Do we need star scholars?
By Jeff Pan (Chinadaily.com.cn)Updated: 2007-04-04 11:34
What are the essentials to become a TV star?
For many, good looks, sweet smiles, and youthfulness might be some of the most important ingredients for the making of a star. Scholar Yi Zhongtian has a different understanding for scholarly stars on TV.
"First you have to be ugly, then you need to be old. Being both old and ugly is the image criterion for Lecture Room," said Yi.
 Scholar Yi Zhongtian made his name known for his different approach to interpret Chinese history on CCTV's Lecture Room [file]  |
Lecture Room is a CCTV program dedicated in promoting Chinese culture and history that enjoys great popularity among TV viewers all over the country in the past few years. With the rising audience rating of the program, a group of scholars including Yan Chongnian, Liu Xinwu, Yi Zhongtian, and Yu Dan also became household names in China, a treatment scholars rarely enjoy.
However, Lecture Room on the national TV was not as popular from the very beginning. The audience rating neared zero when it was first aired. "Previously the standard to choose the lecturer is that one needs to be an expert, and has achieved special accomplishments on a specific issue, but nobody could understand that specific issue, because it's too professional. It's natural there is no audience rating," explained Yi, "all the others copiously quote the classics, and only I was talking about eating noodles. There is a kind of snack called hot and dry noodles in Wuhan, so I talked about how it embodied the spirit of the people there."
Besides being old and ugly, those scholars who have earned their fame on TV have all successfully transferred the monumental books into the language and knowledge people use everyday and even just common sense. And most people are amazed to find that these equally entertaining scholars are only more informative and knowledgeable than the normal stars they see on TV.
Their more vivid approach to present the culture and history has also caused huge criticism, largely because it's very different from the acquired image of scholars in many people's mind.
For this fraction of scholars who are unleashing themselves from ivory towers and becoming TV stars, people either call them cream of the crop, or just flashy fame hunters. According to a survey jointly conducted by China Youth Daily and Sina.com.cn, 45% of netizens love the scholars who bridge themselves with traditional Chinese culture, while 29% disdain them, accusing them contaminating serious academic studies as a part of entertainment.
According to another scholar Chen Danqing, "Confucius would absolutely take over TV if he were alive today."
"It's a good thing that they can drive a number of young people to cultivate an interest in Chinese studies," noted linguist Xu Jialu.
Tell us your take on the scholarly stars in China. Should they stay in the ivory tower or go to TV?
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