A snapshot of Internet celebrities. [Photo provided to China Daily]

After more than 30 years of opening-up and embracing new technology, China has been transformed into the world's second-largest economy. At the same time its culture has also experienced a remarkable transformation.

Responding to the cultural shocks that have occurred has been a pressing challenge for Chinese leaders, who believe the rise of China should be not just economic but also cultural. Late top Chinese leader Mao Zedong and his successors have all said China's culture should originate from the Chinese people, and serve them in return. The vulgar culture that has emerged online is a fresh test of this cultural ambition.

Despite the internet administrative department's painstaking efforts, indecent or "empty" live broadcasts are flourishing in various forms.

The anchors of such live online broadcasts have become popular celebrities, and it is now viewed by many youngsters as an attractive profession, because of the low entry threshold and potentially high returns.

Basically, these anchors attract fans with their good looks, and then perform - usually in a flirtatious manner, and sometimes doing nothing more than repeating a daily routine - in front of the camera in exchange for a payment by viewers that is made by the click of a mouse or a tap on a touch screen.

According to CBN Data, a polling agency headquartered in Shanghai, the "online celebrities" industry's annual output value this year is expected to hit nearly 60 billion yuan ($9.23 billion), from almost nothing two years ago. In comparison, the box office revenue in China last year was 40 billion yuan.

CBN Data's report says nearly 70 percent of the fans were born after 1990. Once an anchor becomes a popular online celebrity, he or she will work as salesman or saleswoman for e-commerce companies. But they will never stop their performances, so as to retain their fans.

The anchors are also the favorite hosts for video websites, as they can attract large audiences. The top anchors can also attract hundreds of millions of yuan in venture investment, to package them into stars in other fields.

What is even more worrisome is that more and more adolescents regard being an online celebrity as a shortcut to success, while the authorities have no legal foundation to ban the industry so long as the broadcasts do not break the law.

A July survey by qq.com, a major online portal in China, shows the most attractive profession for 54 percent of the Chinese college students sampled was being an online celebrity. A vocational college in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, even opened a department to train online celebrities in July.

What an irony, given the Chinese government's call for mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

We should reflect on what kind of a family and social atmosphere we have created when the majority of young people are eying such a profession, simply as a way to make easy money. Integrity and creativity will be left by the wayside on such a path to quick riches.

If this momentum is unchecked, the industry, which does not yield added value for the country, will be a huge waste of capital and human resources.

Party chief Xi Jinping made an important speech on culture and entertainment work today two years ago, in which he criticized the vulgar culture and low tastes in China's culture and entertainment industry.

People should stay away from inferior entertainment models and pursue higher-level spiritual happiness.

And it is high time the internet and cultural administrative departments took concrete actions to regulate indecent and culturally damaging online live broadcasts, so as encourage a healthy cultural environment online and prevent young people from being led astray in cyberspace.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. liyang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/15/2016 page5)