I Support Art and Culture
Speech of Mr. Dai Zhikang, president of Zendai Group,at the closing ceremony of Intrude: Art & Life 366(Intrude's December Magazine)I was involved in the conception and planning of Intrude: Art & Life 366 from the very
beginning. But at most times I preferred to be a viewer, who also participated in the
project from time to time. As a viewer, I feel that I'm not in the position to make detailed
comments. Just now three ladies from the project team shared with us their Intrude
stories. I am deeply touched, to be honest. It may take quite a long time for people to
realize and recognize the significance of something new in history such as Intrude. Hence,
as long as we've made our contribution, that's enough.
Intrude: Art & Life 366 was supposed to be something fun. It's quite out of my expectation
that members of the project team would feel so exhausted. But I believe the efforts were
paid off. With 366 brilliant art projects, Intrude did bring merriness and inspiration to the
public.
In November this year, I went to Cuba, a country strongly against the U.S
I found that people in Cuba actually led a very happy life. When people in the U.S., the richest country in the world, were seriously affected by the global financial crisis, their life seemed less
happy than that of people in Cuba. When coming back, I found that due to the crisis, most
people in our group also looked a bit down, not as happy as people in Cuba. It occurred to
me that a capitalized society did bring people sense of security, but it failed to bring people
sense of happiness. This was exactly where art could play a role.
I just came back from a meeting held on Lu Mountain today. There I saw a sentence
excerpted from Analects of Zhuxi, a prestigious philosopher in Song Dynasty, engraved
on a rock. It read Uphold Justice, Annihilate Desire. It promoted me to think about one
question: Was excessive desires the root cause of the current problems? The authorities in
ancient China did everything within their capacity to depress the desires of human beings.
Why did they do that? That's because they were intimidated by a world where all kinds of
human desires were liberated. They tended to regard human desires as a horrendous devil
which was better to be sealed in the bottle.
Things that seem weird and somewhat funky in the view of the mainstream ideology, after
all, may not be that weird and funky, if we're willing to view it from another perspective.
On the plane back to China I read some biography of Che Guevara. In the Cuban society,
the rich were labeled as anti-revolutionary and bad guys. Only revolutionists like Che
Guevara and Castro were deemed as real heroes who fight against the rich and help the
poor. In a society like that, it was a dangerous thing to be rich. Nevertheless, orders of the
world outside Cuba were totally reversed. In China in particular, capitalists have become
shinning stars in the society and it seems that most of them actually quite enjoy being
in the spotlight. I used to be a poor guy myself. Hence, faced with such reality, I keep
wondering who are more important, the revolutionists or entrepreneurs. But one thing
for certain is that neither the entrepreneurs nor the revolutionists could shed light on the
essence of life.
That's why I would like to give my full support to the development of culture and art.
Compared with earning more money and being ranked higher on the fortune list, I believe
it's more important to make some contribution to the development of culture and art.
Based on such a standpoint, Zendai's support for art and culture will continue despite all
the difficulties.