The opening of China Entertainment Group gave Jay Chou a head-on confrontation

Chapter 725 He was born in 81, you can't beat him
The 2004 Athens Olympics finally came to a close amid cheers of "Spike".

The Olympics at that time was not the useless existence that it later became with declining attention. Whether in the Western or Eastern world, the Olympics was a goal pursued by many countries.

It is precisely because of this that when Zhou Yi issued a resounding invitation to the whole world on stage, at least 30,000 of the 55,000 audience members really remembered this city that was frequently mentioned in the song.

Remember this city that allowed Zhou Yi to extend an invitation to the world.

Zhang Yimou and his team were so excited that their faces turned red. Even the calm Zhang Yimou couldn't help but perform a set of three farmer's punches on the spot to vent the pressure that had accumulated in his heart over the past few days.

Stable.

Steady!

In fact, when the eight-minute performance officially began, Zhang Yimou knew in his heart that he had messed up before the first show was even halfway through.

If it weren't for Zhou Yi's superb performance at the end, which made up for all his previous failures and led all 150 performers to sing and dance on the stage, these eight minutes would have been an extreme failure for him.

As it turned out, Zhou Yi's own plan was indeed better than the one discussed by his team. This time, his past successful experience not only did not help him, but instead became a shackle that restricted his performance.

"Thanks, Zhou Yi. Congratulations, it was a perfect performance."

Zhang Yimou tightly hugged Zhou Yi, who came to his rescue, and was reluctant to let go. There was an inexplicable sense of loneliness in his tone.

Maybe I am really old and can't keep up with the times.

"It's what we should do. After all, these are our Olympics, aren't they?"

Zhou Yi knew that this was Lao Mouzi apologizing to him for his previous stubbornness and smiled nonchalantly: "Besides, there was indeed an influence from the inhumanity of the Athenian side before."

Did he try his best?
Tried my best.

There is no way to avoid overdoing it. After all, Zhang Yimou has never been involved in directing work in this kind of occasion before, and no international Olympic committee is willing to help him or pass on some experience.

This is the other side of the Western blockade.

It was completely like starting from scratch and trying too hard, which is completely understandable from the perspective of Zhou Yi, a later comer.

but……

"grateful."

"You're welcome. I just want you to be prepared. Starting tomorrow, the verbal battle against you will probably last for a week or even a month."

Zhou Yi, a later comer, can understand this because he knows that Zhang Yimou has indeed tried his best at this stage, and in the future he will even evolve to the ultimate form of the true national master at the opening ceremony of the 08 Olympics. But this does not mean that domestic public opinion in 2004 will not settle accounts with him.

In theory, "being criticized to the point of exploding family tree" is an abusive adjective, but when applied to Zhang Yimou after the 2004 Athens Olympics, it is a fact.

"What can we do? We have to take it one step at a time. We have to live our lives."

Zhang Yimou, who has been criticized more and more since the release of "Hero", doesn't mind being criticized anymore, as he is very resistant to pressure. After a month or so of criticism, he will calm down and devote himself to his new work.

He thinks so.

"A Solo Journey of Thousand Miles" is his star-chasing work that he has been preparing for a long time. The casting work has been postponed again and again due to the Olympics. Now he can go back and prepare well.

"Working again?"

"I can't sit still. I can't lose to you young people."

"..."

It is true.

Putting aside the issue of whether the movie is bad or not, Zhang Yimou's energy is really amazing. He can have several children while filming intensively. He has been filming from the 1980s to the mobile Internet era, and even had to work on the Olympic Games and the Winter Olympics in between.

Directors of the same period have long been constipated, and even the new generation of directors who came after him could not match this old man despite their energy.

"Yimou Zhang, I've heard of him. I didn't expect that he is actually a workaholic in private. He was thinking about making a movie right after the Olympics." Eva Green, who started out making art films, had heard of this director who had a certain reputation in old Europe, so she was not completely clueless.

"Next is our team's celebration party. What are you doing here? You don't want to join in, do you?" Zhou Yi glanced at the woman who came over from nowhere.

Eva Green smiled and put her hand on his shoulder: "No, I just want to ask if anyone has reserved this costume for your performance?"

..........................................

"The talent is exhausted! Zhang Yimou received a lot of negative reviews at the Athens Olympics!"

"The Light of China on the 2004 Athens Olympic Stage - Zhouyi!"

"The performance is old-fashioned and the content is outdated. Zhang Yimou failed in his duty!"

《Under the night sky of Athens, Zhou Yi sings Welcome To Beijing to the world! 》

"Zhang Yimou should apologize to the people of the whole country!"

Zhou Yi tried his best

"..."

At 8:30 a.m. on August , Beijing time, the front-page headlines of all newspapers were unified around the closing ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games, which had just ended in the early hours of the morning - but the content seemed somewhat fragmented.

On the one hand, people are scolding Zhang Yimou for running out of ideas, while on the other hand, they are praising Zhou Yi for turning the tide and saving the collapsing empire. It seems very contradictory.

Many people who could not get up in the early morning to watch the live broadcast were confused after reading the newspaper - no, brothers, you are both cursing and praising, so were these eight minutes good or bad?
Until everyone who was curious took the time to watch the eight minutes of the replay on TV...

After the opening thunderbolt, there followed silence → irritability → cursing → Zhou Yi came up and felt relieved → continued to curse Zhang Yimou.

It's hard to imagine that a video of only about 11 minutes including the entire process could make Zhang Yimou the target of accusations and scolding by netizens across the country in less than a day.

"Zhang Yimou was possessed by a ghost during the Ghost Festival, right?! Is this something a human could film?!"

August 2004, 8 was the traditional Chinese festival Zhongyuan Festival. On this day, there was nothing wrong with putting on this kind of performance and saying that the person was possessed by a ghost.

"Zhang Yimou is so bad. He can only forcibly copy and paste a bunch of Chinese cultural elements to make a hodgepodge. He doesn't show our style at all!"

"Did that damned Zhang Yimou enrich himself? Were those eye-catching red lanterns re-used props from the warehouse of his previous movie Red Sorghum?"

"The Kung Fu performance is not as good as the Spring Festival Gala. Where is your mother?! The Spring Festival Gala is so rubbish and you are not as good as it. You are a fucking fraud!"

"The cheongsam design is so fucking vulgar and obscene! These directors are fucking mentally abnormal!!!"

"Isn't it just a forced imitation? I can do it too. I'm cheaper than Zhang Yimou. Only 5000 yuan will do."

"If Zhou Yi hadn't withstood the pressure for these eight minutes, everything would have been completely ruined!"

"Zhang Yimou is not worthy of being the chief director of the Olympics!"

"..."

Basically, 60% of the netizens who watched the eight minutes of the video chose to curse directly online, expressing their true feelings and pointing the finger at Zhang Yimou and his team. About 20% didn't care, but under the influence of public opinion, they chose to follow the crowd and curse along.

Not only netizens, but even official newspapers and media outlets made rare public statements criticizing Zhang Yimou's conservatism, creativity, and clothing.

The Jiangnan Times even directly pointed the finger at the first specific point of attack - 14 Olympic babies wearing red and green short cheongsams playing Jasmine Flower on the stage.

"What Zhang Yimou did was totally inappropriate! It was a blasphemy to our country's traditional art and culture! The same 14 Olympic babies changed into casual clothes during Zhou Yi's performance and looked more youthful and energetic. What Zhang Yimou did was a complete humiliation to our country's traditional clothing culture!

"He has to apologize to the people of the whole country for doing this!"

On September 9, the relevant departments of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee received 1 letters from the public in one day. All of the letters demanded that the organizing committee fire Zhang Yimou and absolutely not allow him to participate in the preparation and directing of the 419 Olympic Games.

These are genuine complaints from the general public, not from young netizens instigated by online public opinion. The oldest writer is 68 years old, and the youngest is 43 years old.

They don’t understand the online channels for expressing themselves, but they have their own ways of expressing themselves.

In just two days, they received nearly 500 letters of complaint with various contents. The Imperial Capital Olympic Organizing Committee was overwhelmed. This was not the end. As the eight-minute replay was seen by more and more people on TV, the criticism against Zhang Yimou became more intense.

By the 3rd, the staff of the Imperial Capital Olympic Organizing Committee were completely numb - along with the letters delivered accurately by postal personnel, thousands of complaint letters came from all over the country, all of which were cursing Zhang Yimou. Among them, many people also cursed the Imperial Capital Olympic Organizing Committee, believing that it was a mistake for them to hire Zhang Yimou and demanded that the organizing committee fire him immediately.

Since Zhang Yimou himself had not returned to China yet, the members of the Imperial Capital Olympic Organizing Committee could only report to the top leaders and hold a meeting after urgent communication with him. At the meeting, as many as four top leaders expressed their dissatisfaction and criticism of Comrade Zhang Yimou without any reservation, and the words they used were extremely harsh, which was rare.

Therefore, after the meeting, the Imperial Capital Olympic Organizing Committee, which had officially received the order, officially announced the news of Zhang Yimou's resignation.

It was also announced that the election process for the chief director of the 2005 Olympic Games would be restarted in March 3, and all aspiring people would be welcome to sign up.

"Thousands of complaint letters! Zhang Yimou sets a new record in the history of Chinese directors!"

"Embarrassing record, Zhang Yimou resigns!"

"Insiders reveal that Zhang Yimou is not worthy of his position"

"Chen Kaige seems to mock Zhang Yimou in private"

"..."

In eight minutes, his fame was gone.

From top to bottom, there were overwhelming accusations.

Thanks to Zhou Yi's outstanding performance, he became the only fig leaf that could be used to talk about it. Those comments that originally accused Zhou Yi of being overbearing and bullying were no longer popular on the Internet, and instead were replaced by the arrogance of Italian fans -

"Zhou Yi is good at being domineering! He is great at bullying!"

"The strong should ruthlessly humiliate the weak! Why would Zhou Yi listen to a bunch of rubbish?!"

"Why are there traditional Chinese characters upstairs?"

"We are all compatriots, and we should stand united against the outside world! Damn it, a bunch of idiots scold Zhou Yi every day. Without Zhou Yi, who can protect us?!"

"I admire Zhou Yi's strong mentality."

"Zhou Yi tried his best, but his teammates were just lame."

"Why should a bunch of rubbish ask Zhou Yi to follow their plan? Isn't this pure stupidity?!"

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I shouldn't have scolded you."

"..."

The news of Zhou Yi's bullying that circulated eight minutes before the Olympics has now become the key evidence that Zhou Yi is "fighting with reason to ensure the performance effect" and "resisting foreign forces' efforts to discredit China". Countless netizens lined up to apologize under Zhou Yi's blog.

The rows of "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I shouldn't have scolded you" seem to have a somewhat comedic effect.

For promotional purposes, Zhou Yi also has a personal blog in China, but since Zhou Yi himself is not interested in this, just like in foreign countries, Qian Jiang took over the account to post work-related matters.

"This country bumpkin is just lucky. If it weren't for Zhou Yi, he would have definitely fallen hard."

When Chen Kaige, who was filming the movie "The Promise", heard that his old rival had done something weird, he was so refreshed that he almost rushed to the scene to laugh at it. He even had a smile on his face for several days while filming.

"I asked someone and found out that Zhang Yimou's team did want Zhou Yi to follow their path at the beginning. I can only say that he really has his own ideas, which is rare."

Chen Hong had a very good impression of her junior and fellow villager, even though she had invited Zhou Yi to star in "The Promise" again and again and was rejected. Of course, Chen Kaige himself was also rejected.

Director Chen has been active in the film industry for many years and has never been rejected like this. After confirming the male lead, he was so angry that he directly asked Zhou Yi's former "enemy" Xie Tingfeng to play a role in the movie.

For no other reason—Director Chen also has a temper.

Who isn't a genius who became famous at a young age?

"Just stubborn and opinionated."

Although he was very upset about Zhou Yi's rejection, his old rival Zhang Yimou not only suffered a loss from Zhou Yi this time, but his reputation also became a stepping stone for Zhou Yi, which instantly changed Director Chen's view of Zhou Yi -

The past is the past, and the present is the present. It seems that this Zhou Yi is not directed at me alone.

"It's better not to say that in the future. According to the news above, Zhou Yi really turned the tide this time. Some elderly people were irritated by Zhang Yimou, but fortunately Zhou Yi's outstanding performance turned the situation around. What he said during the interlude of the song made them very satisfied."

"..."

Chen Kaige's eyes were so shocked by the news that they were obviously different.

What do you mean?
Can it really reach the sky and hear it?

"The public outrage of the past few days has been directed at Zhang Yimou. Going forward, we will deliberately downplay his negative influence and instead focus on coaching Zhou Yi." Chen Hong nodded, with a slightly complicated expression.

Although her family had fallen on hard times, she was still fully aware of the difficulties involved.

Zhou Yi himself was even more surprised——

After having a crazy few days with Eva Green in Athens, he was finally about to return home when he received a call from his good sister for the first time. She praised his performance and asked him to remember to attend the Music Association meeting at the end of the year.

"Ayi, you have to change your schedule for November at the end of this year. You can't go anywhere."

Shortly after Zhou Yi finished his phone call to reminisce about the past, the extremely excited Qian Jiang took a step forward and pushed open the door of Zhou Yi's room, shouting at the top of his voice.

"?"

"I just received a call from Jianhui. Although he has not confirmed it, he still believes that you have entered the preliminary list of the top ten outstanding young people in the country in 2004. If nothing unexpected happens, with your outstanding performance in turning the tide at the Olympics and promoting it to the world, you should be selected for the final list."

One of the top ten outstanding young people in the country.

This title may seem ordinary, but those who understand will understand it.

Especially in this day and age.

Logically speaking, Zhou Yi had already been shortlisted for this honor last year. Unfortunately, his performance in the international arena was too stunning, and he became famous worldwide as the PPT God of War. He was too aggressive (young and frivolous).

Taking the impact into consideration, Zhou Yi was ultimately not selected into the final ten-man roster.

But now, no matter how arrogant, domineering, or pretentious the opponents are, it will be of no avail.

"Of course, more importantly, in order to cool down the situation in China and also to boost the positive effects of Eight Minutes, you will take over the official media publicity resources originally given to Zhang Yimou and his team, and CCTV will interview you when you return."

As he spoke, Qian Jiang showed Zhou Yi a few photos -

CCTV News Report: "The Light of China on the Stage of the 2004 Athens Olympics - Zhouyi";
Guangming Daily: Athens Olympic Moment: Zhou Yi's Outstanding Performance Shocks the World

China Youth Daily: "Singing in Athens! Singer Zhou Yi adds color to the country with his ultimate stage performance"

Liberation Daily: "Setting sail from Athens, Zhou Yi opens a new beacon for Chinese art with his perfect performance"

Xinhua Daily: "Stunning the World: Zhou Yi's Fantasy Show on the Athens Olympic Stage"

People's Daily: "Passion in Athens: Zhou Yi presents China's "Golden Business Card" with superb performance"

China Daily: "On the Athens Olympic stage, Zhou Yi carves out China's glory with his talent"

Global Times: "Blow up Athens! Singer Zhou Yi plays China's strongest voice with a stunning stage"

"..."

On September 2004, 9, the party media, official media, and almost all authoritative newspapers collectively came out, and the headlines and content of each newspaper were full of praise that made all the domestic entertainment industry people envious.

At the same time, it shocked everyone.

Although all the inside stories of the Athens Olympics have not been made public yet, everyone has already understood from this intensity what Zhou Yi did.

"He was born in 81. You can't beat him."

A sentence that Sun Yanzi used to tease fans in the online world has completely exploded the entire Internet after these shocking reports, and has become the trump card of fans online...

(End of this chapter)