(file photo)

Shanghai people's inward-looking attitudes are costing the city its status as a global cultural center equal to the likes of Paris, New York or Beijing, said Yu Qiuyu, a well-known Chinese scholar.

Shanghai has riveted world attention in recent years because of its blistering economic growth, but its cultural status has not kept pace, said Yu, while addressing a function held by the Shanghai Media Group on Wednesday to mark the launch of a database for celebrities and talents.

Yu, a native of Yuyao, in east China's Zhejiang Province, is a writer of prose and art theory. A regular guest of TV talk shows, he lectures in a number of Chinese universities and travels from place to place to comment on and analyze Chinese culture. His Chinese language literary works regularly make the best seller lists.

On Wednesday, Yu was included by Shanghai Media Group in its database of 2,800 celebrities and talents.

Yu blamed parochialism, information overload and a tendency to fudge issues for the current imbalance in Shanghai's cultural and economic status in the world.

"Cultural differences are fascinating and should be respected, but we should not overemphasize such differences," said Yu.

"All over China, localities have been trying to build their cultural image, digging deep into their regional legacy, trying to find something to take pride in or even prove that their culture is better than someone else's," said Yu. "Sometimes these efforts are laughable."

"Shanghai is no exception. It has concentrated its efforts on exploring its own city culture," said the Chinese scholar. "A great culture should always be free of parochialism."

"Artists have their own nationalities but culture is a human treasure that has no boundaries," said Yu. "Shanghai should take a broader cultural perspective and be more tolerant so as to create and amass valuable things for the whole of mankind."

Shanghai, with its leading position in China's economic and commercial life, has been swept up in the globalization movement and inundated with cultural products of dubious value.

"Cultural workers in Shanghai are overwhelmed with rubbish and agitation and cannot create high quality literary works," said Yu.

In the meantime, Shanghaiese are keen to avoid being singled out as trouble makers and tend to sit on the fence on controversial issues, according to Yu.

"In a nutshell, they are not innovative. I am afraid Shanghai's cultural image will suffer in the long run and its standing as a cultural center will decline," said Yu.

He urged cultural workers in the city to stop acting like ostriches and express opinions on key cultural issues in a bold, outspoken manner so that they can contribute to making Shanghai a global cultural center.

(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2006)