Acting on a whim and a prayer

Performing arts colleges nationwide have been inundated with applications from wannabe stars, but fame and fortune may be harder to attain than they think. Du Juan reports.

People will always have dreams, even though only a few of them will ever realize their secret goals.

Nowadays, an increasing number of young people in China are choosing to apply to performing arts schools in the hope of becoming famous, no matter how slim the chances of success may be.

On Feb 8, the Beijing Film Academy started its monthlong selection process. Along with the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing and the Shanghai Theater Academy, the BFA is one of the country's top performing arts schools.

Zulipkar Askar, from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was one of 8,500 hopefuls who took the BFA's preliminary exam for performing arts majors.

Student hopefuls gather at the Beijing Film Academy to take the preliminary entrance exam on Feb 10.Feng Yongbin / China Daily

"I expect the competition to be fierce, but I am confident that I have the skills to follow my dream," the 21-year-old said.

This year, the number of applicants for the academy reached a record 38,000, a rise of 25.5 percent compared with last year. Just 75 of the 8,500 who will take the preliminary entrance exam will gain admission to the performing arts course - a 113.3-to-one chance of success.

Meanwhile, courses in television and radio production and journalism are also hotly contested.

Zhang Hui, head of the academy's school of performance, said the internet and media have over-promoted movie stars and performing artists. While the attention has motivated many applicants, some of them may not actually understand what a performing arts course involves, and are just besotted with the idea of "becoming a star".

"We are not responsible for creating stars. We hope more young people will understand that the BFA is not a springboard for becoming a star," Zhang said. "The performing arts require a lot of study, and it takes a lifetime to master all the skills."

The Central Academy of Drama in Beijing has also seen a record 36,000 applicants, meaning that only one-in-246 hopefuls will be admitted to its performing arts major.

Liu Shanshan, 18, conceded that the possibility of acceptance was low, and even if she were to gain admittance there is no guarantee that she would have a successful post-graduation career as an actress. Despite that, she still believes it is worth trying to achieve her goal.

Sudden success

"They (the applicants) see hope," said Zhou Tongbin, a casting director, who has worked in the entertainment sector for more than 10 years.

He said the stories of sudden success - such as Wang Baoqiang, an untrained extra who rose from obscurity to become one of China's most popular movie stars, and young new idols such as Wu Yifan, who act in a few movies and become instant billionaires - have fanned the flames.

"The kids see hope. So do their parents. So, it does no harm to allow them to try," Zhou said. "However, what they don't realize is that most people will never become stars, even if they enter the industry after graduating from a prestigious school. Many will fail to land acting jobs and will have to do something else after school."

The high probability of failure may seem anomalous, given the rapid development of China's film and TV industry in the past five years and the large amount of money that has been attracted, resulting in performers being paid small fortunes for every movie or TV role, Zhou said.

The real picture is far more complex, though. Since 2010, box office takings have maintained annual growth of more than 40 percent, according to data from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

In 2015, the figure hit a 10-year high, with total box office revenue of 44 billion yuan ($ 6.40 billion), a rise of 49 percent from the year before.

However, a bubble exists in the industry, ably illustrated by last year's box office income of about 46 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of just 3.7 percent.

Now, the bubble has burst, and the picture presented by China's movie industry last year was the real one, according to Wang Jianlin, China's richest man and president of Wanda Group, which owns the world's biggest movie theater chain, including AMC Entertainment Holdings in the United States and the Nordic Cinema Group in Europe.

Speaking at a recent forum, Wang said it is not possible for the cultural sector to maintain annual growth of 40 percent when the nation's economic growth is 6 percent.

Zhou, the director, said the authorities are aware of the industry's problems, including immature film scripts, hot money investment and box office fraud, and are dealing with them. In this way, the industry will gradually rationalize itself.

"The picture in the movie industry, and in the TV sector, is not as rosy as people think," he said. "Sometimes the industry can be cold and cruel, complicated and dark. In light of that, my advice to students who hold this dream is that once you find it isn't working out, switch to another career right away."

Family support

The enthusiasm expressed by many potential stars is not always shared by their parents.

A woman surnamed Yang, from Tangshan, Hebei province, accompanied her daughter to the preliminary test at the Beijing Film Academy on Feb 10.

"I want her to be her real self and do what she wants to do," Yang said, adding that was why she supported her daughter in her chosen path, even though she understands that many hardships may lie ahead.

Her husband is opposed to their daughter becoming an actress because he doesn't want her to come under the glare of constant media attention.

There is another reason behind the girl's desire for a life in the performing arts; the family is wealthy enough for their daughter to do whatever she wants, and she won't have to worry about finding a stable job after graduation.

Many of the applicants had the same attitude - they come from well-to-do families and face no real pressure to find a job because their family's financial resources will always be there to support them if they fail to make the grade.

This mindset is also held by many wealthy parents.

"Most of our generation studied computer science, accounting or civil engineering because it was easy to land a job with a good income after graduation. Now, we have ability to let our kids pursue whatever they want without thinking about money, so why not let them?" said one mother, who preferred not to give her name.

Liang Shuang contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn