One of the highlights of this Spring Festival is the science fiction film "Wandering Earth", which has won a lot of praise in China and also had a certain impact overseas. This work reflects the cultural confidence of the new era and deserves its name.

Wandering Earth is a Chinese science fiction story told in a movie language that the world can understand. The conception, narrative techniques and shooting techniques of the film borrowed from Hollywood and other western experiences, but they did not copy them, but digested, absorbed and innovated. Its victory lies in the organic integration of Chinese "Tao" and western "art". Chinese culture, Chinese perspective and Chinese values endow Wandering Earth with spirit and soul different from Hollywood blockbusters. Although there are still many flaws in the film and there is much room for improvement, it fully proves that Chinese film is on the way to compare with world-class works.

Wandering Earth tells the world in Chinese language "where China comes from, where it will go". From the ancient Nuwa mending the sky, the Great Guard reclaiming the sea, the Dayu harnessing the flood, the Yugong removing the mountain, to the modern salvation, the Long March, the War of Resistance, industrialization, reform and opening up... The Chinese nation's five thousand year civilization has never ceased, and generations of Chinese people have been forging ahead. "For the sake of making great sacrifices, we dare to call the sun and the moon a new day". It is because we have 5000 years of cultural heritage that the Chinese nation can have the courage and boldness to change the world. The film also reflects the national demeanor of "being determined for heaven and earth, making a life for people, inheriting great learning, and opening peace for all generations".

In the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China has undergone earth shaking changes. All the achievements of China today are made by the people of all ethnic groups in the country by rolling up their sleeves and by the sweat of the strivers of the new era. The tireless scientific and technological personnel, the migrant workers and the conscientious grass-roots staff have all made great contributions to this. Without the cultural self-confidence of the new era, and without the huge accumulation of industrialization in the 70 years since the founding of New China, such films could not be created. Wandering the Earth tells the world in another way: Yugong moves the ball, and the Chinese will work hard for their children and grandchildren to contribute Chinese wisdom to a better world.

Wandering Earth is also enlightening the West on how to build a better new world. The plot of Hollywood science fiction films is almost all about escaping from the earth. The lone hero saves the earth by his own efforts, while Wandering Earth shows how to lead billions of compatriots to save the earth by collective cooperation. Western individualism is in sharp contrast to Chinese collectivism and the feelings of family, country and the world. This contrast just reflects the dilemma of the contemporary West. Paul Romer, the Nobel Prize winner in economics, is one of the main founders of the new growth theory. He said: "Our mistake is that we always think that all problems are caused by resource shortage. In fact, the biggest problem is that personal interests and social interests are not coordinated.". The individual optimum cannot automatically achieve the overall optimum. This is the problem that the United States is facing today, and this is also the anxiety of the United States today. It is really good to be good to everyone, where there is a country, there is a family, and where there is the earth, there is a human being.

(The author is a professor of the National Development Research Institute of Peking University)

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