At the end of the year, "Why am I so poor?" has become a catchphrase for many people, and it has been used in both ancient and modern times. As early as 300 years ago, Pu Songling, a talented scholar from Shandong Province, wrote a poem entitled "Offering to the God of Poverty on New Year's Day", in which he indignantly questioned, "God of Poverty, God of Poverty, am I related to you? Why do you have to enter my house if you don't go to the hot and bustling people?"

The average person's whining comes to an end here, but not Po Songling. He also to "poor God" tone to his own letter back: "like you so a flower method, which have not been poor?" Then, a strange prescription to get rid of poverty.

"See words as face" the third season began to release the warm-up paragraph, this laugh turned the whole scene to read the letter, whether from the content or performance are wonderful, interesting, for the expectation of a year of "flour" sent a surprise. December 25 onwards, the strength of the culture of the old phenomenon of variety show "see words as face" the third season is about to come. As promised, premieres on Tuesdays at 8:00 pm on Tencent video, and every Saturday at 9:20 pm on Heilongjiang Satellite TV. Just a day before that, "A Good Book", which was also directed by Guan Zhengwen and brought great surprises to hundreds of millions of viewers, also came to a perfect ending, realizing a seamless transition from "good book" to "good letter".

On December 20, at the media conference for the third season of Seeing Words as Face held in Beijing, Jane Lin, head of Tencent Video's variety rights, Wang Cheng, deputy director of Heilongjiang Satellite Television's media center, and Guan Zhengwen, general director of Seeing Words as Face and A Good Book, shared data on the impact of the program and the exciting highlights of the third season of Seeing Words as Face.

In Seeing Words as Face 1, Huang Yongyu's "How much you need his reckless spirit" to Cao Yu and the deep friendship between the two old literary friends made the program an overnight success. Zhou Xun's forty-second choking pause and Li Zhen's helplessly sad thanks to her mother in "Seeing Words as Face 2" brought tears to the eyes of countless people, and attracted 360 million hits within a week. The absolute value of the letter content, the letter interpretation of the heart and wonderful, so that this program in the harvest of huge traffic at the same time, more long-term standing in Douban 9.3 points of the height of the first word of mouth of the variety show.

If it just stays at the same level, viewers may feel offended. The general director, Mr. Guan Zhengwen, feels that we should further expand the boundaries, and change the previous selection of only Chinese letters, to look at the global resources to select letters. Mr. Guan said, "The more authentic cognitive value brought by the original privacy of letters is the same in both ancient and modern times and at home and abroad. Despite all the cultural differences, human nature is common, as are knowledge and thinking about society, others, and oneself, as well as the interest in reading. Chinese letters are still the main body of our selection, but the addition of good letters from abroad brings more diversified interests to the program."

Mr. Guan revealed that the letter selection for "Seeing Words Like Face 3" began before the second season ended, and continued until the official recording of the third season in December of this year, which lasted more than a year. The program team searched for thousands of letters, picked out a few hundred, and then screened them over and over again, finally determining that less than 100 were selected. Then by communicating with the actors, the final airing of the letters is expected to be 70-80. "We have only one criterion for selecting the letters, which is that they deserve to be seen by more people. If we have to give a standard of reference, it is to see whether it provides sufficiently diversified cognitive perspectives, whether it can activate the general occurrence of independent thinking, and whether it has the current nature and the topicality for discussion. Those selected letters, looking at the era, ancient, foreign, but in fact are all around, everyone can not get around, can not avoid."

The third season of "Seeing Words as Face" still adopts the theme of the arrangement, from the information revealed now, we can see the "misplaced", "light", "laughing" and so on the naming. All of these are obviously hot topics at the moment. In addition, there are also "love", "reluctant to give up", "watch" and other emotional topics that people are looking forward to. Guan Zhengwen said: "Since we all think that no nutrition is a waste of time, we focus on providing multi-dimensional cognition, activate independent thinking, which is the mainstream of human spiritual life, the most direct value is not to let the audience waste time, waste of life."

One more dramatic letter. A foreign letter selected in the first installment of the third season of "Seeing Words as Face" comes from a Japanese World War II veteran. Teenager Oshima Nakanori, like all the invaders, killed and raped people in China, and after the war, he had a nightmare, so he had to hide his history and emigrate to the United States. But he didn't realize that those who had been terrorized had followed him to America. His wife disappeared and his daughter's family died at sea. In his eighties, terminally ill, he was left alone. The only way to free himself from the nightmare was to make a full confession. Thus, Nakanori Oshima writes a letter to the last words collector, honestly confronting the pleasure of his twisted human nature in committing evil. In guest Xu Zidong's opinion, if Japanese people could have a general sense of repentance, Sino-Japanese relations would be much better. But the thrill of doing evil does not only exist on the battlefield, but is a common thing around us, and everyone should be vigilant and self-reflective.

"Good letters can be dulled by unsuccessful renditions. Another important reason for the popularity of "Seeing Words", apart from the value of the letters, is the brilliance of the artists' interpretations. They made the audience seem to see the person who wrote the letter, as if they saw his environment, his demeanor, and that he and the recipient of the letter were talking."

Zhao Lixin, a resident guest on A Good Book and Seeing Words, made his first appearance this season, portraying the poor god who has been spouting off about Pu Songling and society. Wearing a suit and moustache, Zhao Lixin is not out of place with the local gods and monsters, and when he came on stage, he turned around and gave a cold smile to Pu Songling, who was endorsed by Dong Yong, and just called out "Dongjia", which earned him a standing ovation from the audience. After this, Zhao Lixin was coaxed by the crowd completely indulgent into the open mode, a variety of evil moves endless one after another, said that the flow of quiet elegant program but full of laughter. Spoiler alert, this season's "see the word as face" list of artists in addition to the three seasons of resident stars such as Gui Yalei, He Bing, and Yang Lan, Dong Yong, Chen number and other lofty new guests, as well as Wang Zijian, Qi Wei, Niu Junfeng, such as young comedian to join the list, and even more surprisingly, Cai Kangyong, Leung Wendo has become the guest of honor to read the letter. The overall feeling is that this program seems to have turned on the youth mode, more lively and dynamic.

"Our program's audience under 29 years old originally accounted for more than 75%. Guests are invited in accordance with the letter demand and everyone is happy, not so much market minded." In Guan Zhengwen's view, the video program was originally produced for the masses, and the entertainment element is indispensable in mass cultural consumption. "But pleasure is divided into two kinds, one is the surface level of entertainment, like the skin to skin between men and women. One is deep pleasure, like love. Love is a mixed bag of pleasures, not all of them silly, but a much more intense pleasure. In fact, the sense of acquisition of multi-dimensional cognition, the sense of fulfillment of independent thinking brings the intensity of happiness, than the so-called leisure and entertainment in the waste of time is much greater. It is just a great pity that there is always a part that cannot step into this threshold and enjoy it."

Multi-dimensional cognition is a value interest that Seeing Words is always insisting on transmitting, so that it includes breaking down rigid barriers of inertia. You think that Han Yu has been teaching us that "the work is more refined than the work is wasted than the play", and that he once didn't want to go to work on time in his letters. You thought that with the telescope Galileo could convince the public to believe in their own observations, but did not realize that when everyone scorned the truth, even the telescope was also a piece of scorn. Did you think that public punishment of criminals would make an example of them? Maybe. Dickens didn't see it that way.

For "Seeing is believing", the richness of the letters still seems to be insufficient, and the tasting sessions in the third season are even more exciting. The host, Chen Xiaonan, is invited to complement the background of the letters with a host of celebrities such as Xu Zidong, Liang Wendao, and Shi Hang, who directly express their feelings. A page seen by ordinary people is a mountain in the eyes of others. Such a high level of interpretation, for multi-dimensional cognition, independent thinking set up a sample that can be drawn on.

"The guest's point of view can not represent the truth, human feelings, human nature, it is difficult to have any standard answer. Orientation on our most valued is sincere, speak the truth, move the truth, not didactic, not chicken soup. We chose to read many letters of the revolutionary martyrs without any utilitarian considerations, just because of pure emotion, because of the admiration from the heart. To say what we have to adhere to, do not speculate, do not follow the wind count one."

"Seeing Words as Face 3" is so highly anticipated, in addition to the audience base laid by the first two seasons, the success of another program directed by Guan Zhengwen, "A Good Book," has also played no small role in promoting. From its opening on October 8 with "The Moon and Sixpence" to its closing on December 24 with "The Catcher in the Rye", "A Good Book" provides a refreshing model for domestic variety shows.

Before A Good Book, the audience's basic impression of a book program was that it was a combination of a host and a guest book recommender; the presentation of the book in this type of program was abstract and stayed at the level of verbal commentary. This creates a very awkward situation: no matter how good the content of the book is, and no matter how eloquent the hosts and guests are, it is difficult to attract viewers who have not yet read the book. By this limitation, coupled with the public reading itself in recent years has been decentralized and downward trend, once on the TV screen hot reading program, now has basically extinct.

But for Guan Zhengwen, who has 20 years of experience as a literary editor and is y involved in the TV industry, it has always been his longstanding dream to make a real book program. It is in the process of thinking about how to do a book program, "Seeing Words as Face" became the unexpected delight of Guan Zhengwen's team. The performance method of "Seeing Words as Face" selecting materials and inviting big performance stars to stand on the stage also provides inspiration for "A Good Book".

It's no exaggeration to say that "A Good Book" has brought about a revolutionary upgrading and iteration of domestic reading programs: it creates a unique "scene-based reading mode", and through the techniques of stage drama, film and television performances, and segment narration, it brings to life the most wonderful, moving, and thought-provoking parts of classic books in front of the audience. The audience is infected and moved. The audience is infected, impressed, and then naturally, want to see what the whole book is really like.

The first installment of A Good Book was a hit. In order to restore Maugham's novel "The Moon and Sixpence", the program will be the hero of the book, Sturdy? The program team brought to the stage the hero of the book, Sturdy Crane's noble and cozy home in England and the bistro where he wandered and fell into disrepair in Paris. Zhao Lixin, in the dual role of performer and narrator, confronted Huang Weide as Klander - why are you willing to give up the life of the rich and beautiful in the eyes of outsiders, to a foreign country as a poor painter?

Although it is said that there are 1,000 good books in the eyes of 1,000 readers, the 11 classic books selected in the 12 episodes of "A Good Book" have gained the recognition of both professional and ordinary readers. 11 books cover different subjects, including history, romance, science fiction, letters, espionage, etc., ranging from "Fifteen Years of the Ten Thousand Calendar" to "Three Bodies", and from "The Time of Cholera" to "The World's Greatest Hits". According to Guan Zhengwen, "Happiness was the most important theme during the entire filming process, from Love in the Time of Cholera to The Catcher in the Rye. For almost a year, I was with the books every day, living in the world of the books, with the authors and characters by your side and in front of your eyes, alive and vivid. It's a feeling that you don't often get producing other shows. I often say recently is that this thing is done, this life is worth it."

In addition to selecting books and adapting them carefully, "A Good Book" also focuses on a group of performing artists who themselves love to read and think. Zhao Lixin, who has made the most appearances, has interpreted three stories, The Moon and Sixpence, Three Bodies, and The Secret Calculus, on this stage. In Zhao Lixin's opinion, the stage of A Good Book is not only a great challenge for an actor, but also gives an actor the broadest space to play, "This stage is like a big swimming pool, I can swim in it, and all kinds of swimming strokes can be displayed. In contrast, film and television drama is like a small puddle, or a small pool, I can only be there, very limited Pose."

From the "Chinese Character Dictation Conference" to the "Chinese Idioms Conference", from the "Seeing Words as a Face" to the "A Good Book", in recent years, Guan Zhengwen's output of each product, have been hailed as a domestic cultural programs in the middle of the "clear stream". The "clear stream". But whether it is a "cultural program" or "clear stream", Guan Zhengwen is not enthusiastic, he repeatedly stressed that he is doing the "value of the content program".

What's wrong with being called a "cultural program"? Guan Zhengwen's explanation is: "The program should have been divided into talk shows, quiz shows, song and dance shows, and so on, according to the form, rather than from the content, what is called a cultural program. According to this standard, food programs can be called food culture programs, health programs can be called health culture programs, singing programs can be called music culture or pop culture programs. Do you see any such program? So I would define my program as a content value program. I think the mainstream of human spiritual life is always about getting content value. And the core of content value is to provide multi-dimensional cognition and activate independent thinking. Obtaining the nourishment of individual life growth is the most basic interest demand of human beings for spiritual life and cultural consumption in any period."

Whether it's picking a book for A Good Book or choosing a letter for Seeing Words as Face, "multiple" rather than single, "activate" rather than teach, are important keywords emphasized by Guan Zhengwen. Interestingly, after years of dealing with Chinese characters, idioms, letters, and books, Guan Zhengwen is not a "nostalgist" or "retrofuturist". He believes that the purpose of "Seeing Words as Face" is never to hold on to the nostalgia of old-fashioned mailboxes, "We are not trying to recall the days of letters on paper. It seems to me that mankind is only now in its greatest period of epistolary splendor, and the volume of letters has never been more extraordinary. It's not just what's written on paper that makes a good letter worthwhile; an electronic text can be just as good."

Through the program, Guan Zhengwen led the strength of the cultural team did realize the "activation" again and again. 2016 "see words like face 1" launched Huang Yongyu, Cao Yu letters, the deep-rooted Huang Yongyu once again for the crowd to look up to. In 2018, "A Good Book" directly triggered offline reading enthusiasm, the selected books have landed on the Douban reading hot search list and Dangdang book hot search list, "after watching the program, I really want to read this book" has become a high frequency of comments and pop-up content. During the "Double 11" period this year, almost all the books recommended by "A Good Book" were on the bestseller lists of major e-commerce companies, including Dangdang, of which "The Moon and Sixpence" was the champion of the sales list of similar books on several e-commerce platforms. Guan Zhengwen laughed: "Three Bodies" hot sales, we dare not say that the program driven, people would have been very hot. But the moon and six is" hot sales, it must be because of our program."