To build a "hometown of fairy tales", hold a "fairy tale conference" and establish a "fairy tale office", Tangtang | Fairy Tales | Mountain Counties in Zhejiang Province
During the summer vacation, various theme parks, fairy tale towns, and other places are bustling with people. In contrast, Wuyi County in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, which is striving to build a "hometown of fairy tales", appears somewhat desolate. This mountainous county was famous for its hot springs in the early years, and in recent years, it has proposed the "Fairy Tale Wuyi" urban brand, planning to create a highland for Chinese fairy tale culture and creativity. To this end, Wuyi established a specialized working organization called "Fairy Tale Office" and held 8 "Fairy Tale Congresses". However, the results were somewhat less than expected.
The counterattack in mountainous counties
In Wuyi, the concept of fairy tales is closely related to children's literature. "Wuyi's fairy tales, aside from their historical origins, first have soup and then concepts," Wang Xiaoling, Executive Deputy Director of Wuyi County Fairy Tale Office, explained to reporters. Tang Tang is the Vice Chairman of Zhejiang Writers Association and a well-known children's literature writer in China. Tang Tang has mentioned multiple times that she grew up in the rural areas of Wuyi, and this experience was her source of inspiration. Under the influence of Tang Tang, the atmosphere of children's literature in Wuyi gradually became stronger, forming a small group specialized in related creations, and a group of well-known local writers such as Gong Chunlin and Chen Qiaoli emerged. In 2016, Tang Tang's "Fairy Tale Bookstore" was opened to the public. In the same year, Wuyi held its first fairy tale festival, which received a good response. Starting from 2017, Wuyi officially proposed the construction goal of "Fairy Tale Wuyi" and included the brand construction of "Fairy Tale Wuyi" in the annual government work report as a key cultural work project. To this end, Wuyi also established a functional organization called "Fairy Tale Office" to systematically plan and promote related work. Afterwards, the Fairy Tale Festival was held consecutively and renamed as the "Fairy Tale Conference" starting from 2019. Wang Xiaoling told reporters that the fairy tale conference has been held for 8 sessions and the content is becoming increasingly rich. As of 2022, more than 300 children's literature works have been published in Wuyi County; Filming 11 local fairy tale stage plays and micro films, signing 12 cooperation agreements for fairy tale research projects and children's cultural film and television projects; Establish 8 fairy tale study bases and carry out over 500 fairy tale study tours. In Wang Xiaoling's view, in recent years, "fairy tales" have gradually become the new business card of Wuyi, achieving a "comeback in mountainous counties" in urban promotion. "In terms of the theme of fairy tales, we have been deeply cultivating it for so many years, especially in the fairy tale conference. We can say that we have reached the ceiling," said Wang Xiaoling.
Still "owing a flame"
However, for Wuyi, the "ceiling" also means a clear upper limit. In recent years, although fairy tale conferences have been thriving, the development in areas such as cultural and tourism integration and industrial landing, which urgently need breakthroughs, has been lukewarm and has not made the expected progress. During the interview, Wang Xiaoling repeatedly lamented to reporters that Wuyi's fairy tales still lack a spark. The key to this fire may be funding. In fact, "lack of money" is a common problem faced by many rural and even mountainous counties. Further investigation can easily lead to the dilemma of whether a chicken lays an egg or an egg lays a chicken. Simply put, designing a plan and investing in construction are not small expenses, but also include the cost of later operation and maintenance, which is another expense. There are few tourists in the village, and there is no hope of returning investment. The construction investment of Shanghai Disneyland alone has reached 5.5 billion US dollars, and the total investment of Universal Studios Beijing has reached 20 billion yuan. Only on this basis can we build a "fairy tale world" suitable for all ages. In contrast, although the project investment during the annual fairy tale conference in Wuyi has been increasing year by year, the total signed investment and trade intention for cultural and tourism projects this year is only 450 million yuan. To truly implement fairy tales and achieve tangible economic benefits, industrialization is also an essential part. In this regard, Wuyi has a certain foundation. For example, Wuyi is a well-known export base for cultural and educational products in China, with a group of enterprises engaged in the design and production of cultural and creative products; For example, there are many local enterprises that produce tableware and camping tents. Wang Xiaoling believes that these enterprises can be combined with fairy tale elements to carry out the development and production of related products. However, unfortunately, there are still shortcomings in the marketization of local fairy tale IPs in Wuyi, and the new generation of local fairy tale writers also lack popularity such as Zheng Yuanjie and Yang Hongying.
