China Books & Literature
Trip Down Memory Lane – Little Mole’s New Adventure with Panda
Little Mole, also known as Krtek, is a familiar figure to many around the world who grew up with stories of the shy and innocent little creature. Recently, at the opportunity of Chinese President’s state visit to Czech Republic, Little Mole starts his latest adventure with Panda, a new Chinese friend.
On March 28, president Xi Jinping arrived in Prague for a state visit to the Czech Republic. Being China’s second largest trade partner (behind EU) in Europe, Czech Republic is the first stop of Xi’s European visits in 2016. According to Chinanews, this state visit is integral to China’s One Belt, One Road/New Silk Road strategy, and is the beginning of a new promotion of the China-Europe relationship.
As the economic, political and strategic purposes of this visit may appear somewhat unpersonal, a cultural project that was presented during the trip gives the state visit a more friendly touch. A joint 3D cartoon production by CCTV and Little Mole a.s. was released on CCTV Youth on March 28, and is said to be on Czech TV channels soon (China Daily). In this new cartoon, the little Czech mole will go on a new adventure with his Chinese panda friend. The topic was discussed on Weibo under the hashtag #Panda and Little Mole.
Little Mole came to China in the 1980s. At a time when TV was still a luxury, this foreign cartoon became the childhood memory to many born in the 80s and early 90s. Krtek was rated 9.1 on Douban. Under the entry, people write in the short commentary section how they loved the cartoon and how it reminds them of their childhood many years later. Many fans purchase DVDs of Little Mole to preserve their memories from childhood.
(“Classic Czech cartoon. It is soundless but better than sounds. Looking forward to this cute mole everyday when little.”) (“I liked it since I was a kid. Later I found it for my daughter to watch. That cute mole! How many hearts it has moved.”) (“Watched when little. Hoped that I was a mole, digging with a shovel, digging a home for myself, making trouble for the farmers, helping others sometimes, and becoming friends with rabbits and birds. More than a decade later, I bought the DVD so I can revisit the memory from time to time. Still think the story of little mole is irreplaceable.”)
The intiator of the topic hashtag #Panda and Little Mole on Sina Weibo is apparently a mole fan herself. She described how Little Mole was the TV programme in her kindergarten when kids had to kill time while waiting for their parents to pick them up. She was happy that her parents usually came late, so she could watch Little More longer.
ChinaDaily and CCTV News also posted on Sina Weibo about the cartoon’s screening. While some expressed eagerness to see their childhood favourite on TV again, others are doubtful about the 3D format, saying that the new production will lose the attractiveness of the original 2D version. Some even fear that the new cartoon will ruin their childhood memory. For them, the 2D little mole appears ‘dumb but cute’ (‘蠢萌’ chǔnméng, a positive expression in Chinese).
Panda and Little Mole officially is a cultural production that both conveys Czech-China friendship, and internationally promotes Chinese cartoons. But for the fans of Little Mole- many of whom are raising their own kids now-, Panda and Little Mole provides an opportunity to revisit a collectively-held childhood memory, and to share it with the next generation. Even the fear that the new 3D version will ruin the original charms demonstrates how the memory of Little Mole is still dear to those who grew up with it.
– By Diandian Guo
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Image from http://littlemole.com/company/
Image from: www.chinaculture.org
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China Books & Literature
The Many Books Lost in the China Floods: Catastrophic Flooding Hits Zhuozhou’s Publishing Industry
After Typhoon Doksuri, some major warehouses in Zhuozhou have seen their depots transform into a sea of floating books.
Zhuozhou (涿州) is a county-level city in Baoding, Hebei Province, known as a major hub for the Chinese publishing industry. It is one of the areas that has been badly affected by the heavy rainfall and flash floodings China has seen this week, after Typhoon Doksuri moved from the Philippines to Taiwan toward Beijing and surrounding regions in mainland China.
In Zhuozhou, dozens of publishing warehouses were affected by floods and water damage due to the storm, resulting in losses amounting to hundreds of millions of yuan. Zhuozhou’s print media industry is closely linked with the center of China’s publishing industry in Beijing, just 25 miles away.
Some warehouses, such as that of Beijing China Media Times, are as large as 8000 square meters, housing over three million books. According to Sina News, one area that housed around 200 publishing companies was almost entirely flooded.
A Weibo post by the Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group (HKTKWW, @大公文匯網) showed the status quo at some warehouses, which had changed into a sea of books.
Posted on Weibo by HKTKWW, @大公文匯網, the situation at the Beijing China Media Times book warehouse in Zhuozhou.
Posted on Weibo by HKTKWW, @大公文匯網, the situation at the Beijing China Media Times book warehouse in Zhuozhou.
Publisher Books China (中图网), known as an industry “outlet store” for selling discounted and out-of-print books, also saw its central Zhuozhou warehouse completely flooded.
Around 100 of their staff members remained trapped at the office on Tuesday night without any food, drinks, or blankets, while water levels continued to rise. An additional cause for concern was the strong odor emanating from a nearby adhesive tape factory. Some employees suspected that toxic gases might have leaked, leading to several of them feeling unwell and vomiting after exposure.
According to China News (@中国新闻网), all employees were safely evacuated on Wednesday.
Photo posted on Weibo by China News (@中国新闻网), showing how the Books China (中图网) major warehouse was severely impacted by the recent floods, with water levels rising up to the second floor.
In an interview with Chinese newspaper Southern Weekend (南方周末), Beijing China Media Times CEO Ran Zijian (冉子健) revealed that his company had not received any advance warning about the heavy rains and the possibility of flooding, despite the area being prone to floods due to its low-lying terrains. All of the company’s 3.6 million books are now submerged underwater.
Photos provided to Southern Weekend, Weibo.
The water levels rose so rapidly on Tuesday that there was hardly any time to rescue the books, making the evacuation of staff members the first priority. Bookseller Zou Bin (邹斌) told Southern Weekend that he saw the water levels rising so fast in his 5,000 square meter warehouse that he basically witnessed “25 million yuan [$3.5 million] disappear in an hour, powerless to do anything about it.”
According to several Chinese news outlets, the distribution and dispatching of books will be impossible for numerous publishing houses based in Zhuozhou for at least the next 15 days. As the local book industry continues to assess the damages, it remains uncertain how severely the companies have been affected at this stage. For some, it feels like they are starting from scratch all over again.
But most netizens emphasize that it’s more important that employees are safe, as people’s lives are more important than paper books. “Who cares about dispatching books at this time?” some commenters wonder, while others express grief about all the books lost, saying, “It’s just such a pity.”
By Manya Koetse
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