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Home , China Central Television, Dengfeng, Hunan, Ink wash painting, Mango TV, Shen Wei

Issue Date: 08-08-2020 Zone: APSI Desk: Output on: 06-08-2020----10:11 Page: CN1 Revision: 0

China The Economist August 8th 2020 21

Entertainment tion twice as high as their contribution to national output. At their heart in Hunan is Heady Hunan a broadcaster with a knack for cranking out programmes that are watched throughout China. In 2018 hbs’s affiliates produced six of China’s best-liked costume dramas and eight of its most popular songs. ’s standing has turned its bi- CHANGSHA ennial “Golden Eagle” awards into one of How ’s home province has become a font of popular culture China’s three most prestigious prize-giv- mong this summer’s television hits in its ratings. That is striking for an outfit run ing ceremonies for tv stars. By gdp per per- AChina has been “Sisters Who Make by the government of a province that is bet- son, Hunan ranks 16th among China’s 31 Waves”. The show involves 30 female celeb- ter known as China’s largest producer of provincial-level regions. But its 67m peo- rities over the age of 30 competing for a rice and the birthplace of Mao Zedong— ple are the country’s fifth-biggest spenders spot in a five-member band. Viewers watch “” centred on Mao’s formative on culture, education and . them train, perform and live together haunts draws devotees of the chairman Hunan’s journey to national pop-cul- (some of the contestants are pictured). Five from around the country. ture prominence began in the 1990s when hundred women, picked at random, get to But Changsha, the provincial capital, the provincial broadcasting authorities vote for their favourite. Within three days has become a font of China’s popular cul- created a satellite tv station with licence to of its airing in June, over 300m had ture. It is home to over 12,000 companies try something new. It produced lively watched the first episode on Mango tv, a involved in creating it. They employ one in reports, a celebrity-led variety show called streaming app owned by the state televi- eight of the city’s workers. By one official “Happy Camp” and even a matchmaking sion network of Hunan, a central province. calculation, no other sector contributes programme. By 2000 hotels in were Social-media sites brim with praise from more to Changsha’s wealth. In 2017 (the luring guests with placards boasting, “We young feminists for these somewhat older most recent year for which figures are have Hunan Satellite tv”, the New York role models: at last, a break from the - available) creative and cultural industries Times observed at the time. voted mothers and dewy-faced ingénues generated 9% of the city’s gdp—a propor- Much of that early success was the work beloved of official broadcasters. of a Hunanese bureaucrat, Wei Wenbin. Making waves is what Hunan Broad- When he took over as director of the Hunan Also in this section casting System (hbs) does best. It is the Radio and Television Department, Mr Wei most-watched television network after 22 Debating divorce read up about America’s entertainment in- (cctv), the state dustry. On land once used by a state-run broadcaster—and occasionally surpasses — Chaguan is away rose farm, he built a vast park for television 1 Issue Date: 08-08-2020 Zone: APSI Desk: China Output on: 06-08-2020----10:11 Page: CN2 Revision: 0

22 China The Economist August 8th 2020

2 and film production and moved the new industry than counterparts in richer Chi- satellite tv station there. The area, Malan- nese cities. Well before Hunan’s “Sisters” shan, has since grown into a cultural filled smartphone screens, a Hunanese powerhouse, drawing media giants such as woman was making them: , iQiyi and . In 2017 eight of the ten the founder of Lens Technology. Born to a most-streamed variety shows on the Chi- poor, rural family, she was named the nese internet were hatched there. world’s richest self-made woman in 2018. Hunan tv was the first network in Chi- People in China like to point to charac- na to try broadcasting for profit. That led it ter traits which they believe are shared by to focus on entertainment, a priority which natives of a particular province. The execu- helped it avoid political mistakes, as Wu tive at Mango tv detects “a cultural gene to Changchang of Normal Univer- break the rules” among Hunanese. For evi- sity has noted. According to Mr Wu, Hunan dence, he points to Mao and , tv struck a delicate balance between win- who was born in Changsha and served as ning the love of viewers and approval from Mao’s prime minister. Hunan’s broadcast- the Communist Party, which is a “prerequi- ers certainly have an interest in cultivating site” of commercial success in China. the stereotype: an edgy feel is crucial to the The government has occasionally success of their brand. 7 winced. In 2011it took “Happy Girls”, a fan- tastically popular singing contest, off air. The official explanation was that the show was too racy for its prime-time slot, but many wondered whether its huge excitable fan base worried the party. In 2004 a fore- runner of the show, “Super Girls”, had let spectators vote for contestants by text mes- sage—a first in China. That smacked too much of democracy for the government. After a few years Hunan tv limited voting mainly to a studio audience. These days the network strives even harder to please the party. In 2017 it launched a series about ide- ology called “Socialism is Kind of Cool”. It included a quiz show on the life and works of , China’s leader. Yet Hunan’s stations still have “political space to explore new things”, in the view of a manager at Mango tv. The government wants to get “closer to its audience”, he says, in particular to the young who spend hours glued to their smartphones. Internet broadcasters such as Mango tv, with 18m subscribers, help it to do so. Hunan tv’s ability to experiment mat- ters for the development of Chinese broad- casting. Shuwan, a former presenter at the station, says the province is a training ground for much of the country’s televi- sion talent. Industry insiders call Chang- sha the “West Point” of China’s cultural-en- tertainment industry, a reference to the American army’s elite academy. It is just as competitive. In 2013 Ms Li was one of only two students from who were admitted to Hunan tv’s graduate programme. This year some 30,000 people applied for 100 spots on Mango tv’s trainee scheme. Mango tv en- courages young recruits to speak up and suggest fresh ideas. They can receive fund- ing to implement their proposals. Tianhao, a co-founder of Erka Me- dia, which manages 600 social-media in- fluencers from its offices in China (includ- ing Changsha) and Los Angeles, says that young people in Hunan’s capital are risk- takers, with parents who are more willing to let their children try their luck in a fickle Issue Date: 29-08-2020 Zone: APSI Desk: Books Output on: 26-08-2020----19:21 Page: BK1 Revision: 0

Books & arts The Economist August 29th 2020 63

Body art government so concerned about cultivat- ing its global appeal, the real question is The new masters why it cannot recognise the beautiful gift under its nose—or, more accurately, on the forearms of the nation. Tattooing is not new in China. Litera- ture from the (618-907ad) de- scribes people getting tattooed with scenes WENLING, of natural beauty and lines from poetry. China makes its mark on the world of tattoos, both in design and in approach Without question the most famous tattoo he arms are those of a tall young man, tooists for their swelling market are trans- in Chinese history belonged to Yue Fei, a This muscles toned and skin firm. One is forming the art of inked flesh everywhere. revered 12th-century general in the Song covered in thick sweeps of black Chinese The Communist Party is not among dynasty who had four characters inscribed from shoulder to wrist. That those who appreciate their work, instead on his back: zhong bao guo, or “serve and the other limbs—around ten in all—are viewing tattoos as undesirable avatars of the realm with utter loyalty”. piled in a disembodied heap on Wu Shang’s hip-hop culture. As part of its fumbling ef- These, though, are the positive excep- desk. They are models that he commis- fort to control them, China’s top media reg- tions. For much of Chinese history tattoos sioned, made of silicon rubber that looks ulator has ruled that actors cannot show were seen as markers of trouble. They were and, crucially for him, feels like real skin. their tattoos on television. Footballers the preserve of borderland barbarians, Wu Shang is a tattooist in the coastal city of have been ordered to cover up theirs before rogues, bandits and criminals, whose faces Wenling. Having seen hundreds of his taking to the pitch. were sometimes tattooed as punishment. carefully inked pieces of art walk out of his At the same time, the party has shown Some believe that frowns on studio door, he wanted to keep a few to dec- some flexibility, bowing to the facts on the tattoos as an act of filial impiety that dam- orate the walls. “Otherwise, all I have is im- skin. The People’s Liberation Army al- ages your body, which is seen as an exten- perfect pictures,” he says. lows recruits to have small tattoos. For a sion of your parents. These might be the quirkiest tattoos in China’s modern dalliance with tattoos China, but they are part of a much broader began in the 1980s as foreign fashions trend. Tattooed arms, backs and legs are Also in this section streamed into the country, just then open- fast becoming common sights in the coun- ing to the world. Tattoo parlours popped up 65 The Freemasons try’s biggest cities. The delicate flora and in its biggest cities, especially fauna of traditional have mi- 65 Elena Ferrante’s new novel and Beijing. Artists mostly imitated the de- grated from rice paper to bodies, carried signs popular elsewhere. But by the late Home Entertainment along by a revolution in techniques. And 1990s a uniquely Chinese was emerg- 66 Listen to the Beatles the innovations pioneered by China’s tat- ing, best captured in the work of -1 Issue Date: 29-08-2020 Zone: APSI Desk: Books Output on: 26-08-2020----19:21 Page: BK2 Revision: 0

64 Books & arts The Economist August 29th 2020

2 guo, a soft-spoken man whose studio in ness partner. When their relationship col- has written extensively about tattoos. Now Shanghai remains a fixture on the Chinese lapsed, she left him and her business and the devices can be easily purchased online. scene today. fled to Dali, a city nestled among moun- In the West some in the tattoo industry Mr Shen was drawn to the Japanese tains in the south-western province of (normally averse to rules) have started call- fondness for dense images, infused with , her birthplace. ing for regulation to control the sale of historical legends and covering the whole After a couple of years spent fighting equipment and ensure that studios meet back. He also admired Western oil deep depression, Ms Pang is getting back adequate standards. and China’s own cultural heritage. In his into tattooing with a new studio. It looks In China several prominent tattooists hands these were fused into what became nothing like the dingy lairs of the popular are taking a different approach. They have known as the “Chinese neo-traditional imagination. It is a one-room country re- set up schools. In Wu Shang’s studio four school”, similar to the tattoos associated treat, with a floor-to-ceiling glass wall and students are hunched over flat pieces of sil- with ’s Yakuza gangsters but with a courtyard set up for tea service. “I can re- icon rubber—mimicking skin, just like his Chinese content and brighter colours. connect with my art here,” she says, speak- model arms—trying to recreate images that (Think more dragons, fewer waves and less ing in her first interview since her disap- they first painted on paper. rigid rules.) Not that Mr Shen himself likes pearance. She adds a pledge to former That might seem inoffensive, but it goes being called a neo-traditionalist. “I jump clients: she will complete their unfinished against a widespread but unwritten code. around a lot. As soon as you define yourself tattoos for nothing if they come to Dali. Masters may take an apprentice or two un- as this or that, you stop evolving,” he says. der their wings, but only if they are truly Two other distinctively Chinese styles The other revolution committed to the craft. The idea that any- are now edging out the neo-traditional Ms Pang’s ability to create watercolour-like one can just show up, pay a tuition fee and school in popularity. One is classic calligra- works on skin is a result of dramatic im- after a few months apply ink to skin leaves phy, updated with a modern sensibility. provements in tattooing equipment, purists aghast. Even in China some are crit- Chinese characters often appear as tattoos which is linked to China’s rise as a manu- ical. Mr Shen, the neo-traditionalist, says in the West, too, but these mostly look like facturing powerhouse. Tattooists used to that he honed his technique over many basic handwriting. By contrast, Wu Shang rely on coil-based machines, which pro- years by wielding needles by hand. “You and other tattooists in China apply bold, duced a buzzing sound as the needle need to learn about the relationship be- inventive strokes (see below, left). bounced up and down. Over the past two tween skin and needle. You can’t just get The other style is an approximation of decades many have switched to rotary al- that overnight in school,” he says. ink- painting, the stuff of traditional ternatives. They are lighter and quieter, There is, however, a counter-argument. Chinese . Among its finest ex- with more efficient motors. This allows tat- People in the business estimate that China ponents are Joey Pang (see below, right) tooists greater precision as they wield two now has tens of thousands of tattoo stu- and Chen Jie (see main image), two women different formations of needles: a pen-like dios, up from hundreds a decade ago. Last who got started in the early 2000s, the for- point for outlines and a flat brush for col- year at least 16 large tattoo exhibitions were mer in , the latter in Beijing. Or- ouring. Their technique resembles paint- held around the country, bringing together chids bloom up the napes of necks; song- ing, mixing different hues to generate the crowds of would-be tattooists and soon-to- birds perch on branches that run across right look and then dabbing the colours on be-inked patrons. Given the surging de- shoulders and down arms; mist-wreathed the skin. mand, the need for well-trained artists is mountain ranges extend across collar- But China’s manufacturing muscle has evident. Wu Shang knows that all too well. bones. Their tattoos have an almost ethere- also generated a problem: a proliferation of A garish orange-and- fish on the un- al quality, as if floating above the skin. And cheap tattoo machines. “It used to be really derside of his left forearm testifies to the just as important, they are perfect for the hard to get tattoo equipment if you weren’t experiments on himself that taught him age of social media: Ms Chen has more than an artist yourself,” says Matt Lodder, an art his craft. Who could begrudge his students 420,000 followers on Instagram. historian at the University of Essex who wanting to start on fake arms? 7 As is increasingly common globally, some of the best Chinese tattooists had for- mal art training before opting for ink and skin as their preferred medium. Wu Shang attended the prestigious China Academy of Art in , where he studied Impres- sionist painting. He says that he intended Wu Shang, his nom de plume, as a tribute to the French artist Paul Cézanne, meaning “I am no Cézanne”. Coincidentally or not, it can also mean “None are better than me”. For art-school graduates, the lucrative potential of tattooing is part of the allure. A famous tattooist can charge 3,000 ($435) an hour. Purists worry that such re- wards have created unwanted pressures. Consider the fate of Ms Pang, the ink-wash pioneer in Hong Kong. She spent a decade studying under a calligraphic master. As her reputation spread, people came from around the world to her studio. By 2017 her waiting list stretched three years into the future. “I need time to think and draw be- fore I work on skin, and I didn’t have that,” she says. Her husband was also her busi- Ink meets skin meets tradition Issue Date: 19-12-2020 Zone: APSI Desk: Christmas Output on: 14-12-2020----11:10 Page: CE1 Revision: 0

The Economist December 19th 2020 Christmas specials 107

Shaolin monastery How tales of a “ceo monk” obscure the more complex The profession of business of faith in China renunciation

his vows of celibacy. It was easy to dismiss the abbot as a sham, a venal man cloaked in religious garb. But Bud- dhist parables are rarely so straightforward. Five years on, Mr Shi is still at Shaolin, cleared of all charges. He lives in a windowless room in its centre, looking less like a cunning mastermind than a quiet man of faith—one who may have renounced earthly desires but remains at the mercy of earthly forces. Reli- gious institutions everywhere must negotiate between the articles of their belief and the realities of the world. In China that negotiation can get especially fraught. When Mr Shi arrived at Shaolin at the age of 16, life there was much harsher. It was 1981, not long after the , when Mao Zedong had sup- pressed and had destroyed tem- ples. Mr Shi found it in partial ruin. Just 20 monks lived there, subsisting on two steamed buns a day. Soon he had established himself as a lieutenant to its aged, nearly blind abbot. They trekked to government offices in Dengfeng, the monastery’s home county, seeking permission to rebuild temple halls, to perform Bud- dhist rites and, crucially, to sell tickets. In a remarkable twist of karma, Shaolin became a hot destination. In 1982 “Shaolin Temple”, Jet Li’s de- but, hit the cinemas, depicting a foundational story: how 13 monks, supposedly skilled in kung fu, saved a future Tang dynasty emperor in battle. The monastery went from 50,000 visitors a year to 2m in 1984. Kung fu is just one aspect of Shaolin—a physical discipline that accompanies chanting and medita- tion—but easily the most distinctive. Tales of its war- rior monks have been popular since the 16th century. Knowing that kung fu was Shaolin’s best hope for ap- DENGFENG or nearly two hours the monks sit folded in the lo- pealing to secular society, Mr Shi helped create a per- Ftus position, motionless and silent. All are robed in forming troupe in 1987. grey apart from the cherubic man in saffron, their From the outset, cross-cutting interests complicat- leader. When the last joss-stick burns down, he glides ed matters. The main conflict was between the monks out of the room without a word, later offering a brief and the Dengfeng officials. For the monks, tourism was explanation of the meditation: “True wisdom emerges a financial lifeline to restore their monastery. For the not from a calculating mind but from the wellspring of officials, overseeing a poor county with half a million your heart.” It is the kind of line that might appear on a people, it was a kick-start for development. They motivational poster. Voiced by this man, Shi Yongxin, squabbled over ticket sales. When the monks sold tick- the words sound heavier, weighed down by scandal. ets at the temple’s entrance, the officials erected a new Mr Shi is abbot of , one of the gate 1km up the road, controlling access. world’s best-known Buddhist shrines. Tourists flock Shaolin also became a magnet for profiteers. People there to see its warrior monks, impossibly flexible flooded in from nearby villages to open guesthouses, young men who fell imaginary foes with flying kicks shops and karaoke parlours outside its walls. In the beneath the craggy peaks of . Founded 1990s the streets around it turned into a small city, with 1,500 years ago, it is the cradle of kung fu and Bud- 20,000 residents. Dozens of kung fu schools, claiming dhism. But in recent years it has had more infamy than to be the heirs of its fighting tradition, sprung up. Com- honour. Mr Shi has been criticised for transforming panies around China used the monastery for branding: hallowed ground into a crass business venture. “ceo with “Shaolin” cigarettes, cars and, most gallingly for monk” is his moniker, appearing in headlines again the vegetarian monks, ham and beer. “We did not seek and again. Who could resist it? Under Mr Shi, a monk commercialisation. It was thrust upon us,” says Mr Shi. with an mba, the monastery has expanded abroad and He sought advice from officials in , Shaolin’s made plans to list on the stockmarket. province, about how to safeguard the monastery’s im- In 2015 the extent of his hypocrisy seemed to be re- age. The only answer, they concluded, was for Shaolin vealed. Police opened an investigation after an accuser to lay claim to its name. In 1998 it established the He- claimed that Mr Shi had enriched himself and violated nan Shaolin Industrial Development Co as a vehicle to 1 Issue Date: 19-12-2020 Zone: APSI Desk: Christmas Output on: 14-12-2020----11:10 Page: CE2 Revision: 0

108 Shaolin monastery The Economist December 19th 2020

2 file for trademarks—for tea, furniture, hardware and Being China, though, doubts persisted about the inves- more. Today, Shaolin owns nearly 700 trademarks. tigation’s credibility. Perhaps the abbot had mighty Having swatted away the impostors, Shaolin emu- backers. Or perhaps China did not want to sully Shao- lated some of their techniques. The monastery pro- lin’s image. Yet those doubts were hard to square with duced a kung fu teaching mobile app, backed a fight- the government’s zest for corruption prosecutions in ing-monk movie and launched a line of traditional recent years. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has repeatedly Chinese medicine. Mr Shi also joined a dozen monks shown that he believes that institutions matter more on a short mba, a publicly funded course to hone their than any person (with the notable exception of him- managerial skills. To its detractors Shaolin embodied self). Surely, the same logic could apply to Shaolin. the worst of modern China, an ancient religious order With the abbot’s name officially cleared, the obvi- debased on the altar of riches. For Mr Shi the logic ous question was whether someone had framed him. was—and remains—undeniable. “This is how to make Local police told him that they had identified suspects Buddhism relevant.” If the pope can televise daily and asked whether they should pursue them. It was as mass, why can’t a Shaolin monk seek publicity? if they were looking for his blessing to let the conspira- tors off the hook. Mr Shi obliged. “What could I do as a Karmic cycle monk? So long as I’m fine, I hope everyone is fine.” For a time Mr Shi was riding high. He was officially For all the controversy about Shaolin, its most strik- named abbot in 1999. The monastery grew to more than ing feature is its smallness. On an autumn afternoon, 200 monks. He worked out an agreement with Deng- yellow leaves swirling around, a woman prostrates feng county: 70% of ticket sales to the government, the herself outside its gate, howling inconsolably. Inside, rest to the monastery. Officials razed the streets around several buildings have warped roofs. The monks uri- the temple, relocating the residents in town—a move nate in an open trough before entering the Chan Tem- that solidified Shaolin’s bid for world-heritage ple, its holiest site. “Jing’an [a gold-trimmed temple in status, obtained in 2010. Shaolin became a weapon in Shanghai] is worth ten Shaolins,” says one. China’s soft-power arsenal. Mr Shi met Queen Eliza- And for all the headlines about Mr Shi’s business beth and Nelson Mandela. He was also skilled at align- acumen, there exist many examples of his restrained, ing the monastery with the Communist Party. He made even naïve, approach to commerce. Shaolin’s most no- the case that Shaolin was not a religious threat but the torious project was a $300m temple-and-hotel com- government’s humble servant, promoting Chinese plex in Australia, including a 27-hole golf course. Mr culture. From 1998 to 2018 he was a deputy to the Na- Shi had thought the temple would bring Shaolin more tional People’s Congress, the first representative of followers. Instead, the golf plans—pushed, the abbot China’s Buddhists in the rubber-stamp legislature. says, by local partners—brought scorn. Moreover, Yet trouble was brewing. Dengfeng county officials Shaolin never had the money to complete the project. wanted greater economic dividends from Shaolin. In It lent its name and seed funds, trusting its partners to 2009 they formed a joint venture with China National raise the rest. Construction has yet to start. Travel Service (cnts), a big state-owned company. There is money to be made in all the kung fu schools Dengfeng would inject its share of Shaolin ticket rev- near Shaolin. One has more than 30,000 students. But enues into the venture; cnts would invest in local tou- Shaolin has no involvement in the big schools. They rism infrastructure. Pointedly, the abbot did not show offer no Buddhism instruction and their graduates go up at the company’s inauguration ceremony. Word on to serve in the armed forces or as bodyguards. Some soon spread that Shaolin wanted to list on the stock- members of the much smaller Shaolin fighting troupe market, raising as much as 1bn yuan ($150m). Media re- have left to found their own schools. Mr Shi has limited ported it as another extravagant example of the abbot’s sway over them. Occasionally he asks for donations— worship of mammon. There was just one problem: he more supplicant than master. was adamantly opposed, fearing it would make Shao- cnts put its stake up for sale in October. It has lost lin a for-profit business. He asked questions that money on Shaolin this year, with tourism hurt by the reached Beijing. Wen Jiabao, then China’s prime min- pandemic. But a dearth of bidders so far points to a ister, quashed the listing, saying it would harm Shao- deeper reason for the sale: the abbot has outmanoeu- lin’s identity. vred the investors. He has also read the changing polit- The Dengfeng officials were furious. They saw Mr ical winds in Xi Jinping’s China. In 2018, for the first Shi as “a monk who won’t obey authority”, according to time in its history, monks raised the national flag over one intermediary. They started building a rival temple, Shaolin. At the ceremony Mr Shi pledged to do more to to lessen their reliance on Shaolin. In May 2015 nation- fuse Buddhism and , a message per- al authorities halted the project over concerns that it fectly aligned with Mr Xi’s prescriptions for religion. might damage the area’s cultural heritage. Local media At lunch the monks gather in a hall, sitting in neat reported that it was the abbot who had again foiled the rows. Mr Shi is alone on a raised platform, with a paint- plans, though he denied that. Three months later, sala- For Mr Shi the ing of a lion, jaws agape, on the wall behind him. For a cious accusations surfaced online. They were posted second or two he looks fearsome. Then young monks by “Shi Zhengyi”, a self-described Shaolin monk whose logic was— come by with pots of rice and vegetable stew, slopping pseudonym meant “justice”. He accused the abbot of and remains— some into his bowl. Head down, he eats silently and raping a businesswoman, having two children and em- undeniable. quickly. In the afternoon a line-up of locals want to see bezzling millions. “This is how him, to discuss personal problems and matters of The Henan government investigated Mr Shi but in faith. Some bring sweet potatoes as gifts; others apples 2017 exonerated him of all the main accusations. Evi- to make or tea. Visitor numbers may be down, but those enter- dence in the public domain had always been thin. Pa- Buddhism ing the monastery are, the abbot says, more serious ternity tests revealed that neither child was Mr Shi’s. relevant” about their Buddhism. “This is what we want to see.” *