Role of art and literature

FROM THE PEOPLE, TO THE PEOPLE AND FOR the people is what top leader Xi Jinping told a group of luminaries from the world of art and literature at a Wednesday forum.

Writers and artists have to go to the people for artistic and creative nutrition and intuition; they can ignore to do so only if they don't care whether their creations are liked or not.

Chairman Mao Zedong delivered a similar speech at the Yan'an Forum in Shaanxi province 72 years ago, emphasizing that the aim of literature and art should be to serve the workers, farmers and soldiers. Given the background of war, Mao's speech could not have had a lighter political tone.