Critics: Wolf Totem distorts Mongolian culture

By Xing Yi (China Daily)

Updated: 2015-03-11

A poster of the film Wolf Totem. The film and the book of the same name have aroused controversy. [Photo/China Daily]

Critics have described the film Wolf Totem as a distortion of Mongolian culture, Xing Yi reports.

A prominent ethnically Mongolian Chinese writer has slammed the movie Wolf Totem, directed by Jean Jacques Annaud from France, as being inaccurate and a "distortion of our Mongolian culture".

"The wolf has never been a totem of the Mongolian people," Guo Xuebo, an ethnic Mongolian novelist and a member of China Writer's Association, wrote on his microblog on Feb 18, the day before the movie, which is based on a book of the same name, was released.

"The 'wolf totem' in both the novel and the movie is a distortion of our Mongolian culture."

Guo's post has since been shared more than 9,000 times.

The film was adapted from the semi-autobiographical novel published in 2004 by Jiang Rong, the pen name of Lyu Jiamin. It tells the story of a young Han Chinese student who was sent to work and live with the Mongolian herdsmen in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). The student gradually learns about the nomadic culture and their bond with wolves.

The vivid descriptions of the nomads and the wolves made the novel a best-seller in China. According to the Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, the novel has sold more than 5 million copies and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Its English version was published by Penguin Books in 2008. Penguin paid a record advance of $100,000.