Chapter 872: 866. The Ban on Korean Culture! (Seeking Subscriptions and Monthly Tickets)

After three rounds of drinks and five courses of food, the two had finished their reminiscing, and Zhang Ran stated his true purpose for this visit.

"It's like this: our country is becoming increasingly powerful, but there is one point that has yet to be resolved, and that is cultural export."

"We have discussed this point long ago; my previous plan was to first achieve an economic breakthrough, and then, once we had the confidence, to participate more in these matters."

"Now the timing is right; some unhealthy culture no longer needs to be spread within our country," Zhang Ran said with a solemn expression.

Leader Li did not say much, though his expression was somewhat grave.

In the past, Leader Li was primarily in charge of this area, and Zhang Ran had offered him many suggestions.

During the implementation of a series of reform measures, these suggestions from Zhang Ran had been of great help to him.

Even after Zhang Ran disappeared, these suggestions of his still allowed him to stand out in the circle and earned him the support of many.

This also gave him a decent track record in his official career, and he was valued by some.

Although there were various twists and turns along the way, overall his steps were not wrong, so after some winding paths, he had achieved quite good results.

Now that Zhang Ran was bringing this matter up again, Leader Li had some guesses in his heart; coupled with the fact that he was aware of the recent incidents, after a moment of reflection, he understood what Zhang Ran wanted to do.

Leader Li did not hide anything and said directly, "I know what you mean; in fact, I have also had thoughts in this regard over the last few years."

"We are clearly lagging far behind other countries in terms of cultural export; although many good works have appeared over the years, overall we are still lacking quite a bit."

"This also requires our authorities to impose a certain degree of restriction, and many bad cultures have been imported into our country by taking advantage of this."

"Not only that, some of our country's related industrial chains have also been squeezed, which is unfavorable for the development of related domestic industries."

There was nothing difficult to discuss with Zhang Ran; Leader Li had already pondered these words and had even discussed them publicly on some occasions.

It was just that he had never made up his mind, so it remained limited to small-scale discussions.

Now that Zhang Ran had the intention, he would also state his own thoughts to see if he could get some ideas from Zhang Ran.

Zhang Ran nodded and said, "This point is very normal. In the past, our national strength was weak, and many things were not easy to do; many matters had to give way to the economy."

"But now it is different; now our national strength is strong, and in many aspects, we do not need to make concessions; at the same time, we also need to develop national self-confidence."

"I feel this point is very important, and national self-confidence, besides needing to be done well in other aspects, is also a very important point in culture."

"Just like some film and television works, these things with an extremely wide audience also need to be approached from this aspect."

Zhang Ran was essentially stating it clearly: he wanted to start from the film and television aspect, and the corresponding target was naturally the Hanjing Group.

The Hanjing Group was second to none in South Korea's entertainment industry and possessed great strength; although it was not considered a pillar industry, it still accounted for a significant proportion.

"What ideas do you have?" Leader Li knew what was at stake.

Zhang Ran said, "Many of South Korea's cultural exports have some problems, just like those romance films where they love each other to death; in terms of certain values, they are also very incorrect."

"Additionally, this also concerns the development of the industry. I have discovered that many television stations and film and television production companies now don't use their brains at all and directly go to buy the adaptation rights for South Korean works."

"This is fine for a year or two, but over a long period, our entire national industry will suffer a generational gap."

"Of course, I am definitely stating this in the most serious terms; in reality, it probably won't reach that point, but there is such a trend."

"Good works need to be carefully polished and need to be completed bit by bit, but now everyone is no longer polishing works; since they are all the same anyway, they just buy the copyrights, buy the works directly, and in the end, the profits are still very high."

Zhang Ran said a lot; although his main goal was still for his own benefit, these words he spoke were all sincere, and they were also his genuine thoughts.

"You also know that many things need to consider various factors. To say nothing else, just take this Ban on Korean Culture; I can issue it, no problem at all."

"But once the Ban on Korean Culture is issued, many things will arise, such as the programs of various television stations and some ongoing collaborations, which may all be stopped."

"This will cause some short-term unpleasant events to occur and may even trigger a backlash from those with vested interests."

"And these need a good channel to be dissolved and vented," Leader Li also laid his cards on the table.

Wasn't the Ban on Korean Culture exactly what Zhang Ran wanted?

He certainly understood this point and had actually considered it, but as he said, the Ban on Korean Culture was just a piece of paper, and there was no major problem with it.

But once this document took effect, the impact it would produce would be huge; how to resolve these impacts was a big problem.

Zhang Ran smiled and said, "Brother, you know me; I would never make things difficult for everyone. Let's put it this way: I have two plans."

Leader Li became interested and asked with a smile, "Which two?"

"That depends on whether you, Brother, want something with more political significance or something with more practical benefits?" Zhang Ran smiled.

"How so?" Leader Li was thoughtful.

Zhang Ran said, "The first one is that I still have some connections in Europe and America, and I can completely allow some Huaxia films, or even some companies, to enter those markets."

"But in reality, the difficulty of opening up the market there is not ordinary."

"Fine, I'll be honest: it's almost impossible, and the results achieved will definitely not be proportional to the effort put in."

"However, I probably don't need to say much about the benefits here."

Before Zhang Ran had finished speaking, Leader Li's expression was already excited; he certainly knew what the benefits were—this was a cultural export window nailed into Europe and America.

It could allow people in Europe and America to truly understand Huaxia and establish a positive image for Huaxia.

More importantly, this would give Huaxia a real platform to speak.

Because this was not official, many things that could not be said from the official side could be said through such a platform.

After realizing this, Leader Li didn't even listen to the second plan and said directly, "If you can accomplish this, I will sign and issue the Ban on Korean Culture immediately."

The Ban on Korean Culture had long been in gestation, and various excuses—pfft—reasons had long been prepared, so the speed would be very fast.

Zhang Ran smiled and said, "Not going to listen to the second plan? Perhaps the second plan would be even better?"

"No need; we are not short of money now, but we are short of this window. Once successful, it will be a good thing for the country and the people," Leader Li said decisively.