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

Chapter 933 Open Book: Candidates Begin Answering Questions

"A Long Farewell: A Rare Misbehavior in the Book of Changes"

Across the sea, separated by a thousand miles, the final chapter of the Zhouyi Golden Melody comes to a regretful close.

Will Zhou Yi top the list of most popular male celebrities in Taiwan's online poll, and retain his position?

"..."

Having bid farewell to the Golden Melody Awards, he can no longer visit the island. The restriction that prevented Zhou Yi from even holding a farewell fan meeting once again reminds people of the debuff he carries.

Music fans on the island, both those who were Zhou Yi's fans and those who weren't, stood up to condemn his departure, describing it as a disgrace, a disgrace too shameful to even mention.

"If you're going to win, you should win fair and square. You can't just manually eliminate the I Ching because it's too powerful. That's wrong."

"Zhou Yi's departure is definitely a loss to the Taiwanese music scene. With him around, the Taiwanese music scene had a clear goal to catch up with and learn from. But now he has to choose to withdraw because of the stupid shortsightedness of some people."

"Without this powerful force, the future of Taiwan's music scene is very likely to slowly stagnate and lose its vitality..."

Spokespeople for several major physical record retailers in Taiwan, including Rose Records, publicly expressed their regret over Zhou Yi's departure. Although the Golden Melody Awards, which has stepped back from the spotlight, is also under fire, the impact of public opinion on them is only a minor ripple, thanks to the sweeping awards they presented.

The one who was truly pushed to the forefront to bear the brunt of public criticism was naturally the culprit who prevented Zhou Yi from moving around freely as he could in mainland China, even if he withdrew from award ceremonies.

"Do fans in mainland China feel this way? No, they don't, because they can still see Zhou Yi anytime, anywhere!"

"Fuck your mother, you Chen! How dare you treat us like this?!"

The fans, both those who used foul language and those who enjoyed music, were collectively enraged. CTiTV's news channels also frequently reported on the incident in their own news programs, showing no sign of backing down.

And as if to express their support for the I Ching, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games announced the appointment of the music director at almost the same time.

"After unanimous discussion, it was decided to appoint Zhou Yi as the chief music designer for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games..."

The announcement letter was formal, the title was formal, and the salary was capped at 50 RMB.

Although everyone privately knows that this job is actually that of a music director, it is given a more prestigious title in official documents.

Netizens who thought it would at most involve Zhou Yi composing and performing a song on stage, just like he did in the 04 Athens eight-minute segment, were dumbfounded.

"Holy crap?! The chief music designer for the opening ceremony??? Is Zhou Yi capable of managing such a large event?"

"No way, it's fine to let Zhou Yi write his own songs, there's no need to do this. He's only a few years old and has no experience at all."

"Emperor Yi is invincible! You lot are just jealous!"

"This is no longer a matter of whether or not to pamper someone. It's a matter of one person being willing to give and the other being willing to accept. I can't even imagine how Zhou Yi, who has no experience, will end up in a state of panic."

"Why is the pay so low? The Organizing Committee shouldn't be short of money."

"Nonsense, these kinds of events only involve a symbolic price."

"..."

On the mainland internet, the sadness of Zhou Yi leaving Taiwan was completely overshadowed by this major news.

If you have no hair on your mouth, you will not be able to do things well.

Not to mention something this important.

The last person who had no experience and went straight to coordinating major Olympic projects was named Zhang Yimou, whose performance in the Athens 8 Minutes was universally condemned.

If Zhou Yi ultimately produces the same result...

"This is the Olympics, a major event right on our doorstep! Holy crap! And they just handed it over to Zhou Yi like that?!"

"I know the I Ching is very powerful, but this isn't an album."

"Zhou Yi has coordinated his own concerts...? So he should have some relevant experience, right?"

"Holy crap, what kind of shoddy stuff is this concert? Can it even compare to the Olympics?"

"Oh right, I almost forgot about the concerts. When the hell is the Zhou Yi concert album, which features a different theme at every show, coming out? Warner Music hasn't forgotten, has they? I don't have the money or time to go to the concerts, but I can still afford to buy an album..."

A tall building soon began to tilt from here—

Concerts, the ultimate form of a singer's tour, typically involve repeating the same segments in different cities after a theme has been determined. The program may be slightly adjusted depending on the city, but the overall format remains the same, also for cost-saving reasons.

This is customary.

However, this tradition has now been broken by Zhou Yi. Since his debut, the content of his concerts in each city has been different, which can be said to be losing money to gain publicity.

The diverse concerts have left many fans who lack the time or money to attend in person craving more, yet Warner Music has yet to release even a single concert album...

That's fucked up.

"They don't even know how to make money! They were just incredibly lucky to sign Zhou Yi; otherwise, Warner Bros.' poor judgment would have led to a huge financial loss!"

Even if you don't post about overseas locations, posting about domestic cities would be fine too. It's not like we didn't have cameras to film back then.

"There's no need to release it now. Two albums a year is enough. Releasing more will only lead to aesthetic fatigue."

The capital city, home.

Back home, Zhou Yi ate the wontons Cheng Hao had cooked. Upon hearing this, he shook his head and said, "The concert master tapes are fine to keep at the company. They're not worth much money. You might as well keep them for yourself as a keepsake. If you want, I can burn a copy for you."

In the mobile internet era, sentimentality is the most prestigious ticket to success, and all the singers who experienced a resurgence in popularity at the beginning of the century relied on sentimentality as their foundation.

Of course, the most important thing is that he really doesn't care about the money from the concert album sales right now. He would rather save it and release a series of collector's editions of "Star World Tour" later, which would be more profitable than releasing it now.

"Forget it, you're a very busy person now, and you've become the music director for the Olympics. I'd better not waste your time."

Cheng Hao, who was clearly quite interested in the suggestion, finally shook his head: "By the way, the premiere of 'Crazy Stone' is at the end of the month, on the 28th. Are you coming?"

"I had to squeeze in time to produce your first film, even when I didn't have much time."

"How come I never noticed before that you could be so mushy?"

"It's not too late to find out now," Zhou Yi said with a smile, blowing on the piping hot wontons.

He didn't know how much box office revenue "Crazy Stone" would generate after such a significant upgrade in its promotional resources from the very beginning, but he was indeed quite curious.

In his memory, the film's pre-release promotional resources were not particularly abundant. Its unexpected success was entirely due to the quality of the film and the creative team's extensive travel and promotional tours, which led to word-of-mouth recommendations and an unbelievable meteoric rise to fame.

It's different now.

As a producer, Cheng Hao has far more publicity resources at his disposal than Ning Hao painstakingly acquired, plus Wang Xiaoyu's Zhiyu Zhile, a powerful tool capable of stirring up online public opinion.

This battle was too rich. The only pity is that the "Baleno brand" bankruptcy meme is probably going to disappear. After all, a brand of Armani's caliber is unlikely to fall to the same level as Baleno in the future, and there's no basis for the meme frenzy.

However, before attending the premiere of "Crazy Stone," on the 23rd, Zhou Yi, who had returned from Taiwan, first took his seat at the Olympic Organizing Committee's press conference, welcoming the flashing lights of the media.

"Zhou Yi, you have absolutely no experience in music coordination for large-scale galas. Do you think this job will be challenging for you?"

"Of course there are, but if I were to refuse simply because it's difficult, I would despise myself."

He continued with his usual I Ching-style remarks, but this time, being an official occasion, he toned down his sharpness somewhat.

"Are you worried that you won't be able to manage your time and will have to temporarily leave the entertainment industry like director Zhang Yimou?"

"I don't know, maybe it's possible, but everything is uncertain right now. What I do know is that my main focus in the future will be on the Olympics, and at the same time, as the chief music designer for the opening ceremony, I welcome musicians from home and abroad to actively submit their work..."

With the answer key copied from the book, Zhou Yi spoke with great confidence, and his almost overflowing self-assurance spread across the internet in just a few days through photos taken at the press conference.

Zhang Yimou has made it clear that he will not start filming another movie before the end of the Olympics, while Zhou Yi is still undecided, wanting to balance the Olympics and the album. This behavior has been interpreted to some extent as "wishful thinking" and "inexperienced".

"If Zhou Yi had ever coordinated a large-scale gala, he would know that this kind of thing requires a lot of effort. He had never done it before, so it can be said that he was completely unaware of the seriousness of this matter."

"Oh no, is Zhou Yi going to have no album to release next year?"

"Next year? Be bold, it won't happen until the end of the 08 Olympics!"

"But now Zhou Yi's power has suddenly become much greater. Won't those classical musicians who used to look down on Zhou Yi now have to beg him for help?"

"Yeah, Zhou Yi is now riding roughshod over them..."

As we all know, there is a well-known hierarchy of contempt in the music industry—classical music is superior to pop music, and no matter how much money pop music makes, it cannot eliminate this hierarchy.

This ironclad rule applies both domestically and internationally.

Zhou Yi, who comes from a pop music background, was able to take the top position in the music section of the Olympic opening ceremony at the age of 26 (by Chinese reckoning). Given his vengeful nature, it's no wonder that musicians who criticized or looked down on him in the past...

"It's all a misunderstanding!"

After the press conference, a director of the music association hosted a banquet for Zhou Yi and invited him to take the head seat.

The overall meaning is quite simple: it was just a joke.

With the leadership already clearly defined and little pressure on them, they are still quite willing to participate in the Olympics.

They're all qualifications, the kind that can enhance one's resume.

However, there is now a problem—even Tan Dun, the original candidate for music director and composer of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon soundtrack, cannot guarantee 100% that his music will be adopted. Whether his submitted music manuscript will be accepted depends on whether the I Ching approves it.

At least before Zhou Yi lost the trust of his superiors and was stripped of his power, he was the person in charge of music and was directly involved in the core planning of Zhang Yimou's opening ceremony.

Therefore, those classical musicians who are synonymous with elegance and sophistication in the eyes of ordinary people, representatives of the old-fashioned style, and who often consider themselves artists, are behaving no differently at this moment than those pop musicians in the pop music scene who are extremely respectful to the Book of Changes.

If it weren't out of fashion now, I would have given them a radio or a television as a gift.

"Does anyone know what Zhou Yi's hobbies are?"

"I haven't exposed myself much to outsiders—oh, does that count as women?"

"..."

"I heard he likes to play video games at home?"

"..."

No wonder they're into trends; even their hobbies are so vulgar!

"Stop discussing it. Zhou Yi holds a very important position in Zhang Yimou's team. He can even offer opinions on whether members of the planning team should stay or leave. Let's think about what to do..."

The capital city, the Chen family.

Three days after the press conference, Chen Danqing, a former professor and doctoral supervisor at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, received news that surprised and even puzzled him.

His name was removed from the list of candidates for the opening ceremony's chief director team by Zhang Yimou.

Or to put it more simply and bluntly: he failed the interview.

This is very wrong.

As a renowned figure in the domestic art world, he definitely has a say in the opening design. This is why Zhang Yimou, after confirming his position as the chief director, tentatively inquired about relevant matters through his agent and conducted an interview.

Logically speaking, this interview should have been just a formality; given his current status in the domestic art world, he could easily have a place in the director's team.

“Someone voted against it, and his vote carried a lot of weight.”

Who voted?

Upon hearing this, Chen Danqing was somewhat exasperated.

Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents; for someone like him, the Olympic opening ceremony's gilded decorations are nothing short of a ladder to heaven.

"I don't know, we don't even know who's involved..." The agent's cluelessness caused Chen Dan to lose her appetite all night.

Having settled in New York in the 1980s, he doesn't have a very extensive network of connections in China, and his agency is more focused on the art world. He has absolutely no connection with the circle that Zhang Yimou belongs to, making it extremely difficult to get any inside information.

Cheng Hao, who had access to firsthand information, was completely shocked: "Director Zhang said that you cast a dissenting vote on the selection of team members at the very first meeting?"

"I guess so. One troublemaker like me is enough. If there's another one, I'm afraid we'll end up fighting."

Zhou Yi, the instigator, didn't take it to heart at all. Instead, he happily hummed a song as he prepared to attend the premiere of "Stone".

"A troublemaker? Who did you vote for?"

"A complete idiot who has no real knowledge but always tries to act like a progressive intellectual. He went to Europe and America, found he couldn't settle down, and then sheepishly ran back to China to eat, curse, and kick the pot."

Zhou Yi has always held this view regarding Chen Danqing.

He once aspired to dominate Europe and America with his art, but he was defeated by European artists and fled in disarray. The American art world also failed to formally accept him, and he could only slink back to China from New York to continue being a master.

Even after finishing his business, he remained stubborn, attributing his being "driven back" from Europe and America to national factors, refusing to admit that the talent he could display in his life was fixed on the "XZ Series" he painted before going abroad. From then on, he embarked on a path of public intellectuals who only cared about the immediate consequences and became a laughing stock.

Of course, Zhou Yi wasn't just focused on voting.

As a candidate taking an open-book exam, he also presented a "semi-finished" idea at the very first moment of the meeting, which was his bargaining chip.

The reason he presented a semi-finished product is that it is unrealistic to plan a finished product all at once, and he also needs to rely on subsequent revisions to demonstrate how hard he has worked.

(End of this chapter)