If Li Bai became a contracted poet, can his income exceed that of today's number one literary giant Jin Yong? If they are both contemporary writers, and wrote at the same time, Li Bai with his poems and Jin Yong with his novels, who will earn more money?
Answer:
I think the answer is definitely Jin Yong.
We live in different times and society has different demands. During the Tang Dynasty, everyone loved poetry, wrote poetry and appreciated poetry. When someone writes a good poem, he is loved by millions. Li Bai was one such person. However, in today's society, poetry is no longer a part of mainstream literature, society's desire for poetry is not the same as in ancient times. Also, Li Bai expanded the boundaries of poetry, and created the height of romanticism, this was something that no one had done before. But had he lived in today's world, it would be difficult to expand the frontiers of ancient poetry any further, and hence it would be difficult for him to create anything new. Therefore he would not have the same accomplishments today.
In this age of high speed economic development, people usually live under a lot of stress. This creates a need for people to relax. Art is the way to fill this spiritual void. Poetry, however, being an elegant art, can only be understood by a selected few. I cannot say that the high arts are not beautiful, but people just prefer the common arts, because not many people can understand the high arts! Poetry is a good example.
In this fast food culture, even if people can appreciate poetry, people would probably still prefer novels as a common past-time. The reason being, work and study already consume much of our brain power, and people probably wouldn't want to use up more of their brain to appreciate the intricate layers of poetic symbolism. Furthermore, novels being a leisure read, do not require much in-depth thinking. Their action-packed story lines can easily create pleasure for readers. This is something poetry cannot do. I, for one, would definitely prefer Jin Yong to Li Bai in the little free time I have after school. It isn't because I do not like Li Bai, it is rather that Jin Yong brings pleasure more directly and clearly than Li Bai. I think this is how most people would feel.
A person's development has always been restricted by his environment. Whether one can be great is dependent on oneself; but receiving recognition from others, is depenent upon outside forces. This is beyond people's control. The fact that this a different age and time caused the fall of poetry, and the rise of novels. And the rise and fall of poetry and novels, will determine whether Li Bai will be more popular than Jin Yong.
The difference between literary genres could be another reason for the fall of Li Bai in today's society. Poetry being a highly concentrated art form, expresses more emotions than anything else, like the saying "Poetry expresses intentions". The unique nature of poetry, furthered the distance between poetry and other forms of art, such as television and video games. Where television and video games are another two highly popular art forms in today's world. The distance between poetry and these types of art makes it difficult to transform poetry into those art forms. This is the reason that poetry cannot win the hearts of mainstream audiences today.
It is different with Novels. Novels have complete story lines. Their content are often expressed as plots. And plot, is also an important element of television and video games. Hence it is relatively easy to transform novels into television and video games, and be accepted by the populous. Novels are more adaptable to other art forms than poetry, this suggests a higher potential for future growth, in other words, earn more money than poetry. Therefore, if Li Bai lived in today's world, his accomplishments definitely would compare to that of Jin Yong.