Meng Wei, a researcher at China Academy of Social Sciences.

[Abstract] Rice circles are the most authentic way of life for teenagers, showing the characteristics of different cultures based on age factors, so they can be regarded as a contemporary youth subculture. The rice circle culture has formed the self-organizing structure of "love" and exerted the coercive force of limited power, but its group decision-making power, ownership and control power have fallen behind, and the dominant position of entertainment capital has not changed. Therefore, in order to make the rice circle culture enter the mainstream culture, it is necessary not only to have unique discourse expression and behavior style, but also to have the rationality and rules to absorb and shape a wider social group, as well as the resources and ability to achieve common value goals.

[Keywords:] rice circle culture participatory democratic cultural industry

【 Chinese Library Classification Number 】 G124 【 Document Identification Code 】 a

【DOI】10.16619/j.cnki.rmltxsqy.2020.19.007

In recent years, the growth of rice circle culture is impressive — — The original loose spontaneous behavior, formed on social media with the help of capital connection, reconstructs the life of fans in the virtual space parallel to reality, and has achieved a new cultural group. Focusing on rice circle culture, this paper tries to answer the following questions: With the help of social media, what kind of cultural change has rice circle communication brought? What is the relationship between the constantly optimistic rice circle culture and the social, political and economic fields? Does it really show the side of empowering democracy and getting rid of control? What is the value of cultural growth? What impact will it have on teenagers and mainstream society? However, no matter what conclusions are drawn on these issues, an undeniable premise is that these young fans, both boys and girls, push us to think about the changes of the times and the evolution of culture.

What is the "rice circle"? — — The growth track of a subculture

"Culture is a very vague word". [1] The concept of "culture" has always been interpreted from multiple perspectives, but as far as rice circle culture is concerned, the definition given by Raymond Willis sounds more to the point — — "Culture is lifestyle". [2] Rice circles are the most authentic way of life for teenagers. More precisely, they are a self-contained life system formed through social media platforms, represented by symbols and texts, and composed of technology, concepts, behaviors and attitudes. This way of life has its own uniqueness, which can be attributed to "those sub-regions with unique cultural characteristics in a large cultural region". [3] It shows the characteristics of different cultures based on age factors, so it can be regarded as a contemporary youth subculture.

The prototype of rice circles appeared in the 1980s and 1990s. Young people who are obsessed with film and television art, idolize and chase film and television stars like Beijing opera fans are given the title of "groupies" in the new period of reform and opening up. They take the heroes and heroines in the film and television works "Huo Yuanjia" and "Shanghai Beach" as idols and are fascinated by singers such as Steven Liu and Tong Ange. They are the main body of entertainment culture, and also the main consumer of posters, photo stickers, cultural shirts and other products. Fans are mainly students, and their actions are spontaneous, individualized and decentralized, making them the most fashionable and dazzling group.

The cross-century talent show has reset the name of fireworks for fans — — Fans. "fans" is a transliteration of fans, which was originally used to describe those who "enthusiastically participate in ball games, entertainment or business activities, admire and infatuate with movie stars or sports stars", and then extended to "people who have strong interest or appreciation for specific people or things". [5] In 2005, the contestants of Hunan Satellite TV’s Super Girl champion PK entered the public’s field of vision under the high-profile crowd of fans, showing the momentum of the entertainment program. Behind the success of the program, fans contributed a lot. They personally held up the lights and shouted heartily at the scene, cheering for their favorite players with the most authentic attitude. They are active behind the scenes, contacting relatives and friends, and canvassing votes through the Internet and mobile phone text messages. Their fanaticism is shocking. "Super Girl" has led to a number of talent shows for a time. At this stage, the role of the fan team appears, and the fan group will consciously, systematically and systematically plan activities as idol platforms, but most of the activities are confined to offline, and the advantages and disadvantages of its behavior have triggered fierce debates in the mainstream cultural circles, and the view that fans are popular with "vulgar art" [6] is quite dominant.

The fan base is proud of the mainstream culture with a reasonable and legal attitude, thanks to the popularity of the Internet in China for 20 years. In 2014, with the maturity of social media platform technology application, Lu Han and other traffic stars became popular, and "fans received unprecedented attention". [7] In 2018, after the idol-cultivating variety shows such as "Idol Trainee" and "Creation 101" became popular, the fan group had a more affinity name — — Rice rings. The name of fans has changed, and the behavior paradigm has also shown new characteristics. First, the group is more closely linked. Idolize is no longer fighting alone, and there is a new system of star support club, which is responsible for affairs management. Secondly, membership is more behavioral: co-financing, playing the list and anti-triad. Finally, the autonomy of circle group activities is enhanced, and idolize and star-making gradually merge.

Semantically, "rice circle" is a popular collective noun, and "rice" means "fans". "Circle" adds the meaning of group boundary, division and restriction. It can be said that the change of address announced the establishment of an independent cultural circle, showing the ability of fans to build new social relations with the help of the Internet. At the same time, in China’s traditional culture, "Food is the most important thing for the people" has a kind and confident title, which shows the universality, popularization and rationalization of contemporary youth’s subculture behavior trend.

Cultural Cognition of Rice Circles: Similarity and Limitation

Regarding the cognition of fan culture, there are similarities between domestic and foreign studies, mainly focusing on the revelation of antagonism and creativity. John Fiske, a scholar who put forward the concept of fan economy, believes that fan culture is a "shadow culture" and "opposes official culture, strengthens popular culture, and at the same time commandeers and remolds some values and characteristics of official culture". [8] Budic believes that the "otherness" of fan culture is manifested in the misappropriation of mainstream cultural symbols, giving them new meaning in the opposite context and forming a confrontational expression. [9] Michel de Certeau uses "poachers" and "nomads" as metaphors for fan groups, and thinks that fans and text creators have launched a "struggle for text ownership and meaning control", which is a contest between "production power strategy" and "consumption tactics". Henry Jenkins revised Desaido’s theory, arguing that fans create a unique and lasting community culture with a more conscious structure, build an artistic world beyond the control of producers, and their behavior is more productive and creative. [10] Lawrence Grosberg(Lawrence Grossberg) does not agree with the elite view of fans, but also denies that fans are regarded as "people with immature minds and lack of sense of responsibility", and thinks that fans’ enthusiasm and creativity are manifested in "organization rather than chaos, which can produce a kind of ‘ Essential map ’ " Guide people to "join the world". [11]

On the one hand, domestic academic circles pay attention to the explanation and verification of the theories of "entertainment to death", information cocoon room and group loneliness [12], which continuously shows the conservatism of the research; On the other hand, the voice against "stigma" has obviously increased. For example, Yang Ling vehemently refutes that "most elite intellectuals either turn a blind eye to the phenomenon of fans or regard fans as tragic victims of consumer ideology", [13] thinks that fans should be regarded as resistance "‘ Rites collapse and music breaks down ’ The chaos, the spread of cynicism, the erosion of money worship, the indifference and isolation of modern urban life are treated by stubborn idealists. Some studies began to explore the antagonistic-constructive significance behind the fan/rice circle culture, emphasizing the understanding and tolerance of rice circles from the perspectives of field, constructive significance and social intervention. For example, Liu Xun and Zhang Yuxuan believe that fans "actively construct a set of meanings projected by themselves through the Internet", [14] and some studies are more optimistic that rice circles "contain distinctive humanistic spirit characteristics". [15]

Although the expansion of angle and path shows the gradual cognition of fans/rice circles, there are still limitations in excessively focusing on antagonistic and creative meaning exploration. Directly aiming at the research on the cultural issues of rice circles, the argument logic often has a distinct color of binary antagonism, and some conclusions have obvious labeling traces, which have not yet gone out of the argument of either-or views. Restorative rationality, for the investigation of a culture, needs to go deep into its complexity and development, not only tracing back its history of formation and evolution, but also clarifying the changes of its semantics and the connotation of the concepts involved. More importantly, it should be placed in the social macro-context to investigate its position, interdependence and the role of political and economic forces, and then discover its value to the social community, which is the purpose of this study.

Democratic illusion in participatory culture

The most extensive interaction of groups has created the most remarkable feature of rice circle culture — — Participatory. Treating fan activities and participatory culture equally, Jenkins defined the concept earlier: "Fans and other consumers are invited to actively participate in the creation and circulation of new content". [16] He believes that this participatory culture has the following characteristics: First, the low threshold for expressing participation. The second is strong support for creation and sharing. The third is the informal mentoring system. The fourth is to trust the members who make contributions. Fifth, members with certain social connections.

The revelation of participatory cultural characteristics has stimulated the imagination of democracy in academic circles. For example, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams put forward that consumers can "play an active role" and become "material grassroots users who are meaningful to individuals and society", and their sharing, writing, mixing, using and changing will inevitably lead to the emergence of "new economic democracy … … All of us have taken the lead. " [17] Clay Shirky’s research supports it from the technical theory, arguing that social media can "let people use their free time as a global shared resource and use its advantages to design a new cooperative participation and sharing model". [18]

The view that the participatory culture of fans leads to the natural appearance of democracy is representative but doubtful. A basic problem lies in that it replaces the technical possibility of combining production and use with the inevitability of social change. There is no convincing evidence on how the technological potential can inspire people to actively seek community identity and unity, and then form a new democratic social framework. On the contrary, the obvious fact is that the struggle between different fan groups is escalating. For example, under the "one-sided" public opinion war of stars, social media is more likely to form an atmosphere of prejudice, rather than creating a democratic environment characterized by dialogue and listening.

From the basic conditions of participatory democracy, firstly, participatory democracy emphasizes decision-making participation, which is included in the decision-making process. Second, participatory democracy needs to show equality. Individuals need to have equal intrinsic value, and individual interests should also be considered equally. [19] Third, participatory democracy has development value for the public: enabling them to enjoy freedom, exercise their abilities and implement equality. [20] However, analyzing the meeting of rice circle members in social media, although they can share the content through collective interest, this participation has not yet matched the basic elements of democracy.

Most people in rice circles cannot participate in decision-making, but are excluded from the decision-making process. First, consumers’ identity and organizational structure make them have no right to enter or lack the conditions to enter the decision-making process. The participation of rice circle culture occurs at three levels: production, selection and dissemination, which is mainly realized through the creation of "micro-content". The personalized content production, selection and creative conception of netizens, as well as the interweaving and convergence of opinions in interaction are valuable, but they are unpaid parts. Most members connect the creativity of netizens’ culture through social media and relationship networks, but for them, it is more unconditional to tell the whole story, which has neither economic benefits nor the right to make decisions. At the same time, they have to pay for celebrity meetings and concerts. Second, this kind of participation is attitude rather than willingness and limited participation. On the surface, rice circle members can initiate topics and design actions to promote consensus with their own wishes, but in fact, most rice circle members only express two attitudes towards star idols through identification — — Either support (idols) or oppose (idol competitors), it is not up to them to decide which image the stars will show in the end, and the will of rice circles is mostly suspended in the auxiliary reference level, which constitutes the reality that it is difficult to fully participate in rice circle culture — — The expansion of the number of people and attention has promoted the presentation of cultural diversity, but the barriers to the democratic decision-making of star-making still exist. Third,Ownership is always the core of decision-making, and at this point, most members of the rice circle have no rights at all. They are only involved in the star-making movement through open channels to increase or decrease the flow of stars, while idols are always others who have nothing to do with their rights and interests, and their time, energy and intellectual creation are unconditionally occupied. In this way, participatory democracy stagnates at the symbolic level of cultural expression: as members of the rice circle with creative production capacity and active interaction, what they enjoy is only the illusion of democracy. Its essence is that symbolic democracy and instrumental rationality hit it off, and loyalty and demand are quietly replaced by cultural goods.

Capital, Control and "Dream Stolen" in Cultural Industry

No matter what kind of freedom the participants in the rice circle culture enjoy, a potential fact that cannot be ignored is that they have never got rid of the fetters and control of capital. Not only that, they have injected extraordinary new capital into the cultural industry and made the entertainment industry more profitable.

There is a unique control structure in the spread of rice circles: the top layer is the decision-making layer, which is controlled by the investors who make stars. They open the logic of their cultural operation to rice circles. Below it can be called the promotion layer — — Star support club. Its core figure "Pink Head" is closely related to the management, and some of them are star team members. They will be invited to join the star action planning creativity, discuss the development plan with the management and the star, and therefore, they are often the envy of fans. For fans, Pink Head is a well-informed person, and idolize has rich experience, so he can play a role similar to an opinion leader. On the one hand, they will try their best to convey the employers’ intentions to the members of the rice circle through the support meeting, design and guide the action direction for the fans, and determine the prescribed actions; On the other hand, the fans’ opinions will be absorbed by the fans, and they can also be passed on or integrated into the star development blueprint. There are a series of departments at the promotion level as operating institutions, which can be regarded as a bridge connecting employers, stars and rice circle members, and then become an obvious control force of rice circle culture. At the basic level are rice circle members, who participate in activities for emotional, interest, realization and other purposes, providing attention, creating events, contributing to the flow, and expanding the team, as well as iron powder (people who always love and resolutely support idols regardless of their success or failure) and fan powder (only like a member under the premise of understanding the basic situation of the group to which he belongs and its members — — Fans who love beans), CP powder(I am crazy about being a fan of a couple in variety entertainment and other programs), black powder (people who oppose a star, maliciously discredit or provoke the relationship between a star and fans), etc. As far as individuals are concerned, some members are simple and some hold cross-identities. Some members will apply to join support clubs or form support branches to accomplish common tasks. There is also a platform layer around the rice circle, such as Weibo, QQ Group, Baidu Post Bar, Douban Community, etc., which is the activity field of rice circle members and a source of parallel control. In this way, the spread of rice circles has formed a strict system, and its closed cycle maintains the firmness of capital control: capital control opinion leaders (referring to the powder head/core layer), opinion leaders control support clubs, rice circle members/branches control media events, media events control social platforms/algorithms/traffic platforms/algorithms/traffic control social public attention, and at the same time, they have the ability to pay attention to stars and companies, opinion leaders and support clubs, support stations and rice circles.

Further analysis, the star company is a powerful capital manipulator, which can intuitively display the commercial value of the star, and will "do everything possible to encourage fans and strive for maximum benefits". [21] For example, they will set up a special statistical agency to launch statistical coordinates showing star rankings at a fixed time to "spur" fans to hit the list. They will establish a monitoring system of star flow and its realization, measure the value of stars and seize business opportunities. For companies, star appeal and fans’ purchasing power based on popularity, traffic and data are the most important sources of capital benefits.

The outer social platform is also the main beneficiary of economic benefits. For example, in recent years, Sina Weibo has launched the celebrity power list, Chaohua and other applications to benefit a lot from the rice circle. In 2019, Weibo’s value-added service revenue in the first quarter reached US$ 58 million, an increase of 24% over the same period of last year. [22] The platform has the online behavior and personal information data of users, technical manipulation means such as algorithms, and also controls the hidden power to support or close users and channels.

"You and I didn’t have a chance, but I spent all my money." For the members of the rice circle, spending money is a necessary option to express their love and loyalty to idols, which constitutes a new source of star capital. In 2018, when a player participated in the "Idol Trainee" program, he voted to raise more than 2 million yuan. It is reported that fans spent more than 10 million yuan to buy virtual flowers to keep him in the first place. In 2019, the income of the power list alone exceeded 100 million yuan. [23]

Through the circulation of the system, the capital control of rice circle has produced such uniqueness: First, economic interests and cultural interests have been closely exchanged, and idols and fans have formed an asymmetric interest community. On the surface, fans’ interest has incorporated entertainment stars and products, and capital serves the cultural interests of rice circles. In fact, the entertainment industry has never relaxed its anti-incorporation, and they have become the ideal "dream thieves" of rice circle culture, and can grasp the direction of capital through fan interaction. At the same time, the reward of rice circle has become a key part of star capital, so the exchange of economic interests and cultural interests is asymmetric. Second, the biggest winner is the entertainment industry dominated by the management. Commercial capital has a strong influence through the support of traffic data, and rice circles spare no effort to present their dream orientation and provide consumer protection. The paradox of contemporary youth subculture control is thus formed — — The rice circle group may affect the idol’s advance and retreat by adding new capital, but as far as individuals are concerned, the control power is not only irrelevant to them, but makes them more deeply trapped by commercial capital, makes idolize’s behavior more insane, and even leads to new problems such as violent conflicts due to excessive addiction.

Structural Function and Power Operation: Self-organization as "Love"

It can be said that the hierarchy of the rice circle system is distinct, the capital control is strong and hidden, and a self-organizing structure with rich characteristics and strong operation is formed (as shown in Figure 2)— — According to the rules of tacit understanding, the members of the rice circle do their part to coordinate their actions and automatically play their functional roles, thus jointly enhancing the influence of the rice circle culture. The self-organization of rice circle is mainly composed of three parts: core layer (powder head), management layer (subsystem) and basic layer (rice circle). From the core "powder head" to the management, to the branches and ordinary fans, the self-organization includes several subsystems and sub-subsystems, and the members of the support club subsystem bear different responsibilities: it can be subdivided into art group, copywriting group, data group, publicity group, anti-gang group, financial group, etc., to ensure the mutual cooperation of technology, planning, publicity and communication functions. The support club subsystem controls the members of the rice circle by joining the club, and some members have consciously established sub-systems in different regions at home and abroad — — Support branch organizations, and branches can differentiate into smaller organizations such as aid stations at a lower level in different activities. This ensures the smooth communication of information in a wide area or even in a global scope. Not only that, the self-organization of rice circle also has the high efficiency of feedback system, and its internal information flows openly. All support clubs and support stations will open social media accounts and publish information at any time for members to supervise and give feedback. The complexity and orderliness of the structure and function make the rice circle run effectively.

The characteristics of self-organization of rice circles are: first, the goal is clear, that is, the system, subsystem and branches work together to help idols. Second, rice circles have organizational rules, which are manifested in two levels: explicit rules and hidden rules. For example, the "Sheep Village Fans Convention" requires that "the fans who pick up and drop off the plane should not be noisy, crowded, pushing and other behaviors that affect public order" and "Please control your emotions when helping your idol, and don’t hurt others because you are too excited", etc. [24] This is an obvious rule shared by the "Sheep Village" rice circle around the world. However, the awareness of star protection, reward and anti-gang behavior constitute the hidden rules of the leading group. If this principle is not followed, it will be difficult for new powder to enter the circle, and old powder will be rejected. In this way, even if there is an accident in which "powder head" runs away with money, the members of the rice circle still respond with a "tolerant" attitude, and their enthusiasm for contributing money and rewarding has not wavered. Third, special language symbols — — Pinyin abbreviations constitute the cultural identity symbol of rice circles. For example, dbq stands for sorry, pyq stands for circle of friends, and zqsg means true feelings, etc. If you don’t understand these terms, you can’t take the "He Z generation" (referring to people born between 1995 and 2009 and deeply influenced by the Internet, instant messaging, smartphones and tablets — — Author’s note)The first step of happy communication. " [25]

Power relationship is the key to understand the self-organization of rice circles. Intellectuals’ cognition of power mainly includes two dimensions. One is Max Weber’s view of power. Max Weber defines power as "the ability to asymmetrically influence other actors’ decision-making ability in a way that is conducive to strengthening the actors’ own will, interests and values" and "the opportunity to realize their own will when they encounter opposition from others who participate in the action in social action". [26] The second is power from the perspective of Anthony Giddens’ social structure theory, that is, power is "the ability to change" — — The ability to intervene in an event so as to change it in some way. [27] Max Weber’s understanding of power emphasizes the relationship between compulsion, domination and asymmetry, [28] Giddens tends to understand the power generated by change from the social system with symmetrical distribution of power.

From the semantic point of view, Giddens’ power connotation seems to be more able to show the power of the Internet community. In Manuel Castells’ research, the power of network society is further divided into four types: access right, normative right, internal control right and network construction right. [29] However, for social groups like Fanquan, it seems too rough to simply divide them according to this, because the determination of these four powers is still limited to the scope of the impact of technological changes, and it is impossible to fully demonstrate the freedom and strength of action of subculture communities based on self-awareness and goal strategies. In parallel with technical empowerment, the cultural power controlled by the rice circle organization is bidirectional: on the one hand, the power is manifested internally as mandatory and dominant rules; On the other hand, power manifests itself as the antagonism of cultural consciousness. No matter which direction you point, the coercive power comes from "love". Because of the value of guarding love, fans can spread out large-scale alliance formations; Because of the persistence of love, self-organization may show antagonistic impulse in generate; Because there is no doubt about love, the originally calm social circle may ignite a "flame war" in an instant. [30]

According to Abraham Harold Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, people have physiological, safety, love and respect needs, and self-realization is at the highest level of needs. [31] Rice circles project the feelings of love on idols, because idols satisfy their various demands — — Such as understanding, love and respect. Love idols represents their affirmation of the value of youth: love beauty, fun and inspiration. Loving idols fills the gap in their desire for their dream partner. Love idols also convey their desire to achieve their goals and realize themselves. The theory of "narcissistic self-reflection" can open a skylight of understanding by deeply exploring the motive force of this kind of love. Historian Christopher Lasch pointed out that consumerism gave birth to narcissistic culture, and its important support was the media and fans. Cornel Sandvoss further believes that under the narcissistic psychology, fans will have a "narcissistic self-mapping" on the object. By looking for common ground, they will project their physical characteristics, experiences and value beliefs on the object, and the object will thus become an extension of themselves. On the one hand, consumption provides an important symbolic resource for the formation of self-identity; On the other hand, consumption integrates itself into the order dominated by economy, society and culture. [32]

Not only that, members of subculture can identify each other, learn from each other and complement each other by means of organization and borrowing algorithm technology, and can quickly produce effective self-guidance and realize the strength of self-class groups. In this way, the social self is full of fun — — It not only has the ability to influence others’ behavior and create events, but also can make members get rid of loneliness and powerlessness as individuals. As a result, the self-organization of "love" has achieved the dream of youth, encouraging cultural individuals to pounce on rice circles like moths.

Conclusion: a highlight moment of subculture

All of the above shows that although the rice circle culture influences the social life of teenagers with the increasing number and influence of people, it has always been creeping on the edge of the mainstream culture, and has not changed the sub-cultural background of the pioneers advertised by fans: the rice circle culture has gone through the process from offline to online, from individuals to groups, from individual behavior choice to platform event operation, but it has not escaped the state of symbolic democratic participation; This culture has formed a strict self-organizing structure of "love" and exerted the coercive force of limited power, but its internal decision-making power, ownership and control power are still sidelined, and the dominant position of entertainment capital has not changed.

然而，即便如此，近年来另一种现象还是格外引人注目。2019年8月，一个喧嚷香港独立、抹黑中国的海外论坛，在不到一天的时间里被饭圈女孩刷了5万多个回击帖，饭圈女孩联盟为共同的爱豆“阿中”（即中国）打响了舆论保卫战。在Twitter、Facebook、Instagram等社交平台上，她们列数据、做动漫、写文案、上视频，摆事实讲道理，分工合作表达爱国立场，为当代青年亚文化群体的价值观表达积累了独特的文化经验。

多方联动形成合力，饭圈也成为参与社会行动的一支重要力量。2020年新冠肺炎疫情期间，不少饭圈组织及个人自发捐款捐物，在公益领域发挥作用。“FUNJI粉丝团抗疫公益行动记录”数据显示，截至2020年2月29日，饭圈为疫情捐款超800万元，捐口罩超100万只，还捐助其他医用物资及生理用品。[33]在共同完成一件件大事的过程中，饭圈成员“获得了集体组织的安全感和力量感，也从中获得了日常生活难以企及的使命感和崇高感”。[34]

Participating in the efficient operation of social governance action shows the reality of rational development of rice circle culture from one side, which inspires us to make the following expectations — — If a subculture not only has its unique discourse expression and behavior style, but also has the rationality and rules to absorb and shape a wider range of social groups, as well as the resources and ability to achieve common value goals, then it will no longer be "the residue of grabbing and borrowing from popular culture", [35] and it will really have the strength to build social life, and then it will inevitably usher in the highlight moment of entering the mainstream culture.

annotate

[1] [Germany] Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Cultural Differences, translated by Yang Junjie, Zhengzhou: Henan University Press, 2017, p. 1.

[2] Liu Jilin: The Significance of Raymond Henry Williams’s Cultural Theory and "Key Words" Research to China, Journal of Wuhan University of Science and Technology (Social Science Edition), No.4, 2011.

[3]Gordon, M., "The Concept of the Subculture and Its Application", Social Forces, 1947(1).

[4] See [America] Henry Jenkins: Text poachers, translated by Zheng Xiqing, Peking University Publishing House, 2016.

[5]Price, L.; Robinson L., "’Being in a Knowledge Space’: Information Behaviour of Cult Media Fan Communities", Journal of Information Science, 2016(7).

[6] See Quotations of Liu Zhongde’s Criticism of Super Girls, Sina. com, http://ent.sina.com.cn, updated on May 3, 2006; Criticism of Super Girl Fans’ Idol Complex Baidu Post Bar, https://tieba.baidu.com/p/125448192?. Red_tag=1965194535, updated on August 20th, 2006.

[7] Hu Cencen: From "groupies" to "rice circles", China Youth Studies, No.2, 2020.

[8]Fiske, J., The Cultural Economy of Fandom, The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, London: Routledge, 1992, pp. 30-49.

[9]Hebdige, D., "Subculture: The Meaning of Style", Critical Quarterly, 1995(6)

[10]Jenkins, H., Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture, New York: Routledge, 1992, p. 45.

[11] [America] Lawrence Grosberg: "Are there any fans in this room? — — Emotional Perception of Fandu, edited by Tao Dongfeng: A Reader of Fan Culture, Peking University Publishing House, 2009, pp. 134-136.

[12] Xu Tian: "The Harm of Sub-culture Phenomenon in Rice Circles in China and Its Guiding Path", "New Media Research", No.8, 2020.

[13] Yang Ling: A Study of Fan Culture from the Perspective of Western Consumption Theory, Changjiang Academic, No.1, 2011.

[14] Liu Xun and Zhang Yuxuan: Self-construction and Functional Value Analysis of Domestic Rice Circles, Sichuan Drama, No.3, 2020.

[15] Yuan Zhixiang: "The Construction of Youth’s Subjective Consciousness under the Culture of Rice Circles", People’s Forum, mid-May 2020.

[16]Jenkins, H., Convergence Culture, New York University Press, 2008, p. 331.

[17]Tapscott, D.; Williams, A., Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, New York: Penguin, 2007, p. 15.

[18]Shirky, C., Cognitive Surplus: How Technology Makes Consumers into Collaborators, London: Penguin, 2011, p. 27.

[19] [America] Robert A. Dahl: On Political Equality, translated by Xie Yue, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2010, p. 3.

[20] See [English] David Held: The Model of Democracy, translated by Yan Jirong, Beijing: Central Compilation and Publishing House, 2008.

[21] Qiu Yujuan: Fanquan Culture: Fan Culture 2.0 from the Perspective of Communication, Satellite TV and Broadband Multimedia, No.8, 2020.

[22] Weibo Releases Financial Report for the First Quarter of 2019, Sina Game, http://games.sina.com.cn/y/n/2019-05-23/hvhiews4076886.shtml, May 23, 2019.

[23][25] Sun Yifei: "KPI of rice circles in the era of traffic", "New Financial Watch", July 29, 2019.

[24] Sheep Village Fans Convention, Hupu. com, https://bbs.hupu.com/36035612.html, June 17, 2020.

[26]Weber, M., Economy and Society, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978, p. 926.

[27]Giddens, A., The Nation-State and Violence, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1985, p. 7.

[28]Habermas, J., Theory of communication, Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1987.

[29]Manuel Castells, Communication Power, Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 43-47.

[30][31] Meng Wei: "Network Interaction — — Interpretation of Meaning and Discussion of Rules, Beijing: Economic Management Press, 2004, pp. 147 and 156.

[32]Sandvoss, C., Fans: The Mirror of Consumption, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005, pp. 95-109, pp. 113-114, pp. 154-165.

[33] "When Girls in Rice Circles Rush to the Anti-epidemic Field", 澎湃 Network, https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_6646110, March 23, 2020.

[34] Chen Liqin: Action Logic of "Evolution" and Construction of "Common Meaning" of Girls in Rice Circles, Journal of Shenzhen University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), No.3, 2020.

[35] [America] Henry Jenkins: Popular Culture: Fans, poachers and nomads — — Desaidu’s Popular Cultural Aesthetics, Journal of Hubei University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), No.4, 2008.

Meng Wei, researcher of China Academy of Social Sciences, director and professor of Network Science Research Office of Institute of Journalism and Communication. The research direction is network new media and its social influence, public opinion, media ethics, literacy and media integration. His main works are Network Interaction: Meaning Interpretation and Rules Discussion, Moral Arguments of Media Ethics, Communication Practice and Thinking, etc.

Editor/Xiao Han’s question

As many places in the country enter the "two sessions" in 2024, various places have also announced the "annual report" of the economy in 2023.

As of January 25th, 29 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have announced the annual economic performance in 2023. Judging from the published information, the growth rate of 15 provinces has outperformed the whole country.

The growth rate of 15 provinces outperformed the whole country

Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the gross domestic product (GDP) of China in 2023 was 126,058.2 billion yuan, an increase of 5.2% over the previous year at constant prices.

The reporter consulted the work reports of local governments and the official data of statistical departments and found that among the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China, except Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Hubei, the growth rate of 15 provinces outperformed the whole country in 2023, while Beijing was the same as the whole country. All provinces with disclosed data have achieved positive GDP growth.

Specifically, Tibet’s GDP growth rate reached 9.5%, temporarily leading the country; Hainan, which followed closely, grew by 9.2%; Inner Mongolia ranked third with a growth rate of 7.3%. Other provinces with growth rates above 6% include Ningxia, Gansu, Jilin, Chongqing, Shandong, Sichuan and Zhejiang.

Multi-provincial GDP has reached a new level.

Present potential of western China

Looking through the "transcripts", we can find that the economic development of many places has reached a new level. Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong accounted for the top three economic aggregates of China Province in 2023, all exceeding 9 trillion yuan. In particular, Guangdong, as the largest province in economy, became the first province in China to exceed 13 trillion yuan in annual GDP, ranking first in the country for 35 consecutive years.

The economic aggregates of Shandong and Zhejiang, two other major economic provinces, have also leapfrogged, with annual GDP exceeding 9 trillion yuan and 8 trillion yuan respectively. Hunan’s annual GDP exceeded 5 trillion yuan for the first time. Liaoning has successfully entered the "3 trillion GDP Club", surpassing the national growth rate for the first time in 10 years.

In addition, the rise of the western region is obvious. In addition to Tibet, where the economic growth rate leads the country, the growth rates of Ningxia and Gansu both exceed 6%, and Ningxia even announced that all economic indicators are the best in the past years; Sichuan and Chongqing announced that their GDP exceeded 6 trillion yuan and 3 trillion yuan respectively, and the Chengdu-Chongqing double circle as a whole reached a new level. Yunnan’s GDP exceeded 3 trillion yuan for the first time, and Qinghai’s economic growth rate was 5.3%, which also outperformed the whole country.

"Trillion City" expanded by 3 trillion into a new benchmark

Cities also provide a new perspective for observing China’s economy in 2023, among which the most striking thing is that the "GDP Trillion Club" welcomes the new again.

After Changzhou, Jiangsu, and Yantai, Shandong successively announced that they had broken through one trillion yuan, the number of "GDP trillion clubs" in China has increased to 26. Among them, Jiangsu has five "trillion cities", surpassing Guangdong and becoming the province with the largest number of trillion cities in China. From the perspective of urban agglomerations, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta with strong economic vitality have also become "trillion cities" gathering areas, with 9 and 4 respectively.

At the same time, "3 trillion" is also becoming a new starting point for competition among domestic head cities.

Chongqing and Guangzhou announced that the regional GDP will break the 3 trillion yuan mark in 2023. After Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, the number of "3 trillion GDP clubs" in China has expanded to five. Chongqing became the first city in the western region whose GDP exceeded 3 trillion yuan, while Guangzhou was the second city in Guangdong Province after Shenzhen.

Set goals in various places to make progress steadily.

After the economic aggregates of many provinces and cities reached a new level in 2023, how to set economic targets in 2024 attracted people’s attention. Of the 29 provinces that have disclosed data, 26 mentioned the growth target in 2024 in their government work reports.

Up to now, Tibet and Hainan, the two provinces with the fastest GDP growth in 2023, have the highest growth expectations this year, both of which are around 8%. Most other provinces that have disclosed data have set the regional target of economic growth in the range of 5%-6%.

For example, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong, which ranked the top three in China in 2023, have all aimed at the figure of 5% this year. Among them, the goal of Guangdong is set at "5%", while Jiangsu and Shandong should strive for "more than 5%". The expected target of Tianjin’s economic growth rate is below 5%, which is set at around 4.5%, but it is still higher than its economic growth rate of 4.3% in 2023.

The goal has been set, and the key to the future lies in how to accomplish it. When planning the road map for development in 2024, many places showed strong interest in emerging industries, and new quality productivity and new industrialization became the focus of attention.

Shanghai: We will actively promote new industrialization, cultivate and upgrade high-end industrial clusters such as new energy vehicles, high-end equipment, advanced materials, civil aviation and space information, and accelerate the construction of future industrial leading areas.

Chongqing: Insist on putting the high-quality development of manufacturing industry in a more prominent position, persistently grasp the leading belt ecology, promote industrial agglomeration, technological innovation and integrated development, and vigorously cultivate new quality productivity.

Promoting consumption is still the key work in the work reports of many provincial governments.

Jiangsu: Vigorously develop digital consumption, green consumption, healthy consumption, sports and leisure consumption, increase the cultivation and promotion of new consumption formats of cultural tourism, and create more domestic "trendy products" and brand-new consumption scenarios.

Beijing: We should "make great efforts to stimulate potential consumption", promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional business districts, build an international consumption experience zone, boost bulk consumption, cultivate "fashionable products" of domestic products, support the development of service consumption, and promote the integration of diversified consumption formats.

　　In the spring when everything is revived and the grass grows and the warblers fly, some people may "have a snot and a tear" every day. They are the groups allergic to pollen.

　　In recent years, the incidence of pollen allergy has been rising, from infants to 60-year-olds, there have been allergic cases, and it is estimated that the allergic population in China exceeds 200 million.

　　Experts summarize the main symptoms of pollen allergy and teach you how to spend this pollen season smoothly.

　　Pollen concentration will reach a peak.

　　In the face of the upcoming pollen season, many patients with allergic rhinitis have already "shivered". According to the data of previous years, the pollen concentration in most areas reached its peak in the middle and late March, and the 2024 pollen detection and forecast service in Beijing began on March 2.

　　Qin He, deputy chief physician of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Chang Gung Hospital, Tsinghua, Tsinghua University, said that the number of patients with allergic rhinitis who came to see a doctor recently increased significantly.

　　The biggest pollen allergy in spring is trees, and the common ones are Sabina vulgaris, Sycamore, Willow, Poplar and Elm. These pollen are spread by wind, which are large in quantity and small in diameter, and are easy to induce allergies.

　　If the following symptoms appear periodically every spring, it may be pollen allergy:

　　Rhinitis: inflammation and swelling of nasal mucosa, itchy nose, nasal congestion and sneezing, and watery nose. Usually, the symptoms in the morning will be more serious than those in the evening, and it will be aggravated in dry and windy weather, and it will feel a little better indoors than outdoors.

　　Conjunctivitis: the eyes are bloodshot, itchy and tearful, and I always want to rub my eyes.

　　Allergic asthma: cough, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and even "hissing" abnormal sound can be heard when panting.

　　Rash: The skin, ears, mouth and palate are itchy, and rashes may appear on the skin, or little red dot and eczema like mosquito bites may appear.

　　Accompanied by food allergy: people who are allergic to pollen may have symptoms such as swollen lips, vomiting and diarrhea after eating fruits or nuts.

　　3 strokes to deal with pollen allergy

　　Pollen allergy in spring usually lasts until May, and people with allergic history can relieve discomfort through the following measures.

　　Advance medication

　　Seasonal allergy can be treated first, and people with allergic history should use anti-allergic drugs according to the doctor’s advice 10~14 days before the allergic season comes. For example, nasal glucocorticoid spray and nasal antihistamine can help the nasal cavity to establish a protective barrier and reduce allergic symptoms.

　　Watch the sky go out.

　　Dry weather, high temperature and strong wind are more conducive to the spread of pollen and easy to cause allergic reactions.

　　Allergic patients should reduce going out in this weather, especially during the period of high pollen concentration from 10 am to 5 pm. Pay attention to pollen monitoring and forecasting, and reduce outdoor activities when the index is high.

　　Make good protection.

　　When you have to go out, you should take necessary protection, wear masks and goggles, and apply cream to exposed skin, which can play a role in isolation. After returning home, clean the exposed skin such as nose, face and hands, and put on clean clothes.

　　In addition, it is necessary to open the window less during the pollen season, and try not to hang clothes, sheets, etc. outdoors to avoid pollen contamination.

　　Don’t "carry it hard" after allergies.

　　Many people choose to "carry" after allergic symptoms appear, thinking that the symptoms will disappear when the allergic season passes.

　　This practice is actually not desirable. If allergic rhinitis is not treated for a long time, it may further lead to diseases such as bronchial asthma and sinusitis. Children’s rhinitis may also cause secretory otitis media and aggravate adenoidal hypertrophy.

　　Can be used for treating different symptoms, and can effectively relieve the discomfort caused by allergy.

　　1 Pollen allergic rhinitis

　　When the nose is itchy, runny nose or sneezing, you can use a nose washer and wash the nasal cavity with normal saline prepared with nasal washing salt. It is not recommended to use pure water or self-prepared salt water, which is easy to choke and cause danger.

　　When the symptoms are serious, antihistamine oral medicine and local nasal spray can be selected according to the condition under the guidance of a doctor.

　　2 Pollen allergic conjunctivitis

　　When the eyes are itchy, you should close your eyes and gently press around the eyes to avoid touching the eyeball. Don’t rub your eyes with your hands, it may bring in more germs and cause infection.

　　Some allergic conjunctivitis should be treated with hormone eye drops, which should be used reasonably under the guidance of a doctor.

　　3 pollen allergic dermatitis

　　When the skin shows mild erythema and rash without exudation, calamine lotion can be used to relieve itching.

　　Pay attention to sun and pollen protection when going out to avoid aggravating dermatitis.

　　4 pollen allergic asthma

　　Asthma patients should take preventive measures before the pollen season, and keep salbutamol, terbutaline and other drugs according to the doctor’s advice, and relieve the acute attack in time.

　　How to distinguish pollen allergy from cold?

　　Guan Kai, deputy chief physician of Allergy Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said that the symptoms of pollen allergy and cold are different.

　　The number of sneezes is different. The number of cold sneezing attacks and the number of continuous sneezing are relatively small, generally 1~2 at a time. During the attack of allergic rhinitis, there are often several paroxysmal sneezes every day, ranging from 3 to 5 at a time to more than a dozen or even more.

　　Whether the nose itches. When catching a cold, the main symptom of the nose is not itching, but prolonged nasal congestion and runny nose. The common symptoms of anaphylaxis are itchy nose and a large number of clear-water nasal mucus and nasal congestion.

　　Are there any systemic symptoms? A cold is often accompanied by fever, headache, fatigue, muscle aches and other general malaise symptoms. Allergies are generally not accompanied by systemic symptoms such as fever.

　　What is the state of the eyes? If you are allergic to eyes, you will often rub your eyes and blink frequently in severe cases.

　　People with no allergic history, if they often have itchy nose, sneezing, runny nose and stuffy nose, sneeze many times at a time, and have no symptoms such as fever and general weakness, should not treat a cold directly or take cold medicine by themselves, so as to avoid the harm to health caused by wrong medication.

　　Interviewed experts:

　　Qin He, Deputy Chief Physician of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Chang Gung Hospital, Tsinghua, Tsinghua University.

　　Guan Kai, Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Allergy, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Special feature of 1905 film network On December 31, 2018, the single-day box office was 261 million.

On January 1, 2019, the single-day box office of the film was 11.4131 million.

On January 2nd, the single-day box office fell off a cliff again, earning only 1.96 million yuan, and plunged by 99.3% in two days, setting a record for the highest decline in China film history.

At the same time, the score of Douban movies dropped from the initial 7.5 points to 6.8 points; Taobao Film’s score dropped from 5.4 to 3.4; The cat’s eye score dropped from 3.7 points to 2.8 points.

Perhaps "The Last Night of the Earth" is one of the films with the lowest score in 2018 of the two ticketing platforms.

　

Whether it’s a resumption or before evaluating the above data, let’s turn the time and go back to December 6, 2018.

　

It seems that from that day on, a content was frequently brushed on the vibrato short video software. This content was just a simple switch between two pictures: one was the page details page of "The Last Night of the Earth" on a certain platform, and the other was from other social platforms. A user’s broadcast reads: "Make a small wish: I want to watch" The Last Night of the Earth "with my favorite people on the last night of 2018."

Of course, there is a sentence attached to some content, "Hug and kiss at the end of the movie until the next year."

　

On December 7th, the film propagandist issued a new media poster in the official Weibo. At the same time, the slogan of the film changed to "One Kiss for the New Year".

In terms of distribution, it even issued a statement on the relevant New Year’s Eve activities, emphasizing that "the cinema can choose this film as a New Year’s Eve activity, and it can choose to start at 21:50 on December 31, and the film will end at exactly 0: 00 on the New Year’s Eve. The audience can spend the most ceremonial night with the most important people and kiss the New Year!"

At the same time, the number of people who want to see "Earth" has increased rapidly in the order of 10,000. By the time it was released, Taobao Film wanted to see 370,000 people and Cat’s Eye wanted to see 280,000 people.

In addition, this director, who seems to be completely incompatible with variety entertainment, took part in the "Thirteen Invitations" for the film to start; I also went to "Tucao Conference" and "Tucao" Jing Wong’s bad films; I even participated in Durex’s Q&A activity.

The director is very calm, and the caliber is the same. "Publicity arrangements, I’m here to work."

Bi Gan participated in Durex related activities.

At this time, more and more fan groups began to speak out, and the propaganda party was falsely marketing and even began to "swear" the propaganda party.

　

On December 16th, Bi Gan publicly responded to the marketing at an activity, saying, "My colleagues in Xuanfa don’t steal, rob or kneel down, but do one thing by their own ability and knowledge. I don’t think they are at fault." "Then there is an art film that has suddenly become empathetic with the public, and everyone should enjoy it at this moment. Of course I know the result. Maybe people don’t understand it, maybe they don’t like it, but what kind of movies do they like? We haven’t chosen yet, and we can have one more chance when we have no choice. "

　

During the period, on the ticketing platforms such as Taobao Film and Cat’s Eye, many theaters specifically noted, "The film The Last Night of the Earth does not support refunding tickets. Please contact the cinema for consultation if you need to refund tickets."

On December 25th, the pre-sale box office was 100 million. Before the final release, the pre-sale achievement exceeded 150 million. Only the Spring Festival files and the summer files.

However, the higher the pre-sale results, the louder the doubts seem to be.

　

On December 27th, Tian Qi, the producer of the film, made some "restless venting" in the circle of friends.

　

In a long article, he repeatedly asked, "Who is the’ audience’ and who is the’ ordinary audience’ for the last night of the earth?"

　

On December 31, the film was officially released. After the first screening, there was a wave of abuse on the Internet, and the topic "I can’t understand the last night of the earth" was on the hot search list. It is in complete contrast with the evaluation of the film after it was shown at Cannes International Film Festival.

Today, on the third day of release, the box office of "Earth" has not exceeded 2 million in a single day, and the ratings of all platforms are almost locked. Only the voice of public opinion remains constant.

　

Whether it is "fraudulent marketing" or "marketing that goes down in history", everyone from different angles has their own answers, but as far as box office performance is concerned, it may make the early investment too high and get the guarantee of capital recovery.

　

Starting from "one kiss for the New Year", it is destined to "rotate"

　

There is a line in "The Earth", "Read the spell on the cover page of the green book and the room will rotate". At the end of the movie, the protagonist Huang Jue read the sentence — — After "you counted the stars in the sky/they are like birds/always parachuting on my chest", the room did spin, and the protagonist did kiss.

　

However, beyond movies, word-of-mouth and box office have also begun to spin earth-shaking.

Is the film quality really that bad? Xiao Dianjun, frankly speaking, no, it is actually a more refined upgrade of the director’s previous work. Of course, there is not much analysis on the evaluation of the quality of too many films here.

　

The Roadside Picnic won a total of 6.46 million box office, with Douban scoring 7.8, Cat’s Eye and Taobao Film scoring 8.1. The film itself is not high at the box office, but it has received high enough recognition. However, in terms of box office results, it does seem that the threshold is slightly higher for ordinary audiences who pursue fast pace.

　

In "Earth", although famous actors such as Tang Wei, Zhang Aijia, Huang Jue and Hong Chi Lee were invited, the film still maintained the style of the previous work, even more extreme in terms of sense of form than the previous work.

In the face of such a film with strong authorship, the marketing side has grasped the concept of kissing at the end of the film and made every effort to make a marketing model for commercial films.

　

It can be found from Cat’s Eye and Taobao Film’s desire to watch movies that it was December 6th, the day when the marketing event of "One Kiss for New Year" started, and the desire to watch movies surged wildly, which became the peak in the growing list.

It is true that this has naturally become the key point of the audience’s word of mouth.

　

Since the beginning of 2018, "Former 3" successfully carried out a wave of emotional marketing on the short video of vibrato, the platform has been paid more and more attention by various propaganda teams. However, there is no other emotional marketing that can really arouse strong and drive purchasing power again after "Former 3".

Until the appearance of "Earth".

　

In general, users can easily compare things conceptually after seeing relevant information. Many viewers were moved by the romantic concept of "one kiss for New Year’s Eve" and watched a movie similar to "Former 3" directly, but watched a so-called "literary boring film".

　

This is the turning point of the whole marketing event — — "One kiss for the New Year" strongly captures the audience’s mood and logic of paying the bill.

In fact, it is very simple. Most viewers are willing to spend 10-30 seconds watching a short video without thinking, and at the same time attract the short video content simply and rudely. Only a few of them will spend another 5-10 minutes.Carry out its contentInspection.

　

This has directly become the most basic and shallow authentication of the audience to the film itself, thus completing all the ticket purchasing behaviors in a specific time situation. This situation is also the smartest place for the marketing side of Earth.

　

But, was it successful?

　

Judging from the box office revenue, yes, and it was very successful. But we forget that word-of-mouth maintenance is also included in publicity and marketing. But obviously, "The Earth" has not been maintained, or the maintenance is not as strong as the audience’s "self-attack".

　

Will the publicity and marketing party have no expectations? Xiao Dianjun believes that the propagandists who have successfully publicized films such as "Roadside Picnic" and "Suddenly Cracked and Silent" will not have no forecast.

　

So, why?

　

"One kiss for the New Year" is actually "coincidental"

　

When interviewed by a certain media, the propagandist of the Earth team said that the team’s plan before December 6th was completely different.

　

The schedule is set on the last day of 2019 (1-2 days later than the film of the same period), which is very suitable for the title of "The Last Night of the Earth". Especially after the synchronization of the schedule, many fans on the Internet have called for similar New Year’s Eve viewing activities on the 31st.

This appeal has also successfully stimulated the film’s propaganda ideas.

　

The "Earth" team once said in an interview, "Our initial planning was based on the consideration of the content of the film. We planned to arrange 10: 50 at night, so that the film would enter the zero point when it was played to the 70-minute node, which was also in line with the expression appeal created by director Bi Gan himself."

　

Of course, with the coverage of Tik Tok’s publicity, then the publicity team slowly adjusted the plan, and the concept of "one kiss for the New Year" came into being.

　

Compared with the previous content propaganda of the film, it focuses on film festival awards and overseas word of mouth, which is a typical propaganda route of literary films. In the later stage of publicity, the love element in the film was grasped, and through a series of UGC communication, the publicity sank successfully. In particular, it attracted a large number of audiences in third-and fourth-tier cities.

　

Judging from the pre-sale of the film, a large number of audiences concentrated in the 21: 40 session on December 31st, and even some cinemas opened three or more cinemas during this period.

Facts have proved that the pre-sale results have already affirmed this publicity plan. Of course, some other voices will inevitably appear in the network. When Tian Qi, the film producer, sent out a series of long rhetorical questions in the circle of friends, in his view, as a film propagandist, he could not screen the audience with films.

　

But in fact, in today’s movie market,Film box officeWhen it is more and more linked to movie word of mouth, there are nearly 100 million box office experiences before. However, when achieving a pre-sale goal, the producer asked such a question of "stealing the concept", which was somewhat lacking in atmosphere.

In the past experience, people often think about how to win more effective games for art cinema. With the concept of "New Year’s Eve with a kiss", the "Earth" team successfully won the support of the cinema, and even got the support of the audience to buy tickets. At first glance, this time is a success.

　

However, if you look closely at the events on December 31st, it is mainly around 21: 40. There are few events at other times, and the attendance rate is relatively unremarkable. The audience is choosing a movie, and the movie is also choosing an audience. Perhaps, the box office outside the New Year’s Eve of "The Earth" can prove the attitude of domestic audiences to literary films to some extent.

　

Let the audience who don’t usually watch literary films try literary films, okay? There is no denying that this is good. However, this kind of attempt and acceptance requires a gradual process, not the current "recommendation".

　

For investors, can this box office achievement really enhance their confidence in investing in literary films and make the creation of directors more possible? Maybe we should draw a question mark. The marketing of Earth is destined to be a phenomenal special case, and it is difficult to form a real project case for promotion.

　

As for the quality of the film, Xiao Dianjun believes that time will tell. Just like at the beginning, it was controversial, and now the Douban score has gradually returned to 7.2 points from below 7 points during the screening period.

As for this marketing campaign, is it a success or a simple "one-stick sale"? I can’t stamp it now. In 2019, China’s films will gradually step into a "movie power", and all the literary films that were originally impossible to be released will have more and more opportunities to meet the audience.

　

Then, at that time, the market will verify the rationality of all this.

What is the purpose of "one kiss for the New Year"?

However, let’s go back to the essence of "one kiss for the New Year". Why do you want to do this?

The answer is simple, even those who make bad reviews can understand that in order to make money, in order to get the movie back.

It has been rumored on the Internet that the production cost of "The Earth" is nearly 100 million yuan, and some people have come out to clarify that it is around 70 million yuan. Counting the publicity expenses, you really have to face nearly 300 million box office to return to the book. However, Bi Gan’s previous work "Roadside Picnic" cost only 200,000 yuan in the early stage, and the total cost was about 1 million yuan with the expensive music copyright fees and publicity fees in the later stage.

Nowadays, the cost has increased by nearly 70 times, which is really lucky for a director who just made his second work. Even for many directors who have been making literary films, almost no one has ever traded such a large fund.

On the eve of the release, Shan Zuolong, the producer of "The Earth", published an article in his company’s WeChat official account, "The Dark Hour of" The Earth ". I recalled that I met Bi Gan from a roadside picnic, and then started to write the behind-the-scenes story of The Earth together. Many readers are moved by the plain words, and it is not easy to see a filmmaker behind the words. At the same time, we can also see that a new producer and a new director are unprofessional when trading tens of millions of funds.

In fact, when directors and producers "willfully" spend these tens of millions, they are already ready to face this problem. How can this problem be solved? They seem to have no choice but to give the answer, "Give it to the propaganda team".

Now, the result is coming. "One kiss for New Year’s Eve" solves the problem of "returning to the original". At the same time, however, the so-called overdraft of publicity trust has also followed, and the audience has criticized the marketers for using "one kiss for the New Year" fraud.

Not only that, there will be some audiences who are afraid of literary films. It is often said in the propaganda and marketing industry that the audience has a weak memory of movies. But in fact, the audience just has a poor memory for mediocre movies.

The audience can remember the good movies they saw at the beginning of the year and even pay for the director’s next work; In the bad movies watched in the past, the audience remembers a little fresh meat with facial paralysis in it, and maybe his works will become cautious.

Did "Earth" hit them hard? Big, maybe not. Just like the film propaganda, it is greeted with a sense of ritual. It is this simple word "sense of ceremony" that probably captures the memory of the audience, so in the future, this kind of film, this director’s work … … Will the audience still believe it?

The most important thing is, will this "gifted scholar" in the eyes of film critics be overdrawn by consumption this time?

This answer is difficult to give, but there must be doubts.

Therefore, if the current situation of word-of-mouth bite back from the film marketing problem, it may have existed from the beginning of the filming period.

Original Hong Xiu Shuo Entertainment DJ Yaqing

In the 1960s, this excellent theme was selected by Bayi Factory, and it was decided to make a film "Tunnel Warfare". Later, Xudong Ren, Xu Guoteng, Wang Junyi and Pan Yunshan wrote the script and constantly polished it. In 1965, the film Tunnel Warfare was filmed and released on New Year’s Day in 1966. By the end of 2012, this film has set a record of billions of people watching it, and it can be said that it is one of the most familiar movies for Chinese people.

Fu Gengchen, who is in charge of the soundtrack in the film, has written songs for many outstanding works such as Sparkling Red Star, Advancing into the Central Plains and Sparkling Red Star. Fu Gengchen was only 29 years old when he wrote music for Tunnel Warfare.

Anyone who has seen the movie "Tunnel Warfare" should be deeply impressed by the theme song "Tunnel Warfare" and the episode "Chairman Mao’s Words". In fact, the author of the lyrics is Xudong Ren, the director of this film. Accompanied by "the sun shines everywhere, Chairman Mao’s thoughts shine golden", Gao Chuanbao read "On protracted war"; "Guerrilla warfare was launched in the Great Plains, and villages and households were connected into tunnels. The invaders dared to come and beat him to death." The enemy was defeated. The song in "Tunnel Warfare" was once described as follows: The enemy was frightened when he heard it; Hearing this, the people are full of blood and infinite strength in their hearts!

The prototype of "Gaojiazhuang" in the film is Gaoping Village, Zhengding County, Hebei Province, which is also called "Anti-Japanese Pioneer Village". But at that time, because of the flood, the local tunnel did not meet the shooting conditions. The film crew turned to Ran Zhuang, Lizhuang and Tangzhuang, which were nearby, for combined shooting, and tried to restore the scene at that time.

Ranzhuang Tunnel Warfare Site

The tunnels criss-crossing in the movie and the shadowy guerrillas must have left a deep impression on everyone. In fact, all the pictures in the tunnel in the film were set in Bayi Factory, but with excellent lens application, it looks like shooting in a real tunnel.

In the movie, the first appearance is Gao Laozhong, the party branch secretary played by Bingyu Wang. In order to cover the villagers’ evacuation and escape, he risked his life to sound the alarm, but unfortunately he was discovered by the Japanese army, and finally he sounded a Grenade and died with the enemy. When playing this role, Bingyu Wang was actually only in his twenties, but it was a big test to play a father and son with Longguang Zhu, who was similar in age, and to show a sense of vicissitudes of life.

Bingyu Wang, an actor from Beijing Film Factory, has played the roles of Uncle Man in Private Zhang Ga, Zhou Yunpeng in Journey to Wan Li and Liu Dabo in Hai Xia. Unfortunately, Bingyu Wang died in 1982 at the age of 47. It’s a pity that we didn’t see more of his works on the screen.

Gao Chuanbao, the son of Gao Laozhong and the captain of the militia, was played by actor Longguang Zhu. He also performed brilliantly in films such as "Jiao Yulu" and "Wooden House". Besides, he also played an amazing role, that is, the Tathagata Buddha in the 86th edition of The Journey to the West. Do you know? If it weren’t for the introduction of the audience, I wouldn’t have recognized him as Gao Chuanbao who was praised by director Xudong Ren as "handsome, mighty and good at acting". In September this year, it was Longguang Zhu’s 82nd birthday, and Hong Xiu wished him a long and healthy life, smiling often.

The prototype of Gao Laozhong and Gao Chuanbao was Liu Fool, the party branch secretary and militia captain of Gaoping Village at that time. Although his name didn’t sound severe, during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, he led a militia team of 70 or 80 people to repel thousands of Japanese attacks.

Zhao Ping, the district chief who formulated the "Sparrow" tactics, was originally played by Zhang Yongshou. He has played Shao Jianbo in Lin Hai Xue Yuan and Fang Yong in Surprise. As a famous actor and director of Bayi Film Studio, Zhang Yongshou has many works on the screen.

He is also regarded as Liu Xiaoqing and Tang Guoqiang’s Bole on the road of performing arts. At that time, when filming the movie "South China Sea Storm", he chose Tang Guoqiang; When filming the Great Wall of the South China Sea, he chose Liu Xiaoqing. Today, 87-year-old Zhang Yongshou and his wife Zhang Jiamao live in Beijing. Zhang Xihe, the eldest son, and Zhang Wang, the second son, are both film and television workers. Zhang Wang is a famous producer, who has produced films such as Sunny Days and The Great Wall. The youngest daughter, Zhang Man, is developing her career abroad.

Zhang Yongshou and Zhang Man.

Xiujie Liu, who plays Lin Xia, director of the Women’s Rescue Association, has only appeared in a few films, but her simple and natural performance can touch many audiences, and her performance is both physical and mental. In the film, she said to Longguang Zhu, "Pass the treasure, be careful" is gentle; He was firm when he said, "We want to fight wolves, but we can’t let them bite us.". However, in the later stage of Xiujie Liu’s acting career, little information can be found, but the Lin Xia she created has been fixed in the hearts of the audience. On July 27th, 2020, Xiujie Liu died at the age of 87.

Wang Xiaozhong, an old actor with rich experience in villains on the screen, plays the Japanese army captain Yamada in Tunnel Warfare this time. When Wang Xiaozhong was young, he studied in the Telecommunications College of Fengtian Railway Institute set up by the Japanese, and many teachers in the school were retired soldiers. I think this is also the reason why he played a very thorough role in the image of Japanese soldiers. He has appeared in the image of Japanese many times on the screen, such as Nakamura, the special high-tech director in Never Gone Radio, and Tada, the intelligence consultant in Wildfire and Spring Breeze Fighting the Ancient City. But every role he plays is different, and in his opinion, even a supporting role needs careful consideration. On January 22nd, 2016, Wang Xiaozhong died in Guangzhou at the age of 88.

Tang Bing, commander of the Imperial Association Army, will be played by the famous actor Liu Jiang. Liu Jiang likes performing arts since he was a child, and he is particularly interested in movies and dramas. He has appeared in the movies "Sparkling Red Star" and "Breaking through the Wujiang River", and has also created many classic vivid images, leaving impressive lines, such as "I’m Hu Hansan back!" And "high, really high!" .

However, he was in poor health in his later years: in 1995, Liu Jiang was diagnosed with various cancers. However, he is optimistic and cheerful, but he has also appeared in several films, most of which are positive images. On May 1, 2020, Liu Jiang died in his sleep at the age of 95. This also means that the "five villains" on the screen: Ge Cunzhuang, Statement, Chen Qiang, Fang Hua and Liu Jiang have all passed away.

There are many excellent supporting actors in the film, such as Zhu Qi who plays Cui Lianchang, Han Dong who plays Dakang, and Hu Zihe who plays Niu Wa. Zhu Qi died in 2007; Han Guodong and Hu Ziru are both actors of the Cultural and Art Troupe of the Political Department of the Corps of Engineers, and Hu Ziru once served as the vice captain of the drama team.

Pay tribute to the previous artists for their dedication to China’s film industry. One of the classic lines, such as "quietly into the village, don’t shoot!" Do you remember? I wonder how much the audience still remembers the plot in Tunnel Warfare? Welcome everyone to interact with more netizens and fans through the message area. I’m Hong Xiu. Thank you again for your attention, praise and sharing.

This article is original by Hongxiu. Please don’t copy it without permission! Offenders will be prosecuted!

Original title: The movie "Tunnel Warfare" Longguang Zhu Zhang Yongshou is alive, "Yamada" and "Commander Tang" have passed away.

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Beijing, July 1 ST (Wang Yupeng) "Eating pigment, we are still black-eyed and yellow; Eating preservatives, we can’t become mummies. " When talking about whether food additives are harmful, Huali Wang, an assistant researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Center, made an analogy. She stressed that as long as it is used within the limits and scope stipulated by the national food safety standards, food additives will not cause harm to the human body. Xue Yi, vice chairman and secretary general of China Food Additives and Ingredients Association, reminded that while eating with confidence, we should also pay attention to the concept of "zero additives". [Interview: Huali Wang and Xue Yi talk about food additives you don’t know]

The picture shows Huali Wang, assistant researcher of the National Food Safety Risk Center.

What is the use of food additives?

Food additives mainly play the role of preventing deterioration, improving taste and ensuring uniform quality.

"Foods have a certain shelf life. If preservatives are not used, microorganisms will grow and reproduce, but they will be harmful to health, such as the aflatoxin, which is more harmful than arsenic." Huali Wang also stressed that "the first condition for using preservatives is to comply with national food safety standards. At present, some unscrupulous traders use preservatives to cover up the defects in food raw materials, which should be severely cracked down. "

As for the thickener in ice cream, Huali Wang introduced that its main function is to make the food form a gel state, so as to make the food have a more suitable taste. Thickeners are starch and gum, and most of them come from natural foods, such as sodium alginate and agar. There is also a non-dairy creamer called "creamer", which is often used in coffee and other beverage products. The main purpose is to bring a smooth and thick taste.

In the large-scale processing process, food additives also help to ensure the uniformity of product quality. Xue Yi said: "Under the premise of huge processing volume, if there are no food additives, the ham sausages that consumers buy today are of this taste and color, and what they buy tomorrow may be different."

Xue Yi, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of China Food Additives and Ingredients Association

Are edible additives safe?

Since food additives are indispensable, how to ensure that they will not endanger health?

Xue Yi introduced that the use of food additives in food processing is restricted by clear national food safety standards, and there are strict regulations on what kind of food and how much each food additive is used. At present, there are 2334 kinds of food additives allowed by national standards, which are lower than those in the United States and Japan.

"When we evaluate the safety of food additives, we consider two aspects, one is long-term and the other is large." Xue Yi said, "A lot, that is, measured by the dosage of food additives as meals every day; Long-term, that is, measured by the length and intensity of daily consumption for life. Then take the safety factors of these two aspects as the scientific basis for us to formulate standards. "

Xue Yi emphasized that as long as food additives are used in accordance with the standards, safety is not a concern. But at the same time, we should be careful about the concept of "zero additive".

"’zero additive’ is often a concept made by merchants." Xue Yi said, "At present, food processing conditions and large-scale production methods have rarely required the use of additives. Even some canned foods sterilized at high temperature and high pressure or honey with high sugar content do not need additives themselves, and there is no need to gild the lily with’ zero additives’. Therefore,’ zero additive’ is mostly a concept put forward by merchants to sell products well or to meet some requirements of consumers. "

1905 movie network news On April 1st, the 17th anniversary of actor Leslie Cheung’s death, Zhang Ziyi and others recalled their memories of Leslie Cheung and told their thoughts about this outstanding actor.

Zhang Ziyi described himself in Weibo when he heard of Leslie Cheung’s death 17 years ago, but he still couldn’t hide his inner sadness. "On April 1st, 17 years ago, I was filming in Shanghai, when the SARS epidemic was very serious, and only we were left in the whole shooting base. I heard the news in the car that went to the scene. I kept my head out of the car all the way, tears kept flowing and the wind kept blowing. "

Although the two have never cooperated, Zhang Ziyi has always publicly acknowledged that Leslie Cheung is the "only idol" in her heart. She also deliberately forwarded her commemoration of Weibo in Leslie Cheung in 2014, bluntly saying, "Because of you, this time of year has become so special!"

Leslie Cheung’s friend Tang Hede also took an old photo, in which they shared an umbrella and Leslie Cheung smiled at the camera. Tang Hede commemorates Leslie Cheung on April 1st every year, which has lasted for 17 years. Tang Hede wrote: "You left us 17 years ago, but I know that you miss us all the time in another country, and you will give us encouragement and encouragement, especially in this severe time. I hope that we can work together to tide over this epidemic. “

Song Xiaochuan, a Peking Opera actor, is accepting the China Film Report.》During the interview, I also recalled the friendship between the film and Leslie Cheung.

Song Xiaochuan revealed that a few months before filming Farewell My Concubine, Leslie Cheung came to Beijing to learn Peking Opera and Peking Opera with his teachers. In the process of getting along, Leslie Cheung’s professionalism left a deep impression on him. Although the outside world has a variety of comments on Leslie Cheung, in Song Xiaochuan’s mind, he is always easy-going and childish.

The screenwriter reed is in the repair edition.Farewell my concubineAfter the screening date was confirmed, he recalled his impression of Leslie Cheung. Reed said, "When filming, I visited the class several times. Leslie Cheung is an actor that you can rest assured of. He works very hard and is serious. When filming, he ponders over the drama by himself, brewing emotions, so sometimes we don’t want to disturb him. At that time, the actors were very simple, and there was no star posture now. Even Leslie Cheung didn’t follow the class, including Gong Li and Ge You. They all came by themselves. "

In order to cope with the epidemic prevention and control, this year’s Leslie Cheung memorial activity was also held online, and fans commemorated their "forever brother" by taking photos.

China Fund Morning News integrates CCTV news, Xinhua News Agency and reference news.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict continues, and the death toll has increased again!

According to CCTV news, on May 18th, local time, the health department in Gaza said that in the past day, 83 Gaza people were killed and 105 injured in Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict broke out on October 7th last year, the death toll in Gaza has reached 35,386, with 79,366 injured.

According to a report by the Palestinian News Agency on May 18th, at least 15 people were killed and 30 injured when Israeli troops intensively bombed the Gebali refugee camp in the northern Gaza.

On May 18th, The Israel Times quoted the IDF as saying that in the past day, the Israeli air force attacked more than 70 targets in the Gaza, and the ground forces continued to carry out military operations in Rafah, Gebali and other places.

Look at the details-

Israeli forces bombed refugee camps in northern Gaza.

Causing 15 deaths and 30 injuries

CCTV News quoted the official Palestinian news agency (Wafa News Agency) as saying that on May 18th, local time, the Israeli army carried out a fierce air raid on the Gebali refugee camp in the northern part of the Gaza, killing 15 people and injuring 30 others.

According to the report, the Israeli army bombed a local settlement for the homeless and attacked the displaced people who tried to return home. The injured people have been sent to Kamal Adouan Hospital in the northern part of Gaza for treatment.

On the morning of May 18th, the Israel Defense Forces issued a statement saying that the Israeli army continued to carry out military operations in Gebali, the central part of the Gaza Strip and the eastern part of Rafah, the southern city of the Gaza Strip, hitting more than 70 targets of Palestinian armed groups in the past day.

Israeli warplanes launched air strikes.

The death toll continues to rise.

According to Xinhua News Agency on May 18, the Israeli military issued a statement on the evening of May 17, saying that Israeli warplanes launched air strikes on a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin that day.

Recently, the Israeli army rarely dispatched fighter planes to carry out air strikes on the West Bank, and many Israeli media described the air strikes as "rare". The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on the same day that one Palestinian was killed and five others were injured in the air strike.

According to CCTV news, on May 17th, local time, the Israeli army continued its military operations in the Gebali-Yeh area in the northern Gaza Strip. According to Israeli media, the recent fighting in Gebali is one of the "fiercest" battles since the outbreak of this round of conflict.

On May 17th, local time, the IDF issued a notice saying that in the past week, the 7th Armored Brigade of the Israeli Army killed about 60 Palestinian militants in close combat in the Gebali area in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army also launched dozens of air strikes, blowing up many targets. The Israeli paratroopers brigade also carried out operations in the Gebali area, found a warehouse with rockets and explosives, and arrested 20 armed men in a nearby shelter.

According to local Israeli media quoted Israeli military sources, the recent fighting in the Gebali area is one of the fiercest battles since the outbreak of the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict. At present, the actions of the Israeli army are mainly concentrated in the hinterland of Gebali Yeh refugee camp. There are many narrow lanes in the refugee camp, which hinder the movement of armored vehicles such as military tanks. Palestinian militants hide in ground buildings and underground tunnels and constantly launch attacks on Israeli troops.

On May 17th, Hamas released a video of militants of the organization recently attacking Israeli combat troops in Gebali and eastern Rafah. The video shows that armed men in Hamas attacked Israeli tanks and bulldozers several times by ambush and using anti-tank weapons.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Jehad) issued a statement on May 18th local time, saying that an Israeli air strike on a residential building in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank of the Palestinian Jordan River resulted in the death of a commander of the quds force Jenin camp, an armed wing of the organization.

The statement condemned the Israeli army’s attack on residential buildings, causing civilian casualties in refugee camps. This is the continuation of the Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip in the West Bank, and it is an intolerable "war crime". The statement said that the use of the air force to carry out assassination was a dangerous development, and the attack confirmed that the Israeli army had escalated its operations in the West Bank.

According to Palestinian media reports, after the air raid, the local Palestinian people in Jenin launched a large-scale demonstration to protest the Israeli air raid.

Found in the Gaza area

The bodies of three Israeli hostages

According to German media reports, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced on May 17th that the Israeli army had found the bodies of three Israeli hostages in Gaza.

According to reports, Shani Luke, a girl with dual German and Israeli citizenship, was declared dead at the end of October last year, and her body was discovered by the Israeli army a few days ago. The Israeli military confirmed that the other two bodies found were a 28-year-old woman, amit Bouskila, and a 56-year-old man, Yitzhak GreLenter.

The Israeli military did not immediately disclose the location where the body was found. But according to media reports, the body was found in the Hamas Tunnel in Gaza.

German Foreign Minister Berber expressed condolences to the families of the victims. He declared on the social media platform: "I express my condolences to them and their relatives who can say goodbye now."

In addition, Qatar Al Jazeera reported on May 17th that foreign ministers from 13 countries jointly sent a letter to Israeli Foreign Minister Katz, warning Israel to stop its ground offensive against Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, and allowing more assistance to the Palestinians.

According to the report, the letter is four pages long and the date of payment is May 15th. Except the United States, all other members of the Group of Seven (G7) have signed this letter. The letter was signed by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and Sweden.

In this letter to Katz, 13 foreign ministers also called on Netanyahu’s government to open all border crossings, including Rafah, which borders Egypt, to alleviate the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Hussein’s armed forces announced that they had hit the US military drone.

British cruise ship attacked near Moka, Yemen

According to foreign media reports, on May 17, local time, the Houthi armed forces in Yemen announced the shooting down of an American MQ-9 "Death" drone, and announced the picture of the shooting down moment.

Ye Haiya Salia, a spokesman for Houthi armed forces, said that on the evening of May 16, the armed forces shot down an MQ-9 drone with surface-to-air missiles. The picture shows that the missile vacated in the night, and after hitting, the debris of the drone splashed and fell quickly.

The report said that the US military had been informed of the news, but did not respond. It is reported that the cost of each "Death" drone is about 30 million US dollars, the flying height can reach 50,000 feet (about 15,240 meters), and the battery life can reach 24 hours.

In addition, on May 18th, local time, the British Maritime Safety Company (Ambrey) said that it had received news that a crude oil tanker flying the Panamanian flag was attacked about 10 nautical miles southwest of Moka, Yemen.

According to foreign media reports, the company said that radio communication showed that the tanker was hit by a missile and the tanker caught fire. However, the company did not disclose the specific content of radio communication.

The report also said that earlier on May 18, the British Maritime Trade Action Office under the British military said that a ship was attacked by unknown objects in the Red Sea and the ship was slightly damaged. The British Maritime Trade Action Office said that the attacked ship and crew were safe and the ship was on its way to the next stop. According to the office, the incident occurred about 76 nautical miles northwest of Hodeida, Yemen.

Editor: Captain

Audit: Muyu

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