Chapter 313: On-site Questions
The meeting place was very quiet and no one spoke.
Ouyang Cen and two middle-aged men with powerful auras walked to the front. Ouyang Cen, who looked like a Taoist immortal, was still wearing a gray robe, while the other two were dressed in formal clothes, shirts and trousers, which was the standard attire for officials.
One of them is the mayor of the ancient city, and the other is a prominent figure, the Deputy Minister of Culture, whose surname is Guo.
Seeing this person, Yu Zhan's eyes were filled with surprise.
Yu Zhan is standing with a group of middle-aged and elderly literati at this moment. If you say that he has no sense of presence, he is the youngest and the best-looking. If you say that he has a sense of presence, in this environment with a strong artistic atmosphere, he is the only one who is not in the circle.
The mayor of the ancient city went on stage first to deliver a speech, reading from a script written in advance, which was still the same official jargon, "Implement XXX", "Adhere to XXX", "Honored and grateful to the National Calligraphy Association for choosing the ancient capital as the venue", etc. He read at length for more than ten minutes.
Everyone listened patiently and finally finished.
Next it was Vice Minister Guo's turn to speak. He did not have a script and gave an impromptu speech on the spot. He first introduced the current orientation of the country's cultural work, which is one is to persist in innovation, and the other is to promote traditional culture.
Then he said, "I just took a rough look at the contestants on the scene. There are only a few young faces. Can the younger generation not write calligraphy well? I think not, but they can't calm down to learn. In today's society, there are endless new things for people to entertain, so that young people have completely lost interest in the things left by their ancestors. Even very young children are playing with their mobile phones. In such a social environment, when they grow up, will they still know calligraphy, traditional Chinese medicine, embroidery, folk music, and opera?
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Although we don’t want to admit it, our traditional culture is declining and even breaking down. I hope that the success of this calligraphy exhibition will make more people realize that traditional culture is the crystallization of the collective wisdom of countless people from ancient times to the present, and is the most precious heritage left to us by our ancestors. They are treasures and the quintessence of the country! We have the obligation and responsibility to inherit and carry them forward.”
Vice Minister Guo's speech made the young viewers in front of the TV feel ashamed, because the young generation he was referring to was them.
That’s right, if it weren’t for the Hanfu goddess, they wouldn’t know about this calligraphy exhibition at all. Even if they are watching the live broadcast now, most of them are just joining in the fun. Few people really understand calligraphy. Even if some people learned calligraphy when they were young, they didn’t stick with it and gave up.
Vice Minister Guo's speech was thought-provoking and he received warm applause from the audience, including Yu Zhan.
Ouyang Cen was the last to speak. "I would like to expand on the cultural gap that Minister Guo just mentioned. I was one of the judges at the calligraphy exhibition 30 years ago. More than half of the participants at that time were young people between 20 and 30 years old. Now most of them are well-known calligraphers and the backbone of my country's calligraphy world. But this time, there are only two shortlisted participants of this age group. I am very afraid that in another 30 years, our generation will be gone, and the backbone generation will be old. Will there be any successors for the next generation?
This is our first attempt at a live broadcast in collaboration with the media, and we want to make everyone understand that calligraphy is not as profound as you think. It is actually an everyday art that everyone can get started with. It does take talent to become a calligrapher, but it is easy to cultivate your temperament by taking calligraphy as a hobby. I hope more people will like calligraphy and try to write calligraphy.”
The camera gave a close-up of Ouyang Cen, a white-haired old man with a compassionate expression. He was really worried about calligraphy and that there would be no one to carry on the tradition.
Even the netizens who were watching the live broadcast on their mobile phones in the live broadcast room stopped making noise and commenting, and listened quietly to the old man's teachings.
After Ouyang Cen finished speaking, he announced the official start of the competition.
Judge Chen Jianqiu first read out the rules of the competition: mobile phones must be turned off, the creation time is 90 minutes, and according to the different categories of the participants' works, they prepared a page of rice paper, a piece of raw stone, or a wooden plaque for each participant. In other words, everyone has only one chance to create, and if they make a mistake, they cannot regret and start over.
The 10 judges began to discuss the questions on the spot. Each person first thought of a topic and wrote it down. Finally, the 10 people voted to choose the most appropriate topic.
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