Luo Qirui and Ni Kuang passed away successively, Hong Kong needs a cultural back wave

The famous director Luo Qirui and the literary giant Ni Kuang passed away on Saturday (2nd) and Sunday (3rd) successively. Many people in the cultural circle recalled the moments of their lives, and local and overseas Chinese borrowed their films and novels to cherish the memory.

The newly established Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the government expressed deep regret over the death of Ni Kuang, and Director Yang Runxiong deeply regretted the passing of Luo Qirui.

Their contributions to Hong Kong’s society and culture are beyond doubt. Many people lament that after Ni Kuang, it will be difficult to have Chinese writers of the same level. The government, while deploring, must think about how to more comprehensively support local cultural workers so that they can be fully Passionately devoted to cultural creation, to strengthen Hong Kong's cultural industry.

Ni Kuang's fame can be called legendary. He graduated from junior high school with no orthodox scientific knowledge, but later "Blue Blood Man", "Magic Magnetic", "Old Cat", "Wesley" and other science fiction novels, created one after another. In the realm of contemporary Chinese literature, even the films in which he wrote the scripts are popular at home and abroad.

Writing gradually brought him a huge income and fame, and he was able to write full-time, and later became as famous as Jin Yong, Huang Fei and Cai Lan.

Relying on words to gain both fame and fortune is difficult to reproduce today

Compared with Ni Kuang's time, the threshold for local writing is much lower now. Most people can publish novels and essays through the Internet, but it seems very difficult to write full-time like Ni Kuang.

Local living expenses are high, and manuscript fees are limited. Aspirants either have a full-time job, or they live hard and frugally until they become famous.

In the past, the industry and the government focused on competitions for published works and author recognition, but seldom subsidized full-time creations before publication.

The question is, to become famous requires both writing skills and the right time, place and people. How much can you pay for these costs?

In the past, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council subsidized the operation of local writers and literary groups.

Compared with the "Ministry of Culture Youth Creation Award" launched by the Ministry of Culture in Taiwan in 2017, the maximum annual subsidy amount is NT$420,000, which is similar to that of Hong Kong, but better than Hong Kong in terms of living standards.

It was not until the year before last that the government's "Create Hong Kong" set up the first "Start-up Writers' Publishing Funding Scheme", and the second application was completed in May this year. Each project was funded to publish 500,000 yuan.

The famous writer Ni Kuang was a guest at the 2019 Hong Kong Book Fair earlier.

(file picture)

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Film Industry Shrinks, Government Support Still Inadequate

Compared with literary creation, film production is more expensive.

In the past, the Hong Kong film industry was prosperous, and it was of course easy and lavish to ask investors to invest. However, with the rise and fall of the local film industry in the late 1990s, the industry fell into a vicious circle, that is, the amount of private investment in films decreased, and the output and audience of theaters and Hong Kong-produced films decreased. , industry personnel transfer to the mainland for development or simply leave the industry.

Luo Qirui started the filming of "The Thief of the Years", which was purely based on local themes and purely local production teams.

After active efforts by the industry, the government increased its support for film production. For example, the Film Development Fund was established in 1999, and the "First Feature Film Project" was launched in 2013 to discover and cultivate potential film production talents. The production fee of 10,000 yuan is financed by the Film Development Fund.

In response to the new crown epidemic and the decline in production volume the year before last, the government launched the "Passing on Fire Program", "Script Incubation Program", "Hong Kong Film Directors Guild Professional Training Program", and issued financing to successful applicants for the "Film Production Financing Scheme" in advance. Wait.

Such financing and subsidy programs cannot be said to be useless, but industry representatives believe that it is a drop in the bucket. For example, Tian Qiwen, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Film Workers Association, believes that it is "a little bit of an itch". It is difficult to take into account the low proportion of government financing and the requirement for films to have commercial value.

In fact, as for the nearly 15 years since the implementation of the financing plan, the 40 films that have been produced, the total approved financing amount is only 121 million yuan, which is equivalent to the Hong Kong box office of three western films in one year.

As for the first feature film plan, from 2013 to 2020, there are only two to five films on the list each year. It is hard to say that the government supports an increase in film production.

Even if filming can begin, many movies - including "The Thief of the Years" - rely on the "friendship price" of the actor's remuneration to keep costs down, and the behind-the-scenes remuneration such as screenwriters is even more limited.

Under several rounds of the epidemic, even with funding, film production units could not be able to shoot stably, which hit the new group especially hard. Many behind-the-scenes workers also said they had changed jobs in security, takeaway and other industries during interviews. The schedule missed the budget.

The film industry should be encouraged to help each other to produce films, but the team has to rely on salary reductions for a long time to operate without compensation, and it does not seem to be beneficial to the industry.

Zhang Wanting, Luo Qirui (photo by Leung Biling)

To become a Sino-foreign cultural exchange center, the government should not only focus on West Kowloon

The newly established Cultural Affairs Bureau expressed regret over the passing of Ni and Luo.

In addition to regret, the bureau and even the government should try their best to inherit the contributions of the two. The answer is obviously to strengthen and step up the cultivation of backward people, so that more writers and filmmakers can devote themselves to their aspirations.

The government should not only increase funding for nurturing new entrants in the industry, but also organize cultural exchange activities in series with official or non-governmental Chinese-language groups from across the Taiwan Strait, as well as other places, so that they can be known to more people and help them find career opportunities.

From a macro perspective, governments around the world also focus on soft power, using popular popular culture for local marketing, driving up the economy, improving the image of the outside world and increasing the sense of identity and belonging of the people inside. It also clearly supports Hong Kong as a cultural and artistic exchange center between China and foreign countries. The Hong Kong government's emphasis on literature and film is also a national goal.

Now that the Hong Kong government has invested heavily in the West Kowloon Cultural District, which focuses on arts and performances, it must also pay equal attention to the literature and film and television sectors in order to be worthy of the workers who are still struggling to survive under the epidemic.

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