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The ministry would conduct appraisals to assess the qualifications of those working in the "culture industry," the report said. The purpose of the appraisal is to raise the standard of those working in this field, and to be sure they meet the criteria required to "build an advanced socialist culture."
The policy may appear high-minded at first glance, but a second look reveals its ambiguity. Who exactly are the jobholders working in the cultural professions? There are over 30 such professions -- film and TV actors, singers, dancers, instrumentalists, cultural relic appraisers, and many others. The move has lumped all kinds of artists -- though it's not yet clear whether writers are included -- into a category as "jobholders of cultural professions," which poses a question in my mind. I can understand that teachers need qualification certificates, doctors need them, and so do accountants and cultural relic appraisers, but I cannot understand why artists absolutely require qualification certificates.
In my opinion, qualification certificates should be demanded for those jobs that involve highly specialized skills and require strict training. However, the performing arts don't belong to this group. For instance, I have heard that many hotel and restaurant waitresses in Inner Mongolia sing beautifully. Their singing has a simple and original charm that professional singers cannot match. But I'm sure they haven't even elementary training in music. If they are stopped from entering the singing profession, it is highly questionable whether this will benefit or harm the development of the arts in China.
In fact, a lack of specialized knowledge of music, which often means written theory, will not affect a person's grasp of art. Take the young ladies in Inner Mongolia for example. They always hear herdsmen sing, and singing is part of their lives. They possess a simple and original beauty which cannot be found among professional singers. So why would we want to deny them the opportunity to work as singers, even to become great artists?
Words like "standardized," "unified," "organized" and "planned" keep appearing in the guidelines to be implemented. For example, there will be a national database for exam questions, nationally approved textbooks, and "unified" standards, exam papers, test services and certificates.
In addition, there is the requirement that cultural programs be "well organized, focused, planned and staged." Aren't these mechanical principles contradictory to the individualized, varied and free nature of the artistic professions? Besides, such a "unified" and "planned" tone will remind people of the arts management policy during the period of the planned economy. The only difference is that today's policy aims to "ensure professional quality" rather than "ensure political consciousness."
An official from the Ministry of Culture explained that the new rules are necessary in order to "cool down the various commercially oriented programs in society."
We can see that the ministry hopes to restrain commercial cultural activities through administrative control. I don't really approve of this. Commercial cultural activities should not violate the bottom line of legal and moral standards, should not be illegal (by evading taxes, for example), and should not violate basic ethics or harm the public interest (by depicting excessive sex and violence, for example). But they do not have to be of high artistic standard either -- although there might be some high-standard programs among commercial cultural activities, it should not be a requirement. There should be special channels for the production of high-quality artistic performances.
Honestly speaking, I suspect the only beneficiary of the qualification certificate program will be the government department in charge of administering exams and granting certificates. Its officials may be able to expand their power and increase their income by doing this job.
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(Tao Dongfeng is a professor in the Chinese Department of Capital Normal University in Beijing. He is also editor-in-chief of the scholarly periodical "Culture Research." This article is translated and edited from the Chinese. @Copyright Tao Dongfeng.)
