"In order for a region to develop, it is true that economic work must be grasped, but what is more important is the change of people's concept and the opening of people's horizons. I think the most important thing for a place to move forward and develop is to change people. ”
Under the warm sun of Xichang Qionghai, as one of the initiators of the Daliangshan Theater Festival, the vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, the chairman of the Sichuan Writers Association, and the writer A Lai talked about the origins of him and this theater festival, as well as the original intention of participating in the conception and initiation of the first time.
Since he was in his 20s, Alai has traveled the world and come to the vast land of Daliang Mountain. For more than 30 years, he has traveled here countless times, and almost every year he will go to the counties and villages below Liangshan to have a look and feel the changes here.
In 2018, Ah Lai and Pu Cunxin, chairman of the Chinese Drama Association who was also in Liangshan, met in Xichang and talked about what culture should do for Liangshan. "It was in this place that Liangshan Cultural Tourism Group invited us to sit together. The initiative to make a theater festival was first held together at that time. Later, more and more people from the cultural and theater circles joined in and became the initiators. ”
The festival has been held for 5 years, and Alai has always paid attention to it. This year, I plan to bask in the sun here and watch the play, and be a "drama chaser" who comes to Liangshan. In his view, the theater festival can bring a modern culture to a place, bring a cultural "awakening", and at the same time, it can also bring tourism visibility and people's deeper understanding of the region. Although it may not be possible to see immediate results in the short term, the construction of culture needs to be "long-term work".
Culture is the 'culture of people', and its influence is far-reaching and long-lasting. In a place like Liangshan, there are actually not many people who can really have the opportunity to go to the world, so we are now inviting the world to this place, and the world is coming to you. ”
In his view, whether it is to change poverty or rural revitalization, in the final analysis, it is the change of people and the revitalization of people. "For the development of a region, the establishment of a modern culture and the establishment of a modern cultural consciousness are very important. ”
At the end of the interview, Ah said, "I am the one who has been completely changed by culture. ”
The famous writer A Lai was interviewed by The Paper in Daliangshan.
Dialogue] The Paper: As one of the initiators of the Daliangshan Theater Festival, what was your earliest idea and origin?
Alai: There's a lot of context. One is its very unique natural beauty, and this warm winter sun. Then there is the fact that it is a multi-ethnic region with a very strong cultural diversity. Since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Sima Xiangru was sent here to persuade the ethnic minorities and establish a national consciousness. It used to be the northernmost section of the Southern Silk Road, and then led to Yunnan to Myanmar, so it has become an international channel, not only the diversity of local ethnic minorities, but also a large number of Han immigrants from the Jiangnan area to this area in the Ming Dynasty, so the history of multi-ethnic cultural integration here itself is also very deep.
Later, that year Pu Cunxin came to Xichang, we met and chatted, and felt that this place was particularly suitable for a theater festival. On the one hand, there are the natural and cultural historical conditions, and the second is that the cultural tourism group here has done very well in stage plays and TV dramas before, and has a relatively deep knowledge and understanding of culture, which has this foundation. Theatre festivals are particularly suitable for the majority of people, and are more intuitive and straightforward. Later, Ji Di Majia, Qian Wenzhong and many others, including people in the theater industry, joined in to support the launch of this theater festival. Recently, some people have proposed to build Liangshan into a sub-center of literature and art in Sichuan, which shows that Liangshan itself has very good cultural conditions.
The Paper: What do you think drama energy saving will bring to this place in Liangshan?
Alai: Although the traffic here is still relatively accessible, it is located in the southwest region after all, so people's consciousness and vision will be somewhat limited by the region. Over the past so many years, we have been grasping the economy, and of course we must grasp economic work, but what is more important is the change of people's concept and the opening of people's horizons.
The economy alone has stretched out one leg, and after several years of development, there are indeed some achievements, but not so much impact and change can occur on everyone, but culture can face everyone.
We talk about going to the world, but there are not many people who really have the opportunity to go to the world. So now we are inviting the world to this place, then the world is coming to you. I think that the change of local social atmosphere, the establishment of that kind of modern culture, the establishment of cultural consciousness, I think that if we work for a long time, it will definitely have a greater and greater impact.
Then there is the expansion of local popularity and the development of tourism, because in addition to so many theater troupes and so many actors, there are also many people who love drama and come to see the theater to come to this place, and they have also become part of the tourists and spend here. In the process, he also gained a deeper understanding of the place.
Chinese and foreign guests have a "drama dialogue" on the beach in Qionghai
The Paper: So you think that literature, art and culture will bring a lot of changes to a place?
Alai: Culture is "cultural people". Of course, it can also be industrialized to create a little wealth, but this is not the most important, the important thing is to turn the spring breeze into rain and culture people. The most important thing about modernization and opening up is to change people.
All that presupposes changing a place is development. Of course, the economy I just mentioned is one leg, but in the past, the thinking of economic theory and economic efficiency still has a strong inertia, and in fact, it is lagging behind this era. Since the reform and opening up of our country in the 1980s, there was a period of time when the cultural and cultural undertakings were very withered, and all kinds of drama troupes and cultural institutions were stretched thin to spend some money and had difficulty in paying salaries, but now, we have begun to reflect on and change these things from the national level.
We have a saying in Sichuan, called "blowing chaff to see rice", which means that we still look at the short-term interests in front of us. But a place, a nation, a country, culture is a more permanent thing that shapes people's emotions and spirits. So at this time, if we do some culture in these places, and even slowly when the conditions allow, we can make the scale a little bigger like a theater festival, I think this is the condition now. More importantly, it will gradually support the economy, because even if you say it modestly, it will provide you with people with new consciousness, new ideas, and new visions.
In areas like Liangshan, whether it is poverty alleviation or other career development, as long as you leave Xichang and go to remote places, you will finally find that the biggest problem of this poverty problem is still spiritual poverty. The biggest problem is actually a spiritual problem. When he doesn't know the outside world, he thinks it's okay to do it now. But when he knows the outside world, he will suddenly find that there is such a big gap, and this is the need for a change in cultural awareness.
Therefore, in the past few years, there has been a slogan in Liangshan Prefecture's poverty alleviation, called "poverty alleviation first and wisdom first", that is, we must first let them know what today's world is like and know the gap with today's world, and then they will have this ambition to cheer up and catch up. So in the end, what you see is the economic problem, and behind it is the cultural problem, the problem of cultural awareness.
In this era, we need to create a "new person", and in the process of shaping a new person, perhaps more important is new literature and art.
Cross-cultural theatre workshops.
The Paper: You mentioned new literature and art, but the traditional literature and art in Liangshan itself is very deep and developed.
Alai: Yes. But after all, it is a relatively old and simple literary art. Of course, it is deeply connected with its national destiny and local history, but it is a thing of the past.
Of course, there is also a fusion and new attempts now, and when the new generation of young people use these materials, they are also combined with these things that are currently popular in the world, and the integration is also very good. But this is only a part, and it is only a part of the cultural consciousness of people who are the first to be enlightened and have a relatively high level of education. But how can we stimulate public awareness more deeply, and how can culture awaken, this is a very important topic.
In the field of drama, we people may not have much understanding of drama at the beginning, especially in this place, more contact may be film and television, or the local art troupe has some singing and dancing programs in the past. But these are not really cultural and theatrical understandings.
Now that we have so many theater companies, all kinds of plays from all over the world, all kinds of theater forms, everyone will gradually have a more comprehensive understanding of this matter. The more remote the place, the more difficult it is to see a relatively high-level and diverse stage play. But this theater festival has brought so many kinds of stage arts, so that everyone can start to know, start to understand, and then start to love.
One of the initiators of the festival.
1. Performing artist Pu Cunxin interacts with international guests.
The Paper: Now that we are going to start the work of rural revitalization, what do you think culture can do in this process?
Alai: Let's do a little bit of creation, which directly reflects the process of rural revitalization, which is of course the responsibility of cultural workers. But I think what is more important is how to use culture to influence those who have had little contact with modern culture in the past, and how to change a person with an old consciousness into a person with new ideas, which is what can really change the countryside.
We now go to the countryside to collect wind and eat people's meat, drink wine, and take away all the materials, but leave nothing for others, which is also problematic. We need to think about what we can bring to the countrysideHow can culture be done?How does it work?I think maybe all cultural people, including **, need to think more about this matter.
Now there are some people and even some institutions that will be aware of such problems, and they will also go deep into the countryside to do some similar work of cultural "awakening", but after all, it is still just beginning.
Daliangshan Theater Festival "Natural Drama" Discovery Village.
The Paper: Because you have been walking between villages and counties for many years, and you are also very familiar with areas like Liangshan, which do you think is the first priority in rural revitalization, economy and culture?
Alai: I feel like it should at least be synchronous. In fact, there is another problem, which is that you will find that if the material life changes, but the culture does not keep up, the person may become worse than the person who has not changed economically.
If it only sees money, under the impact of new things, in the absence of modernity, the original moral values may collapse. Today, China is not only a small place, a remote place, but also a large number of large cities. The economy developed, but the culture did not keep up, and then there was a rapid decline in the moral level.
And then there is, if he doesn't change his mind and culture for a while, you give him a sum of money, and he quickly eats up the money, and then he still lies flat. Therefore, rural revitalization is, first of all, the revitalization of rural people. And the most difficult thing is the change of people.
Culture does play an important role in this.
So this time, I came to Daliangshan, and this year we can see the production of the French Avignon Theater Festival, and we don't need to chase to France to see it in Liangshan, which is very remarkable. But I also suggest that they can also use some short and flexible dramas in the future to radiate to the surrounding counties and villages.
Let culture influence the people here, I think the Daliangshan Theater Festival is like throwing a stone into the Qionghai Sea, there will always be some ripples, and it will always spread. Just like the general secretary has always mentioned "long-term success", it takes time for culture to change people.
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