National Tide 1980.

February 4, 1992, was the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Monkey.

That year, the national television Spring Festival Gala began with the song "The Twelve Zodiac Animals Greet the New Year".

However, as the tenth edition of the Spring Festival Gala, this was actually the most unprecedented and legendary edition in the history of the Gala's comedy sketches.

On the Spring Festival Gala stage that year, Chen Peisi, Zhao Lirong, and Zhao Benshan, three top sketch comedy actors, not only competed on the same stage for the first time, but all of their works also became timeless classics.

Zhao Lirong and Gong Hanlin's collaboration, "Mom's Today," transformed the 74-year-old Zhao Lirong into a trendy old lady, combining tango dance with humor in Tangshan dialect, which became a nationwide sensation and a textbook example of Spring Festival Gala sketches.

"I Want a Home," a collaboration between Zhao Benshan and Huang Xiaojuan, uses the theme of matchmaking to depict the longing of ordinary people for a warm family through simple Northeastern humor.

Zhao Benshan finally established his status as the "King of Comedy Sketches" with the phrase "laughter through tears".

There's also "Brother-in-law and Brother-in-law" starring Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao, which continues the classic "good versus evil" contrast comedy between the two.

Chen Peisi plays the "brother-in-law" who is arrested by his police brother-in-law (Zhu Shimao). The whole story is full of misunderstandings and laughs, with a clever structure and superb performance.

Even though the audience had high expectations for them, they still applauded enthusiastically.

That's not all; this year's Spring Festival Gala even produced an extra surprise.

Perhaps because Pierre Cardin and Maxim's restaurant have firmly established themselves as the leading high-end clothing and French restaurant brands in China during this time and space, and because Pierre Cardin's franchise stores have spread throughout major first-tier cities across the country, the butterfly effect has once again triggered a historical deviation.

A skit titled "Major Name Change," which was originally only supposed to appear on the New Year's Eve Gala in Beijing the following year, was actually released a year early and made it onto the Spring Festival Gala stage, becoming a skit that surprised and delighted the audience.

In particular, Niu Zhenhua's portrayal of "Zhu You Xiaosheng"—a steamed bun shop owner who, in order to make a lot of money, tries to rename his Niu Ji Steamed Bun Shop to "Niu Kexim" based on the Maxim Restaurant, and changes his own steamed buns to "Niu Kexim Small Noodle Balls," and even sells them with coffee wheels that taste like peppermint soda—has become the most vivid representative of modern unscrupulous merchants.

This not only reflects the high brand recognition of Pierre Cardin and Maxim's Hotel in China at the time, but also the complex attitudes of the public towards luxury goods.

Moreover, it perfectly complements Zhao Lirong's line, "Tango is just walking and walking, taking three steps and leaping back twice, taking five steps and bending down twice, taking six steps and waving once," completely overshadowing other language-based programs.

The performances, such as Huang Hong and Song Dandan's "Yangko Love" and Niu Qun and Feng Gong's "Organizing a Gala," which were of average quality, were somewhat overshadowed.

As a result, Niu Zhenhua, Cai Ming, and Han Shanxu, who played these roles, became wildly popular sketch comedy stars that year, able to rival the "three peak sketch comedy" actors.

In the same year, while pager messages became an effective way to send New Year's greetings, telephone greetings also began to emerge.

Many people no longer need to visit each other's homes to exchange New Year's greetings as they used to, presenting a particularly trendy scene in the New Year's atmosphere of Beijing.

Objectively speaking, although the telephone installation business in Beijing has experienced a boom, it is still difficult to install a telephone, and the penetration rate of landline telephones is not high.

Whenever the telephone exchange announces "numbers are being released," a long queue inevitably forms outside.

Even if you spend several thousand yuan, you still have to wait in line, and it's common to wait two or three years. Even pulling strings, entertaining guests, or giving gifts may not be effective.

Only a small number of households and government units could enjoy the benefits of landline telephones.

However, in contemporary society, with increased population mobility, coupled with radio and television stations constantly proclaiming, "Make a phone call to wish someone a Happy New Year, and enjoy a joyful reunion!", and post offices also displaying slogans like "Phone greetings for the New Year, connecting people across thousands of miles," the atmosphere is one of great change.

People in Beijing still relied on the public telephones, which were first made widely available by the municipal government, to complete the transition from traditional door-to-door New Year greetings to modern and convenient blessings.

Speaking of which, the biggest upgrade to public facilities in Beijing this year was the installation of over a thousand new color public telephones capable of making long-distance calls.

There are post offices everywhere, such as Xidan, Wangfujing, Dongsi, and Hutongkou, and the queues are dozens of meters long starting from the afternoon of New Year's Eve.

Clutching their spare change, phone books, and drafts of well wishes, everyone was determined to fight, even though they were freezing and rubbing their hands and stamping their feet.

However, due to the limited availability of public telephones, once a call is made, everyone gets straight to the point and offers their blessings, with very little small talk.

As for those households that had just installed telephones, they were also exceptionally lively.

The whole family gathered around a telephone, taking turns dialing, and getting through was as exciting as winning the lottery.

A common scenario is that one person makes a phone call, and the whole family or relatives wait to take over, each saying "Happy New Year."

Don't be fooled by the old man's words, "It's still more intimate to visit in person for New Year's greetings," while he also eagerly takes the phone to hear blessings.

Therefore, during this year's Spring Festival, the hutongs were no longer filled with the sounds of chopping fillings and firecrackers, but rather with the constant ringing of telephones.

Especially around midnight, the entire city's roads are jammed, and you can only get busy signals after dialing for ages.

Many people call from New Year's Eve until the early hours of New Year's Day, just for a simple "Happy New Year".

This phenomenon may seem unbelievable to people thirty years from now, and many may even consider it outdated.

But if we switch places, this is already an unimaginable social progress for people of this era.

This is not only a change in communication methods, but also a microcosm of the accelerated pace of the times and the updating of lifestyles, carrying the collective memories of a generation about "distance" and "reunion".

Besides the changes in how people send New Year's greetings, another change that has garnered attention from Beijing residents during the Spring Festival is the changing reputation of temple fairs.

The Baiyun Temple Fair in Beijing has been a place for commodity exhibition and sales during the Spring Festival since its restoration in 1987, but its visitor traffic has always been far inferior to that of Ditan Park and Tiantan Park, ranking third.

However, this year, Gong Mingcheng, as the director of the Temple of Heaven, simply copied the plans for the Spring Festival garden party from previous years, without any innovative highlights.

Moreover, in his eagerness to generate revenue, he demanded that his subordinates cut corners on the infrastructure and performance arrangements for the Spring Festival garden party, while doubling the fees charged to vendors for their stalls. As a result, only 70% of the stalls at the Temple of Heaven Park were rented out this year, and the items were sold at exorbitant prices.

Even Pierre Cardin's Maxim's restaurant and Ning Weimin's gingerbread man fast food were too lazy to participate.

This led to a dramatic drop in both visitor numbers and public opinion for the Temple of Heaven Park.

In contrast, Baiyun Temple and Ditan Park saw positive growth, attracting far more visitors than Tiantan Park for the first time, pushing Tiantan Park's Spring Festival garden party down to third place.

The Baiyun Temple Fair, in particular, became famous that year for its hula hoops that cost eight yuan each.

At the temple fair, people were very interested in these inexpensive toys that were suitable for all ages and could also improve physical health, and they all bought them. This quickly created a trend that spread throughout the country.

So much so that two years later, Ouyang Beini, a girl from Shanghai, also made it onto the Spring Festival Gala stage with her hula hoop performance.

During the spring season, Ning Weimin finally received the policy signal he had been longing for.

During his southern tour, the great leader inspected Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shanghai and other places, and delivered his famous Southern Tour speech. As expected, he proposed that "development is the only hard truth" and that "we should be bolder in reform and opening up... Once we have identified the right path, we should boldly try it and boldly venture forth."

These words were nothing short of a "second manifesto" for the reform and opening up.

It not only clarified the general direction of our deepening reforms and strengthened our commitment to "one central task and two basic points," freeing us from the dilemma of "capitalist or socialist," but also pointed the way for the development of the People's Republic of China for the next thirty years.

Specifically for Ning Weimin, the biggest benefit is that the policy restrictions have been relaxed, allowing him to stop taking excessive steps that could backfire. He can finally start integrating the resources of his companies and confidently pursue a group-oriented development path in China.

Coincidentally, good things kept happening.

Before the Spring Festival that year, the state officially issued an order approving the development of Yangpu in Hainan.

Haikou, the capital of HAN province, Sanya, a tourist city, and the surrounding areas of Yangpu have all become hot spots for investment and development.

As a result of this policy, Hainan's housing prices have been rising at a rate of 40% per month, with real estate investment returns ranging from 100% to 250%.

The commercial value of the plots of land that Ning Weimin acquired through the government in Sanya skyrocketed, more than doubling in value.

Even Nian Jing and Jiang Hao, two speculators from Beijing, benefited from this.

They transformed themselves into well-known wealthy outsiders in Hainan by hoarding land.

In the words of Mr. Pan, a businessman from Tianshui, Gansu, who came to Hainan to acquire land, "This is an open and exciting era."

At this moment, it seems that anyone in Hainan who is involved in land and housing transactions has struck gold.

However, even with such favorable policies, Ning Weimin still couldn't immediately focus his energy on the group's operations and the resort in Sanya, because he had more important things to do right now.

After nearly three years of planning and construction, the Dragon Palace Aquarium in Longtan Lake Park, the first aquarium in Beijing that he had personally planned, was finally completed and began trial operation.

…………

On February 22, 1992, the first Saturday after the Lantern Festival, the northeast side of Longtan Lake Park was in an uproar.

Starting at 8 a.m., a seemingly endless queue formed at the park's northeast entrance, which was specially opened for the aquarium.

Adults holding children's hands, and young people in groups—these are all employees and cadres from relevant units that provide special care for the operation of the aquarium.

On this day, Ning Weimin distributed 10,000 free tickets and vouchers worth 50,000 yuan to leaders of the municipal and district governments, as well as relevant units and media outlets.

It can be said that today's event is a special one aimed at creating momentum and building good relationships with various government departments.

Besides the invited guests, there were also scalpers who came specifically to buy tickets at high prices. They were wrapped in thick cotton-padded coats, clutching handfuls of banknotes, shouting as they peered into the crowd on tiptoe.

The sub-zero temperature made people's noses turn red, but it couldn't suppress the warmth of the atmosphere. The sounds of people, laughter, and children's shouts made Longtan Lake feel cozy in winter.

At 9:30, the crowd at the aquarium entrance reached its peak.

The temporary parking lot for the aquarium was already packed to capacity, with Santanas, Jettas, old Crowns, and vintage Jeeps lined up in long rows, and even the side roads were temporarily filled with government vehicles.

Mid-level cadres from various relevant units also began to arrive one after another, sitting in their cars waiting for the aquarium to open its doors.

Many people couldn't contain their excitement and stood by the car, rubbing their hands and pulling their coats tighter, frequently peering into the park gate with eyes full of barely suppressed curiosity and anticipation.

Everyone has heard that this is the first underwater wonder in Beijing themed around the Dragon Palace of the East China Sea. In the past, people had only seen marine life in picture books and magazines. What could be more exciting than a real, immersive aquarium experience?
Reporters from various newspapers, cameramen and photographers from television stations gathered early at the entrance, cameras were set up, flashes went off from time to time, and lenses were firmly aimed at the surging crowd.

Reporters weaved through the queues, stopping tourists waiting to enter the park for casual interviews. When they handed out microphones, their ears were filled with enthusiastic discussions.

"I've been looking forward to today for ages! I heard it's full of fish I've never seen before, and there's a huge glass corridor where you can see the underwater scenery through the water!"

"The theme is the Dragon Palace of the East Sea. Just the name sounds impressive! It's probably just like the one depicted in mythology, right?"

"In the past, you had to go to the beach to see the sea, but now you can visit an underwater world right in the city. This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this!"

Many people stood on tiptoe and peeked into the park through the fence.

Because the entire aquarium is shaped like a giant tortoise carrying layers of dragon palaces, you can see the general structure of some palaces from a distance.

But when you actually arrive at the aquarium's main entrance, through the partially decorated entrance, you can only see a part of a giant god's body.

Under the shell and claws of the divine turtle, those waiting to enter felt increasingly small, eagerly anticipating what it would be like to stand atop the turtle and look down. The inability to see anything else only fueled their curiosity.

"You can see the outline of a dragon palace from a distance! The palace is magnificent, and it really does look like a dragon palace!"

"There must be big pools and large glass tanks inside, right? You've seen them in foreign movies. I wonder if we can see sharks and sea turtles?"

"Of course there is! I heard there are underwater sets, modeled after underwater caves, just like in the TV series 'Journey to the West'! It makes you feel like you're actually there."

"I have to say, the owner of this aquarium is really generous. He actually hired foreigners to do the construction and created an underwater wonderland in Longtan Lake. I have to see it for myself today!"

"That's right, let me tell you, someone who can do something this big must be incredibly powerful!"

Anticipation rose and fell, curiosity and discussion spread with the winter morning light and the wind.

This underwater wonder, themed around the Dragon Palace of the East Sea and unprecedented in Beijing, has already captivated the entire capital's attention even before officially opening its doors to visitors from all directions, thanks to its grand scale, magnificent architecture, and the mythical appearance of the Divine Turtle Back Mountain. (End of Chapter)