In Praise of the Times and the People: the Good and Respectable Market Stall Operator

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Wang Chaohua (Shangqiu Ribao, click picture for source)

A scroll is hanging at the food market, and it reads “Good and respectable Wang Chaohua (王超华), all marketers should learn from you”.

Henan Cultural Industry Network (Henan CI, 河南文化产业网) describes Wang as a poor market stall operator who, on his way to his stall, hours before the crack of dawn, found a briefcase with 6,000 Yuan RMB in it along the road, and then waited in the cold wind for hours so as to hand the lost property back to its owner. Netizens s nationwide are discussing his great virtue (引发全国网友的道德大讨论), writes Henan CI.

It wasn’t money I earned myself, and had I spent it, I would have felt uncomfortable (不是俺挣的钱，花着心里肯定不舒服),

Wang is quoted, and a description of his family’s (his wife and their six-year-old son)  uncomfortable living conditions is added.

“If you were a poor market vendor with a monthly family income of 2,000 Yuan, and found a briefcase with 6,250 Yuan, and important documents in it, which choice would you make?”, Henan CI asks, rhetorically.

The answer is obvious:

Wang Chaohua, the greengrocer from Shijiazhuang, chose to wait in the cold. He stomped to warm his feet, and raised his collar. After six hours, the owner still hadn’t passed by, but after many setbacks, the briefcase was finally restored to its owner.

To cut a long story short, Wang took the briefcase to the market manager, who found 6,250 Yuan, an ID card, a passport, and more than twenty bank cards in it, and they went to Zhuodong Police Station with the briefcase and its finder.

Wang was lucky – the owner of the briefcase, a certain Mr. Du (杜), didn’t claim that the briefcase had originally contained, say, 10,000 Yuan. Maybe he, too, was an honest man. Or maybe he understood right away that the whole Lei-Feng circus was now in full swing, and that the trend had become irresistible.

Either way, Old Wang and his family, grief- and misery-stricken like Job, become a happy family again, as Wang becomes a model citizen of Shijiazhuang, and Wang’s stall fees for the coming six months – some 5,000 Yuan – are waived by the market management.

And given that Wang is now a model citizen, cadres from near and far announce their support for his family’s livelihood. The internet is in awe of his virtue (the Henan CI article contains a long review of online comments). Yanzhao Evening News (燕赵晚报), Hebei Television, Shijiazhuang Television and Henan CI report his story, which in turn attracts CCTV’s, and China Youth’s (中国青年报) attention. Even IFeng (Phoenix TV, Hong Kong) joins the media blitz.

They are all singing the praises of the era and the people, and draw on the material provided by societal life.

If Wang Chaohua’s story is true, he couldn’t have found the briefcase at a better time.

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Note

The Henan CI webpage is currently not available. The police station named in the report (卓东派出所) also features prominently in an Epoch Times article. Probably coincidentally (but who knows), there’s a Mr. Du (and his wife) playing a role in that article,  as Falun Gong practitioners.

The character seems to be the same – see 卓东派出所抓捕了老杜夫妇 here.

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Related

» 顶着月光出发 伴着星星回家 (photo story), Sohu, Nov 14, 2011

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17th Central Committee’s “Culture Document” – 7: Beautiful Melodies

This is the fourth paragraph [d), or (四)] of the “Culture Document’s” (explanation here) chapter four (Comprehensively implement the “Erwei” Direction and the “Shuangbai” Policy, to Provide the People with Even Better and Even More Spiritual Nourishment).

I thought I’d translate all the remaining three paragraphs of chapter four today, but had to look up two slogans or activities within the first paragraph already – see “Notes”.  I prefer to do this translation rather thoroughly than quickly, even if it should take months. My translation’s previous leg can be found here.

Links within the following blockquote were inserted during translation.

d) More fine works in the fields of literature and art must be provided. Literature, drama, films, television, music, dance, the fine arts, photography, calligraphy, folk musical theater, acrobatics, folklore, literature for the masses and other fields of work in literature and art must actively throw themselves into the creative activities of singing the praises of the era and the people, draw on the material provided by societal life, refine their themes, passionately and vividly create and produce works with beautiful melodies, in moving ways, which are at the same time ideological, artistic, and enjoyable. The fine-works strategy¹⁾ must be implemented, the five-one projects²⁾ be well-organized, and major projects on revolution and history, major projects supporting literature and arts, excellent works for children and creations which encourage originality and practicality must constantly be provided as literature and art. Excellent artistic cultivation which represents our country’s standing, with national and regional characteristics, must be actively developed into new styles. Encourage all literary and artistic creations which cultivate noble thoughts and feelings, delight body and mind, and combine teaching and entertainment. Vulgarity must be resisted (or boycotted, 抵制).

(四)推出更多优秀文艺作品。文学、戏剧、电影、电视、音乐、舞蹈、美术、摄影、书法、曲艺、杂技以及民间文艺、群众文艺等各领域文艺工作者都要积极投身到讴歌时代和人民的文艺创造活动之中，在社会生活中汲取素材、提炼主题，以充沛的激情、生动的笔触、优美的旋律、感人的形象，创作生产出思想性艺术性观赏性相统一、人民喜闻乐见的优秀文艺作品。实施精品战略，组织好“五个一工程”、重大革命和历史题材创作工程、重点文学艺术作品扶持工程、优秀少儿作品创作工程，鼓励原创和现实题材创作，不断推出文艺精品。扶持代表国家水准、具有民族特色和地方特色的优秀艺术品种，积极发展新的艺术样式。鼓励一切有利于陶冶情操、愉悦身心、寓教于乐的文艺创作，抵制低俗之风。

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Notes
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¹⁾ Fine-Works Strategy (精品战略)

The fine-works strategy dates back to the 1990s. Baike.Baidu refers to it as one of the boldest slogans issued by the Chinese news peoples’ trade at the time (中国新闻界提出的最具魄力的口号之一), developed in close connection with social development at the time, and with the background of the times (,都是与当时社会发展和时代背景所密切相关的):

Under the conditions of a market economy, news are a special commodity, and need to participate in market competition. As the news market matured, the sellers market turned into a buyers market, and the market demands news products of excellent quality. […] Therefore, as a matter of course, the fine-works strategy will be on the agenda. That is the irresistible trend, not a shift which would depend on volition. The target audience is what the media depend upon for their livelihood, and everything the media do is for the target audience. As the recipients have repeatedly encountered many faked, big, empty and non-specific news coverage, they yearn for accurate and excellent news products. It can therefore safely be said that the implementation of news quality strategy is what the times require, what news competition requires, what the broad audience is calling for, and the pressing need for the situation we face.
在市场经济条件下,新闻作为一个特殊商品,也必然参与市场竞争。随着新闻市场的成熟,可以说,新闻市场也已从卖方市场向买方市场转化,市场呼唤品质优良的新闻作品。[…] 因此,新闻精品战略的提出和实施,就自然而然地摆上议事日程,这是大势所趋,不以人的意志为转移。受众是媒体的衣食父母,媒体所做的一切,都是为了受众。而中国广大受众,过去曾几度接触的是较多的假、大、空、泛的新闻报道,他们企盼真实而优秀的新闻作品问世。所以,我们完全可以说,实施新闻精品战略,是时代的需要,是新闻竞争的需要,是广大受众的呼唤,是中国新闻业在新的时代、新的形势下面临的一个意义重大的紧迫

More specific history about the fine-works strategy is welcome. In all likelihood, a party decision preceded the strategy’s adoption by news people, or any other guilds.
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²⁾ Five-One Project (五个一工程)

Information about the five-one project is apparently easier to find online. According to Baike.Baidu, it is an annual “public-appraisal activity”, initiated by the CCP propaganda department (中共中央宣传部) in 1992. Every province, “autonomous region” and the municipalities directly under the central government, together with a CCP representative and the PLA political department, selects nominees for a nation-wide finale. The choice includes drama, television productions or films, books on sociology, theoretical articles on sociology, and songs. (I’m reading 限… 方面 as “limited to ..”, not as “.. excluded”). That said, I may as well be wrong, as one of the 2006 winners was a book on how to recognize stars (referring to celestial bodies, apparently).

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Related

» The CCP sighs with Emotion, July 17, 2011
» Truthfulness is Everything, April 8, 2011

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Continued here »