Primed for poetry
Teen’s prowess with verse on popular TV show has set the nation achatter
Soon after the program Rendezvous With Chinese Poetry returned to television screens two months ago, it was pulling in the kinds of audiences that you would normally only associate with a top-notch reality TV show.
Indeed, after its 10-episode run during the Spring Festival period, the China Central Television show’s producers were able to boast that it had attracted an aggregate of more than 1.2 billion viewers.
Those figures are all the more astonishing given the program’s very modest aims: to encourage the public “to appreciate classic Chinese poetry, look to their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of life”.
It had aired for the first time a year earlier, and no sooner had it returned than it seemed almost everyone in the country was talking about the program, which invites poetry lovers to vie with each other to see who knows the most about classic Chinese poetry.
By the end of the series, messages about it on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, had been read more than 90 million times, and videos from the program had received nearly 6 million clicks online, CCTV said.
Helping drive the program’s popularity was Wu Yishu, 16, a high school student from Shanghai who made her way to the finals, and in doing so captivated millions with knowledge of classic Chinese poetry that she combined with calmness, elegance and a razor-sharp mind.
Eventually Wu would be the outright winner, beating dozens of rivals of various age groups, including her ultimate opponent, a poetry magazine editor.
“The program has enhanced our appreciation of the beauty of classic poetry and traditional culture,” says Beijing’s Wen Chen, 30, adding that many of his entourage were as enamored of the program as he was.
Rendezvous With Chinese Poetry has distinguished itself from similar TV quiz-type programs in that it has built an intimate connection with its audience and does not restrict itself to pure knowledge.
Commentators on stage usually provide helpful explanations, including less obvious information about poems included in the competition, which gives rise to interesting anecdotes and helps audiences better appreciate the poems, Wen says.
He developed an interest in classic poems when he was in junior middle school, he says, thanks to his Chinese teacher, who then encouraged his students to read extensively and fed them reams of reading material that he hoped would satiate their interest, even as it further fuel it.
However, in recent years, Wen says, his reading has essentially been limited to his work.
Watching Rendezvous With Chinese Poe-