Recently, there was quite an uproar when a high-ranking official said it was inevitable that at some point people would have to start paying to download music.
"Charging to download music is a growing trend, so it would be understandable to see online operators getting fees from their users," Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of China’s National Copyright Administration, was quoted as saying by China Daily on April 25.
This idea is widely accepted in the recording industry, which has been suffering decades of declining revenues due to digital piracy. In 2011, the audio and visual recordings industry had roughly 280 million yuan ($45.43 million) in revenue, compared to the 380 million yuan in the online music market.
“Legal copies of music will prevail as videos did several years ago… regardless of whether or not you have to pay for the music; the most important matter is to allow legal copies to prevail. It is not about money, it is about the musician’s dignity,” Gao Xiaosong, a popular Chinese songwriter and music producer, told Information Times.
A report released on April 23 by the Ministry of Culture shows that the online and mobile music markets continued to show steady growth. By the end of 2012, the online music market amounted to 1.82 billion yuan, an increase of 379 percent over 2011. The number of users rose by 13 percent to 436 million.
The Chinese market is still dominated by free music, and online music performances have now become an important source of revenue, according to the Ministry of Culture.
About 575 companies operate in the sector. For example, industrial giants, led by Baidu, Tencent and NetEase, launched online platforms and apps to expand their foray into music, while at the same time, signed cooperation pacts with record labels to pool resources.
The mobile music market, on the other hand, grew to 2.72 billion yuan in 2012 from 2.4 billion yuan in 2011, thanks to the wide popularity of smart phones, mobile devices and mobile music stores. Users stood at nearly 750 million, about 66.9 percent of all mobile users, said the report.
It does bring up some interesting questions. Many Chinese users have long taken free online content for granted, including pirated books, films and music. When asked if they would pay to download online music, only twenty percent of the respondents said yes, reported the news website Changsha.cn.
That may explain the flourishing façade behind websites where illegal copies of films and music abound. But as the country intensifies efforts to protect intellectual property, these file-sharing websites have been blocked or closed one by one. A big problem may arise for Internet users: will they have to pay for online music?
So far, the industry has not worked out a charging timetable or concrete plans as to how to collect fees. But major news websites and social networks are abuzz with talks of charging for music tracks and albums, reflecting the mixed attitudes towards intellectual property protection.
“Since you are doing business in China, music that has a price will not attract users. Even if you support paying to download online music, there will be few people to buy because many users are listening to the music on music websites and apps,” said one user, Moxinyanyu (墨心烟雨).
“Though some sites violate intellectual property laws, the fact is they do help share knowledge. We have to confront the demands for good films and music from the bottom. The government has to take these demands into consideration when taking measures to protect intellectual property,” said another user Feizitian (飛子Tian).
“It is natural to pay to download online music. If not, how can the recorded music companies survive? It is free online music that has depressed the market for recorded music. So, will charging for music revive the industry? ” said Sina Weibo user Tuoersitai (-托耳思態-).
“I think it is right for us to pay before downloading online music. It is an overdue move. The rampant online piracy deprives musicians and artists of what they deserve, and then degrades the quality of Chinese music,” said DriftAwayTeamZero.
“There should be no controversy about charging for online music. Free music and books are public welfare in the early stage of the Internet Age. With the passage of time and rising social awareness, it is natural to pay…. When we are listening free music online, we are acting like thieves stealing money from musicians’ pockets. The sense of guilt cannot be wiped off because all of us are stealing,” said Chachabushixiaopangzi_Xiachachaweibodaren (茶茶不是小胖子_夏叉叉微博达人).
“What will life be like if we have to pay for all online music?” asked spicy-chilli.
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China experienced decades of suffering during the Japanese aggression in the early 20th century, and the hurt can still be felt among many Chinese people. Yet China’s humiliating past is still mired in cover-ups and whitewashing, especially in popular culture. A close look at today’s anti-Japanese aggression TV dramas highlights the problem.
In a popular program, the leading character kills dozens of Japanese soldiers equipped with modern weaponry using traditional Chinese Kungfu, and even tears a solider into pieces with his bare hands. In another show, a hostile plane is blown out of the sky by a man tossing a hand grenade into the sky. The leading characters may often wear custom leather and Ray-Ban glasses, and ride Harleys.
Some argue that these characters are created in the same vein as superheroes like Batman and the Transformers, while the Japanese soldiers are portrayed as stupid and vulgar villains. Shi Zhongpeng, a 23-year-old actor in Hengdian World Studios, the largest TV and film production base in China, said that he has acted as a Japanese soldier in more than 30 dramas.
“The trick of playing a Japanese solider is that you have to be really wretched and cowardly… you have to be lascivious in front of the girls, and flee in a panic before the Eight Route Army,” he said.
Of the 150 crew shooting for TV shows in Hengdian by the end of 2012, 48 were associated with anti-Japanese topics. Of the 200 dramas aired on Chinese satellite televisions, over 70 were about espionage and the war against Japanese aggression.
On March 29, People’s Daily launched a strong attack on these historically distorted TV productions. “Although no regulations stipulate that we have to realistically dramatize the war against Japanese aggression, the humiliating past is not far from the present. Our victory is based on years of bloodshed, a basic principle we have to remember while studying the past.” it said.
CCTV, China’s largest media outlet, also aired a feature criticizing the rise in “crude and shoddily produced” anti-Japanese war dramas, which were not patriotic, historically accurate or educational.
“In fact, many TV stations and producers come up with many odd moves in their shows to upstage the peers and cater to the tastes of the audience, which may result in an overblown description or distortion of history,” said film critic Ni Jun in an interview with CCTV.
But many believe such widespread shows are closely related to the surge of nationalism in Chinese society, especially at a time when China is locked in a territorial dispute over the Diaoyu islands with Japan. Another issue is the fact that Japanese officials often visit the Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines multiple war criminals from World War II.
“Today’s historical TV dramas are seriously divorced from history and facts, which may lead the audience astray. The anti-Japanese shows, for example, have lost their seriousness. The producers work at their own will and treat historical topics as trifling matters. It is an alarming situation,” said user 疏勒河之春 on her Weibo account.
“Why are the TV stations always broadcasting shows about espionage and anti-Japanese aggression? I am really tired of them,” said user桃心窝.
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A poster in a Chinese college reads
“The better you play games, the longer you beg for food”.
When we talk about sports, the things that come to our mind are football, soccer, or basketball. So what about electronic sports, when players gather to compete in video games?
The General Administration of Sport of China announced the final lineup for the Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games to be held this late June in South Korea.Notably, the 17-person national electronic sports team will play in League of Legends, Star Craft 2, FIFA 13 and Need for Speed.
The little-known team, however, gained public attention this year, though they entered the E-Sports competition as early as in 2009. And the competition has set off a new battle over the relationship between sports and gaming, and the debate has become a stark illustration of the vastly different attitudes toward video games in the country.
Some people are vocal in questioning whether game-playing can be categorized as a sport.
"Game-playing can be called sports? Since playing games can help you become an internationally renowned winner, it is a great pity that we have worked so hard on our Olympic events. So, better to play games now," said He Cao, winner of the 2007 World Junior Diving Championships, on his Weibo account.
"The purpose of sports is to improve physical ability, so what about electronic sports? All it can give you is various diseases, " user 闫涛 said.
For many Chinese parents, online games have long been an evil creature that induces their sons and daughters to drift from the family, and eventually leads them astray. They express their concern that since authorities have given official recognition of electronic sports, or the importance of video games in athletics to some extent, their children may pour more time into video games, which complicates the already serious problem of gaming addiction among young people.
"If electronic sports are scaled across the country as a regular event, how many children will end up in Internet cafes? I am not against establishing our national E-Sports teams, and I am not against training professional players either. The question is what if the kids get even crazier with games, under the pretext that they are finding ways to join the national team to fight for national honor?" 璐过的青春 said.
The dissenting side, however, argues that when it comes to electronic sports. China has already fallen behind other countries. In South Korea, for example, electronic sports and events are regularly televised by dedicated TV channels. In the United States, gaming is seen on a variety of channels too.
Still, just like normal sports, E-Sports require the players to dedicate lots of time into practicing and honing their skills in order to play competitively, they say.
"Why not classify E-Sports as normal sports? It displays athleticism and fair play as well," said freedom-star.
"The General Administration of Sport of China formed the national E-Sports team, and sparked a heated debate online. Gaming calls for teamwork and should be called sports. Maybe it is the most popular national sport now, but we should be careful not to slide into a national obsession,” said 斗焱 Victor.
According to Techweb, the Chinese games industry in 2012 grew 35.1 percent year-on-year to reach a total estimated revenue of $9.7 billion. Online gaming accounted for 90 percent of total revenue - around $9.1 billion. On the other hand, mobile gaming is still in its nascent stages in China, generating just $520 million in revenue in 2012.
Also, with 120 million online PC gamers and 160 million mobile gamers, China ranks as the world's largest gaming market and accounts for the largest number of gamers.
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who should we believe in?
China has suffered from an escalating trust crisis among the public despite the robust economic growth in the past decade, said a report January 7.
It showed that person-to-person trust continues to decline, with over 70 percent of the correspondents saying they do not trust in strange people. Apparently, they have the lowest level of confidence in businesses and enterprises, which some say is a result of the spate of product quality scandals.
The report noted that distrust grows among different spectrums of society, which can be seen in the lack of public confidence in government officials, law enforcement agents and hospital professionals who are often associated with abuse of power and bribery.
The report Chinese Social Mentality 2012-2013 by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was compiled based on a survey in seven major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, with about 2,000 people interviewed.
Some say the report is inadequate to reflect the social atmosphere as it lacks sufficient representation of different demographic groups in the sample, but many agree with the CASS report based on what they experience and learn from mass media.
In 2008, a milk-formula scandal that left six babies dead and thousands of others sick rattled the whole country. Since then, food scandals including the recollected cooking oil from sewages and tainted steamed buns have substantially eroded social confidence in domestic enterprises and worsened the already fragile image of the industry.
In 2011, Guo Meimei, a 20-year-old girl who claimed to be the general manager of a company called Red Cross Commerce showed off her extravagant lifestyle on Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. People were angered and begun to take a more serious look at the transparency budgets and expenditure in government departments, which led to growing exposure of government corruption and sex scandals.
But the most astounding event that highlights what some people say the decaying moral standards is the traffic accident in southern Guangdong province in which a two-year old girl was knocked down by a truck and died on the street. No passers-by offered her any assistance.
Since the reform and opening up campaign in the 1980s, people have become gradually divorced from an acquaintance-based society, changing the traditional form of interpersonal confidence, said Wang Junxiu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who authored the report,
“In this world, we are in desperate need of interpersonal confidence. It is really tiring to be wary of the strangers all the time, but there are too many traps that we may fall into,” said 毕加索的乖貓 on her Sina Weibo account.
“Sometimes I feel I am too innocent. I hoped that my family members could be nice and good, but they only cared about how much money they could make. Money estranged us from each other and we even became virtual enemies. I don’t want to see this happen, really” said user 尛尛-雲.
“It is too difficult to trust others today. It is not because I am not willing to, but because there are various frauds. I am already numb,” said 玻璃心-阳光.
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The entire nation overflowed with excitement as a Chinese author was pronounced the winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on October 11.
“I was very glad when I heard about the news. But I think it doesn’t mean much,” said the new Nobel laureate Mo Yan, in his typical calm manner.
Born in 1955, Mo Yan grew up in Gaomi, a small, sleepy town in Shandong province in north-eastern China. He began to study literature and write in 1976 when he joined the People's Liberation Army.
In his writing, he draws on his youthful experiences and on settings in the province of his birth, as evidenced by his novel Red Sorghum that unfolds in several turbulent decades of 20th century China. The novel later became a hugely successful film, thanks to the Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
The novelist's “hallucinatory realism” merges folk tales, history and the contemporary, creating a world reminiscent of those forged by William Faulkner and Gabriel García Márquez, said the Swedish Academy, which decides on the award.
His other works include Fengru feitun (Big Breasts and Wide Hips), a broad historical fresco portraying 20th-century China through the microcosm of a single family; Shengsi pilao (Life and Death are Wearing Me Out), a subtle description of everyday life and the violent transmogrifications in the young People's Republic; and Wa (in French Grenouilles), which illuminates the consequences of China's imposition of family-control policies.
The first Chinese citizen ever to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mo Yan has become the talk of the nation, with feature spreads in the newspapers and buzz on the Internet.
“It is good news. It proves that contemporary Chinese writers and literature has attracted world attention.” Wang Meng, a prestigious writer, told CCTV. “His win will be an uplifting encouragement to those who love writing.”
“Mo Yan’s acquisition of the Nobel Prize in Literature will surely afford a golden opportunity for Chinese literature and culture to go global, and allow more people to know China and its culture.” said 朔阿云 in Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social network in China.
Many Internet users, however, admitted that they did not know of Mo until the surprising news arrived, partly because of his low-key stance before the public. This may be best explained by his name Mo Yan(莫言), which literally means “Don’t speak”.
Some believe that his win may provide a much-needed bolster to ailing Chinese literature, but they have also warned that the society has to remain cool-headed. With the growing significance of digital entertainments and other distractions, fewer people are reading books today while online writers are in abundance, often producing poor-quality mass-entertainment.
“Mo Yan’s win belongs to himself and it is a recognition of his penetrating portrayal of human nature and existence. There is no need to equate his win with national development and literary prosperity... China still has a long way to go in creating literary prosperity,” said Yang Lan, a well-known talk show hostess and businesswoman, on her Weibo account.
“It doesn’t mean that Chinese literature is at the top of the world if a Chinese writer wins the prize; it doesn’t mean that Chinese literature has no place in the global literature field if no Chinese writer wins. The significance of Mo Yan’s win lies in its renewal of China’s social attention on literature. For the other writers, the biggest question is what they should write to help them qualify as a writer,” said a comment in the newspaper, The Beijing News.
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