周黎明 (Raymond Zhou's bilingual blog) 用中文写娱评，用英文写时评

We have rung in the new, but we haven't really rung out the old until going over the year's most important events in entertainment, arts and culture, at least for someone attuned to the nation's psyche.

Ordinary people, armed with new technology, rose in 2006 to challenge China's cultural icons that have been perched on a pedestal for a long time. Blogs made anyone an author and a publisher; podcasts meant anyone could become a broadcaster; and affordable camcorder and editing equipment created filmmakers.

Besides Web companies that knew how to take advantage of change, the personalities and organizations that benefited most from the grassroots revolution were those that took into account the needs of the masses and churned out products that reflected their tastes.

The atmosphere was more of a carnival than a revolution. The massive online population, heavily skewed towards the young, stormed to one target after another, sometimes in fits of passion for justice and utopia and sometimes being manipulated by unscrupulous website editors who pitched one social group against anothear. We witnessed not only how quickly self-important cultural heavyweights lost their luster when they failed to adapt to the new milieu, but also how quickly rational sentiment turned to hysteria that was a faint reminder of the "cultural revolution" of 1966-76 in mentality.

At the high end of the cultural spectrum, there was also an upswing. Confucianism regained popularity, age-old classics found a new audience, and the prices of oil paintings, just like oil, reached new highs. Could this herald a further segmentation of cultural demographics? It seemed that every segment was trying to find its own place in the overall scheme of things.

The editorial team at China Daily's Life desk have put together their top 10 cultural and entertainment events for 2006, in roughly chronological order, based on their impact on the public consciousness.

For all the year's hype, the arts and entertainment scene in China ended on a positive note. The new year will surely dig up new secrets, uncover new sleaze, mould new celebrities and generate new brawls. But hopefully it will also see the creation of new works that reflect the mood of the public and take up the challenges of our time without preaching or pandering.

1. Little spoof causes a revolt

Hu Ge named his video parody The Bloody Case that Started from a Steamed Bun -- a funny and insightful description of Chen Kaige's overblown epic The Promise. Hu's work touched a nerve, awakening a spirit of youth and irreverence.

Director Chen appeared clownish when he was a bad sport about the spoof, threatening to sue the little guy and indirectly offending the masses who felt he had turned out to be the emperor wearing no clothes. His fall from favor was hastened when he was caught out damaging a pristine area while shooting the film in Yunnan's Shangri-La. Netizens were quick to nominate him, in mockery, for the year's "green personalities" usually reserved for outstanding achievement in environmental protection.

The interpretation of the incident as a David-and-Goliath battle gave a confidence boost to those who felt their voices had always been unfairly ignored or muffled by the nation's cultural elites. Spoof went mainstream and Hu became the anti-hero, setting the tone for the whole year.

2. Online crowd gets out of control

If Hu Ge was an unintentional revolutionary, Han Han set out to sculpt the image of a rebel by tearing down the mansion of the establishment brick by brick.

Early in the year, he attacked literary critic Bai Ye, setting in motion Chinese literature's biggest brawl in years. Later in the year, he laughed at a "nationally ranked poet" and called those in the Chinese Writers Associations "mistresses" who sold off their independence. In between these events, he racked up 50 million hits for his blog and became the de facto spokesman for the Internet age.

The forces he unleashed became so vociferous when millions joined him that literary criticism soon morphed into mudslinging of the ugliest kind. Those on the receiving end exited the bloody bullring. Soon, the unruly were dubbed "online mobs" by mainstream media.

When virtual anger spilled over into the real world, actions in the name of high-minded platitudes teetered on the brink of ethics and legality. Online sleuthing became a favorite pastime for people investigating and exposing the real identities of those they regarded as immoral. A cat abuser was tracked down. A young man accused of adultery was driven into self-exile. A self-claimed latter-day Don Giovanni made life a little unsafe for all Western teachers based in China.

Regulators considered making it mandatory for bloggers to use their real names, thus removing their veil of anonymity. Critics contend that this would take away a major pressure-valve mechanism for many.

3. Confucianism finds new disciples

The revival of Confucianism enjoyed government support as dozens of Confucius Institute branches sprouted up overseas. But at the grassroots level, it was growing in a more organic way. Schools re-introduced classics such as Analectics, but many tended to cram the teachings of the sage down the throats of children without giving them space to digest. One private school, later dismantled under government pressure, attempted to recreate traditional educational methods.

Many saw this new-found enthusiasm as a shift away from Western influence and a return to China's cultural roots. While it was heartening to see the nation regain self-confidence, some felt that a wholesale revival would amount to negation of the May 4th Movement that exposed many of the flaws in Confucianism.

4. The second wave of television contests

After the Supergirls phenomenon of 2005, television was naturally inundated with similar reality-based programming. But still, the Shanghai Media Group (SMG) stood out for bringing some of the most entertaining contests to the small screen.

My Hero （加油好男儿） put a nice spin on the boy-band concept and propelled a bunch of pretty boys to fame, who knew a little bit about singing, dancing and acting but did not really excel in any of them. Let's Shake It （舞林大会） continued the winning streak by putting together second-rate celebrities and over-the-hill stars to compete on the dance floor. It created drama on the stage and intensity in the audience, inadvertently reviving a few careers and providing plenty of fodder for water-cooler chat.

While almost every television station has a contest or two and "PK" is still a buzzword (short for "player kill" in game parlance and used as "vs" but can also be a verb), not every televised competition is created equal. The glut was obvious and it may be time for a new format to break through.

5. Pop go the professors

Scholars are supposed to stick to the podium on campus. Yi Zhongtian did it all in his career and to great acclaim from his students. A miracle happened on his way to the CCTV studios, where he deciphered the classic history book The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms in a disarming style that recalled a storyteller of the stage.

A hit show was born -- a show not about movie stars and soap operas, but about the larger-than-life characters in a soap opera-like world of ancient China. It became the biggest classroom in the nation, and Yi, together with a dozen like-minded professors, gained the stature of stars.

Then, he parlayed his fame into bestsellers. When he auctioned off the rights to his book, basically a tidied-up transcript of his lectures, he sold it for a record 1.4 million yuan. The current No 1 book on the bestseller chart is about Confucius' Analectics, penned by another professor who made her name on the same show.

Detractors charged that professors should keep to their own business and not be tempted by the spotlight of television. But the public seemed to embrace celebrity scholars who knew how to educate using the language of entertainers.

6. Contemporary art reaches a plateau

The year was good for contemporary oil paintings, as auction houses set new records to continue a three-year bull run. But as fears of a bubble grew and the stock market rebound created competition, the art market, hounded by both collectors and speculators, tapered off at the end of year.

Meanwhile, ancient paintings and calligraphy were under a cloud as too many fakes on the market poured cold water over buyers.

7. Crazy film rocks the industry

When Crazy Stone, a 3-million yuan heist movie, earned more than 20 million yuan at the box office, it infused a breath of fresh air into China's epic-dominated film industry. Many argued that you do not have to spend 100 million yuan to entertain moviegoers.

Artistically the whodunit is a variation of Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but if it blazed a trail in moderately budgeted filmmaking, it might also leave a lasting imprint.

Who will be the one to have the last laugh, the big-budget filmmakers or the ones with only good stories to tell?

8. Rebels with fuzzy causes

The Internet has given rise to social groups that could not have existed without it. While some engaged in online campaigns that were destructive in nature, others wanted to spread love or silliness.

Mostly inspired by similar activities that first started overseas, young people took to the streets to offer "free hugs" or to simply do something eccentric or mildly crazy. Calling themselves the "flash crowd" or "flash mob," they would, say, spring up on a designated street corner and pound on the same tree, and then, just as suddenly, disappear without a trace.

Besides startling passers-by, it serves the purpose, according to organizers, of generating excitement and a sense of participation. Some analysts call it "behavioral art" and include one-night stands in the same category.

9. Sex, lies and videotape

The sordid laundry of the entertainment industry was hung out to dry in clear view when a young actress started posting video clips online that she claimed were recordings of her "transactions" with directors and casting directors. The twist, and also the rationale, for Zhang Yu's publicity was her "patrons" did not keep the implied promise and did not give her film or television roles after having sex with her.

Public opinion was divided as to whether Zhang was an avenger of her personal vendetta, a warrior of women's rights, a betrayer of industry secrets, or simply a "loose" woman hungry for the media spotlight. She got into murky territory because the "hidden rule" that governs the industry invalidates anyone who spills the beans.

One thing is for sure: Those portraying heroes and emperors are only human, with all the weaknesses that afflict everyone else.

10. Tabloid victim reborn in an act of charity

Faye Wong is the reigning queen of pop music and her husband Li Yapeng is a television actor the public love to hate. Their every move makes the tabloid headlines. Li was forced into a hospital-staff lift to escape the paparazzi when he visited his wife after she gave birth to their daughter. Later, with his wife's consent, Li revealed the family secret that their newborn was born with a cleft palate.

After taking their baby to the United States for treatment, the couple formed the Smile Angel Foundation to help children with the same problem. At the first fundraising party, their friends from the entertainment world chipped in some 12 million yuan (.53 million) so that children like their daughter can bring a big smile to this world.

(China Daily 01/04/2007 page18)