Chapter 2760: The Roadblock to Cultural Development

Soon Zhou Andong walked into the study holding a box of tribute wine: "Man Laoyezi Liu, it's been a long time since we last saw each other. I've been thinking of you day and night, and I can't even sleep well. Take a look, Old Sir, do I have dark circles under my eyes?"

Man Laoyezi Liu really examined Zhou Andong's eyes carefully, then let out a hey laugh: "Hmm, there really are some dark circles. But how you got them, that's hard to say."

Zhou Andong pretended not to hear, and very earnestly took out a cigarette to light one for Man Laoyezi Liu, which made Man Laoyezi Liu even more wary: "Unsolicited flattery is either treachery or theft—speak up, what do you want from me?"

"Man Laoyezi!" Zhou Andong put on a hurt expression: "Your words cut deep, I came mainly because I missed you, to see you, and handling affairs is just incidental."

Man Laoyezi Liu pursed his lips: "Don't give me that act, we're not that close yet."

"Ah!" Zhou Andong sighed: "Man Laoyezi, I and Ahang Ge are brothers—no blood relation, yet closer than blood brothers. He's not in Jingcheng now, so isn't it right that I should show filial piety to his father in his place?"

Man Laoyezi Liu's mouth twitched fiercely again: "I've known your grandfather for decades, and you call Liu Ahui brother—are you trying to rebel, you brat?"

"It can't be helped, after all I met Ahang Ge first." Zhou Andong shrugged: "Besides, Ahang Ge went down to the countryside in Tanghezi, married a Tanghezi maiden, making him Tanghezi's son-in-law, while I am a proper member of his natal family, having grown up with Yue Zhen Jie since childhood."

"Therefore, I should call Ahang Ge brother-in-law, but I'm used to calling him brother and can't change it right away. So, seniority-wise, you really can't fault me, Old Sir. If I called Ahang Ge uncle and Yue Zhen Jie aunt, the natal family's seniority would be impossible to sort out."

"Elder uncles, aunts, and maternal uncles all call Yue Zhen Jie younger sister, brothers and sisters all call her aunt—wouldn't that be chaos? So we'll just call each other by name, to avoid confusion."

Man Laoyezi Liu rubbed his temples, weak and listless: "Alright, let's get to the matter."

Zhou Andong sat on the sofa, lit a cigarette himself, then crossed his legs: "Man Laoyezi, this April we imported a Hollywood blockbuster, its box office has already exceeded 100 million—what's your take on this?"

Man Laoyezi Liu frowned, not expecting Zhou Andong to bring this up, but he knew Zhou Andong had come all this way just to discuss it—it certainly wasn't idle chatter with an old man like him.

"The True Lies—I've seen this film. Big production, big investment, box office over 100 million is expected. Besides, whether it's equipment advancement or filming techniques, we can't match them."

"Have you ever considered," Zhou Andong's voice dropped, "that since we can't produce such films ourselves, the domestic entertainment market will be flooded with Hollywood movies, even overwhelmed by Japanese and Korean films and songs, leaving us utterly defenseless?"

Saying this, Zhou Andong stood up and walked to the desk, staring at Man Laoyezi Liu: "In the future, our descendants will mutter 'eji die nao,' 'simi da,' and 'baggi ya lu' while wearing kimonos, singing Korean songs, celebrating Christmas, and forgetting our Chinese culture completely."

Zhou Andong had spoken on cultural aggression before, and Man Laoyezi Liu had naturally heard it—he too took it seriously. Since it was Zhou Andong who raised it, he also trusted Zhou Andong's judgment on future cultural aggression.

So he had been pondering how to prevent and counter cultural aggression. As for banning foreign films, TV dramas, and songs at the border—it's impossible, and we can't refuse them.

But cultural warfare is a new form of warfare—how to fight it is a complete mystery to him. Yet he knows it's long-term, a drawn-out struggle, not something that can be decided overnight.

Man Laoyezi Liu gave a slight nod, his face unchanged, and said: "Cultural aggression—you mentioned it before, I've heard it too. So how should we prevent it, how should we counter it?"

Zhou Andong said each word deliberately: "Support our own cultural industry, abolish or relax various unreasonable review systems—only then can our cultural industry develop rapidly."

Man Laoyezi Liu said expressionlessly: "Anything else?"

"Yes!" Zhou Andong turned back to the sofa, sat down, picked up the ashtray and flicked ash: "And it's the most important—namely, to clear out the worms sitting in key positions in the cultural departments.

These people neglect their duties but meddle in everything. They can't do good things well, but they handle bad things with ease. A film with no issues at all, they insist on taking scissors and cutting it twice, chopping the complete plot into a mess—only then can they satisfy their inner lust for power.

Not to mention distant events—just recently, future culture was suppressed, all works taken down, secretly orchestrated by Cao Peng, deputy director of the Film and Television Bureau, and Sun Zheng Hua, director of the News and Publishing Bureau.

I don't care what relationship they have with Kong Xingzhong and Kong Xinghua brothers, whether there's interest transfer. I only know that Future Culture is a legally operating company, all its audiovisual products are legal and compliant, positive-energy works.

Yet precisely because of this, Cao Peng and Sun Zheng Hua secretly ordered them all taken down, and to this day, the relevant departments haven't given me a reasonable explanation. Old Sir, you say—letting such people hold such important positions, how can our cultural industry possibly develop?"

Man Laoyezi Liu silently puffed on his cigarette for a while before saying: "You came today just to tell me all this?"

Zhou Andong smiled faintly: "Have you heard the songs 'Good Days' and 'Walking into the New Era,' Old Sir?"

Old Liu nodded: "I've heard them, and often."

Zhou Andong continued: "Then you naturally know the singers of these two songs, right?"

Old Liu's eyes showed a hint of doubt: "I know—it's a little girl named Jiang Yuyue, she sings very well."

"Exactly!" Zhou Andong softened his tone: "I wrote a song for her, preparing to send her into the Korean entertainment market. After all, the best defense is offense—we can't stay home and passively take hits; we must go on the offensive, let our culture occupy their markets.

So I had the company send this song to the Spring Festival Gala, to test the waters and see the effect. But the newly appointed deputy director of the Spring Festival Gala said this song lacks educational value and is unsuitable for the gala.

Saying this, Zhou Andong laughed harshly: "I won't discuss what this so-called educational value means—I'll just say, when our entertainment market is occupied by Europe, America, Japan, and Korea, should we let this deputy director go talk educational value with those devils?"

Zhou Andong stood up again, then bent over and fiercely pressed the cigarette butt in his hand into the ashtray: "People like this are the roadblocks to cultural development—if we don't remove them, what talk is there of cultural renaissance, what talk of resisting cultural aggression?"