Articles from the source of "Academic Super Man": Wang Xiaofeng - "Academic Super Man Yi Zhongtian"
The launch ceremony of Yi Zhongtian's new book "A Taste of the Three Kingdoms" was held at the Xidan Book Building in Beijing. The previous book When the building applied to the Xicheng District Public Security Bureau of Beijing, it reminded the Xicheng Public Security Bureau that there might be more people coming, and hoped that the Public Security Bureau would pay attention. But the Public Security Bureau thinks that if a university professor signs a book, how many people can come? So after approving this autograph signing event, I didn’t take it seriously. When nearly 4,000 people lined up outside Xidan Book Building, the police began to pay attention, so 15 police cars and dozens of police officers were deployed to maintain order. Because Xidan Book Building is located in a sensitive area, the police had to ask Xidan Book Building to end the autograph signing event early. Nearly a thousand people did not wait for Yi Zhongtian's signature.
If Jay Chou, the most popular star, signs a book, it is estimated that thousands of people will come, and if Li Yuchun signs a book, there will also be thousands of people. If Yi Zhongtian and Jay Chou and Li Yuchun do the book signing at the same time, Yi Zhongtian will definitely win. This seems to be a very strange phenomenon. A book published by an academic researcher attracts more attention than the most popular star.
If we still look at Yi Zhongtian's phenomenon from the perspective of the past, we probably can't explain why he is so popular. For the publishing house, they saw the commercial value of Yi Zhongtian and occupied the market by operating best-sellers. From a business perspective, it was very normal. But from the perspective of the audience, they are different from the past. When they are ready to spend money to buy this book, what they see is a star like Jay Chou and Li Yuchun. Yi Zhongtian is no longer a university professor or scholar, but a star. The purpose of queuing up to buy this book is not just to get an autograph. You don’t have to read the book, but you must take a look at Yi Zhongtian. This is personal charm and media promotion. Intertwined results.
Perhaps putting a scholar and a star on the same contour is disrespectful to the scholar's intellectual achievements and negates the scholar's intellectual work, but it must be admitted that Yi Zhongtian is a young scholar. Some people profit from commercial promotion - he appears in China's most influential media; his autograph signing information is broadcast on TV every day; he talks about a person who has been most interesting to Chinese people for thousands of years. The subject of the Three Kingdoms; his manuscripts were owned through bidding, causing a wave of controversy in the media; his eloquence and image fit the requirements of the TV show very well. Except for Yi Zhongtian, there is no other person who possesses the above-mentioned elements at the same time. He has reason to become a star in the eyes of the public, so Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House dared to pay a sky-high price to acquire the publishing rights of his book.
If we look back at the phenomenon of best-selling books in the past, it is not difficult to find that after a book is published, it rarely reaches the point where Luoyang paper is so expensive. It is all accumulated bit by bit. Even if the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House publishes Yu Hua's "Brothers", it is not like "A Taste of the Three Kingdoms". It requires a slow-burning process. There is a phenomenon in the book market. When a book sells a certain amount, it will be released. It will form a Matthew effect, and then it will plummet. But this time Yi Zhongtian is an exception. Because the previous preparations are too mature, it will form a momentum that will plummet as soon as it opens. This is a phenomenon that has never happened in any best-selling book in the past, and the most important factor is the publicity role of CCTV. .
Hunan Satellite TV’s Super Girl has pushed an ordinary girl to the status of a star. If you look back at super girls like Li Yuchun and Zhang Liangying, you may not think they have anything extraordinary, but the TV media The infinite magnification is enough to make people become sperms. Just imagine, without the "Hundred Forums", few people might know who Yan Chongnian, Ji Lianhai, and Yi Zhongtian are. But it is the role of television that gives these people who live outside the public eye a chance to rejuvenate.
CCTV used to have a reading program, but it couldn’t continue because the ratings were too low. It stands to reason that some books recommended by media such as CCTV should attract the attention of the audience. However, if you look at the reading column based on the success of "Hundred Forums", you will find that the reading column fails to understand the essence of television media. Television is the most popular media. The characteristic of popular media is that the audience must not change the channel while watching TV. The program that can capture the TV audience must be popular and good-looking. However, the reading column failed to do so because it was too cheerful. "Hundreds of Forums" "It did, and it became a hotbed of best-sellers, and the speakers were amplified into public figures because of this platform.
What happened around Yi Zhongtian in the past half year or so was like a long-planned event. Every time it was just right, it could become a news point. Such preparation and preparation had never happened before, and the result was Naturally, it was out of control. If you use the traditional method to operate best-sellers, Yi Zhongtian's operation method will definitely violate the publishing rules. But we must clearly see that this operation is a "multimedia" operation, an operation actively pursued by the media and the public.
Many books on the Three Kingdoms have been published in the past. Books similar to "Appreciation of the Three Kingdoms" include Li Dongfang's "A Detailed Description of the Three Kingdoms", Feng Li'ao's "Correct Interpretations of the Heroes of the Three Kingdoms", and Shen Chen's "The Three Kingdoms". "Cooking Wine and Tasting the Three Kingdoms", Hu Bin's "The Virtual and Real Three Kingdoms", Gao Enyuan's "Returning the True Face of the Three Kingdoms: Commentary on "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms""... From the perspective of academic research, historians must not pay attention to the influence of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so by removing the false and preserving the true The research method has become one of the ideas of many "Three Kingdoms" researchers.
Yi Zhongtian also used this idea to talk about the Three Kingdoms, but so many previous books about the Three Kingdoms did not attract public attention, and only Yi Zhongtian became the lucky one. It can be said that in the eyes of the public, those scholars are the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Yi Zhongtian is the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and the reason why Yi Zhongtian became the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is CCTV.
There is nothing wrong with Yi Zhongtian becoming a star or his book becoming a bestseller. At least he can arouse people's interest in reading. Judging from the reality in China, the average number of books read by Chinese people every year is still far behind that of the United States. People generally do not like to read. The same money can be spent on a pack of high-end cigarettes instead of buying a book. If more and more people like Yi Zhongtian can encourage people to develop the habit of reading, it will be a good thing for the Chinese people regardless of whether it is a commercial operation behind it.
In addition, the phenomenon of Yi Zhongtian is not suitable for any scholar. Just like not everyone who participates in the Super Girl competition will become Li Yuchun. Many times people just want to be fresh. Yi Zhongtian is more suitable to become a TV academic star, because China TV There is a lack of such a character. In the future, there will be more such roles and people will get used to them, so they won't flock to them like they do today.
In any case, Yi Zhongtian is lucky, so he is prosperous.