Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2222 Overkill
It is also a good thing to stay in New York for an extra day to watch the troupe of "The Peony Pavilion of Youth" who came to the United States from China to tour the United States. It gave Zhou Buqi the opportunity to have a second meeting with Carl Icahn.

This time it was not Zhou Buqi who came to the door on his own initiative.

Carl Icahn asked him to talk to him further about Yahoo.

Zhou Buqi told him that at 10 o'clock in the morning, he would go to Changyou, where the two parties could meet.Woke up early in the morning to pick up people at the airport.

Not only Li Xinwan, but also Jiang Bingjie came.

The two walked down the gangway hand in hand, smiling like flowers and waving from a distance.But it wasn't until they got in the car that the two of them boldly threw themselves into Zhou Buqi's arms and made out for a while.

Zhou Buqi's car is a black Lincoln, which is very bulky and can't be driven if he is not good at driving.

But there is also an advantage.

Can be bulletproof.

New York is far more dangerous than Silicon Valley.

After the kiss, Li Xinwan was out of breath, with a pink face, and said excitedly: "Do you really want to watch "The Peony Pavilion of Youth Edition"?"

Zhou Buqi said: "Well, the tickets are all bought, I read the introduction...it seems to be doing some kind of global tour."

"Yes, a global tour." Li Xinwan nodded beautifully, with the corners of her mouth slightly upturned, with a sense of pride, "This is the best opera art in China, and it is the ancestor of all operas. It has appeared since the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The existing ones in China Most of the opera genres took shape only in the Qing Dynasty, and many elements of singing, reciting and fighting are taken from Kunqu Opera."

She was born in a family of quyi, and she has been educated in quyi since she was a child. Of course, she is very clear about this kind of thing.

Zhou Buqi was half illiterate in front of her, "Is it at the end of the Yuan Dynasty? Then the opera forms of Tang and Song Dynasties and even earlier have been lost?"

Li Xinwan said softly: "That's right, it has been lost. Different eras have different preferences, especially foreign invasions have had the greatest impact on culture. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Peking Opera dominated the entire theater world, and a large number of Peking Opera masters appeared. At that time, Kunqu opera was almost lost. Fortunately, some elders from the Kunqu opera family couldn't bear it, so they found the comprador capitalists in Shanghai and asked for a sum of money. They found more than 40 children and taught them how to learn Kunqu opera. These children are the predecessors of the "Chuan" generation who brought Kunqu opera back to life, and the disciples of the "Chuan" generation are the "Ji" generation, and my grandfather is the disciple of the "Ji" generation."

Zhou Buqi winked at her, "Expert."

Li Xinwan pursed her lips and said softly: "However, after the reform and opening up, various new forms of entertainment have come in, and Kunqu Opera is no longer good... not only Kunqu Opera, but all folk art projects are no longer good. Peking Opera is the quintessence of the country. A lot of financial funds are used to support it. Kunqu Opera is relatively small, so there is not much money. Many of the "Ji" seniors who are still alive are only 6th-level actors and 7th-level actors, and some are even farming in the countryside. Not even subsistence allowances."

Now Zhou Buqi understood why Ning Yameng was so active in persuading herself to approach art.

This can not only cultivate one's morality, improve personal taste and aesthetics.

The point is that many traditional arts are really struggling to survive in modern society.

This requires money!
Li Xinwan went on to say: "Fortunately, Mr. Bai came at this time. He is a great writer. He re-wrote and edited "The Peony Pavilion". All of them worked together to create the "Youth Version of Peony Pavilion". After the play was launched, it became popular immediately, and Kunqu opera came back to life. It also attracted the attention of the country. Sister Shen is very young. At that time, he will be a national first-class actor."

This pile of names made Zhou Buqi a little dizzy, so he could only ask one by one: "Mr. Bai? Who is it?"

Li Xinwan said: "Bai Xianyong, a great writer."

Zhou Buqi let out an "oh" like thunder, "The son of the warlord Bai Chongxi of the Republic of China!"

Li Xinwan blinked and nodded lightly, "Well, it's him. He lived in mainland China when he was a child, and was influenced by Kunqu opera culture, and he remembered it all his life. When Kunqu opera was in crisis, he came here on his own initiative. He is the "Youth Edition" The biggest contributor to The Peony Pavilion is the screenwriter, he promoted this project, and he raised money from friends, and it is said that he spent tens of millions of dollars to get the "Youth Version of The Peony Pavilion" today."

Zhou Buqi then asked: "Who is Professor Zhou? Both have the same surname as mine."

Li Xinwan said with a light smile: "Qing opera masters, they are well-educated. They come from a family of Kunqu opera, and they are the most authoritative in this field. You can also pick out mistakes from it, and then give pointers, and he even gave me pointers."

Seeing that the patron's father didn't seem to understand, Li Xinwan further explained, "Kunqu Opera is different from Peking Opera. Peking Opera belonged to the people of Lower Liba back then...Popular music was popular entertainment in the Qing Dynasty, and it was a folk thing. Kunqu Opera is not the same. It’s the same, when it was born, it was not a folk thing, but an art of the scholar-bureaucrat class.”

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Well, I read the script of "The Peony Pavilion" last night. The words and sentences are written like Tang poetry and Song poetry."

"Yes, this is the biggest difference between Kunqu Opera and other dramas." When Li Xinwan talked about Kunqu Opera, her eyes seemed to be shining. After all, this is something she has learned and nurtured since she was a child. It was created by great writers in ancient times. For example, "The Peony Pavilion" was created by the drama master Tang Xianzu, and "The Palace of Eternal Life" was created by the playwright Hong Sheng."

Zhou Buqi seemed to understand what he meant, "But the actors in ancient times had no social status and were all illiterate. These illiterates could compose their own lyrics and sing Peking opera, but they couldn't sing Kunqu opera on their own."

Li Xinwan said sweetly: "Yes, that's what it means. Because the threshold of Kunqu opera is too high, when performing, you must first understand the connotation and deep meaning of the words, but how do the little actors understand? So the singing and reading of the original version of "The Peony Pavilion" Fighting, in fact, can all be derived from Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty, who taught those actors to sing every word, every movement, and every pronunciation, and then passed it down to this day."

Zhou Buqi said: "But actors are uneducated, and they will inevitably lose their shape during the performance, so there will be other literary masters who understand music to give pointers and corrections."

Li Xinwan smiled sweetly: "Yes, this is the Qing opera master. This is different from Peking opera. In Peking opera, Peking opera masters such as Mei Lanfang and Yu Shuyan are the authority, and they perform as they say. Kunqu opera is different, cultural level It is too deep, and in addition, Kunqiang and Suqiang have been influenced by Mandarin over the years, and the pronunciation is not accurate... It must be studied by senior scholars, professors, and writers. Those "passed" characters, " Although the predecessors of the 'character generation have performed all their lives and are well-deserved performing artists, they have not received any cultural education since they were young. They are more of a 'performance tool'. Just like film language, performing artists are actors, and Qing opera Home is the director."

Zhou Buqi was in awe, "This is an art treasure, the threshold is ridiculously high."

Li Xinwan said with a light smile: "So now children who learn Kunqu opera performances from an early age have to go to drama colleges when they grow up, and they have to study theoretically. I used to study at the opera school where I was in theater. I can't just learn acting, I also have to study. It is necessary to deeply understand the cultural heritage inside.”

Zhou Buqi took a deep breath, "Where is that sister Shen? Who is it?"

Li Xinwan said: "It should be the heroine you saw on the poster, the actress who played Du Liniang in "The Peony Pavilion of Youth"."

"Oh, it's her." Zhou Buqi nodded, "You know her?"

Li Xinwan smiled "poof".

Zhou Buqi was surprised, "What's wrong?"

"I..." Li Xinwan pointed to her heart, a little coquettishly, "I used to be the backup heroine of "The Peony Pavilion of Youth", the youngest Du Liniang. Since it is "The Peony Pavilion of Youth", it means It can’t be like the traditional “Peony Pavilion” that can be played for a lifetime, and young people should be used as the leading roles. At the beginning, I was the most hopeful to succeed Sister Shen and become the next youth version of Du Liniang of the Peony Pavilion!”

Zhou Buqi was taken aback, he didn't expect this girl to be so powerful, "Then why don't you sing?"

Li Xinwan gave him a gloomy look, "You're not an actor anymore."

Zhou Buqi was heartbroken, "It's overkill!"

A poor actor, how can he be as important as the head of a Kunqu Opera masterpiece!

It's not a layered art form at all.

Li Xinwan sighed softly, "The actors of Kunqu opera are too poor, and this industry does not make money at all. Nowadays, except for those who have family influence and let their children learn Kunqu opera from elementary school, who else will learn Kunqu opera? A child from a poor family. Even sister Shen, who is the heroine of "The Peony Pavilion of Youth" and became a national first-class actor in her 20s, but the money he earns a year may only be a tenth of mine. One. This is not counting the money you gave me, the gift you gave me."

……

Send Li Xinwan and Jiang Bingjie home, settle down, and let them rest from the jet lag first.

Zhou Buqi went to the company.

Met Carl Icahn who had been waiting for a long time.

As soon as they met, Carl Icahn said anxiously: "Zhou, I agree with your plan! As long as the price is right, I will operate this matter and sell Yahoo to you!"

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "This is the best solution. It is good for the capital, good for the founder team, and better for Yahoo."

Carl Icahn: "But I have one condition."

"Say."

"Yahoo can't be delisted."

"Huh?" Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows, "If you can't cooperate with 100% of the equity, it's meaningless. I'm not interested in investing in Yahoo. Yahoo is hopeless now. What I want to do is to get 100% of the equity. Yahoo's equity, and then completely reinvent Yahoo, so that Yahoo has revitalized."

"It's not a contradiction," Carl Icahn said with a laugh.

"Why not contradict?"

"Ziweixing International hasn't been listed yet, it's just right!"

(End of this chapter)