Shanghai cultural workers say that they insist on following their own path, firmly believing in culture, tradition, history, and culture

"To continue promoting cultural prosperity, building a strong cultural nation, and building a modern civilization of the Chinese nation at a new historical starting point, we must strengthen our cultural confidence, adhere to our own path, based on the great historical and contemporary practices of the Chinese nation, summarize China's experience with Chinese principles, elevate China's experience into Chinese theory, and achieve spiritual independence and autonomy."

Everyone agrees that General Secretary has comprehensively and systematically elaborated on a series of major theoretical and practical issues related to the inheritance and development of Chinese culture from the perspective of the overall strategic development of the Party and the state, pointing out the direction for future struggles.

Everyone expressed that as a pioneer in reform and opening up and innovative development, Shanghai should uphold openness, innovation and inclusiveness, adhere to the sinicization and modernization of Marxism, inherit and develop excellent traditional Chinese culture, promote the localization of foreign cultures, and continuously cultivate and create socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Integrating Traditional Culture into Contemporary Times

At the beginning of this year, "Chinese Fantasy Tales" produced by Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, a subsidiary of Shanghai Film Group, resonated with audiences with eight stories rooted in traditional Chinese culture, becoming a phenomenal animation. "The speech of General Secretary has pointed out the direction for cultural enterprises to better shoulder their new cultural missions. Shanghai Film Group adheres to a people-centered creative orientation and is actively promoting the three core strategies of 'boutique content', 'big IP development', and 'digital transformation' during the 14th Five Year Plan period. Through practical actions, it implements General Secretary's emphasis on 'promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture'." Wang Jianer, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Shanghai Film Group, stated that in terms of content creation, Shanghai Film Group explores the new vitality of traditional culture through IP development, which is widely loved and welcomed by young people. Works like 'China's Tales' that convey Chinese culture and aesthetics are a major focus of boutique content creation. ". Shanghai Film Studio will continue to release excellent works that enhance the spiritual power of the people. Currently, key works such as "Thousand Mile Rivers and Mountains" and "Chinese Strange Tales" have been included in the plan. "We carry out long-term development of high-quality content through the 'big IP strategy', promoting the entry of film and television IPs that carry Chinese aesthetics into various fields of 'clothing, food, housing, transportation, and entertainment', further increasing the attractiveness of excellent Chinese IPs to young people."

Chinese Tales resonate

Wang Jianer said that Shanghai Film will further use its "digital transformation" strategy to bring out the charm of traditional culture in the digital age.

Wang Jiafang, a director of the China Artists Association and a national first-class artist, is planning to create a group of about 50 small paintings, focusing on the details of Shanghai life. "Each painting tells a short story and records the 'landscape' of the city."

The Scenery of Shanghai in Wang Jiafang's Works

The General Secretary mentioned that "the Chinese nation should uphold integrity and not retro, respect the past and not retro", "adhere to integrity and innovation", and "uphold openness and inclusiveness", which greatly inspired Wang Jiafang. He, like many painters in history, was fond of traveling the rivers and mountains of his motherland. "The magnificent spirit of mountains and rivers, which has never been easy, is a symbol of the spirit of the Chinese nation. Painters living in our era have seen landscapes such as skyscrapers and highways that were previously unseen by painters, and there is no reason not to depict these new things. Only by rooting themselves in the thick soil under their feet can we excavate the spirit of the times behind 'mountains and rivers', and express content that ancient people could not express through traditional Chinese brush and ink."

"The speech of General Secretary has made me more deeply realize that creation should adapt to the changes of the times and integrate into social development. As a painter of modern China, it is our duty and responsibility to record and showcase contemporary development." Wang Jiafang said that artistic creation cannot rely solely on ink and brush, but should continuously enhance the spirit of the times contained within it.

Tell our own story well

In a few days, the documentary "Da Jiangnan" focusing on Jiangnan culture will officially start filming. "General Secretary pointed out that Chinese civilization has outstanding continuity. If we do not understand China from its long history, it is impossible to understand ancient China, modern China, and future China." Xu Guanqun, the director of "The Great Jiangnan," said that "Jiangnan" is a concept of continuity. Silk fragments unearthed from the Qianshanyang Site in Huzhou over 4000 years ago prove that Huzhou is the earliest birthplace of sericulture and silk in China and even the world. Even today, local silk fabrics are still very famous. The project "The Great Jiangnan", undertaken by the Shanghai team, originated from the exploration and innovative expression of traditional Chinese culture. "We want to tell the story, history, and culture of Jiangnan well. From ancient times to the present, Jiangnan has a land of outstanding people and many cultural heritages worth exploring and inheriting." In his view, the development of Jiangnan today is not only the Jiangnan of small bridges and flowing houses, but also the Jiangnan facing the sea, showcasing China's open, inclusive, and world oriented cultural characteristics.

The Arabic version of "Great Shanghai" is broadcasted overseas

"The General Secretary pointed out that there are many important elements in China's excellent traditional culture, which together shape the outstanding characteristics of Chinese civilization. As documentary filmmakers in Shanghai, we need to explore China's excellent traditional culture and use excellent audio-visual language to tell stories to young people and the world." Zhu Hong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Branch of Shanghai Radio and Television Documentary Center, said that in recent years, Shanghai's documentary team has focused on Shanghai style culture and created a high-quality documentary called "Great Shanghai"; Focusing on red culture, launching the documentary "Birthplace"; "The Great Jiangnan" will focus on Jiangnan culture. "According to feedback from video websites, documentaries related to traditional culture have a high level of attention among young people." Zhu Hong introduced that the current documentary team is also using innovative communication methods that are updated and more in line with the tastes of young people to bring traditional culture into their lives. "We are shooting while launching a series of short videos, which have received a lot of praise and comments from young people."

Excellent culture enhances people's centripetal force

On June 10th, during the Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, Shanghai will organize more than 500 intangible cultural heritage promotion and exhibition activities to promote the sharing of the achievements of intangible cultural heritage protection among the general public. Various cultural and educational integration, cultural and commercial integration, cultural and tourism integration activities and products related to intangible cultural heritage are entering the lives of citizens and serving the contemporary era.

"The General Secretary proposed to combine the basic principles of Marxism with excellent traditional Chinese culture, which is of great innovative significance and provides practical and feasible ideological guidance for our future work." Wu Penghong, Secretary of the Party Branch and Director of the Shanghai Mass Art Museum, and Director of the Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, said, "We must continuously improve the ability and level of the intangible cultural heritage protection team, enrich the people's lives with the achievements of intangible cultural heritage protection, effectively improve the sense of gain and happiness of the masses, strengthen cultural confidence, and make new contributions to the excellent practice of promoting high-quality development of Shanghai's cultural and tourism integration in the new era."

Shanghai citizens experience intangible cultural heritage

Ma Chencheng, President of Shanghai Wenguang Performing Arts Group, said, "As a cultural enterprise based in Shanghai, Shanghai Wenguang Performing Arts Group deeply feels its responsibility. We must use red culture, Shanghai style culture, and Jiangnan culture as the cornerstone of artistic creation, and use important elements of excellent traditional Chinese culture as the source of creation to jointly shape stage works with outstanding characteristics of Chinese civilization."

Ma Chenqin said: under the guidance of the General Secretary's important speech, we should take the creation of works of more social value as the primary goal of stage art creation, adhere to the people-centered creative orientation, step up the revision and improvement of the urban comedy "Baoxingli" and the creation and arrangement of the play "Thousand Li Jiangshan Map", launch more to show the urban style of Shanghai, and highlight the characteristics of an international cultural metropolis. Excellent works to enhance the spiritual strength of the people.

Urban comedy "Baoxing Li"