Interview with Chinese Culture Li Ruigang: Can China create its own Hollywood industry?

Can China create its own Hollywood industry? Will the Super League become a football event as valuable as the Premier League? In Davos, Switzerland, Li Ruigang, known as "Uncle Li", told reporters about the thoughts behind cultural investment and technological innovation. Of course, this time, he still appeared in places visited by national leaders.

Original title Interview with Li Ruigang of Chinese Culture: Li Ruigang is often the

place where Hollywood leaders of China visit who are eager for quick success and instant benefit. The chairman of the Chinese Culture Board is China's most capable investor in the field of culture and entertainment. At the end of 2016, there were media who listed him as the "King of Content" in the Person of the Year.

Li Ruigang really deserves such a title. In the past year, Chinese Culture has teamed up with IMAX and IMAX China to establish the China Film Fund, invested in sports data service company Rubik Yuan, and invested in Short Video community Fast Hand, women's idol group SHN48, and American technology company NextVR, becoming the largest shareholder of Shaw Brothers and TVB, and serving as chairman and non-executive director of TVB's board of directors.

Earlier, during the visit of the President of China to the UK, he joined hands with CITIC to spend US$400 million to invest in the operating company behind the Premier League giants, Urban Football Group. It jointly funded the establishment of "Flagship Pictures" with Warner Bros., the largest film company in Hollywood in the United States, accounting for 51% of the shares. Its sports Olympic Sports Power Company bought the copyright of the Chinese Super League for 5 billion yuan. Li Ruigang personally became a China football executive committee at the end of 2015.

In a report in the "China Entertainment Special Issue" of the Hollywood Reporter in the United States, Li Ruigang stood together with Wang Jianlin, Ma Yun, and Ma Huateng, becoming the most charismatic protagonists of China's future entertainment.

In fact, if you look at the investment landscape of Chinese culture, from movies, television, sports, technology and data, younger communities, news and information, theme parks, etc., the cultural and entertainment lives of young China consumers in the future will be a large part of them. It will be created by the company invested by Li Ruigang.

Can China create its own Hollywood industry? Will the Super League become a football event as valuable as the Premier League?

In Davos, Switzerland, Li Ruigang, known as "Uncle Li", told reporters about the thoughts behind cultural investment and technological innovation. Of course, this time, he still appeared in places visited by national leaders.

Reporter: President Xi's speech at Davos this year was interrupted many times by applause. How did you feel at the venue?

Li Ruigang: President Xi's speech was very wonderful. He said that as a big country, China has its own responsibilities as a big country in the process of globalization, which is its own historical responsibility. However, the current globalization process has also encountered some resistance. It may be that some major countries have not shouldered their due responsibilities. For example, trade protection and some recent arguments may all run counter to what President Xi said today. Therefore, today President Xi's speech was welcomed at the scene because it was in line with the aspirations of most countries. Today, China stands up and advocates, which is of significance to the further development of the globalization process.

Reporter: The most important theme in Davos this year is globalization, and many topics focus on China. The previous investment of Chinese culture in Manchester's parent company is actually an example. What did you think about it at that time?

Li Ruigang: At that time, investing in City Football Group was first of all an investment in the financial sense. We had a very in-depth analysis of the entire business and finance of City Group. Secondly, there are business to strategic considerations. For example, the urban football team, Manchester City's operation and management party, has a lot of experience in team management and youth training system, which is also useful for China football.

Reporter: China football is currently booming. Is it possible to become as commercial as the Premier League in the future? What homework do I need to do?

Li Ruigang: There is definitely hope, but this is a long road. The first is that the operation of the Super League may be completely market-oriented. This is a big foundation. For example, the current operation of the Premier League is the result of market-oriented operations. The other is systematic operation, including club management and operation. For example, the CEO of Manchester City in the Premier League was the CEO of Barcelona before. They operate the club as a company, and we may still have a lot to learn in this regard.

Reporter: But now the Chinese Super League has begun to "buy, buy" all over the world, and many high-priced players have appeared. Is this normal?

Li Ruigang: Those big-name players are still of great value in improving the viewing level of the Super League. Only by having good players can the entire league be more valuable, but excessive consumption of capital on the players themselves may hurt investors 'returns, because your total investment is relatively so much, which will make the entire industry unable to develop in a healthy manner.

Therefore, in the Premier League, the NFL in the United States, or the Western film and television field, stars, artists, etc. all have salary management systems, which can ensure standardized management and allow practitioners to earn the money they deserve, but it will not destroy the balance and will not allow an industry to lose the circulation of blood-making mechanism.

Therefore, it took a long period of exploration for the West to develop to this stage. We still have a long way to go in this regard. I think the better way now is to introduce some of their advanced management concepts, mechanisms and practices, and then combine them with the reality of China to withstand market verification.

And fortunately, some experiences can be grafted and developed by leaps and bounds. Especially after the development of the Internet, it has accelerated the development of the entire system.

Reporter: Are the problems of film and television similar to football? Is it possible for China to have its own Hollywood in the future?

Li Ruigang: There is definitely hope, but there is still a way to go before our current state can reach the film industry like Hollywood. The problem now is that we pursue excessive cash realization, hoping to quickly cash out through the box office of one or two movies. This is unfavorable for the construction of the entire industrial chain and the establishment of the industrial system.

Reporter: What conditions do we need to build China's own Hollywood?

Li Ruigang: It requires enough patience and enough investment. Because this is a system, including a complete industrial chain including talent training, production companies, brokerage companies, industry trade unions, investment and financing docking, and screenwriters and directors. But looking back, Hollywood has also experienced bubble and disorderly development. Therefore, what China is experiencing may gradually settle down and become the foundation for the next stage of development.

Reporter: For the cultural and entertainment industry, China does not lack good IP?

Li Ruigang: IP has always been produced in China. The previous problem was that the division of labor and integration of industries had not yet fully developed. But IP has always been there, for example, novels adapted into movies and TV, you see Journey to the West do not know how many times it has been adapted. Now the reason why "IP" is so hot is only because the industrial chain has become more mature.

Interviewer: Has the Internet accelerated this maturation?

Li Ruigang: Yes, the Internet has accelerated the development of the whole industry. Nowadays, sports and entertainment are using big data analysis and artificial intelligence analysis and research. Technologies such as VR imaging have an almost revolutionary impact on sports and entertainment.

Reporter: What is the impact of the Internet on the media? You have posted a lot of Short Video this year.

Li Ruigang: We internally call media such as Short Video online media. These media have been on the Internet since their birth, including their content organization, structure and transmission methods, which are all in the form of the Internet. I believe that the influence of this form of media will grow in the future.

In addition to transmission channels, we will now focus on some top content in content investment, such as "The Voice of China","Nirvana in Fire","Kung Fu Panda", etc.

Reporter: I also invest in some entertainment projects for young people, such as Station B.

Li Ruigang: The investment in Station B is more based on the consideration of consumers. Almost all of this consumer group were born around 2000, also known as the Millennial Generation. They have been influenced by the Internet since they were young. They are completely new on the entertainment and consumer sides, and are completely different from our previous content judgment and production. This group has its own aesthetics.

Reporter: BAT has emerged in the Internet field. In the field of integrating the Internet with sports and entertainment, is there any chance of a "BAT"-level company appearing?

Li Ruigang: BAT is actually not limited to a certain field. For example, Tencent. Is it purely a social company? It is actually already the largest media company in China, so in content-related fields, BAT is inseparable, including Alibaba, which has also been actively deploying around UC, Youku Tudou, etc. since last year.

Is there any hope for other projects? There is hope, but there is still a long way to go.

Editor: yvette