Prof. William Sun＇s Speech in Shanghai Normal University Published in Liberation Daily 16.12.2008

Prof. William Sun＇s Speech in Shanghai Normal University was published in Liberation Daily.

In the first part of his speech named＂the public culture layout for a metropolis：Comparison between New York and Shanghai＂, Prof. William Sun made clear the concept of public culture layout and the different situations of public culture layout in New York and Shanghai.

A＂layout of public culture＂seems to be the job of the government, which is the common idea of Chinese people, but that is not the case with people in New York. Generally speaking, the culture of modern cities can be divided into government－led and non－government－led part, and the latter one can further be separated into profit－oriented market and non－profit civil sections.

China＇s urban culture in the 20th century is demarcated by the year of 1949. The main stream of the first half is government-led. At that time Shanghai was not only the main base where China＇s films and dramas originated from, but also the place in which the predominant writers such as Lu Xun and Ba Jin settled. Besides, Shanghai was also home to many key cultural enterprises like＂Shanghai Newspaper＂and the Commercial Press. Compared with New York in the U.S., Shanghai is also the national cultural center, attracts many talents by open cultural industry and provides different consumers a large number of cultural commodities around the country. However, the latter half of the 20th century witnessed a dramatic change in the situation where this kind of commercial culture dominated in both Shanghai and NY. In New York, non-profit cultural undertakings such as ＂Off－Broadway＂and＂Off－off－Broadway＂sprung up, and the proportion rose gradually. In Shanghai, only its economic strength could be competitive while in the field of culture, Shanghai was far lagged behind. The reason was that, non-profit cultural institutions（most of them were performing arts group and libraries）didn＇t get much progress.

Then Prof. William Sun introduces the public cultural layout in New York. From our perspective, the desire of people in NY for public cultural is beyond imagination. On the small Manhattan Island there already have been three stage art centers; the Broadway theatre around Time Square, Greenwich Village and Lincoln Performing Art Center are all outstanding cultural venues. He also cited many examples explaining how the public culture in NY changes the dominant role of commercial culture and bring about extreme number of non－profit institutions. Culture in New York can thrive without the help from the government. Example of New York tells us that the public culture layout for a metropolis includes two aspects. First, besides Central Business District, there is also a special cultural district in a metropolis. The other is the cultural infrastructure all over the city with library as the most important.

In comparison with New York, Shanghai has many CBD but has not a specific culture area. The Grand Theatre, the Arts Museum, Shanghai Museum and Yi Fu Theatre are not close enough to form a united power. In order to realize the goal of constructing an international metropolis, Shanghai should take into account the layout of public culture. Prof. William Sun introduces the＂Theatre Way＂project proposed by Shanghai Theater Academy. It is a cultural and city planning project aiming to upgrade the layout of public culture in Shanghai. In the Theatre Way area there are about ten theater venues, a theatre academy and numerous artist associations. It can be constructed into an elegant culture area like Greenwich Village in New York. The area of Hong Qiao near STA College of Dance can be built into another mode of culture area where education of arts and social cultural service can be provided. Besides, Shanghai needs much more cultural infrastructures including libraries and stages indoors or outdoors for community choral groups to perform on.

Prof. William Sun suggests that government should help those cultural activities which are non-profit but are beneficial to common people like community library and amateur arts tutoring. The slogan of 2010 Shanghai Expo is＂better city, better life＂. In comparison with New York, the community culture with socialism feature is just our unique experience. Prof. William Sun believes that with the perfect layout of public culture, the construction of professional cultural facilities, the enthusiasm of common citizens plus the promotion of the government, 2010 Shanghai Expo will become a grand festival of public culture in Shanghai.