"China Radio and Television Journal" published an article signed by Zhang Huali: Guide the mainstream new media group forward with the light of thought

The November 2023 issue of the China Radio and Television Journal, which is supervised by the State Administration of Radio and Television and sponsored by the China Federation of Radio and Television Social Organizations, published an article signed by Zhang Huali, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Group (Taiwan), "Guiding the Mainstream New Media Group Forward with the Light of Thought", which is now forwarded in full as follows:

Guided by the light of thought

Mainstream new media groups are moving forward

From October 7 to 8, 2023, the National Conference on Propaganda, Ideology and Culture was held in Beijing. The most important achievement of this meeting was the formal proposal and systematic interpretation of Xi Jinping's cultural thought, which was a milestone in the history of the development of the party's propaganda, ideological and cultural undertakings. Xi Jinping's cultural thought is a condensed summary of cultural self-confidence, a powerful ideological weapon and a guide to scientific action for national rejuvenation, and contains great power of truth, practice and personality.

Tracing back to its origins, Xi Jinping's cultural thought comes from Marxism, Mao Zedong Thought and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, from the excellent traditional Chinese culture, from the practice of cultural construction, and from thinking about where China is going. All epoch-making theories are products that meet the needs of the times. Since the new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward a series of new ideas, new viewpoints and new theses around propaganda, ideological and cultural work: put forward strengthening cultural self-confidence and incorporating it into the "four self-confidence" of socialism with Chinese characteristics; incorporating adherence to the socialist core value system into the basic strategy of adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era; focusing on the new situation, new tasks and new requirements, clearly publicizing ideological and cultural work "raising the banner, gathering the hearts of the people, educating new people, revitalizing culture, and displaying the image" The mission and task of putting forward the major thesis of "two combinations", especially "second combinations". These major theoretical innovations have not only been inherited in the same line, but also deepened and extended, enriched and developed Marxist cultural theory, constituted a cultural chapter of Xi Jinping's socialist thought with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and formed Xi's cultural thought.

In the new era and new journey, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered a critical period, and strategic opportunities and risks and challenges coexist. In order to answer the question of the times of "building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation", Xi Jinping Cultural Thought has given ideas, methods and action guidelines, guiding us to better fulfill the duties and missions of the party media, do a good job in propaganda, ideological and cultural work, build a mainstream new media group, and undertake a new cultural mission in the new era.

One

Create a new brilliance of culture,

To be an innovator and disseminator of excellent Chinese culture

Culture is the sum total of all human creations. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out many times that culture is related to the country's foundation and national fortune. Propaganda, ideological, and cultural work has a bearing on the future and destiny of the party, on the long-term peace and stability of the country, and on the cohesion and centripetal force of the nation. The new cultural mission in the new era is to continue to promote cultural prosperity, build a cultural power, and build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation at a new historical starting point. As propaganda, ideological and cultural workers, what kind of modern civilization of the Chinese nation should we build? How should we build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation? Judging from the characteristics of the Hunan radio and television brand and the basic positioning of content products, we can practice Xi Jinping's cultural thinking from at least four dimensions.

(1) Excavate the connotation of Huxiang culture in the new era

Since the "Zhu Zhang Hui Lecture" 900 years ago, Song and Ming Dynasty science, as an important representative of Huxiang culture, has always advocated the ideas of applying the world, worrying about the world, daring to be the first, and seeking truth from facts in the long history and culture. At the critical juncture of the Chinese nation, Huxiang culture also burst out of the turbulent waves of "no Hunan can not be an army". However, Huxiang culture also has a conservative and decadent side, with circle culture and mountaineering. Entering the new era, the general secretary gave Huxiang culture more connotation and expanded its extension, especially emphasizing that Yuelu Academy is an important source of our party's ideological line of seeking truth from facts. The essence of Huxiang culture is not a regional culture, but an important form of Chinese culture in modern times, an important form of mainstream culture, and the inheritance of the "Taoism" in the core of Chinese culture. Huxiang culture has always been the pioneer of bravely standing at the forefront of the tide. As a Hunan media, we combine the root of the excellent traditional Chinese culture and the soul of the core values of socialism with the Huxiang culture, criticize, absorb, create and transform in the inheritance, carry forward the spirit of daring to innovate, open the vision of the world, demonstrate the open and inclusive mind, and continue to inherit the Huxiang cultural context in the new era.

Yuelu Academy is the symbol of Huxiang culture. In 2021, on the occasion of the first anniversary of General Secretary Xi Jinping's visit to Yuelu Academy, we launched the documentary "Yuelu Academy" to advance its context to a new era, highlighting the spiritual character of Huxiang culture such as daring to be the first and seeking truth from facts. The first TV theory film "When Marx Meets Confucius", which systematically promotes and explains the "second combination", uses a dramatic structure to let two thousand-year-old thinkers meet in the virtual Yuelu Academy, which uses the past for the present and innovates, opening up innovative space for the interpretation and dissemination of Xi Jinping's cultural thoughts, with more than 1 billion readers on the whole network.

This year is the 130th anniversary of Comrade Mao Zedong's birth, as Chairman Mao's hometown media, Hunan Radio and Television has created the TV series "Ask the Boundless", the documentary "People's Leader Mao Zedong" and a series of 130 short videos, integrating the revolutionary story into the contemporary communication context, rejuvenating the strong spiritual appeal and artistic appeal of the revolutionary historical theme, so that the enthusiastic youth and revolutionary ideals will shine on the screen, and will land on the big and small screens in December.

Committed to telling the story of Hunan people, Hunan scenery and Hunan cuisine. For two consecutive years, we have hosted the opening ceremony of the Hunan Provincial Tourism Development Conference, shining the cultural tourism brand of "Three Hunan and Four Waters, Meet in Hunan" with cultural and plastic tourism, preparing to shoot a documentary on urban cultural tourism, "Shen Congwen and Xiangxi" outlines the unique cultural charm of Xiangxi, "Where I Am Born and Raised Me" shows the deep roots of Hunan culture, and the documentary "Hunan Cuisine of Aojiao" and the cultural tourism light variety show "Go to Hunan as a Taste Place" show the red and spicy food culture of Hunan Province. Next, Hunan Radio and Television will make good use of Hunan's cultural relics resources to create a cultural drama short variety "Friendship of All Things" and the cartoon "Talking about National Treasures", etc., with ubiquitous innovation, continue the Chinese cultural context, show Huxiang culture, and lead the audience to further strengthen historical and cultural self-confidence.

(2) Carry forward the youth culture of youth and progress

To do propaganda and ideological work is to be a human being, and to cast the soul with cultural people and bacon. The main audience of Hunan Satellite TV and Mango TV is young people, and we have always been striving to be the leader of youth culture and the shaper of the national spirit in the new era. Since 2021, Hunan Satellite TV's call sign has been upgraded from "Happy China" to "Youth China", which reflects this clear direction - we must not only be friends with young people, but also guide them to establish correct values.

The cultural needs of contemporary young people are quietly changing, they are by no means only the generation that pursues brainless pleasure and superficial pleasure, their desire for knowledge, cultural taste, and aesthetic taste are becoming more diverse and rich. A genre drama about the inheritance of traditional Chinese medicine "Hou Lang" is highly sought after by young people on platforms such as Mango TV, and a short drama "Escape from the British Museum" filmed by a self-media blogger has more than 2 billion views. As the mainstream media, we must keenly grasp the changes in young people's cultural needs, pay attention to the expression and shaping of youth culture, lead, educate and communicate with young people, deeply explore new fields of literary and artistic creation such as culture, national customs, traditions, and emerging professions, provide more valuable, more nutritious, and more popular spiritual and cultural products for young people, expand the territory for mainstream youth culture, and release the emotional temperature of youth and mainstream culture.

To this end, we have created an annual theme creation mechanism around the "great man of the country". Since 2020, it has led more than 50 main theme works with the theme of "one theme a year" to drive news and literary creation, from the "Poverty Alleviation Trilogy" and "Symphony to Celebrate the Centenary of the Founding of the Party", to the "Striving for a New Era" and "Writing a New Chapter on the New Journey". The third season of "China", which is being broadcast on Hunan Satellite TV and Mango TV, is one of them, with more than 60 young painters painting more than 1,000 Chinese paintings, using the "animation + CG" model that young people love, opening up the imagination space of ancient civilizations, combining traditional Chinese aesthetics with modern video art innovation, and forming effective communication with young people, with 2.6 billion exposures on the whole network, and nearly 20% of the "post-00" viewers on TV. The three seasons of "China" outline a concise outline of China's history in a freehand way, and on this basis, the "China" theme exhibition of "Painting + Image + Installation Art" planned by us at the end of October will start a journey of cultural self-confidence and patriotic education for the public, especially young people.

(3) Cultivate a healthy, sunny and robust pop culture

General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that it is necessary to focus on building a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership, and strive to cultivate and practice the core values of socialism. After 40 years of reform and opening up, the great river has gone east, and it is not what it used to be. Once upon a time, Western values and aesthetic systems profoundly influenced Chinese pop culture, chasing and imitating Western models and content became a trend, and star-only, decadent, gray, and marginal cultures also quietly appeared. In the face of unprecedented challenges, as Chinese media professionals with a sense of mission, we shoulder a great historical responsibility in content innovation. It is necessary to be a keen catcher of the cultural trend of the new era, have a deep insight into the changes of the times, understand social emotions, conduct independent thinking, form independent judgments, not be coerced by business, have dreams in their hearts, go to the chaff, sweep the sand, and sublimate and embed social values, cultural character, and the spirit of the times into literary and artistic works. It is necessary to be the standard builder of the cultural trend of the new era, open up content standards that are different from Western values and aesthetic systems, focus on the content direction of de-staring, comedy, strong dramatic conflict, and national character to think, stir, and innovate, and create literary and artistic programs with a distinctive Chinese spiritual temperament, reaching the gentlest point of human nature, standing the test of time, and being accepted by most people, leading the new trend of Chinese style, Chinese style, and Chinese aesthetics, and ushering in a new era of Chinese literature and art.

The inflection point in content creation is coming, and we have entered a new cycle of blockbuster hits. Starting from the cognition of pop culture, Hunan Radio and Television has created a variety show theme creation mechanism, a series of variety shows and even all-star programs, promoting mainstream values, and making pop culture shape on the road of integrity and innovation. "Riding the Wind 2023" opens up the "world map" of women's struggle with Chinese cultural confidence, and has been promoted by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin and more than 600 international media. The Vietnamese version was simultaneously broadcast on Vietnam's national TV VTV3 and Mango TV at the end of October this year, and the program was broadcast 100 million on social media during the warm-up period, and was rated as "the most anticipated variety show in 2023" by Vietnamese media.

In the spring and summer of this year, Hunan Radio and Television launched "The Sound of Life: Treasure Island Season", singing excellent Taiwanese music works with aesthetic value and the heritage of the times, so that the "Hualiu" craze has been passed on in classics and innovation, and the program has been played 9.67 billion times on the whole platform, and Taiwanese netizens said, "Beautiful memories can never be erased". Next, we will create a "China Season", inviting singers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to reinterpret the popular Chinese music from the 20s of the last century to the present, re-take the road of the rise of a great power with the changes of Chinese music, answer "why China" with singing, awaken the centripetal force of all Chinese people, and build a solid cultural barrier against the erosion of various risks in the turmoil of world thought.

(4) Use scientific and technological means to lead video culture

To make traditional culture "come alive", it is inseparable from the ever-changing scientific and technological means. The existing experience tells us that "Chinese values + technology" is the only way to create a video culture that leads the times. In recent years, relying on the Key Laboratory of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for 5G high-tech video multi-scene application, more than 2,000 technical R&D personnel have gone all out to successfully develop new technologies such as spatiotemporal condensation, high dynamic range image, AI reality augmentation system, virtual digital human "Xiaoyang", and Guangguang cloud production and broadcasting system, which are widely used in program production and innovate video art expression, so that the audience can experience the charm of culture between the virtual and the real, between the ancient and the modern, and perceive the thousands of atmospheres of China's excellent traditional culture. For example, "Endless Voice: Treasure Island Season" staged "real-time cross-screen interaction" and "air duet", using technology to make music programs glow with the brilliance of the times; "All Acceleration 2023" fully combines real-life reality shows with virtual space and digital intelligent people, and explores 5G+VR+4K live broadcast and other presentation forms, which are popular with young audiences; the third season of "China" chooses the innovative image presentation method of "painting + CG" to present a pioneering attempt of "thought + art + technology" for the audience; "When Marx Meets Confucius" opens up"Creative short films", "ancient and modern dialogues", "virtual reality" and other novel expressions to achieve the popularization of the party's innovative theories. Creativity and technology dance together, avant-garde and art blend, culture and technology achieve two-way empowerment.

Two

occupy the main cultural front,

To be a pioneer and promoter of deep media integration

The Internet has become the main battlefield in the struggle of public opinion. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that efforts should be made to strengthen the party's leadership over propaganda, ideological and cultural work, and strive to enhance the dissemination of news and public opinion, guidance, influence, and credibility. General Secretary Xi Jinping also stressed: "The Internet is the main front of propaganda and ideological work at present. If we don't occupy this position, others will occupy it. "If you can't get past the Internet, you won't be able to stay in power for a long time."

At present, radio and television media are facing four contradictions: higher and higher requirements for propaganda work and loss of user audiences, excess media channels and rigid solidification of institutional mechanisms, high cost of innovation in long video creation and bottlenecks and declining revenue realization, and outdated traditional radio and television technology and iterative upgrading of digital technology. Whether it is from the central government's requirements for party media, or the radio and television media to solve their own development problems, it is urgent for the main force to advance into the main position of the Internet and have the courage to control the new media.

(1) Deep integration to form a mainstream new media group

Hunan Radio and Television is the party media that entered the main battlefield of the Internet earlier. Ten years ago, in accordance with the media integration blueprint planned by General Secretary Xi Jinping, we integrated development, focusing on me, and mobilized the strength of the whole Taiwan to open Mango TV, forming an all-media development pattern of "one cloud, multiple screens, two wings flying together" of Hunan Satellite TV and Mango TV. In this process, we also found that the difficulty of media integration is not in the physical sense of the media "1+1", but the deep integration of contemporary communication concepts and communication consciousness. Three years ago, Hunan Radio and Television accelerated the development of deep media integration, took the lead in the country to propose "building a mainstream new media group", promoted the comprehensive transfer of core competitiveness to new media, and actively carried out the exploration of local classification of the construction of new mainstream media, in order to create more party-controlled self-owned new media platforms and occupy the main battlefield of the Internet.

After three years of practice, the general appearance of Hunan Radio and Television Mainstream New Media Group has basically taken shape. Hunan Satellite TV has completed the Internetization and continues to maintain the first place in provincial satellite TV, covering a global population of 1.9 billion. Mango TV ranks among the top three in the long video industry, making a profit for six consecutive years, with 60 million effective members at the end of 2022, making it the largest state-owned new media platform with the largest number of party-controlled users. Mango TV has 130 million downloads, covering 195 countries and regions around the world. Hunan Satellite TV, Mango TV, and Hunan International Channel have established 192 related accounts on major international online social platforms, with 20 million fans, and have the No. 1 Chinese account on Facebook and YouTube. Xiaomang e-commerce, which was launched on New Year's Day in 2021, locked in the positioning of trendy domestic products, and ran through the content e-commerce path in two years, with a user scale of 140 million. Fengmang App is a short video platform created by Hunan Radio and Television, with 21 million downloads at present, and has been selected into the national radio and television new media matrix. The 5G smart radio uses AIGC technology to generate a radio station in 5 minutes, realize audio content distribution innovation, serve more than 1,000 county-level radio stations across the country, and deliver the party's voice to the fields. This mainstream new media matrix constructed by long video, short video, content e-commerce, and audio has effectively expanded the territory of the mainstream public opinion position, making the Internet, the biggest variable, the largest increment in the development of our career, and the "mango model" of media integration has been rated as a typical case of national radio and television media integration.

(2) "+N" exploration and promotion of the integration of the five items

At present, Hunan Radio and Television is locking in the five major integration tasks, promoting the continuous development of media integration, and deriving the "five integration equations", namely "Satellite TV + TV+N", "News Plate + Fengmang + N", "TV and Radio Media + Hunan Economic Television + N", "Xiaomang E-commerce + Advertising + N", "5G Lab + Media + N". The specific methods are: Hunan Satellite TV, Mango TV's dual platforms have the same goal, strengthen assessment, and accelerate the in-depth integration of subdivided fields; Fengmang actively sets foot in the digital virtual human track of the short video platform to create exclusive advantages and core competitiveness, and realize the self-hematopoietic function of the platform; Xiaomang e-commerce firmly does a good job in the basic market of domestic products, establishes a growth mechanism for explosive products, explores IP monetization methods, and promotes the introduction of external strategic investors; 5G Key Laboratory completes the application of the national key laboratory to promote the digital transformation of the group; TV and radio media builds a Mango cultural tourism product cluster and advances the national cultural tourism brand。 At the same time, "+N" will be the third most important channel for the value release of new media platforms, driving the overall transformation of other traditional businesses and traditional media.

Three

Brave into new fields of culture,

To be a practitioner and explorer of the prosperous cultural industry

General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that efforts should be made to promote the prosperity and development of cultural undertakings and cultural industries. Three years ago, when General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park where Hunan Radio and Television is located, he pointed out: "The integration of culture and science and technology has not only given birth to new cultural formats, extended the cultural industry chain, but also gathered a large number of innovative talents, which is a sunrise industry with great prospects." ”

After 40 years of reform and development, Hunan Radio and Television has explored a way for party media and state-owned enterprises to expand the cultural industry and achieve double-effect unification. In the 90s of the last century, Hunan Radio and Television took the lead in putting forward the strategic concept of "big broadcasting, big TV, big propaganda, and big industry" in the country, breaking through the rigidity of the system and the dilemma of innovation. In 1999, the "first stock of China's media" TV and radio media was listed. In 2018, Mango Supermedia became the largest Internet company in the A-share market by market capitalization. Now, Hunan Radio and Television firmly implements the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government tailor-made for it "one party committee, two institutions, integrated operation" institutional arrangement, not only to do a good job in the main responsibility of mainstream propaganda, but also to develop and expand the cultural industry, the use of Hunan Radio and Television's Internet media production system and industrial layout, to promote the transformation of traditional media and terrestrial channels, the use of dual platforms, the power of listed companies to support the mango ecology, increase the extension and control of the upstream and downstream ecological chain of the industry, so that the mango industry ecosystem is interdependent and interactive symbiosis.

(1) To optimize the two listed companies and lift the industrial layout

Hunan Radio and Television has given full play to the role of the capital engine of listed companies, established a capital service chain covering from front-end content incubation to back-end investment integration, with good economic benefits, diversified income structure, and continuous enhancement of anti-risk ability. At present, more than 80% of Hunan Radio and Television's revenue and profits come from new media and listed companies.

With the support of the high-quality content ecosystem, Mango Supermedia's revenue from effective membership, operator business and e-commerce business has reached new highs. On October 24 this year, Mango Supermedia acquired Golden Eagle Cartoon in cash, which not only greatly enriched the high-quality cultural supply of Mango TV's parent-child children's channel, but also explored a path for media assets to be further expanded, strengthened and optimized through capital operation, further amplifying the ecological value of Mango.

Television and radio media implements the strategy of "new cultural tourism + big asset management", and explores the "mango plan" for the deep integration of "capital + media + cultural tourism" with the support of Hunan Radio and Television IP. The "Sanxiang Starlight Action" was launched, and 7 projects were implemented in 6 cities and prefectures in Hunan, of which 5 projects were launched, and the "Mango City" 5A scenic spot with Colorful Box, Mango Future Art Center and Mango Art Museum as the core is being fully built, and a series of parent-child parks built by Golden Eagle Cartoon's Maika Park are also in full swing. In terms of "large asset management", the total scale of the fund managed by Dachen Caizhi has reached 50 billion yuan, 730 investment enterprises and 142 IPO listings, continuously extending the tentacles of mango ecological investment.

(2) Cultivate new formats and new tracks, and complete the closed loop of the industry

In order to complete the closed loop of Mango IP business and aim at the new track, on New Year's Day 2021, Hunan Radio and Television launched a trendy domestic product platform - Xiaomang E-commerce, with 140 million downloads at present, completing the first round of financing, becoming the most commercially valuable new platform of Hunan Radio and Television. The growth path of Xiaomang e-commerce is to rely on high-quality IP and artists to create products, realize the effective transformation of program content, scenes and products, build a closed loop of long video business, broaden the monetization ability of long video, and provide the possibility of feeding back the main business with better economic benefits. This year, Xiaomang E-commerce launched a new round of investment and financing work for the capital market, anchoring the goal of breaking 10 billion GMV in 2023 and bravely climbing towards the goal of breaking 100 billion.

Hunan Radio and Television is planning to cultivate a number of "small and beautiful" companies with development potential and a promising future. Innovative Entertainment "Mango MCN" is a short video content creation company transformed from a traditional terrestrial channel, and after four years of development, it has ranked among the top 10 in the market, and has been ranked first in the media MCN on the Douyin platform for 48 consecutive months. In the future, we will make strategic investment in incubation and plan to build "Mango MCN" into the largest short video media content company on the whole network in three years.

The blueprint is drawn and the trumpet is sounded. The new era and new cultural mission are calling, and along the guidance of Xi Jinping's cultural thought, Hunan Radio and Television will embark on a new journey of building a cultural power with the magnificent cultural power of "bacon casting the soul", the firm cultural self-confidence of "continuing the cultural context", and the high cultural consciousness of "knowing the body and reaching the use", and make greater contributions to the prosperity of socialist culture and the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation with the new atmosphere and new deeds of building a mainstream new media group.

Producer/Ren Shuai

Editor-in-Chief / Chen Weichun

Editor/Li Leilei, Yang Yuqi

Source/Hunan Radio and Television Office