时间：2022-05-06 01:44:12
In 2001， 18-year-old Guo Jingming left his home in Fushun County， Sichuan， and traveled to Shanghai to participate in the third annual New Concept Writing Contest the most prestigious youth writing contest in China. That year， Guo won first prize with an essay titled “What if the Sun Doesn’t Rise Tomorrow，” in which he noted his love for the “pronounced flavor of Nestlécoffee.”
Seven years later， Guo published the first book in what would become the trilogy Tiny Times， in which he shifted focus from campus life to broader urban life. Modestly wealthy Nestlé coffee drinkers are replaced by out-and-out elites the nouveau riche kids of modern China. These are the platinum customers of Chanel， Louis Vuitton， Dior， Gucci， Cartier， Bvlgari and Kenzo. They employ housemaids， own villas and limousines， and frequent luxurious clubs. People from lower social orders， once the only characters Chinese mainland writers were permitted to flesh out， are definitely not center stage.
It seems people want to read about how the one percent lives. Since publishing Tiny Times in 2008， Guo and his company of contracted writers have published novels that currently account for more than half the revenue of China’s youth literature market. Guo’s novels are particularly popular among middle and high school students， as well as having a strong following on college campuses.
The real star of Guo’s writing could be said to be materialism， with the class system a close second. He flaunts the excesses of China’s rich while painting a pitiable picture of the country’s “struggling youth，” commonly referred to as the diaosi.
By the end of 2011， all three books in the Tiny Times trilogy had been published. At the end of 2012， shooting began on the screen adaptation of the Tiny Times trilogy written and directed by Guo himself. The movie was released nationwide at the end of June 2012， to coincide with the start of the summer break. The movie raked in 73 mil- lion yuan （US$11.6m） on its first day of release， breaking the Chinese box-office record for a 2D film. Within a week， ticket sales had hit 320 million yuan （US$51m）.
Criticism
Yet， profits and popularity do not always equate to critical acclaim. In its first week， Tiny Times received an average rating of only five out of ten by nearly 90，000 voters on Douban， China’s largest arts and culture social networking site. Another aggregator showed that 30 percent of people had awarded the movie one star out of five.
Much of the criticism leveled at the movie did not concern its storytelling or technical quality， but more its depiction of daily life. Countless reviews and microblog entries commented that the movie showed a lifestyle and characters that were both artificially extravagant and unrealistically vain. Many commentators attacked the way that luxury was depicted as utterly pretentious and that no distinction was made between a love of fine things and callous materialism.
Guo isn’t too concerned. If anything， to him， this means he has achieved his aim.“This is the fact，” he told NewsChina. “This is the severe polarization of our age. Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths， and others cannot even afford their college tuition.”
Guo believes he is better at telling the stories of the rich. Of the diaosi generation， he says “I am not very familiar with them.” He believes his skill lies in exposing the social stratification that is impossible to ignore in today’s China， and that this resonates with his readership.
In his novel City of Fantasies， published in 2003， Guo constructs a virtual kingdom of magic and fantasy inhabited by different classes of magicians， warriors， citizens， and aristocrats， with a princess as the heroine. City of Fantasies topped bestseller lists in China for two years after publication.
One year after the novel’s release， Guo established a studio where he edited and pub- lished the works of other youth writers. As more writers signed contracts with Guo， his business grew. In 2006， Guo turned his studio into a fully-fledged company. Four years after that， he incorporated his former studio into the Zuibook Company， naming himself CEO and chairman of the board. Currently， the company employs more than fifty contract writers， some twenty graphic artists and ten photographers， churning out a steady stream of novels， comics and magazines.
Zuibook has its offices on Wuding Road， in Shanghai’s Jing’an District， but a passerby wouldn’t know it. Sealed off with heavy iron doors， with only the building number as a sign， few would know that the DreamWorks of China’s youth literature is located in this neighborhood. Behind the gates are three former colonial villas serving as the company’s office， library， and Guo Jingming’s private residence. The complex is valued at 100 million yuan （US$16m）. Guo also has a separate address in Tomson Riviera， the most expensive waterfront apartment complex in Shanghai， valued at 160，000 yuan（US$25，400） per square meter.
Guo does indeed seem to be living the lifestyle of some of his best-loved characters. He employs an assistant to manage his real estate， another as his housekeeper， a third to manage his company’s copyright property， a fourth to accompany him on movie shoots， and a final person to care for his dog.
“I have not failed，” Guo told our reporter. He added that he had 12 hours of interviews lined up on that day. NewsChina met with him in his company’s huge lounge， beneath a Baccarat crystal chandelier. Sitting on a Fendi sofa， between Kenzo endtables， a vast oil painting behind him， Guo is unfazed when our reporter asks him if his extravagance might be considered excessive.
“If these things are affordable， then why not？” he remarks. While shooting the screen adaptation of Tiny Times， he says， he donated some of his collection of designer bags to the set for use as props.
While his tastes may be grandiose， Guo Jingming stands at just over five feet tall， and his diminutive physique has become a popular source of mirth among his many detractors. Others， particularly established literary critics， dismiss him as a panderer who has devoted his energies to commercial literature without any attempt to develop his skill as a writer.
Guo Jingming casually dismisses his critics. “At first， I cared about what others said，”he told NewsChina. Despite having 20 million followers on Twitter equivalent Weibo， Guo intentionally keeps his distance from them. “Why bother contacting them？ When you run your own business， you can’t chase your fans. All they need to do is to buy my books，” he said.
Business is everything to Guo. He laughs about “not having the time to fall in love.”“My sole focus is my work，” he told our reporter.
Businessman
While Guo Jingming’s critics sometimes seem to outnumber his fans， few have slammed his shrewd approach to business. He has also remained at the heart of his company， continuing to determine and create content， with even his production journal from the Tiny Times shoot going into publication. The latest edition of his magazine Zuibook featured the movie’s poster on its cover.
In 2006， Guo ended his cooperation with Chunfeng Wenyi Publishing House， switching for the Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House （CJLAP）’s Beijing office.“According to our contract， we take care of advertising， publication and sales， while they[Zuibook] provide content，” said Li Bo， vice director of CJLAP .