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Banning costly galas a wise move
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WHEN I watched Celine Dion sing her most popular song, “My Heart Will Go On,” at this year’s CCTV Spring Festival Gala, I recalled her best early days when many young’s hearts were broken with her 1998 hit “Titanic.”
But I was astonished to learn that she might receive a huge sum of money in China for her several-minute presence, which the TV managers refused to disclose, citing “commercial secrets.”
Gone are the golden days when galas were celebrities’ gold mines — a ban on luxury galas was issued on Tuesday by China’s publication and finance authorities. The ban is a clear answer to the people’s long-standing complaints about such shallow, money-consuming visual feasts.
China is widely believed to be the country that has the most gala shows. During this Spring Festival, there were at least 20 local TV galas in addition to the major CCTV gala, and each looked as though it had cost millions of yuan. And more have mushroomed across the nation in recent years in the name of all kinds of festivals, anniversaries, and opening ceremonies.
Some argue that most galas are commercial activities sponsored by enterprises, so there is no blame, no matter how much they cost.
Such self-justification is nonsense. Enterprises do have the right to decide how to spend for profits or publicity, but they also have responsibilities to society. Only those who establish images of honesty and responsibility will gain consumers’ trust.
Please don’t forget that in China there are still 128 million people living under the poverty line on 6.3 yuan a day.
At the beginning of this year, a developer in Fuping County in Shaanxi Province — who owed migrant workers back wages of around 49 million yuan — was exposed to have invited Hong Kong star Cecilia Cheung to show up for eight minutes at an opening ceremony. Her pay: 1.3 million yuan.
Furthermore, the gala shows with “silver and gold plating” is anti-green, because they need millions of yuan for stage properties, costumes, lights and LEDs that are ususally used only once. Such a big waste of resources is to be condemned when environmental protection is urgent in China.
What’s worse, public funds can be traced to luxury shows, even in some poor areas. In May 2012, Fuyuan County of Yunnan Province, one of China’s poorest counties, spent millions of yuan to invite stars to a culture festival. In 2011, Yunxi County in Hubei Province, another poor area, spent millions of yuan to invite TV anchors, singers and actors to promote a tourism festival.
The luxury galas create a bigger economic burden than development opportunities. The ban is a timely warning about what helps and what doesn’t.
The author is an independent writer. The opinion expressed is his own.
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