Hu Yanran: Stay True to Yourself and Accomplishment will Follow

By Xu Kuang

Hu Yanran: Stay True to Yourself and Accomplishment will Follow

By Xu Kuang

At an art gallery in Wuhan Horizon Shopping Mall, a visual digital performance named Van Gogh Alive is being held. Over 3,000 pieces of Van Gogh’s works were brought to the audiences by means of high-resolution motion picture technologies, accompanied by the symphonic music, the interactive phonetic narrations, and the huge LED screen, which vividly brought back Van Gogh’s simple but brilliant life.

“When I draw a picture of the sun, I hope people can feel the light and heat of its alarming rotation. When I draw a picture of a wheat field, I hope people can feel the growth of the wheat in its striving towards blooming and maturing,” said Von Gogh. The exhibition fully brings the audience into Van Gogh’s world through the application of the high-tech image technology.

“I want to become an ambassador of culture who introduces the western arts into China and vice versa. This exhibition of Van Gogh in Wuhan was my first debut of art activity. The success has provided me more confidence in promoting cultural exchanges between China and the world,” said Hu Yanran, the sponsor of the exhibition and also the deputy director of Wuhan Cultural and Creative Association, to Special Focus reporter Xu Kuang.

A Sweet and Smiling Lady as her

Now, Hu Yanran is the executive general manager of Wuhan Jinyinhu International Golf Industry Development Co., Ltd.

Yanran came to the interview hurriedly after finishing a working conference. She wore a darkcolored dress with a bright diagonal wollen jacket. Her hair was kept to her shoulder, and her make-up delicate. Even though she was clearly pregnant, she portrayed not a single trace of tiredness despite the fact that she would have to fly to Hong Kong later that day for the infanticipation. She said she’d still work 10 hours a day if her healthy conditions allowed her.

The interview took place in the café of the Jinyinhu Golf Club. It was surrounded by nice and cozy environment with full-view windows, which allow glimpsing the trees and the lake outside. “I designed the café myself. I design the full-view windows here for enjoying the beautiful views outside,” gestured Hu Yanran. It seems that attention to details and perfectionism were her priorities.

Hu Yanran was born into a family of intellectuals. Her father worked in media industry and her mother was a judge in court. Growing up in such good family environment, she aspired to become a media professional with an international mind. So, she decided to apply for U.S. universities and was fortunately admitted to Rutgers University. At that moment, the approval of visa application to America was low because of 911 terrorist attacks. Her parents were worried if she were to be rejected, she would have trouble going overseas in the future. Hu Yanran was confident, “If there is only one person getting a visa today, it will be me.”

The visa officer asked her why she chose to study media. She replied with confidence, “I want to connect China and the West, to bring new ideas to China and introduce the traditional Chinese culture to the outside world.”

Her answer left a deep impression upon the visa officer and she was given the visa. In 2012, Hu Yanran obtained her two bachelor’s degrees in media and sociology.

After graduation, she was faced with the choice of either continuing her education with a master degree or joining workforce. To Hu Yanran, the easier choice was to continue her study. But she chose to work. She believed that school was the ivory tower. Only work could tell her what she really wanted.

But her media career didn’t go well. She realized that U.S. media needed opening up and learned to be inclusive. “I didn’t feel included working there. The ideology was different. It was difficult for a Chinese citizen to be accepted by western mainstream media.”

Hu Yanran then moved to a job in Public Relations Department in a large Chinese hotel and real estate company. In three years, she was promoted to manager and secured the“green card” helped by the company.

Life became peaceful and comfortable. However, Hu Yanran could predict what she will be in the following 50 years. “I started to become restless.” She said. After working in New York for three years, she recalled what she once said to the visa officer about what she aimed to become at the age of 17, that is, a cultural ambassador.

She decided to say goodbye to the stable life in America and returned back to Wuhan, her hometown.“Wuhan is a city full of cultural connotations and I am committed to introducing Chu culture to the outside world.”

Indulging Herself into Sports Industry

After returning to China in 2014, Hu Yanran was admitted to Wuhan TV Station with a high score, and was offered a job as a producer and anchor for the news channel. In Wuhan, she found the inclusiveness and openness she had searched for.

Hu Yanran invested herself in her new TV career. She preferred people to call her an anchor instead of a newscaster, as she believed that an anchor could best show her individuality and personality.

Her parents graduated respectively from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan University, which are prestigious universities in China. “Their marriage is a perfect match, very romantic.”Hu Yanran wished that she could also have such a pure and romantic love as her parents some day.

Hu Yanran met her husband Li Tianwei at work. They both had the experience of studying abroad, developed a passion for literature, and had a strong commitment to the pursuit of their careers. Only in five months had they made life promises to each other. “Choose a city to live, and a person to spend your whole life with” was how she described their love.

Li Tianwei graduated from University of South California and returned to China to join his family business with the aim of expanding it. After their marriage, Hu Yanran also joined this business—the Jinyinhu Golf Club.

Nowadays most people still held certain misconceptions about sports, namely, sports and culture are two independent fields. However, she maintained. “The core of sports is culture and sports can best represent one’s mentality and spirituality. Therefore both should be integrated rather than seperated. What I want to do is to promote our traditional sportive culture in the sports arena.”

In 2016, golf returned back into the Summer Olympics after more than a century’s absence. At the end of 2016, Hu Yanran and her team successfully won the rights to hold the World Amateur Golf Championship and National Teenagers Golf Championship.

The four English letters of the word golf stand respectively for Green, Oxygen, Light, and Friendship, which is consistent with the principle of “Integrity, Self-discipline, and Be considerate” advocated by WAGC. “Golf game in China was once regarded as a sport only for the noblemen. However, the nobility of the game lies in its spirit, not the game itself,,” said Hu Yanran. “We’re falling behind in the game not in the hardware in which we can invest; nor in culture which we can perhaps catch up with, but on age gaps. It means that golf is not only served merely as a social tool, but a sport that is enjoyed by all age groups through one’s life.”

With it in mind, Hu Yanran devoted herself to the training of the young golf players in Wuhan. Supported by her family, she initiated a golf summer camp. She was thrilled to find that most children developed their interest in golf after attending the camp. As a result, with the helps from all sides, Hubei Youth Golf Training Center was established in her club in March, 2017.

Golf game is considered as an exotic game. However, Hu Yanran believes that holding international golf game is a good platform to promote Chinese cultures. In all 2017 games sponsored by WAGC, she had the idea to decorate the golf field with Chinese or Wuhan cultural elements.“for example, marking the flags with something that shows local Chu culture.”

Culture is the Natural Overflow of Her Mind

Hu Yanran’s dream of being a cultural ambassador is, to some extent, a best reflection of her own experience.

She never forgot her dream. In 2016, Hu Yanran set up Feibulingyun Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd to engage in the international intellectual property exhibitions in Wuhan. She was determined to provide Wuhaneses the opportunity to witness international cultural exhibitions and planned to manifest Wuhan culture abroad in the future.

“I’m really delighted to have brought Van Gogh to Wuhan and I am grateful that it’s well recognized and welcomed. It’s a joyful thing to find people with similar artistic tastes.”

Hu Yanran met many challenges when she organized the exhibition. The office in Shanghai once questioned directly whether people in Wuhan could appreciate it or not. Encountering such doubts, she replied, “ as a Wuhanese, I am really fond of this exhibition. I have the obligation to bring it to Wuhan. Wuhan is an open and inclusive cosmopolitan city and people here are inclined to appreciate fine arts.”

Hu Yanran was delighted that she made the right decision. Although it was incomparable to the 400,000 audiences in Shanghai, Van Gogh’s exhibition received fairly good sales and public attention in Wuhan. Hu Yanran herself was named one of the Ten Wuhan Cultural and Creative Pioneers in 2016, and the Van Gogh Alive was listed one of the Top-Ten Annual Events. The initial success convinced Hu Yanran of Wuhaneses’recognition and interests in cultural events, which further motivated her to continue performing her duty of bringing international cultures to Wuhan. After this exhibition, she continued to collaborate with Shanghai Gaoting Cultural and Art Co., Ltd to demonstrate a Hans Christian Andersen Exhibition to Wuhan.

“The Andersen show was another international exhibition. Andersen and his fairy tales influenced us for three generations. He is even more widely accepted than Van Gogh in China.”

Hermann Hesse, the winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946, once said, in a society rich in history and highly privatized, culture should be diversified. During the interview, Hu Yanran overstressed the necessity of globalization, “I will feel regretful if couldn’t bring Wuhan’s splendid and colorful cultures to the outside world.”

Hu Yanran spent 8 years in the U.S.. What she enjoyed most there was not the material life, but the culture of having the courage to say no. In her life, she could have chosen a more comfortable life at several crucial moments, but she went against it every time. She is a person who is likely to welcome challenges by nature.

In the wake of globalization, it is quite natural for Chinese and Western cultures to be deeply intertwined with each other. As a saying goes, the future belongs to youth. Hu Yanran is one of the young elites in Wuhan and we can assume more young faces as her are the best representatives of China’s bright future.

(Translated: Zhang Lei)

武漢天地壹方購物中心藝術(shù)展廳，“不朽的梵高”感映藝術(shù)大展，3000多幅高清動態(tài)畫面，伴隨著宏偉的交響樂和語音解說，巨大的LED屏幕“復(fù)活”了藝術(shù)家梵高短暫而璀璨的一生。

“當(dāng)我畫一個太陽，我希望人們感覺它在以驚人的速度旋轉(zhuǎn)，正在發(fā)出駭人的光熱巨浪。當(dāng)我畫一片麥田，我希望人們感覺到麥子正朝著它們最后的成熟和綻放努力……”梵高說。這場感映大展運用科技影像技術(shù)，讓觀眾感受到梵高作品的生命力。

“我希望做中外文化交流使者，將國外的藝術(shù)作品引進武漢，同時也把中國傳統(tǒng)文化推向世界。享譽世界的梵高，是我引進的第一個主題展。展覽的成功，讓我對今后推進中外文化交流更有信心?！币M方負責(zé)人武漢文創(chuàng)協(xié)會副會長胡嫣然告訴Special Focus的記者。

有女嫣然

胡嫣然的另一個身份，是武漢金銀湖國際高爾夫?qū)崢I(yè)發(fā)展有限公司執(zhí)行總經(jīng)理。

見到記者時，胡嫣然剛結(jié)束一場會議，深色連衣裙，淺色斜紋軟呢外套，披肩長發(fā)，妝容精致，看不出一絲疲憊。盡管馬上要去香港待產(chǎn)，她說在身體條件允許的情況下，每天依然工作10個小時。

采訪地點在金銀湖高爾夫球場的餐廳里，環(huán)境雅致舒適，落地窗前，風(fēng)細柳斜，碧水如玉。“這個餐廳是我親自設(shè)計，要有一面大大的落地窗，窗外景色盡攬眼底?！焙倘槐葎澲f?？吹贸鏊⒅丶毠?jié)，追求完美和個性。

胡嫣然出生于一個傳統(tǒng)知識分子家庭，父親是媒體人，母親是一名法官。耳濡目染，胡嫣然希望帶著國際視野做傳媒，跟家人商量之后，她申請美國的大學(xué)，收到美國羅格斯大學(xué)錄取通知書?！?·11”結(jié)束后很長一段時間，美國拒簽率很高，父母擔(dān)心她被拒簽影響以后出國。“就算今天大使館只簽過一個人，那個人也一定是我。”胡嫣然志在必得。

簽證官問她為什么選擇讀傳媒，她自信地說：“我想成為中外文化交流的紐帶，希望把國外的開放理念帶回國內(nèi)，也希望把中國的傳統(tǒng)文化帶到美國。”

胡嫣然的回答讓簽證官耳目一新，簽證順利通過。2012年，胡嫣然作為榮譽畢業(yè)生，獲得媒體和社會學(xué)雙學(xué)士學(xué)位。

大學(xué)畢業(yè)，面臨兩條路，讀研和工作。讀研對于胡嫣然來說，似乎是一個更為輕松的選擇。但她選擇了工作，她認為學(xué)校是象牙塔，只有工作了才知道自己真正想要的是什么。

但她的媒體之路并不順利，她意識到，美國媒體也在開放中，還在學(xué)習(xí)包容，“最起碼對我的包容性不夠，意識形態(tài)不同，華人打入西方主流媒體很難?！?/p>

胡嫣然轉(zhuǎn)戰(zhàn)紐約一家大型華人酒店房地產(chǎn)，負責(zé)媒體公關(guān)。三年時間，她做到主管，公司還幫她申請了綠卡。

生活安逸，胡嫣然似乎看到50年后的自己?！拔矣珠_始作了?！痹诩~約工作三年后，她想到自己17歲時跟簽證官說過，要做一個文化使者。

她選擇放棄現(xiàn)有的穩(wěn)定生活，回到家鄉(xiāng)?！拔錆h有很深的文化底蘊，我要把楚文化帶向全世界?！?/p>

體育文化陣地

2014年，胡嫣然回國，以編導(dǎo)專業(yè)第一名成績考入武漢電視臺，任新聞頻道制片人與主持人，她認為是武漢的包容和開闊接納了她。

在電視臺工作的胡嫣然，一如往常，全力以赴。比起“主播”的稱呼，她更愿意被稱為主持人，她認為主持人更能展現(xiàn)一個人的思想和個性。

父母分別畢業(yè)于華中科技大學(xué)和武漢大學(xué)，“他們是典型的華工男和武大女的結(jié)合，很浪漫。”胡嫣然希望自己也能擁有父輩那種既古典又浪漫的愛情。

胡嫣然在工作中結(jié)識先生李添濰，共同的留學(xué)經(jīng)歷，對文學(xué)的愛好，對事業(yè)的追求，短短五個月，他們認定彼此就是想要牽手一生的人?！皳褚怀墙K老，遇一人白首?！焙倘挥X得這是他們的愛情寫照。

李添濰南加州大學(xué)畢業(yè)以后，回到家族企業(yè)，為的是把父輩留下的疆土開拓得更加完美?；楹?，胡嫣然也加入共同打理家族企業(yè)金銀湖高爾夫球場。

她認為，大眾對體育有一個誤區(qū)，認為體育和文化是兩個不同領(lǐng)域，“體育的內(nèi)核是文化，體育是精神文化的體現(xiàn)，體育和文化要融合在一起，我希望通過體育陣地輸出我們的傳統(tǒng)文化?！?/p>

2016年，時隔百年，高爾夫再次被列入奧運項目。同年底，胡嫣然帶領(lǐng)團隊成功簽約“WAGC世界業(yè)余高爾夫錦標賽”和“全國青少年高爾夫球錦標賽”。

Golf四個字母，G代表green（綠色），O代表oxygen（氧氣），L代表light（陽光），F(xiàn)代表friendship（友誼），這跟WAGC提倡的“誠信、自律、為他人著想”一脈相承?！案郀柗蛟趪鴥?nèi)被稱為貴族運動，其實它的貴族在精神，而不是物質(zhì)?！焙倘徽f，“我們跟國外的差別不是硬件，硬件可以投資；也不是文化，文化可以趕超。最大的差別在于年齡上的斷層，高爾夫不僅僅是一個社交工具，他更應(yīng)該是一個不斷層、受益一生的體育運動?！?/p>

認識到這一點，胡嫣然將目光放在青少年高爾夫這一塊空白上。在家族的支持下，她自己開辦高爾夫夏令營。讓她感動的是，所有孩子學(xué)完后，都表示喜歡高爾夫。多方努力下，2017年3月，湖北省高爾夫青少年培訓(xùn)基地在這里獨家掛牌。

胡嫣然認為，高爾夫是舶來品，可以將國際賽事成為輸出中國文化的陣地，在2017年WAGC賽事中，她想將金銀湖高爾夫球場打造成一個有中國特色或者說是有楚韻特色的國際球場，“比如每一個球洞旗桿都標上一個楚韻文化的標志。”

文化寫就心聲

胡嫣然所致力的文化“引進來”和“走出去”，某種程度上，與她的個人經(jīng)歷相呼應(yīng)。

胡嫣然一直沒有忘記自己要做中外文化交流使者的承諾。2016年，胡嫣然成立飛步凌云文化創(chuàng)意有限公司，她想通過文化公司這個載體，將國際IP(intellectual property)展引進武漢，讓武漢市民在家門口看到國際IP展，她希望某一天，還能帶領(lǐng)武漢本土文化走出去。

“很高興能把梵高展引進武漢，也特別感激大家的認可和喜歡，貴在落地有知音?！?/p>

在策劃階段，胡嫣然也遇到過質(zhì)疑。上海主辦方直接發(fā)問：“武漢看得懂嗎？”面對質(zhì)疑自己家鄉(xiāng)的人，她說：“作為武漢人，我喜歡這個展，我有這個權(quán)利和義務(wù)把她帶到武漢，武漢也有陽春白雪，是一個開放包容的現(xiàn)代化國際大都市?！?/p>

胡嫣然很慶幸，她的判斷沒有錯，也許比不上上海40萬人次的轟動效應(yīng)，但是梵高展在武漢最終的票房和口碑都很不錯，胡嫣然也獲得“武漢2016文創(chuàng)十大先鋒人物”，“不朽的梵高”感映藝術(shù)大展獲評“十大典型事件”。這個結(jié)果讓胡嫣然看到武漢對文化IP和對文化市場的認可和需求，也讓她更加振奮和覺醒，想要擔(dān)負起把好的國際文化帶到武漢的重任。她再接再厲，繼續(xù)跟上海高庭文化藝術(shù)有限公司合作，引進《了不起的安徒生》經(jīng)典童話展。

“安徒生展同樣是一個國際化的展覽，童話故事是一個溫暖的IP，是每個人都無法割舍的美好。安徒生影響了三代人，他的受眾群體會比梵高更寬更廣?！?/p>

諾貝爾文學(xué)獎獲得者黑塞說，在這富有歷史背景、富有高度私人秘密性的社會，人類的文化應(yīng)是多彩多姿的。采訪中，胡嫣然一直強調(diào)國際化，“如果不能把武漢高山流水遇知音這種文化帶出去，會是一種遺憾?！?/p>

在美國生活八年，胡嫣然更享受的不是物質(zhì)生活，而是美國文化中勇于說“不”勇于突破的精神。在她人生的成長軌跡中，每一個節(jié)點她都可以選擇更為安逸的道路，而每一次她都反其道行之，她骨子里是一個享受挑戰(zhàn)勇于拼搏的人。

在全球化背景下，中西文化的深度交融，年輕人是希望所在。胡嫣然是中國武漢有代表性的年輕精英，從她身上，看到了朝氣蓬勃的未來。

不忘初心 方得始終

文|許曠