Ouyang Qiansen Gave a Report Entitled "Thoughts on the Interconnection between Literature and Movies and TV Shows Nowadays"
On the afternoon of April 8th, Professor Ouyang Qiansen was invited to the 4th GZU Liberal Arts Forum in 2019 (No.524) held at the Mianxue Hall of the Academy of Chinese Culture. Professor Ouyang, chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles and also Chairman of the Guizhou Writers Association, gave an academic report on “Contemporary Thoughts on the Interconnection between Literature and Movies and TV Shows”. Li Jianjun, Secretary of GZU Party Committee, attended the lecture, where he and professor Ouyang exchanged academic works.
Literary development is deeply interwoven with the future of the country, in the same way literary heritage and the prosperity of our country are linked.. At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Ouyang reviewed some facts about the adaptation of literature into movies and television shows over the years. When commenting on literary works such as Regret for the Past, Song of Youth, Wasted Years and Ordinary World, he indicated that the combination of the two mediums has played a positive role in popularizing literature, promoting the central theme of our times, and shaping people’s cultural beliefs and ideologies.
Professor Ouyang highlighted that while literary and artistic professionals unswervingly uphold their core ideological and moral values when creating literary works and film and television shows, they have to follow the literary and artistic principles of the Party, and actively fulfill their duties as required by the Party and leaders of our country. This was repeatedly accentuated at a number of conferences for literary and artistic professionals. The core values for literary and art circles are to "stay patriotic, serve the people, value morality, and admire art". Professor Ouyang hopes that everyone involved will voluntarily incorporate the core values of socialism into literary and artistic works while striving to become forerunners committed to enforcing, propagating, and maintaining core values in socialism. Additionally, he suggested that literary and artistic professionals should make the most of arts in various forms to: 1) discover truth, kindness, and beauty, and then spread them; 2) use literary and artistic works as means to rebuke anything that is deceptive, evil or shameful; 3) promote the central theme of our times and spread positive energy; 4) keep everyone unified for the country; 5) seek common ideology for the society; and 6) contribute to creating a home that supports our cultural beliefs and well-being.
Citing both vivid and typical examples, Professor Ouyang shared his thoughts on some of the existing shortcomings of movie and television adaptations. In his perspective, movie producers will have to respect historical facts and originality of the literary works. Furthermore, their ultimate goal is to reveal core values in truth, kindness and beauty through cinema.. Professor Ouyang also mentioned that there is cultural aggression as well as a shortage of cultural confidence in literature, literary and artistic works. He also noted that China boasts a cultural heritage of thousands of years, which is rare in other countries. It is our responsibility to apply and uphold important Chinese traditional cultural values in an innovative manner. He added that the key to innovatively inheriting these traditional cultural values is to strengthen our cultural self-confidence and take an ideological high ground.
"I would like to share with you my writing experience," asserted Professor Ouyang. This instantly lit up the atmosphere in the Hall. When recalling the process of creating and adapting various works such as Unbreakable Pass, Mrs. She Xiang and Twenty-four Turns, he said, although faced with alternative ideas, he’s always certain that he will stay true to the originality in his works which often require countless meticulous revisions. He stressed that a qualified and phenomenal writer or a literary and artistic professional should embrace the craftsmanship featuring literary and artistic creation, together with a positive outlook on life and values. Meanwhile, artistic professionals and writers should also show respect to history and originality in adapting literary works. Be it literary creation or movies and television shows, they should all be kept close to the times, demonstrate respect to the audience, focus on people, and set the trend for the public. Throughout the whole lecture, Professor Ouyang spoke with a sense of humor and used light-hearted narratives, which greatly impressed the students present.
More than 120 teachers and students from the College of Literature and Communication and the Chinese Culture Academy attended the lecture.
Professor Ouyang Qiansen is currently a core expert of Guizhou, receiving special allowance from the State Council, Chairman of Guizhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Chairman of Guizhou Writers Association, President of College of Liberal Arts in Guizhou, and delegate to the 11th and 12th National People's Congress successively. He has published in leading journals a great number of long, medium and short Chinese novels with more than five million words. His longer novels include: Unbreakable Pass, Non-Love Time, Glimpse of Hope, Mrs. She Xiang. He has created dozens of short story collections. He wrote screenplays and produced the following TV series: Unbreakable Pass, Glimpse of Hope, Mrs. She Xiang, and Twenty-four Turns, including 12 movie such as The Times Under the Sky and Survival Day. He has won abundant awards: four-time national "Five-One Project Award", three-time national TV "Golden Eagle Award", three-time national TV "Flying to the Sky Awards", and two-time "Golden Star Award". In addition, he won the top prize for National Radio and Television Administration Screenplay Award, and first prize for Provincial Literary and Art Award over 50 times. He was awarded the expert of "four batches" for national famed cultural masters by the Publicity Department of CPC, and was honored as National Young and Middle-aged Literary and Artistic Workers with High Morality and Expertise.
Text: Department of Student Affairs of Literature and Communication College, Office of Chinese Culture Academy
Photography: Zhang Hong (Office of Chinese Culture Academy College)
Chief Editor: Fan Jiajia
Senior Editor: Tang Juan
Translator: Li Xiaorong
Proofreading: Zoe Novak, Zhou Jie
