Hu Jinjun

Preface

Shanghai, being a modern international metropolis still experiencing quick development, will not only seek for strong economic and technological power in its efforts to realize the target of being the “four centers” (economic, financial, trade and shipping) of China, but also desires to build a good cultural atmosphere that suits the status of this city.

Cultural atmosphere is the natural expression of a city’s cultural thoughts, heritage, quality and icons, the external reflection of the city’s core spirits, which can provide a most direct feeling, experience and taste of its citizens’ cultural needs. Along with the changes of the setting, environment and background of the world cultural development and the changes of the thoughts, behavior and life styles of people, a city’s cultural atmosphere has already become a critical factor when judging the city’s comprehensive strength. In this background, government’s management of the culture in this new age will not only depend on its planning, thoughts and policies, but also on the creation of a good cultural atmosphere. It is for this reason that the Shanghai Municipal Culture, Radio Broadcasting, Film and TV Administration has conducted, since the beginning of this year, a specific research on how to create a good cultural atmosphere in Shanghai with a global viewpoint and has reached some conclusions.

The overall idea is that within the framework of the national policies and the Shanghai cultural development plan for the “12th five-year plan”, Shanghai will use roughly 5 years to build its cultural atmosphere and environment, which consists of a main axis with 3 “sides”, 3 “circles”, and 4 “roads”, a core with 5 “areas”, a spread-out zone with 17 counties and villages, a main body with 2,270 cultural units, main work spots with 5,970 public cultural entities and roughly 5000 public venues for cultural activities, a main circle with 10 plazas and 10 grasslands, a main window with airports and other social service facilities. Our target is to create an overall development plan that can bring us active cultural elements, a strong cultural atmosphere, obvious cultural effects that can merge well with the urban life and space in Shanghai. It should be a combined and balanced development with all the “points, lines and areas” across both the Pudong and the Puxi sections of Shanghai.

The 3 “sides” are: East China Sea side, Yangtze River side, Huangpu River side; the 3 “circles” are: inner ring road, middle ring road and outer ring road; 4 “roads” are Nanjing Road, Huaihai Road, Yan’an Road and Century Avenue; 5 “areas” are: People’s Square, Xin Tiandi, Yu Garden, Lu Jiazui, Expo Park and its surrounding areas; 2270 cultural units include: 8 villages famous for their traditional cultural heritage, 21 counties famous for their civil arts and performances, 44 zones in Shanghai for their historical and cultural backgrounds, 144 protected roads and alleys for their original conditions, 632 excellent historical buildings, 1421 immobile historical relics; 5970 cultural entities for public use: libraries, cultural centers, art galleries, museums, community cultural centers for various activities and their extended service stations, etc.; 5000 public venues for cultural activities: venues for performances, entertainments, cybercafés, etc.; 10 plazas: China Arts Museum Plaza, Expo Park Celebration Plaza, Oriental Pearl Tower Plaza, People’s Hero Monument Plaza at the Bund, Century Plaza at East Nanjing Road, Xin Tiandi, Sunken Plaza at Jing’an Temple, Xu Jiahui Plaza, National Anthem Plaza, Citizens’ Cultural Plaza; 10 grasslands: Lu Jiazui Grassland, Expo Park Tower Crane Plaza, Grassland at Middle Yan’an Road, Fuxing Park, Grassland at Culture Plaza, Hongqiao Grassland, Jing’an Sculpture Park, Daning Grassland, Gongqing Forest Park, Chenshan Botanic Garden; other social service units: airports, train stations, ports, metro, brand shops, etc.

I. Free Mindsets and Strengthen Cultural Awareness through Accurate Positioning

1. Good cultural atmosphere is the natural choice of Shanghai to become a global metropolis. A comprehensive study of big cultural powers around the world, including Japan, Korea and regions like Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, would lead us to one conclusion: they all attach great importance to the creation of a good cultural atmosphere. For example, the diversified culture in New York, the classic culture in Paris and the creative culture in London all have strong penetration power in the overall cultural development of the world. The key to their successes is that they all have a global vision for their cultural developments, emphasize the heritage of cultures and their historical values, the strategic planning and setting of their urban cultural facilities, the creation of their distinctive cultural identities and characteristics, and the implementation of strategies aimed at cultivating good cultural atmosphere. Currently, culture has already become a hot topic for the entire world. The fate of our world is not only decided by countries’ political, economic and military strength, but also depends on their cultural power. A city becomes stronger with economic growth and splendid because of its culture. A city desires cultural development, which in turn depends on a friendly environment. A flourishing cultural market needs a relaxed and good environment; the emergence of various cultural masterpieces calls for a more tolerant environment; quality cultural life for normal people can be realized in an environment that respects culture; and a culture can only flourish and prosper in a friendly environment. Shanghai, being the leader of the world’s 7th largest city clusters, should create and maintain a cultural atmosphere that can match its status. A change to the current imbalance between Shanghai’s cultural environment and its strategic development targets has already become an important factor in promoting the city’s international cultural status.

2. Cultural atmosphere provides the inner momentum for a city’s development through transformation. Shanghai is a city filled with inspiring cultural elements, which has its own unique characteristics. The cultural identity is the spine of a city and reveals the special inner features of the city. The endogenous relationship between a city’s cultural identity and its cultural environment requires Shanghai to further strengthen the practice, improvement and production of all kinds of national, traditional and civil arts, such as harmony, ballet, Peking Opera, Kun Opera, opera, etc., in its innovation-driven development through transformation, so that the fundamental quality of its culture could be substantially promoted. We also need to find creative forms to present the new cultural contents, which will in turn forge a good and solid cultural atmosphere and nurture people’s hearts and souls. In order to promote the quality of our culture, we should allow good cultural products to be distributed well, but not allow them to cater to vulgar taste. They can be easy to understand, but never degrade to be vulgar; they can take time to accumulate, but never refuse to change with the times; they can choose to merge with other elements, but never give up their central values to please others. Currently in Shanghai, the cultural development in some work units still faces the problem of utilitarianism and nihilism. In some cases, forms of expression receive more attention than content; techniques speak in a louder voice than the arts itself; and commercial production replaces artistic innovation. These are bad phenomena against the creation of a good cultural environment.

3. Cultural atmosphere serves as a strong engine to strengthen a city’s memory. Cultural atmosphere is an inseparable element in city life, but it will not come into being by itself, it needs to be created and maintained carefully through the history of the city. Some culturally developed cities, both domestic and international, have deep and lasting cultural memories accompanied by special features derived from these memories. First of all, it is accumulation. The more accumulation, the stronger becomes the cultural atmosphere, just like good wines after long periods of sedimentation. The lasting historical cultural accumulation provides continuous support to the creation of cultural atmosphere. Secondly, the ability to advance with the times. The promotion of traditional cultural never contradicts with that of modern culture; the upholding of national culture can also tolerate the absorption of foreign cultures; only a cultural atmosphere that can advance with the times can show features that mark its strong vitality. Thirdly, it is the ability to keep itself dynamic without unnecessary solidification, developing without being stagnant. The creation of cultural atmosphere is driven by the pulse of a city’s main body, activities within this space and various kinds of cultural units. Fourthly, it is the penetrability. An outreaching and deep-going culture can always penetrate into the material world and the social existence in a quiet and comfortable manner, which provides the inner power that is indispensible for the creation and maintenance of the culture atmosphere. Fifthly, it is the ability of keeping open to the outside world. Only when following the cultural trend of the world, tallying with the global cultural pulse, absorbing the cultural essence of the world, can the creation of cultural atmosphere find its necessary injection of vitality and then be filled with charm. The creation of cultural atmosphere in Shanghai should have a chance to benefit from all these features, continue to conduct cultural innovations with Shanghai-style characteristics and pay more attention to and take more corresponding measures to cope with various phenomena, such as the fact that some cultural institutions lack sufficient knowledge of our traditional culture, some cultural products feel empty with their contents, some cultural landscape have poor artistic presentation. Shanghai needs to continuously absorb good features from all sources and keep up with the new cultural trends, so that an open and tolerant cultural atmosphere can be created. 4. Cultural atmosphere is the natural inner requirement of a city to promote its image. The creation of a city’s image does not only depend on its hardware—cultural facilities, but also on its software—cultural environment. A city’s image needs a cultural package. However, it must be more than a package only, because no matter how dashing the appearance is, a culture without its own characteristics is only a shallow culture, which can never lead to the creation of a strong culture atmosphere. Since the CPC’s 17th national conference, especially its 6th plenary meeting, culture has been given an unparalleled strategic status with great attention; tremendous achievements have been achieved in both the cultural hardware and software, both the inner conditions and outer environment. But generally speaking, in the economic environment of this city’s development, the cultural atmosphere seems to be relatively weak; the commercial colors in this city’s space seem to be stronger than those of its culture; the interpersonal relations in this city appear to have a strong marketing touch rather than humanistic concern; the imbalance between a strong administration in cultural management and a relatively weak cooperation between the government and the cultural sectors still persists to some degree. All these problems need to be solved along the path of creating a good cultural atmosphere for the city.