The TV series "My Altay" adapted from Li Juan's essay collection of the same name has become a hit and has aroused heated discussions among the audience. It ranked first in ratings as soon as it was launched on May 7. After the finale, 110,000 people rated it 8.8 on Douban. Upstream News learned that in addition to popularizing local tourism, this TV series also brought the legendary experience of the original author Li Juan into the public eye.
The word-of-mouth is huge, the original prose is popular
How popular is this drama? CCTV's prime-time ratings lead by a cliff, iQiyi's broadcast popularity is top one, and Douban's rating ranks first among domestic dramas this year. On various online platforms, "My Altay" has dominated the hot search list for many days, and the Douyin topic has been played 2.2 billion times. "My Altay" is also the first full-length Chinese drama to be shortlisted for the Cannes TV Drama Festival, and the first drama to be screened at the Beijing International Film Festival. There is almost unanimous praise for "My Altay".
Since the broadcast of "My Altay", related topics have been on the hot searches many times, triggering extensive discussions among netizens. In addition to the slow-paced and simple and interesting plot, some netizens called it #我 Altay Cyber Oxygen Drama # #我Altay Xinjiang Promotional Video #; some netizens also left messages saying: "It's so funny and beautiful" and "It's so beautiful! Altay's only flaw is It’s not me.”
"My Altay" TV series poster. Network picture
In addition, the drama version has also driven the sales of the original prose collection of the same name. Data shows that from May 7th to 9th, the average daily order volume of the book "My Altay" on the platform increased by 718% compared with before the TV series was launched. Tourism in the Altay region of Xinjiang has begun to heat up, and the topic "My Altay Xinjiang promotional video" once became a hot search topic on Weibo.
Why is this slow-paced TV series with few popular stars so popular?
First of all, "My Altay" is adapted from a highly literary collection of essays. The original author Li Juan was already a well-known "genius writer" in the literary world before the TV series was broadcast. The collection of essays "My Altay" was first published in July 2010 and won many heavyweight awards such as the "China Good Book Award" in 2017 and the "Lu Xun Literature Award" in 2018. Li Juan wrote a series of essays recording Altai life with fresh and refined writing, meticulous observation, and gentle and delicate female perspective. The collection of essays "My Altay" has been published for more than ten years and has sold nearly one million copies.
Secondly, the success of "My Altay" also stems from its theme, pastoral life in Altay. Pastoral life is an area that is almost unknown to the vast majority of Chinese viewers. Li Juan presented a large number of details of pastoral life in "My Altay", filling the audience's knowledge gaps about pastoral areas, satisfying curiosity and full of freshness. In addition, Altay's real-life shooting scenes of grasslands, pastures, Gobi, and snow-capped mountains attracted the attention of a large number of viewers.
Stills from "My Altay". CCTV News
In addition, most of the TV dramas we have watched are adapted from literature, and the original works are mostly novels. It is rare for essay collections to be adapted into TV series. The biggest test for screenwriters in adapting prose into plays is the design of plot lines, the summarization and "grafting" of scattered narratives, and the highlighting of drama (conflict).
In the original work, except that time and space are limited, each chapter is an independent story. The first thing the screenwriter has to solve is to set up a complete plot line.
In the play, the main line of Li Wenxiu's pursuit of "literary dream" is connected with the love between Wenxiu and Batai, the lives of his family, herdsmen friends, and the ecology of Altay... The play presents a story that is completely natural and realizes the prose. To the successful adaptation of the play from "dispersion" to "gathering".
The original author Li Juan's experience can be called a legend
In fact, before the TV series became popular, Li Juan had long been a legend in the literary circle.
Li Juan, whose ancestral home is Sichuan, was born in the Seventh Agricultural Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in 1979. During her childhood, she lived in Fuyun County, Altay Prefecture, the northernmost part of Xinjiang. When she was a teenager, she followed her mother between Sichuan and Xinjiang.
She had difficulty speaking since she was a child, and she still couldn't speak clearly when she was 5 years old. It is precisely because of this that she does not like to communicate with others, but reads "indiscriminately and muddy", which gradually became her refuge from loneliness.
Li Juan. Li Juan's personal Weibo
When she was in school, Li Juan liked mathematics, physics and chemistry, but was a mess in liberal arts. She didn't like the intense study situation and had no idea about "taking the college entrance examination". She hadn't finished high school yet, so she ended her study career in a hurry under the dual pressure of poor grades and difficult family conditions. After dropping out of school, she and her family entered the deep mountain pastures of northern Xinjiang and opened a semi-mobile tailor shop and grocery store in the mountains. She worked as a tailor and sold groceries with her mother.
The nomadic life is boring and difficult, and their family's business is not good, but she can always find the loveliness and beauty of life, and transfer it to the tip of her pen: when she looks up out of the window, the blue sky is heartbreakingly blue, and it is unbearable. He couldn't help but put down his clothes, pinned the needle on his lapel, locked the door of the store and went out.
Li Juan also worked as an assembly line worker and a supermarket salesman. In order to make a living, she also submitted her own articles to magazines, "failed and failed again and again."
The editorial department is "Western China Literature", and her essays were submitted to the editor-in-chief Liu Liangcheng. The article was published the following year, but nothing changed.
Two years later, she returned to her mother and grandmother. Not long after she came back, her grandmother fell down and became seriously ill. Accompanying her gave her more time to read and write, and her debut novel "Jiu Pian Snow" was born.
In 2003, "Jiupian Snow" was successfully published as a book in the "Living in Xinjiang" series edited by Liu Liangcheng and was well received. Li Juan gained fans and enthusiastic readers.
During the submission process of Li Juan, Liu Liangcheng, who is also a writer, discovered the value of her words. When someone in the agency suspected that Li Juan had plagiarized, Liu Liangcheng responded categorically: "Who did she ask to plagiarize? There is no such template for her to plagiarize in Chinese literature."
After receiving the affirmation, Li Juan wrote even more vigorously. The lack of systematic writing training gave her words an unfettered and natural beauty, and her wandering experience gave her language an extra layer of depth.
According to many Shanghai posters, Li Juan’s literary works are actually related to Shanghai. In the 10 years from October 2007 to September 2017, "Wenhui Po" supplement "PEN" successively published many columns by Li Juan, including "The Corner of Altay" and "The Distant Sunflower Field", Vol. One article was in "The Big Pink Car" on October 24, 2007, and there was another article in "Children" on November 28 of that year. On September 13, 2017, Li Juan published the article "Power" in PEN, and the column was titled "The Distant Sunflower Field."
Cover of "My Altay". Network picture
It is reported that Zhou Yi once served as the editor-in-chief of "PEN". For many years, she has been working quietly in the field of special supplements, writing features and editing layouts. Some people in the Shanghai media believe that Zhou Yi is a bole and a close friend to Li Juan.
On June 27, 2009, PEN published the article "Letter from Li Juan" signed by Zhou Yi under the pen name "Fang Fei":
"Since Li Juan published the column 'Corner of Altay' in PEN, almost every Each article has attracted varying degrees of attention and discussion. What is the beauty of the "Altay Corner" series that lies in its bright rather than dark background? It is so lonely. There are so many poems, but it seems that no one has written about the boundless loneliness under the bright and cheerful spirit. This is the realm of originality. "
Unfortunately, Zhou Yi died young in October 2019. Li Juan recalled her friendship with Zhou Yi in a recent live broadcast: "Every time I go there, I stay at her (Zhou Yi's) house. She is warm, simple, enthusiastic, and a very beautiful person... (We) really "
Altay is becoming a tourist destination.
After the May Day holiday, the TV series "My Altay" shocked the hearts of countless people with its grasslands, snow-capped mountains, wilderness and forests from northern Xinjiang, making Xinjiang a tourist destination again. A popular tourist destination among netizens.
With the popularity of "My Altay", the filming locations of Burqin County and Habahe County in the Altay region of Xinjiang have attracted tourists from many places across the country.
"My Altay" was filmed in Hemu Village, Kanas Scenic Area, Burqin County. It is deeply loved by the audience for its unique natural landscape and profound cultural heritage. According to statistics, since May 7, Burqin County has received a total of 445,500 tourists, a year-on-year increase of 68.04%, and the comprehensive tourism revenue was 402 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 64.15%. It is reported that in Habahe County, major hotels will also provide tourists with route guides and vehicle pick-up services for the filming locations of "My Altay". Shan Lili, a staff member of a hotel in Habahe County, Altay, Xinjiang, said: "The rooms in May are fully booked, and June is basically fully booked as well."
Meituan and Dianping data show that from May 7th to 15th, The search popularity of "Altay" has increased by more than 6 times year-on-year. "My Altay", "Altay group tour", "Altay hotel", "Western Altay restaurant", etc. are all related hot search phrases. During this period, the number of dine-in orders for restaurants in the Altay region increased by more than 110% year-on-year.
related reports. News screenshot
It is reported that the traditional tourism peak season in Altay is concentrated in the summer, and consumers have begun to book Xinjiang travel itineraries in advance. Meituan data shows that from May 7th to May 15th, Altay’s cultural tourism booking volume (including tickets, accommodation, transportation, etc.) in July increased by more than 210% year-on-year. The tourists are mainly tourists from outside the province, and the top five tourist source areas They are Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Yichang and Shenzhen.
Ctrip data shows that within a week of the TV series starting, the search popularity of Altay on the platform doubled compared with the same period last month, and the number of vacation product travel bookings in the Altay region increased by more than 370% compared with the same period last month. Products such as Urumqi + Kanas Scenic Area + Sailimu Lake + Nalati Tourist Scenic Area 8-day chartered tour, Urumqi + Burqin + Altay region + Karamay + Bole 10-day tour, Urumqi + Altay + Ili 9-day tour are hot-selling products .
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