Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 209 The Disaster of "National Studies"

As a "pure-blooded" Chinese student who studied the same major in two lifetimes, Zhang Chao is very disgusted with the term "national studies".

In his mind, there is no such thing as a subject or discipline called "national studies" in this world, and the classics, history, and miscellaneous works all have their own place.

However, since the mid-90s, the "national studies trend" that blew from Taiwan has gradually swept across the mainland and is profoundly transforming the common sense of those who have been indoctrinated by it.

Ten years ago, when we talked about "national studies", we still talked about "The Analects of Confucius", "Mencius", "Tao Te Ching", "Zhuangzi" and "Records of the Grand Historian"; now when we talk about "national studies", we talk about "Three Character Classic", "The Rules of Being a Good Pupil and Child" and "The Four Lessons of Life".

In another 10 years, if we talk about "Chinese studies", we will talk about "Yu Dan's Comments on the Analects", "Nan Huaijin's Interpretation of the Analects", and "Zeng Shiqiang's Comments on the Tao Te Ching". "Chinese studies" finally tore off the last bit of dignity wrapped around it and completely turned into a fast food culture, or even a mental narcotic.

The result of the rampant spread of "national studies" is that after 2010, "Scripture reading classes" and "women's virtue classes" have sprung up everywhere, and feudal dregs have been brought to the surface again. Some have even received some kind of support and can be openly preached in schools.

There are even parents who take long holidays from school for their own children who are in compulsory education and send them to "national studies classes" to learn "classics". This trend is particularly popular in Shenzhen, where Zhang Chao lived and worked for ten years in his previous life. There are such national studies classes everywhere at the foot of Wutong Mountain.

What did these "Chinese culture masters" who taught classes do originally? There were pedicure masters, traveling doctors who sold fake medicine, chefs who flipped the pot, massage technicians, truck drivers...

There are also parents who are proud of the fact that "their children have not read any foreign books before graduating from junior high school."

Zhang Chao could only comfort himself by saying that those who send their children to Chinese studies classes are all rich people, and this is a way to redistribute social wealth...

(Sorry, I couldn't help but complain so much)
This led Zhang Chao to form an almost paranoid view - the more someone says they love traditional culture, the less cultured they are!

Even if Zhang Chao did not have a serious academic obsession, he could not accept that a book called "Zhang Chao's Analects" would be placed on the shelves of bookstores in the future - even if the book could sell 1000 million copies.

So he could only say goodbye to this opportunity that came to his doorstep, and let whoever committed the sin continue to commit it.

However, this also provided Zhang Chao with an idea. Combined with the recent popularity of "Little Basket Speaks Chinese", it constantly reminded Zhang Chao that the video era has arrived.

Last year, two college boys became the first batch of viral video influencers – the “Back Shelter Boys” – by lip-syncing to classic songs with exaggerated facial expressions and body movements.

When I was fighting the public opinion war, my focus was always on "text media". Whether it was traditional paper media or blogs, you need a certain amount of patience to read a long article.

According to Zhang Chao's experience, the number of readers with the patience and ability to read has been exhausted after he was pushed to the forefront time and time again. Even if he continues to focus on "text media", he can only revolve around the circle of old readers.

Videos are different. They can be watched and listened to, saving brainpower. If the expression is more humorous and the form is more vivid, then your influence can be expanded to a wider circle.

The viewership data of the live broadcast of this graduation defense speaks for itself - the number of viewers who watched him babble in front of the camera far exceeded the sales of any of his books.

While thinking about it, Zhang Chao drove to the company and went straight to the art department to find Xia Da. Xia Da is now completely different from the timid little beauty he saw two years ago. Her eyes are calm and confident, and she no longer hides from people. Her style has also changed, from the cute cartoon style with long hair and princess dresses in the past to a refreshing, neat and generous style.

The art department of "Midnight Tide" that she is in charge of now has 14 painters of all sizes, and there are 3 assistants responsible for the serialization of "The Long Ballad". Zhang Chao was forced to buy them another house for office use half a year ago.

In the early days of The Long Ballad, Zhang Chao was in charge of the storyline and Xia Da was in charge of the drawings. Later, Zhang Chao became busier and busier and could not write detailed scripts, but as long as he gave the storyline to Xia Da, Xia Da could complete the script and storyboards by himself.

Later, Zhang Chao simply handed over the task of developing the storyline to Ma Boyong and let go of it completely. After all, Ma Boyong's foundation and imagination in historical stories were better than Zhang Chao's.

Now, "The Long Ballad" has become completely Xia Da's personal work. Even Ma Boyong can't do anything about it. The most he can do is to give some help with the plot and historical details.

In addition to the serialization of "The Long Ballad", Xia Da is also responsible for supervising and guiding the artists to complete the various art resources needed for the entire "Midnight Tide", including two works serialized in domestic comic magazines, illustrations and author image design for each issue of "Youth", and cover and illustration design for Zhang Chao and other contracted writers' works...

Xia Da, who was "socially anxious", kept refusing at first, but Zhang Chao kept saying, "I'll take the responsibility off your shoulders when we find the right person..."

As a result, the "right candidate" has not been found after a whole year of searching. However, Xia Da has become more and more adept at these tasks. The last time Zhang Chao was in seclusion, she even dared to start a new project "behind" Zhang Chao's back.

As for the matter of "unloading the burden", the two of them tacitly never mentioned it again.

Zhang Chao was also impressed by the changes in Xia Da. He really didn't expect Xia Da to adapt to such a completely different new role so quickly.

I was really worried that she would not be able to handle a management position, but on the one hand, there were no other resources in the art circle except Editor-in-Chief Yan of "Yanjing Cartoons", and secondly, even if there was someone, I would not have the time to work with her.

As a result, the process of delaying things allowed Xia Da to complete the transformation of his life role.

These thoughts flashed through Zhang Chao's mind, and he said, "Call the people who went to Japan to study animation, and let's have a meeting."

After a while, Zhang Chao, Xia Da, and two painters from the art department sat in the conference room.

Zhang Chao briefly introduced the development of foreign and domestic video websites over the past year, and concluded: "The broadband penetration rate among domestic netizens has exceeded 75%, and the total number has exceeded 1 million. It is expected that full coverage will be achieved soon.

Just as mobile phones replaced landlines, and portals and blog platforms gradually replaced traditional paper media, video sites will gradually replace TV stations. As mobile phone screens get bigger and wireless network speeds get faster, video will definitely surpass text and become the largest medium - of course, this will definitely take a few years. "

After hearing what Zhang Chao said, several people looked at their mobile phones in confusion. The largest screen was only 2 inches. They really couldn't imagine how to watch videos on such a small screen.

But Zhang Chao is the boss, so whatever he says goes...

(End of this chapter)