Best in show
Ordinary people, armed with new technology, rose into 2007 to challenge China's cultural icons that have been perched on a pedestal for a long time. Blogs made anyone an author and a publisher; podcasts meant anyone could become a broadcaster; and affordable camcorder and editing equipment created filmmakers.
Besides Web companies that knew how to take advantage of change, the personalities and organizations that benefited most from the grassroots revolution were those that took into account the needs of the masses and churned out products that reflected their tastes.
The atmosphere was more of a carnival than a revolution. The massive online population, heavily skewed towards the young, stormed to one target after another, sometimes in fits of passion for justice and utopia and sometimes being manipulated by unscrupulous website editors who pitched one social group against anothear. We witnessed not only how quickly self-important cultural heavyweights lost their luster when they failed to adapt to the new milieu, but also how quickly rational sentiment turned to hysteria that was a faint reminder of the "cultural revolution" of 1966-76 in mentality.
At the high end of the cultural spectrum, there was also an upswing. Confucianism regained popularity, age-old classics found a new audience, and the prices of oil paintings reached new highs. Could this herald a further segmentation of cultural demographics? It seemed that every segment was trying to find its own place in the overall scheme of things.
The editorial team at China Daily's Life desk have put together their top 10 cultural and entertainment events for 2006, based on their impact on the public consciousness.
For all the year's hype, the arts and entertainment scene in China ended on a positive note. The new year will surely dig up new secrets, uncover new sleaze, mould new celebrities and generate new brawls. But hopefully it will also see the creation of new works that reflect the mood of the public and take up the challenges of our time without preaching or pandering.
(China Daily 01/04/2007 page18)
