A rewarding tourist experience

Yueyang Tower, an ancient Chinese tower in Hunan province, was free of charge during the Spring Festival holiday to tourists who could recite Yueyang Louji, a piece of prose written in commemoration of the renovation of the tower during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The management of the tower proposes continuing the practice during other national holidays, a welcome gesture that should be promoted nationwide, says an article in Guangzhou Daily. Excerpts:

Statistics show that during the first six days of the week-long holiday, some 6,000 tourists got to visit the tower by reciting the prose piece. Yueyang Tower is one of the oldest towers in China and has witnessed many historical changes. Tourists will get to know the tower and its history better by reading the prose before they visit it.

Many tourist attractions in China have a historical and cultural background and used to be the gathering places for literary figures and thus are the subject of many literary masterpieces. For instance, the Sansu Memorial Temple in Meishan, Sichuan province, is known for a poetic masterpiece by literary giant Su Shi in Song Dynasty, and the Tengwang Pavilion in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, is known for The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng, a renowned piece of prose by Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) literary giant, Wang Bo.

However, people today are so busy working that they seem to have little time to read, and even if they do squeeze in some reading, few choose ancient literature. By reciting ancient poems and prose, tourists actually get more than a free ticket, they also learn about traditional culture and thus can enrich their traveling.

Therefore, the practice in Hunan province, if carried out nationwide, will help promote both ancient Chinese culture and local tourism at a time when most tourist attractions have been commercialized and become profit-oriented with high entry fee.

More quality TV dramas needed

Hit TV series are becoming a social phenomenon, as some dramas seem to be played and replayed all day long and to occupy all channels, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpts:

Some netizens even joke that it's cruel to watch a character in Legend of Zhenhuan, the most popular TV series at the moment, die three times a day. And it's not just the characters of this particular drama series that suffer this fate, as many other popular drama series are broadcast almost repeatedly. The 1986 version of Journey to the West , for instance, has been screened more than 2,000 times. Drawing Sword has been broadcast more than 3,000 times in the last five years, and Hunan TV once played its drama Princess Huanzhu 13 times in one year.

This endless replaying of hit series has raised concerns about viewer fatigue and underlines the lack of creativity and inspiration in the TV drama market.

However, the reason why TV stations choose to play and replay these popular series is simply because of audience demand. Today, few people have enough time to watch a drama series without missing a single episode, so replays ensure viewers catch the entire drama. Moreover, some are high quality entertainment and have become classics that bear the memory of an era, so replaying them is good for our historical and cultural heritage.

Research in other countries has found that rewatching favorite TV series helps people strengthen their personal will and enhance their self-control. Putting aside how scientific such research is, it's an undeniable fact that people can relax watching these popular dramas after a busy day.

So the key point is not why these hit series are being replayed, but why their number is so limited. There is still a long way to go for the TV drama industry to create enough classics and thus make viewing more diversified.

(China Daily 02/22/2013 page9)