinese junior. But for some reasons, I failed to do so. I was wondering whether I could make this dream come true for his 80th birthday. Perhaps, it was our fate to meet again. It was in the late autumn of 1997, and during my attendance of the 3rd Shanghai International Film Festival, something dramatic happened-! was in a shooting plan discussion with journalists from China Central Television when I found a foreign couple step in the auditorium and search for the Registration Desk. Suddenly, I recognized them-they were Mr. Rostotsky and his wife! Excitingly, I walked towards them and called his name. He recognized me as well, and shouted happily, "Hu! Hu!" We held each other's hands firmly. After they were settling down, we had a 4-hour-long talk. But it was a pity that neither could I speak Russian, nor could he speak Chinese, therefore, we had to talk in broken English. Though we had a Russian translator, we still met with language barrier. And I had no time to sort out this conversation because of the tight schedule. The reasons that this article is embodied in this book are as follows. First of all, the speeches that our film master Rostotsky delivered are brilliant. Second, we can apprehend the essence of the unique characteristics that Soviet Union's films possess. Third, this article, served as a textbook for young researchers who just stepped into film and television industries, is sure to leave a strong impression on their mind. Personally, this article is a precious commemoration. The comments, works, personality and spirits 301

of film master Stanislav Rostotsky will guide and support me to explore and advance. I wish more and more people could be edified, be influenced and be enlightened by this article.

Dear students, I am very glad to meet you here and have talks with you all. I am very proud that you have such a great and kind-hearted teacher. Also, I am very proud that you will work in a very important field-television and radio in the future. I am a filmmaker, so I will strongly defend the value of film. But, I am quite clear that film, television and radio are like sisters. Without radio, there would not be any sound in film; without film, television would not boom; and without television, film would not be able to expand into a larger scale, especially in the aspect of information dissemination. I watch TV at home every day. I expect to watch some good programs. And all of you will hold such a powerful dissemination medium in hand. Therefore, now, you are studying and working for producing good programs in the future.

When I was a little boy, there was nothing, but radio and it was something new. One of my relatives, living 100 kilometers away from Moscow, brought me a small square box. Pulling the copper thread, I could hear the sound from Moscow through this small box. It was so novel to me. Then small screen televisions appeared. A magnifying glass was

placed in front of it. I could see what other people looked like and what happened in other remote places from those small televisions, which made me feel more newfangled. But nowadays, all of these new inventions and changes have become commonplace.

I just want you to know that how funny and interesting the work you are going to engage, and how much people are expecting to watch and hear the good programs you are going to produce. So please treasure your work.

In my childhood, we mainly watched films, because we did not have television or radio

at that time. So when I saw a vagrant, with a bowler hat and a cane, walking up and down, I thought to myself, how lucky would I be if I could do such kind of work one day? I had no idea that my dream could come true one day. And I got the opportunity 302

to see that vagrant--Chaplin in person. I was born in a co=on family and none of my families had an art background. Fortunately, I met with Eisenstein's assistant on the street when I was 13; therefore, I was chosen to be an actor. When I was brought to Eisenstein, stared by him, I burst into laughter. He wondered why. I told him ''why you are staring at me as ifl were a horse?". He burst into laughter as well. A few days later, he sent me a picture of mine, writing words like--you are cute when you smile! From that day on, I started my shooting life with him. At 16, I wrote a screenplay, which I felt was easy to do. That's how things are--everything seems to be easy when you know nothing, and everything seems to be hard when you know something. I took my screenplay to Eisenstein and Pudovkin (another master in the early time of Soviet films), and I got their praise. Because of that, I became more and more confident and even made up my mind that I would never leave film studio in my life. In Eisenstein's home, I even asked him-whether I could become a film director? But he did not answer me until he passed away. All he taught me was to read books, to watch art exhibitions, to listen to music concerts, and to read biographies of artists. Although Eisenstein did not answer me that question, he indeed had let me know that it was not easy to become a film director. The war started after I graduated from junior high school, so I joined the army immediately. I got lots of titles in my life--People's Actor of the Soviet Union and winner of the Lennin Prize. I worked as the president of Moscow International Film Festival for five times as well. But what I valued most was the title of soldier-the cavalry of the 3rd Company, 13th regiment of 18th Guards. On February 11th, 1944, a tank ran over my body. All my ribs, arms, legs and bowels were heavily injured. Three

days later, I got rescued when I was still alive. Though I lost one leg and got an artificial limb, I survived. That was a miracle. From that day on, I knew that man has the most incredible stamina in the world. Film was still what I dream of. In August 1944, I was enrolled in the Gerasimov Institute 303

of Cinematography. I studied at the studio of director Gogythav, and starred in several of his films. In 1952, I worked at Gorky Film Studio. From then on, I shot thirteen films one after another. Personally, for an artist, talent and learning are necessary, but experiences are crucial. I went through the war, so I shot three military films. I grew up in the rural areas, where live the people who provide us food. I love those farmers because they were diligent and nice, so I shot three films about them. I especially like the youths. I think they are always right, because they are sensitive to life, so I shot a film named We'll Live till Monday for them. I also made two chronicle plays. I filmed what I want, what was important and beneficial for my country and for my people. To conclude my films in one sentence, that will be, to tell the truth by every means. Everyone is responsible for his or her mistakes, but nobody can force me to tell lies. Nothing will stop me from telling the truth. My friend, director Vasily Shnkeshen often said that the morality is always true, and the lies are always untrue and immoral. My teachers taught me that a man, especially a young man, must tell the truth, and must not tell lies. And at some special situations, one can speak nothing. For me, films are the life of a director. Audiences can easily see through a director from his or her filmswhether he or she is for money, for entertaining audiences, or for a kind and wishful expression. Films never lie to audiences. Audiences can tell what the directors are and whether they are telling the truth. What is art? Who are artists? What does art for? And what should artists become? For those questions, I have been searching for my whole life. I do not think art means a vocational skill. Art is different from work like operating machines, speaking with a microphone or writing lines. Those are easy to learn. What is important is that artists should know that it is not a simple vocational skill; it is art. During the first phase of television development, I went to the United States once. I 304

visited some electronic companies, where American staff showed me the amazing electronic technologies, and asked me how I felt. I answered them--everything was terrific here, but the point was that in Russia, there was a poet named Pushkin, who had written great poems without typewriters, computers, only with qnills and ink. His poems had been across time and space, and had spread from generation to generation. No one could deny that he was a great and immortal poet. So the point was that it was who operating, whether computers, typewriters, televisions or writing with quills, that matters. It is man that matters, because it is man who uses those machines or tools. You guys are the men that operate those machines. If you guys are talented, well-educated and smart, you love your country and your people, you wish that our human beings could live a better life, and the world could become a better place, and you would work hard for that dream, then you could have achievements that you dream about. The programs you are working now would be watched a hundred years later, and the audiences would say ''people can create things like that a hundred years ago."

Art is one of the human activities, and all the human activities can influence the soul of human directly. Because of that, an artist should be moral, cultivated and responsible.

An artist should have a sense of mission as well. He or she should focus on the destiny of human not money or power. His or her works should make people a nice person.

Lots of art masters died of poverty. People cannot understand them before they die, because their horizons surpassed the times. How can we evaluate art? Money does not work here. It is how deep the art can influence one's mind and soul that matters. Who can make a fact that everybody knows into a story? Who can tell the story in a new and unique way, and make it deeper and amazing? Artists. A true artist is not for money, but for making people know the facts and truth around them in a deeper way with their works. Many people think The Dawns Here Are Quiet is a piece of art. Some people say that they have never seen a military film like this one before. Why I chose to shoot this fihn? 305

We all know that nearly thirty million people died during the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People. They were all outstanding Russians. If they were alive, how many contributions they could make to this nation and to the people all around the world! Thirty million may be too big to understand immediately, but people could know what this number mean by watching this film, because this film has shown the life experiences, ideals and death of five girls. This could help people feel the life experiences, ideals and glorious sacrifice of those millions of people. After watching this film, you will have sympathy for the five girls for their country, their nation and their people. You will have sympathy for this historical tragedy. You will start to hate the war. You wish no war ever happened in the world. And you will think about thiswhat should I do if where was a war? You will set the five girls as your role models ..... .If so, this film has made it.

The Dawns Here Are Quiet lasts three hours and thirteen minutes, with thirty seconds of women showering that has been cut when showcasing on television in the Soviet Union. I dare to say that those who cut this scene do not know how important it is. Those who truly know life and love will never cut this scene. This film is about female soldiers, but no one should forget that female soldiers are female first of all! This scene is to tell people how beautiful these girls are. They are gone forever even does not know the taste oflove. What a pity that a beautiful life just passed away like this. In this sense, the thirty seconds is the sublimation of beauty. I do not believe people will become evil when they watch things like that, which can ouly bring about the sympathy of people and purify the soul of people. If someone thinks this scene is pornographic, then the statue of David should be thrown away as well.

Artists should create art with ardent love, because love makes man strong and man will become positive and brave for love. If I want to use an actress, I will love her. I want to prove through the screen that how lovely, smart and beautiful this girl is. The actress starring Irina Dolganova in The Dawns Here Are Quiet was an eighteen-year-old undergraduate of Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. I was very fond of her and I 306

was in my age of fifty. When we were filming, I asked her, "What if I say I like you, how do you feel?" She answered me, "Why you dislike me?" I asked her again, "What ifl say I love you, how do you feel?" She answered, "Yes, you can love me like a father loves his daughter!" Look, what a lovely, smart and beautiful girl she was. The girl starring Irina is a very good actor. There was an act in The Dawns Here Are Quiet-Irina was running in tunnels. She was rushing towards the Boche, singing The Intemationale in German and French. I asked her to express the contempt and hatred

towards the intruders, the inevitable scare and timidity of a girl in the battlefield for the first time, and the beauty of facing death unflinchingly. It was hard, but she did it so well that the old stylist who seldom shed tears burst into tears that day. Why I shot White Bim, Black Ear? I think there were many people like the hero in this film. If anyone could arouse the attention to love our nature, treasure our nature, and think of the things human doing were actually destroying our nature--water and plants were polluted, and the ecological balance was destructed ...... until one day there was no air for human to breathe. If anyone could think of those things and therefore would not bully the weak, kill a bird or break a tree branch, then this film made it. I believe the people have wisdom that they would never destroy our nature. But if the people could not protect our nature, this nation would face the danger of being destroyed. Men are supposed to live a good life since born. Those who are striving for the good life of men are my comrade-in-arms, because good lives need men labor for them. Meetings or slogans are useless. I wish our life could be more peaceful. Of course, good lives never come easily, fine days are improved day by day. What if today was not a good day, but tomorrow would become worse, then when will we live the good life? This makes men exhausted and hopeless. Dear students, you are lucky because your country is a great country and your nation is 307

great nation. I have visited China three times. The first time was in the 1970s, and many people asked me how I felt, and I concluded three points-because the people in your country never fight when walking in the crowd streets; because the ancient Great Wall was still preserved to today; because there were thousands of lives' experiences and destinies showing in the terracotta army while there were only five in my films. Therefore, I told them China was great!

As for television, I think the condition shown in China's television was like heavengirls were in beautiful dresses like Paris fashion shows. They were eating the most delicious cuisines. They always took cars when they were out. I did not know whether every ordinary Chinese lives a life like this? Instead of reporting the good news like China did, Russian television reported frustrated and hopeless news every day. I think television tells the truth, the good side of life, and the bad side of it. It is not right just telling the good side or the bad side of it.

I often stress that man should live with a goal. If it was too high to reach, though it was difficult, you were possible to become a great person. I hope that everyone could become a great television professional, a great commentator or a great artist in the future ..... .

An ideal and relief are necessary for men. Men should devote themselves for them not just out of money. Men are supposed to have much higher pursuits on life and art. Today's Russia is very difficult, the beliefs of many people have broken into pieces. But the young men are starting to reorganize and search for the new path. I believe that they could find the new way. The future life will become much better because of them.

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10.3The Meaning of Red: Viewing the Chinese Culture from Chinese Films

A Lecture by Hu Zhifeng at the Quinnipiac University

I'm so glad to be at such a beautiful university and meet you guys. The topic of my lecture is The Meaning of Red: Viewing the Chinese Culture from Chinese Films. Why did I choose such a topic? Because when I was invited to give lectures on Chinese film and television, I felt what I most worried about was the differences between these two cultures, which could lead to different understanding of the same things, such as objects, relations and spiritual activities on which the two cultures own completely different values and understandings or at least different to a large degree. Chinese films have their own special developing history although occasional stimulates, restraints and influence from other countries' films can't be ignored. However, it is always developing along its national path in nature. I could express my opinion in the most direct way in China but here I prefer to select an object you can directly sense and regard it as the starting point of understanding Chinese unique expression. Therefore, I chose the word "red" to be my lecture's object and starting point. There are four reasons for that: Firstly, Chinese films named by red are numerous, which forms an important landscape. Secondly, this color easily catches people's attention in our daily life so it is easier for people from different cultural background to sense and understand. Thirdly, we can sense and view the changing course of Chinese films through at least half century's historical process of red films. Fourthly, Chinese films give us unique charming of Chinese culture from the expression and explanation of red.

1. The Meanings of Red The word red has at least two meanings: one is its natural meaning and the other is the extended meaning.

On the nature level, it refers to some natural elements such as blood, fire, flowers, 309

trees and soil, which have few differences in various cultures. While on the extended level, it is complicated and different. The word red has been given so many meanings in Chinese culture.

(1) Red is always connected with life because its relations with blood on the layer of nature. (2) When bonded with people or things, red refers to some specific person or groups. Red person (favorite): It refers to a person who owns appreciation from leaders and has huge influence on society. Red star: It refers to a person who has aroused much attention in some fields like sports or art and is becoming a popular model to be learned from others. Red Army: It refers to the revolutionary army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China with the goal of liberating the oppressed Chinese in Chinese modem history. Red sun: It is connected with Chairman Mao for a long time in Chinese modem history. Chinese people show the respect to Chairman Mao through this title as he liberated China. (3) Red refers to some specific meanings when connected with other image or existence. Red bean (ormosia): On the natural level, it is a kind oflegumes that grows in the south of China. But it is often used in Chinese poetry to express lovesickness. Red clothes (feminine attire): It refers to the clothes, accessories or decorations for women. 310

Red profit (dividend): It refers to the profits and benefits that people make in some business activities. Red flag: It refers to flag which is in red. In Chinese modem history, the symbolic flags of Communist Party of China and its army as well as the People's Republic of China all take red as the background, so red also stands for revolution and victory. Red mansion: It refers to red buildings. As Chinese traditional palaces and mansions of rich people are usually decorated in red, the color also means luxury, gorgeousness and resplendence. (For example, the famous work in late Qing dynasty of China: A Dream in Red Mansions.) 2. The Evolution, Meanings and Characteristics of Chinese Red Films The people's revolution led by Communist Party of China earned the complete victory in 1949 and then the People's Republic of China was founded. From then on, red films have played an important role in Chinese films. In five decades, red films have grown up with the new country and gone through four evolutionary periods. (1) 1950s-1960s: Revolution In 1950s-1960s after the foundation of the People's Republic of China, the oppressed

people became the masters of country. They used passion they had never had before to eulogize this new country, new stage and new life. They also cherished the memory of those tough and unforgettable years and the people who struggled and sacrificed themselves for this era. Red in the films of this period stands for a positive spirit and passion that defies death.

1) Red Kids (1956)

The film is about a story of some kids in Chinese county in 1930s. In 1934-1936, the Red Army left their hometown and began the famous Long March. Their children, some 311

teenagers united and fought against the Kuomintang army and local brigands. They helped the Red Army earn the complete victory and therefore people called them red kids which mean kids for revolution. We can get a better understanding of red from the lyric of the theme song: Are you ready now ? We are ready all the time. We are the Communist Children's Corps. The masters of this country will be us. Red kids are ready to fight, against warlords and protect soviet.

2) Red Detachment of Women (1960)

The director of this film is one of the best directors in China, Xie Jin. Due to the huge success of this film, it won the best picture award and Xie Jin was honored with the best director in the first session of Hundred Flowers Awards. The story that the film described is about a group of women living in China's southernmost place, Hainan Island in 1930s. The poor oppressed women picked up arms and formed the first women armed troop in Chinese history led by the Communist Party of China. They became one special part of Red Army. This film tells us how the oppressed women slaves turned into female soldiers of the Red Army. The theme song's lyric is: move forward, move forward. Warriors bear heavy responsibility and women have much rancor. Hua Mulan joined the army for her father and the Women's Detachment pick up guns for the people. From these two films we can see that red in 1950s-1960s means revolution, and both teenagers and women who are called red people have true respect and longing for revolution. They are pure, kind and simple, and at the same time they also have lofty pursuits and passions. The film artists at this time have the same feelings as well. With these feelings, they tell stories and make the heroes of their own on screen. The red in this time is pure, and the stories accord with the reality of history and people's daily life, that is, the heroes on screen are red in nature but have their shortcomings such as narrow thoughts of revenge. It is because the artists face up to the reality of history and 312

life that the heroes they made have left respectful and affable images in people's heart and eyes.

(2) 1960s-1970s: Absolute Revolution

The Cultural Revolution took place in 1966 and lasted 10 years. This movement overthrown and eliminated all valuable parts in Chinese tradition as the remains of feudalism or the bourgeoisie. People pushed this movement to extremes in the name of revolutionary. The red films in this period inevitably reflect the overall thoughts and cultural tendency of this era.

I) The Legend of the Red Lantern (1970)

The film is a record of the Chinese modem opera with the same name. Beijing opera is a form of drama that has spread more than 200 years in China. It combines singing, dancing and actions into the most artistic form with Chinese national characteristics. Changing traditional Beijing opera into so-called modern opera is one of the fruits of the Cultural Revolution in the cultural field. The Legend of the Red Lantern and other starting works are identified as revolutionary modern model operas. Except those works, other types of art are rare.

It tells a story of a railway worker who is a communist at the same time. He lived with his old "mother" who was his teacher's wife and his young "daughter" who was the kid ofhis sacrificed comrade. They preferred to die rather than betray the Communist Party. Finally, the railway worker and his "mother" sacrificed themselves and the daughter fmished the task.

This film has been an important part of Chinese people's spiritual life in 1960s-1970s and many lines and conversations were very popular. The heroes in this film also became the most familiar and admirable models.

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2) Sparkling Red Star (1973) This film was the most beautiful and romantic one in that period. The hero is a boy of 11 or 12 years old whose father was a commander of the Red Army and mother was killed by enemy. He finished the task that the Communist Party gave with the help of villagers. He was too young to join the army but one day his dream came true. He put on the octagonal cap and the uniform. There was a red star on the cap which stood for the identity of the Red Army. The red star in this film stands for the Red Army and this little boy's dream. It also symbolizes a kind of aspiration and belief of revolution. The sparking star appeared in the boy's dream many times which made the film beautiful, romantic and lyrical at that time. Many little kids leaned from this film and wore a octagonal cap with a red star on it. We can see from The Legend of the Red Lantern and Sparkling Red Star that in 1960s-1970s, the meaning of red accorded with that in last period films, that is, revolution. But we can find that the revolutionary thoughts were put to extremes in these films based on the last period. Therefore, I'd like to call it ''the absolute revolution". The meaning of red during last period didn't run counter to history and people's life, which allowed the hero to have shortcomings and weakness. But in this period, red turned into an absolute revolutionary thought and the hero became a perfect person who is made to meet the demands of revolution whose self and individuality were replaced by revolutionary thoughts. Although these films can arouse people's feeling better, the contents have gone too far. (3) 1980s: Personality and Rebellion The Cultural Revolution ended in 1976. China entered a new era of reform and opening from "introspection". The active thoughts created more art works therefore the films in this period also stepped into a new era. 314

1) The Girl in Red (1984) The film is based on a girl (a middle school student) who loved to wear red clothes. She liked fantasy and had a zest for life. She was kind and honest but always was criticized by teachers or classmates. She hated hypocrisy, cheating and kinds of trade among adults. She was finally accepted and welcomed by others. They began to trust, respect and love this girl. During the Cultural Revolution, people didn't dare to tell the truth and chose to ignore others' incorrect words and deeds. Their thoughts were blocked. But this girl dared to point out teachers' mistakes and criticize classmates' bad behaviors. It made her lose many honors she deserved. In several years after the Cultural Revolution, people were used to wearing in blue and yellow-green. They thought the girl wearing in red is frivolous. But our hero wasn't afraid of that and went to school in red bravely. From this film, we can see that red didn't refer to revolution anymore. It meant individuality, independent thoughts and beautiful things and spirits. The characteristic behaviors of this girl are rare in former red films. She didn't yield to conformism and liked to ask why about everything which reflects her valuable capacity of independent thoughts. At the same time, this girl was honest and kind, sympathized with the weak and had a zest for the nature and life, which reflects her longing for beautiful things and thoughts. The girl in red earned audience's praise through its umque understanding and expression of red. At the same time, the hero of this film became the model of thousands of teenagers.

2) Red Sorghum (1987)

The film earned a big award in Berlin International Film Festival in 1988 and 315

then gained many other awards in some international film festivals. The director Zhang Yimou is honored as the representative person of the 5th generation of film directors. His film was shown in many other countries and he became one of the most outstanding directors.

Red sorghum tells a story which happened in the county of northern China. In fact, it is a fable rather than a story. The story-teller is "my father" while the heroes in this film were ''my grandparents." "My grandma" was forced to marry a leper but she met a group of brigands on the halfway. "My grandpa" was the leader of the carries of the sedan chair, who rescued "Grandma". They gradually fell in love with each other and had sex in the red sorghum field. But later "Grandma" was killed by some Japanese soldiers. When she fell down, the two jars liquor made of red sorghum spilled all over the ground and from then on everything in ''my father's" eyes was red. The film shocked everyone and aroused a heated discussion among them as soon as it was shown in 1980s. I think the key reason is that the meaning and expression of red in the film wasn't accepted by most people at that time. The meaning of red was different from that in former period. It was treasonous and unconventional which was total different from the thoughts of obedience and sacrifice. It called on people to liberate themselves and enjoy their life. In some way it was another type of revolution.

The understanding and expression of red in the film reflects the trends of the thoughts in the middle and late 1980s. This trend is a kind of subversion and reconstruction of traditional values and understandings.

(4) 1990s: Pluralism and Hybridity

China entered a new era of rapid growth in 1990s and the Chinese became more pragmatic and self-oriented. Social organizations and structures were increasingly complex. People owned more distinctive and pluralistic choices of their life. But in the art, ideological and cultural fields, it was hard to produce more breaking works like previous years. What the red films of this period wanted to express also had the similar 316

features. 1) A Tale of the Scared Mountains (1997) The film is based on a story which happened in Tibet. In 16th century, British explorers arrived in this beautiful place and were welcomed by honest, hospitable and kind Tibetan people. They established a close relationship. However, this group of outsiders chose to shoot and kill local people to satisfy their own desire. The hardworking and strong Tibetan people fought against them. They dedicated their youth, blood and life to this land. This story is purely fictional. The fidelity shouldn't be the thing that we pay much attention to. What really matters is the lofty belief, kindness and sincerity this film expressed. Love and beauty formed the basic contents of this film. The film was accepted by mainstream ideology, elite culture and popular culture which reflects its plural values and thoughts. The grandeur of Tibetan Plateau and the charming of hero and heroine, both left impressive memory in the heart of audience at home and abroad. 2) A Time to Remember (1998) The film tells a love story of a hidden communist in 1930s. The story was so touching because the hero played by the famous Hong Kong actor Zhang Guorong sacrificed himself for his love and belief. But at that time not all of people loved this film, and some thought it was so incredible and Zhang Guorong wasn't suitable for this role. The film used "my" view to tell the story of ''my father" (the hero) and "my mother" (the heroine) and "my foster father" (a British doctor of"my mother"). "Father" was a hidden communist and he fell in love with ''my mother". But she killed the enemy who was her biological father actnally for the lofty belief. Then "my mother" who was pregnant at that time got arrested. "Father" decided to break into the execution ground 317

to save "my mother". Eventually, he was killed and ''my mother" died because of difficult labour. From A Tale of the Scared Mountains and A time to Remember, we can see that the fidelity of history and life were not what the directors longed for. Unique and splendid fantasy that could arouse audience' attention became more important. Although the color, red, didn't change, the meaning of revolution was different from that duringl950s -1970s and 1980s. It wasn't pure revolution or rebellion. It stood for pluralism. The real form of life and history was replaced by directors' imagination and fabrication. We can feel both grandeur and sentiment in this kind of films. The traditional meaning of revolution became a strong national sentiment and loyalty to belief, love and friendship. Therefore, we aren't able to identify the exact meaning of red. We can only make a conclusion that it is a composite of national sense, belief, love, friendship and so on. The generalization of red's meaning reflects some trends of thoughts in the art and ideology fields in 1990s. It also reflects film makers' efforts to surpass themselves and traditions. Just like what the director of A Tale of the Scared mountains said: Their goal is to surpass times, nations and countries. (the 122nd screen songs of CCTV)

3 .Conclusion From the description of the development of Chinese red films, we can come to a brief conclusion on the understanding of the meaning concerning the color red. First of all, the color red not only has its literal meaning such as the natural existence of color but also covers its extended and symbolic meanings, and it is different understanding of these meanings that contributes to the culture diversity.

Secondly, the color red is praised and worshiped in Chinese culture, especially in the 1920s, and the word red is endowed with the meaning of solemnity and nobility, which 318

is closely related to people's revolution under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

As half a century goes by, the value judgement and understanding of red changes as well, giving it the spirit of times. Therefore, we can find the change track of Chinese culture full of the characteristics of the spirit of times clearly from the explanation of changing meaning of red.

Next, Chinese films in different ages illustrate and express artists' understanding and feelings of red in a direct or an indirect way, and thus achieving their pursuit in thoughts and art. What's more, we will have more profound understanding of the meaning concerning red when we appreciate these films.

Last but not least, Chinese red films have gone through four stages over the nearly 50 years including "Revolution", "Absolute Revolution", "Personality and Rebellion" and "Pluralism and Hybridity". The meaning of red becomes more complicated and colorful instead of the original simplicity and purity. There is no doubt that the Chinese red films are splendid treasure created by Chinese film artists. In my opinion, its development in the future is bound to be more open and colorful.

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10.4 TV for One Billion: Historical Evolution, Current Challenges, and Future Trends in China

A speech given by Hu Zhifeng in University ofNew York State at Buffalo on September 15, 2015 Good afternoon, everyone! I am very glad to be here. This university is one of the most famous universities in the world. I have been to this country for many times, but I did not have chance to be here. So today I am very pleased to visit the university. There are two reasons why I would like to talk about this topic. The first is that from the perspective of media development, Chinese media is unique, and it takes a different path of media from other countries; therefore, we can study the media and better understand different paths of world's media development as well. The second reason is that from the perspective of China itself, Chinese media has important influence on China's politics, society and culture; therefore, we can have deeper understanding about China. It is impossible talk into every detail about the 60 years' development of Chinese TV,

so I picked out some stories, phenomenon and landscape to express my thoughts on Chinese TV's past, present and future. I divided these 60 years into 3 periods, 20 years in each period. The first period is from 1958 to 1978, the second is 1978 tol998, the third is 1990 to present. And each period shows its time feature in terms of content production. Namely, the first period is dominated by "propaganda materials", the second one is dominated by ''works", and the third one was dominated by ''products". The so-called ''propaganda materials" refer to the TV contents based on ideology, ''works" refer to TV contents based on professionalism, ''products" refer to TV contents driven by the market. Let's taste the 320

evolution of the 3 types of contents. (I) The First Period (1958-1978) Dominated by Propaganda Materials ln 1958, China was recovering from the Korean War, and finished its socialist

transformation on capitalist industry and commerce. Though China was still in poverty, compared to the days in 1949 when we just finished our civil war, it has been much better. ln that relatively enclosed environment, leaders of China started to fancy about "catching up with UK and US" and achieve communism, so "Great Leap Forward" became the catchword and characteristic of those years. Then television programs started to appear in China.

Mr. Zhao Zhongxiang was the first male announcer in China, also the most influential announcer and host in the history of China's television. At that time, there were just 300 TVs in China, so his family couldn't understand what he was doing, and they thought he was engaged in confidential works.

Mr. Chen Hanyuan was one of the earliest TV documentary producers. He was temporarily transferred to Beijing TV station, the same TV station that Mr. Zhao Zhongxiang worked in, and also the only TV station in China at that time. ln 1978, Beijing TV station was changed to China Central Television. When his family asked

him about what Beijing TV station was, he initially thought this was a power plant. China's television industry started like this, without enough professionals. The television content was mostly based on the requirements of China Communist Party, and programs mainly served for the central mission of that time. The Tenth National Day Live showed China Communist Party's power and nation's prosperity A Bite of Vegetable Cake was the first teleplay in China. It described the miserable experience an elder sister shared with the younger ones that their mother got a bite of 321

vegetable cake and left the cake to children, then died herself. This teleplay echoed with the education of "recalling sufferings of the old society''. Rent Collecting Yard was the most influential documentary of the first period. It fit the class struggle education and triggered new generation's hostility on landlord class by telling the story of landlord Liu Wencai who cruelly exploited and prosecuted local peasants. The co=entary of this documentary was also included into Chinese textbooks; therefore, it influenced several generations afterwards.

China was going through Cultural Revolution during those years, so China's television was mostly influenced by left-wing trend. There were strong educational signs on the promotion of propaganda materials. From the perspective of form, we can see that Chinese television was imitating other media and art which had longer history, such as imitation of newsreel on shooting, imitation of broadcast on reporting, imitation of news agency on the classification of form, imitation of newspaper on text co=ents. Overall, Chinese television had not formed its own media and art characteristics.

(2) The Second Period (1978-1998) Dominated by Works 1978 was the turning point in China's development. In 1978, the Third Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC was held, on which the Cultural Revolution was announced end, and China started to enter the time of economic development centric period named "Reform and Opening-up". Chinese television also entered a new era. I divide this period into 2 stages, 1980s focused on form innovation and 1990s focused on idea innovation.

Two important events happened in 1980s. The fust one happened in 1982 when the "broadcast television" ministerial organization can be found in the cabin list of China's central government. This represented the rising of Chinese television. The second event happened in 1983 when the first Minister of that department Mr. Wu Lengxi, who used to be Chairman Mao's secretary, put forward the idea that television development 322

should take its own path in the 11th National TV & Broadcasting Conference. This idea strongly encouraged people in TV industry not to follow the step of other types of media; instead, they should explore the unique media and art features of television. So in these innovative 20 years, the core of Chinese television contents changed from propaganda materials to works, namely creative contents presenting creator's characteristics. In 1980s, innovation on Chinese television's contents can be shown in the following 4

types: 1) Special subject films Special subject films target at featured topics. The three main topics are: •

scenery, including famous mountains and landscape such as The Summer of

Harbin (1980) and The Minjiang River (1981) whose background music became the most popular music in China at that time. •

historic culture, weekly programs combining natural landscape with humanity history like Discovering the Yangtze River (1983-1984) and Discovering the

Canal (1984-1985) reached 50% on ratings •

political comments: River Elegy (1987) generated huge influence among China's intellectual's and ideologists, and it was even regarded as the engine of China's 1989 Students' Movement.

2) Teleplay There were 3 main innovation on the form of teleplays. •

First innovation: from non-serial teleplay to serial teleplay. People used to regard teleplay as the TV version of stage play and feature film, at least from its length. However, when Chinese teleplay producers went abroad, they got 323

influenced by overseas teleplays, most of which were serial plays, and they started to change. The first serial teleplay was 18 Years in Enemy's Camp (1981).

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Second innovation: from enclosed stage to open life. Teleplays went from telling stories about ordinary people's life to showing the presence and history of society. For example, New Star (1985) used Li Xiangnan, the head of a county facing reforming challenges, as the main character; The Last Emperor (1987) pictured the life of China's last emperor in Qing Dynasty Pu Yi.

•

Third innovation: from ordinary stories to classic stories, especially adaptions of Chinese literary masterpiece, such as The Yellow Storm (1985) and The

Dream of the Red Chamber (1987). 3) Variety show

During this period, a very important TV show was produced, which was broadcast at Chinese Spring Festival, named Spring Festival Gala. The first Spring Festival Gala in 1983 was around 5-6 hours, made up of singing, dancing, comic talks, sketches, acrobatics, Chinese operas, to name a few. That gala show adapted to the tasted of Chinese people in various age groups, ethnic groups and regions. It has been the most influential show in China's TV history with the rating above 90%. Perhaps, this is the most watched program in the world.

4) Hosts

The first time the title "host" was shown on TV was in a news program called Observing

and Thinking (1980). And "host" became to be accepted by audience when Mr. Chen Duo and Ms. Hong Yun (both were China's respectful hosts) in Discovering the Yangtze River and Discovering the Canal used recitation plus narration to impress audience.

The most influential hosts during this period were Zhao Zhongxiang, Song Shixiong 324

and Ni Ping. In the dubbing for documentary Animal World, Zhao added humanized content and changed the rigid style. Song devoted his passion into the sports co=entary and strongly triggered audience's enthusiasm. Ni had the style of casual talks and used words from oral language rather than the formal and official expression

used in the past. All these made "host" approachable for audience. Thanks to all these innovation, China's TV got its own media and artistic forms, also gained the support and affection from audience as well. In 1990s, 5 new concepts drove China's TV industry to a new level:

1) The concept of TV documenting Odyssey of The Great Wall (1991) marked the start of TV documenting. It changed conventional enclosing creation to open creation, specifically from theme leading to theme following, from set-up shooting to on-the-spot shooting. The wide use of actual sound and full-length shot became key technical features for maintaining the originality. 2) The concept of TV program(column) At 7:00, April1 st, 1993, a new program named Oriental Horizon was launched, making it the first big program under the TV producer mechanism. It has fixed content form and airtime. At that time, this kind of program was rare as most programs were single TV program with unfixed airtime and duration; for example, a serial teleplay had 10 episodes, but due to different directors, each episode might have different duration. Oriental Horizon was no longer a program with director at the center of production, instead it was producer-centric no matter in topic selection, detailed production, lighting, setting or host's time limit on asking questions. This standard production made it possible to achieve mass production as it had unified technical standard, and laid foundation for marketization and industrialization of TV program. Since then, China's TV industry entered program-centric era. Another contribution of Oriental Horizon was 325

its incubation of excellent producers and hosts for China's TV industry. 3) The concept of TV talk show ln 1996, Tell It Like It Is was produced as a Chinese styled talk show. It changed

people's conventional idea about TV program as they always thought program was shot out not spoken out. While Tell It Like It Is was mostly based on talking. It involved ordinary people to be the speaker so that this move was considered as "discourse democracy" for Chinese audience. 4) The concept of TV living Since 1958 when TV program appeared in China, programs were mostly live broadcast. After 1978, recorded broadcast was born with development of technology, and quality of programs got much better after editing. However, in the following 20 years, when significant news occurred, TV media's influence would be greatly reduced without live broadcast. 1997 was called the "Year of Live Broadcast" with 3 major live broadcasts: the closure of Xiaolangdi Darn of the Yellow River, the orificing of Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and the return ofHong Kong to China. These helped Chinese TV programs fmd the keys to release their media influence. 5) The concept of TV entertainment ln 1998, Happy Camp from Hunan Province kicked off the entertainment trend in China.

This show had no educational purpose, but just was star reality show which made audience relaxed and laugh. Since then, this type of program turned to be popular. The 4 types of innovation in 1980s and 5 new concepts in 1990s boosted lots of TV programs that won audience's affection, and helped China's TV grow to be the No.1 mass media in contemporary China. (3) The third period (1998- present) dominated by products

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After the rise of entertaining programs in 1998, many reality shows were then introduced from foreign countries, and China's TV content producing entered the product dominating period. The 3 most representative types were: livelihood news program, entertainment program and genre teleplay. 1) Livelihood news program It is the opposite of political news program. This program reports on the livelihood

problems of ordinary residents, such as problems on employment, housing, education, medical treatment, marriage, legal issues. Because it is close to daily life, this type of program is highly welcomed by audience and hundreds of TV stations launched it. It started in 1999 with Night News in Heilongjiang province, the northernmost one in China and On the Spot in Fujian province, the most southeast province, and got to the climax in 2001 with Deep Touch of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province which generated revenue of 2 billion RMB, the record in programs of this type. 2) Entertainment program It all started with programs like Happy Camp, and the introduction of overseas program

made talent shows won the highest ratings and revenue. Quiz shows like Happy Dictionary, Lucky 52, 6+ 1, talent shows like CCTV avenue of star, Super Girl (derived from American Idol) created miracle in ratings. In recent years, the most popular ones have been The Voice of China and China's Dream Show. 3) Genre teleplay Teleplay started to get separated from media in the late 1980s, and became marketized. The exploration and accumulation of genres have helped teleplay grow its own industrialization model. The most influential ones are as follows: Family Teleplay: Eagerness

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Spy Teleplay: Latent Historical Teleplay: Yongzheng Dynasty War Teleplay: Drawing Sword Ancient Costume Teleplay: Princess Pearl Ages Teleplay: Brave Journey to Northeast China Sitcom: I Love My Family China's TV content producing has been developing along the path of ''propaganda material", ''works" and ''products" for 60 years. Today's China is faced with the impact of Internet and media convergence. I personally cannot predict where China's TV industry is going to, but what can be foreseen is that there might be 2 directions to choose: one is to be captured by Internet, however this is not easy though many TV professionals have jumped to new media industry; the other is the development of new media inside the TV itself and blend new media into TV, which turns to be the most pervasive choice by TV stations. Those are briefmgs about my research on China's TV development, and that information could be reference for your understanding about this topic. Thank you.

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This book is the result of a publishing agreement between the translator Jin Haina and Paths International Ltd (UK) This book is published with the financial support of Chinese Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Film and Television Culture in China Author: Hu Zhifeng Translated by Jin Haina ISBN: 978-1-84464-498-8 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-84464-499-5 Copyright© 2018 by Paths International Ltd, U.K. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. The copyright to this title is owned by Paths International Ltd, the U.K. This book is made available intemationally through an exclusive arrangement with Paths International Ltd of the United Kingdom and is permitted for sale worldwide.

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