China sends celebs to socialism school
BEIJING: China is sending showbiz celebrities back to school to learn socialism. Among those who have gone through the lessons are stars like Kris Wu, Yang Mi and Angelababy.
In true Communist style, Angelababy was reported to have indulged in a little selfcriticism.
“I myself have done quite fickle things,” she told the forum. “Later I realised everything in life comes with a price. You think you can get something now but you might have to give back later. Don’t be fickle and finish the work on hand with great care.”
Over 100 of the nation’s top filmmakers, actors and pop stars were gathered for a day in the city of Hangzhou to be told exactly what that meant in practice, and to study the spirit of the 19th Party Congress, where the President gave that speech and set out his ‘ Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.’
The audience included singer and actor Luhan, who has 42 million followers on weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter. Dubbed China’s Justin Bieber, he holds a world records for social media likes, and for having 200,000 people buy out a 20,000 limited edition magazine bearing his face in just a second.
Luhan is the official Chinese ambassador for Star Wars and recorded the Chinese promotional theme song for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. At the forum, he reportedly expressed his pride at the ‘extensive and profound’ Chinese culture and vowed to promote it around the world.
Yufan Huang tweeted “Imagine locking Justine Bieber Taylor Swift Bruno Mars and many others in a room and asking them to read and praise The Art of the Deal”
“To march into the ‘ new era’ proudly, first we should cherish it,” Wu Jing, a martial arts director, actor and star of the nationalist Wolf Warror action movies was reported as saying. “Foreigners tend to attach great attention to the Chinese movie market rather than Chinese movies . . . so it is important for us in the business to use our Chinese wisdom to tell great Chinese stories.”
But outside the forum, many Chinese artists and writers say socialist controls are stif ling rather than sustaining the creative soul of the nation.
Hu Jie, an independent documentary director in Nanjing whose work focuses on the turbulent times under Mao’s rule, said requiring artists to follow the party line is not compatible with the spirit of independent creation.
“The ruling party always sees everything as a way of propaganda,” said. “This is not new: it is something from our past creeping back into the present. Control has been looser in the past, but now it is tightening again.”
The new rules have already led to some bizarre compromises. To make it big in China these days, however many fans you have, there is no choice but to pay obeisance to the President.
Also in attendance Hangzhou:
• Kris Wu, another boy band singer turned actor, who has starred in some of China’s highest grossing films and made his Hollywood debut in xXx: Return of Xander Cage. Wu represented China at the Grammys this year and played in the NBA All- Star Game in New Orleans;
• Yang Mi, who has 77 million followers on weibo and won the Best Actress award at the Houston International Festival for her performance in ‘ Reset’ this year;
• Zhou Dongyu, who rose to fame after appearing in director Zhang Yimou’s Under the Hawthorn Tree; and
• Jia Zhangke, a film director and screenwriter, seen as a leading figure of the ‘ Sixth Generation’ movement of Chinese cinema. — Washington Post in
I myself have done quite fickle things. Later I realised everything in life comes with a price. You think you can get something now but you might have to give back later. Don’t be fickle and finish the work on hand with great care. Angelababy, actress