China has been immersing itself in culture and arts in the first
year of the 21st century.
While addressing the on-going seventh National Congress of China
Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) and the sixth
National Congress of the Chinese Writers' Association, Zhou Weizhi,
President of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said a
strong contingent of talented people are emerging from fields such
as drama, film, calligraphy, along with their galaxy of well-
received works.
Beijing-based Chinese writer Liu Heng said: "In today's society,
fresh things keep coming up, and tradition is being carried on and
developed, so artists have a great variety of subjects for creative
writing."
A
TV program based on Liu's novel about the contented life of an
ordinary Beijing resident has been a hit with audiences.
Chinese writers have been depicting the glorious reality in China
in all forms of literary creations, many of which have become best
sellers, while artists, urged on by cultural globalization, are
reviewing the Chinese nation and its traditional culture in hope of
blending the characteristics of the time and the new into their
creative works.
A
growing number of film-makers have won prizes in domestic and
international competitions, while some young performers choose to
expand their careers at Hollywood.
TV
is developing at an unprecedented rate today. President Zhou Weizhi
said that 10,000 TV plays, as well as many other documentary and
entertainment TV programs are produced each year to give ordinary
Chinese much to amuse themselves with.
A
devotion to creating a great national spirit and character is the
source of creative inspiration for most artists.
"In changing times, artists should have a sense of mission, a sense
of justice and care for the people and things around them," said
Xie Hailong, a photographer well-known for her picture of dropout
schoolgirl.
The picture taken by Xie is now used as a logo by the country's
famous Project Hope, a program designed to help bring back many
school dropouts in the country's poverty-stricken rural areas.
The first year of the new century has also seen Chinese culture and
arts blending peacefully with those from western countries.
Story-telling and comic dialogues, two traditional forms of
entertainment in China, are played on the same band of radio as
modern western pop music.
Chinese ballet troupes have experimented with classical western art
forms to reproduce "Butterfly Lovers", China's most famous romantic
music.
(
December 21, 2001)