"Is it so hard to just openly say that your inspiration comes from traditional Chinese meticulous painting? Why do you have to shamelessly claim that the paintings of other people's ancestors are your own? Don't you have any ancestors?"
"The person upstairs has revealed the truth: China is his real father!"
"This father feels unlucky; I didn't want such a rebellious son..."
Jiangxia searched for quite a while, but the tens of thousands of floors in the building were endless!
Jiang Xiaoman was also a little confused by the topic that suddenly appeared.
However, it would be a fool not to ride the wave of popularity!
If we need to popularize the paintings of masters, shouldn't we also popularize the Langshan embroidery and the shamanistic culture?
After eating a few crabs from Jiang Xiaoman, Jiang Xia was drafted by him, and the two of them stayed up all night using the materials they had on hand to write a lot of praise posts and popular science essays, which were then posted online.
Jiang Xia was also threatened by Jiang Xiaoman, a heartless capitalist, who imitated the online trolls hired by Hera and used sarcastic remarks to incite conflict in the comments section, saying things like "Chinese people are xenophobic" and "Even if this painting is by a Chinese painter and they don't know how to use it, does that mean people all over the world can't appreciate it?"
As if the above remarks weren't infuriating enough, Jiang Xia then mimicked the tone of a Chinese person, trying to mediate in a teasy manner, saying things like, "When international big brands use paintings by Chinese artists to make dresses, it's to show goodwill to Chinese customers," and "Not using them yourself and not letting others use them is too petty and disgraceful to the great nation of China..."
Jiang Xiaoman, bored, turned her head and glanced at it twice, successfully making herself angry.
Looking at Jiang Xia, I thought, "This guy isn't usually that irritating when he talks, so why does he talk so sarcastically when he's a keyboard warrior online?"
"That's how you incite conflict—you have to make people furious first." Jiang Xia smiled slightly and clicked "post."
Sure enough, in less than half a day, netizens who were just speaking out for the famous ancient painters successfully discovered two new victims: Langshan embroidery and the shamanistic culture.
What excites onlookers even more is that the famous ancient painter has been dead for hundreds of years, and there are no descendants to be found. Even if he wanted to refuse the "borrowing" and "homage" of the Korean thief designer, he couldn't jump out of his coffin to speak for himself.
Both the Kelangshan embroidery and the shamanistic rituals have successors!
Jiang Xiaoman, representing one of the officially authorized commercial partners of Langshan Tuxiu, asked the South Korean designer on the official account with particular curiosity whether he had obtained official authorization when adding those Langshan Tuxiu and totem patterns to the design draft.
Anyway, Edmund came to Langshan in person, and it was only after obtaining their authorization that he was able to travel around Langshan to gather inspiration. Moreover, the two sides had also reached a cooperation agreement, so it's not a loss for Langshan embroidery to gain fame through an internationally renowned designer.
To put it bluntly, Chinese people aren't that petty. They don't care whether they share their own things or not. If you want to use them, you can pay them or exchange them for something else; they have no objections.
But you want to take the historical heritage left to us by our ancestors for free, and you also want to steal this glory to your own country. Isn't that a bit shameless?
Jiang Xia, using his registered identity as an inheritor of Langshan sacrificial culture intangible cultural heritage, questioned the designer: the Langshan totem pattern he possessed was only authorized to Edmund himself and his studio, so why did it appear in his design draft? Could it be that this designer is actually an employee of Edmund's studio?
There's not only physical evidence here! There's even eyewitness testimony!
The onlookers immediately got excited and switched to a new topic, joining Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Xia in directly retorting.
Yes, we didn't say that other countries can't use the things left by our ancestors.
You can use it if you want; there are ready-made examples right here.
Even a famous designer like Edmund knows to respect copyright and national culture, and personally went to Langshan to obtain authorization from the inheritor. How dare you, an unknown designer from South Korea, try to take advantage of this?
In no time, with evidence provided by the inheritor himself, Chinese netizens, full of confidence, propelled this topic to the top of the trending search list!
Seeing that Jiang Xiaoman and his team had opened up the situation, the county cultural bureau did not dare to slack off. Without even having time to convene a meeting of cultural stations from various townships in the county, they directly issued a document requiring cultural stations from various townships to cooperate with the county intangible cultural heritage protection center to do their best to popularize Langshan culture to the outside world.
Hera Group's official accounts on Chinese social media platforms have been trending on social media for several days due to angry Chinese netizens, and the posts can't be removed. They had no choice but to put aside their pride and issue an apology letter.
However, what's baffling is that the apology letter was perfunctory and utterly insincere, shifting all the blame onto the designers from South Korea.
Indeed, firing a designer with a history of plagiarism to protect the stock price of an international brand is something that most large corporations would do.
Jiang Xiaoman wasn't angry about that; what angered him was that Hera had solemnly apologized to him and Jiang Xia, but refused to apologize to the famous ancient Chinese scholar who was renowned for both his poetry and painting. Her reasoning was that they believed Chinese civilization was also a treasure of the world, and since the man was gone, these "historical treasures" should belong to all of humanity...
What kind of robber logic is this?
Chapter 282
“I’m sorry, Mr. Edmund, I think our cooperation can no longer continue.”
"As business people, we certainly hope to cooperate with international brands like Hera. Or rather, even if we don't make money, I think there are many clothing companies around the world that would like to cooperate with Hera."
"As Chinese people, we cannot accept a partner that does not acknowledge Chinese civilization."
"The historical and cultural heritage belonging to our Chinese nation, whether or not there are inheritors, is the bottom line that all Chinese descendants must uphold!"
Jiang Xiaoman refused Edmund's mediation and insisted on giving up this excellent opportunity to bring Langshan embroidery to the world.
But he doesn't regret it.
A brand that cannot even show the most basic respect for the history and culture of other ethnic groups is inviting trouble into the house, even if it achieves cooperation.
Jiang Xiaoman couldn't stop his colleagues from betraying their ancestors for profit, but he himself absolutely couldn't be such a scoundrel, otherwise his father would break his legs!
Edmund simply couldn't understand where he had gone wrong!
Over the years, he has traveled around the world almost every year in search of creative inspiration, visiting Asia, Africa, South America, and even Antarctica.
The indigenous people in those areas can buy many handicrafts or textiles with very local characteristics for just a little money. Almost no one would do what Jiang Xiaoman did, sending them a lawyer's letter to sue them for infringing on their country's intangible cultural heritage intellectual property rights...
If this were an ordinary person, Edmund wouldn't even bother with it; he would have chosen to hand the matter over to the company's expensive legal team.
But this matter involves not only Jiang Xiaoman, but also Jiang Xia.
Edmund admitted that he still couldn't let go of this man from China; he was just too much to his liking!
For Jiang Xia's sake, Edmund didn't hesitate to have a big argument with his partner, and finally managed to get an official apology letter for Jiang Xia and his team. Isn't that enough?
"Edmund, you don't understand. China is unlike any other country you've ever been to."
"We have a civilization that was once incredibly brilliant, spanning five thousand years."
"Our civilization is not limited to archaeological relics. In fact, even today, traces of five thousand years of civilization still remain in the lives of ordinary Chinese people."
"The rice we Chinese eat, the silk we wear, the bamboo we use, and even many people like me who live in the countryside still use the Chinese almanac. Do you know the Chinese almanac? Legend has it that it was created by our Chinese ancestor, the Yellow Emperor."
"So I'm sorry, if we can't even reach an agreement on this point, then our friendship won't last long..."
Jiang Xia rejected Edmund's overtures.
Jiang Xiaoman felt a little regretful, but Jiang Xia rolled her eyes at her: "You still have the mind to be sentimental here? Let me tell you, you rejected Edmund and the Hera Group's apologies. Do you know what that means?"
"This means that the doors to the top fashion circles of the entire Western world have been completely closed to us from now on! They've been sealed shut with cement."
“You have no idea how deep the prejudice those white people have against China. Back then, Jiang Yuan was attacked on the internet in the United States because he publicly declared that he would never cooperate with TD artists and insisted that there is only one China. He was collectively attacked and insulted by the internet, who said he was a traitor and did not respect human rights…” Jiang Xia sighed.
Although he has now stopped being a fan for certain reasons, it must be said that Jiang Yuan's values and patriotism are absolutely admirable.
Jiangxia is genuinely worried about the future of Jiang Xiaoman and the dissemination of Tu embroidery culture.
However, Jiang Xiaoman herself didn't care at all.
"Why must our own country's cultural traditions be recognized by foreigners?" Jiang Xiaoman curled her lip. "I admit that when I wanted to cooperate with Hera, I did want to achieve instant success and bring our Langshan embroidery to the international fashion scene. But does Langshan embroidery have to survive without the support of international big brands?"
"Just you wait and see, we Chinese have 1.4 billion compatriots!"
"I don't believe that without the support of international big brands, our Langshan embroidery can't be sold. At most, the price will be more affordable. Originally, I was planning to go with Hera Group to divide our Langshan embroidery into two parts: high-end custom and mass-market brands. Now that one part is gone, I've reduced my workload a lot."
No one wanted to be lazy more than Jiang Xiaoman.
He didn't want to shoulder the burden of the entire town's livelihood at all, but the situation forced him to, so what else could he do? He had the most fans and the most ideas in the whole town, and no one else could handle the responsibility.
In other words, if you can carry a 50-pound load, who would want to carry a 200-pound load? Isn't that just asking for trouble?
Less than two months after he said those words, Jiang Xia found out what Jiang Xiaoman had done.
After his falling out with Hera, this guy secretly and secretly established a separate clothing company with Boss Jin's Jinyan Group, excluding Hera, that shameless plagiarist.
In recent years, Hanfu culture has become increasingly popular in China. However, while Hanfu is beautiful, it is not very convenient to wear in daily life. Therefore, some modified versions of Hanfu that can be worn daily have emerged.
This was the idea Jiang Xiaoman gave to President Jin.
However, they are not making a modified version of Hanfu, but rather a large-scale collaboration with all 56 ethnic groups of China to create a co-branded product!
It's important to know that the 56 ethnic groups in China have far more than just 56 different clothing cultures!
The ethnic minority group in Langshan alone has formed at least thirty different tribes with distinct customs due to their migrations in ancient times.
These tribes, scattered in various places, spread out and brought with them the dialects, clothing, and other cultural traditions passed down from their ancestors. Over thousands of years of historical inheritance, they have gradually formed unique styles.
Let alone the difference in clothing, even the dialects spoken by people from the same ethnic minority can be different, okay?
Take Langshan for example. After crossing more than a dozen mountains, they listened to each other's dialects and thought the other was a wild man from the mountains, completely unable to understand each other.
Jin Yan has a complete and modern clothing design, development, and production line.
They could completely ditch the arrogant international brands and directly collaborate with local ethnic minority clothing brands to create customized versions of ethnic minority costumes.
And the first to shine is, of course, the Langshan embroidery team!
"How much bewitching potion did you give President Jin? His symptoms look like he's been bewitched..." Jiang Xia glanced at Jiang Xiaoman speechlessly.
To actually persuade a capitalist to give up international brands and huge profits to switch to making some modified ethnic minority costumes, even Boss Jin's own son probably doesn't have that much influence. If Jiang Xiaoman went into pyramid schemes, Amway wouldn't stand a chance.
"What do you mean I cursed President Jin? It's obvious that President Jin himself is envious of this market. Speaking of which, do you know how fast the Hanfu industry in China has grown in recent years?" Jiang Xiaoman rolled her eyes at him.
How could a shaman who truly knew how to use witchcraft suspect that such a kind and simple commoner was using witchcraft on him?
Jiang Xiaoman came to deliver an invitation to Jiang Xia, not to discuss with him whether or not she had used a curse on President Jin.
"Remembering the Past, Dreaming of a Thousand Years - A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains 2024 Spring Fashion Show? Wait! You really invited these media outlets?" Jiang Xia's eyes widened slightly as she opened the vermilion invitation in her hand.
The invitation letter prominently featured the names of the top ten national media outlets in China in the "Special Media" section!
"Hehe~ We just gave it a try, and we didn't expect everyone to still remember the lawsuit we had with the international brands last time. Now that they heard that we refused to cooperate with international brands and developed a Chinese ethnic clothing brand, they all agreed to send reporters to take a look. However, whether they can report on it is another matter."
"Hehe~ Now that they're all in your hands, I don't believe you won't brainwash these reporters." Jiang Xia knew Jiang Xiaoman's tricks all too well.
It really takes a lot of willpower to escape from Jiang Xiaoman's brainwashing routine.
The Jin family, whose CEO Jin was implied by Jiang Xia to be "bewitched," hesitated for a long time before deciding not to release his wife for the time being.
We'll discuss everything after the press conference.
He wasn't the kind-hearted Jiang Youliang; he naively thought that Jiang Xiaoman and Yan Susu still had some kind of "mother-son relationship."
Honestly, if he were Jiang Xiaoman, his biological mother would have abandoned him on the street right after he was born, and never even thought of looking for him all these years...
Forget about the mother-son bond; the fact that he didn't retaliate is already a testament to his high moral character, okay?
He simply didn't think that Jiang Xiaoman would want to see his birth mother, who had abandoned him, on such a joyous occasion as a new product launch...
Let Yan Susu continue counting ants in the sanatorium!
However, when he thought of his chubby grandson, Mr. Jin couldn't help but smile with a kind smile on his aged face. Oh, his Rui Rui is so cute!