Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

Liu Xiaoli finally finished dealing with domestic affairs and came to Hong Kong with Xiao Anfeng.

Yang Ye came to the airport, naturally, to greet the mother and daughter.

When Yang Ye saw Xiao Anfeng calling him dad as soon as they met, he thought, it must be Liu Xiaoli who taught her. This woman is really bold.

If Yang Ye was just an ordinary person, such as the American lawyer, and wanted to marry Liu Xiaoli, he would probably have to lick her for a long time.

Xiao Anfeng already has a father, so it may not be easy to ask her to call someone else dad.

But because Yang Ye was handsome, a superstar, and the richest man, Liu Xiaoli took the initiative to get everything done.

Yang Ye looked at Xiao Anfeng's timid appearance and realized that she was just listening to her mother and might not have accepted him in her heart. She immediately agreed happily and praised, "Good daughter, you are so good!"

Then he took out a Sailor Moon figurine from the storage compartment of the car and said softly, "This little rabbit is for you!"

"Thank you!"

Xiao Anfeng held the little rabbit in his arms, touched her long braids, and liked her very much.

Yang Ye patted her head lovingly, and then said to Liu Xiaoli: "There are too many people at the airport, so I can only wait for you outside."

Liu Xiaoli said sympathetically: "It's okay. You are a celebrity. It's troublesome to show up in public."

Yang Ye nodded and said, "Let's go home!"

……

"Ma'am, Miss, welcome home!"

The housekeeper, two servants and a handyman, stood at the door to welcome Liu Xiaoli and her daughter.

The scene that she had only seen on TV suddenly appeared in front of Liu Xiaoli, leaving her speechless for a moment.

Yang Ye asked calmly: "Is dinner ready?"

"Everything is ready!"

Yang Ye was very satisfied. He held the big baby in his left hand and the little baby in his right hand and said, "Let's eat first. I have a Shandong cuisine chef at home. He cooks authentic Northeastern cuisine. You can try it."

Liu Xiaoli is from Northeast China, so Yang Ye specially prepared Northeast China dishes for her. Liu Xiaoli was very touched to see that Yang Ye treated her so considerately.

They had a very enjoyable meal. After the meal, Yang Ye took the two of them to visit the new home and gave Xiao Anfeng a puppy.

The puppy was furry and very cute. An Feng liked it very much and held it in his arms, not wanting to let go.

"Dad, what's its name?"

During the short time they met, Yang Ye had already given Xiao Anfeng two gifts. The little girl was easily coaxed and her affection for Yang Ye doubled. She called him dad more naturally.

Yang Ye did not answer directly, but asked: "Have you seen "ET the Alien"? "

"I've seen it!"

"There was a dog in that movie named Big Mac. Do you remember it?"

"remember!"

"Barley is its grandfather. It doesn't have a name yet. Please help it choose one."

"Wow!"

An Feng didn't expect that this puppy was actually Da Mai's grandson. She liked it even more. She tilted her head and thought for a while, then said, "Then how about I call it Xiaomai?"

"Wheat is its father!"

"Then...how about calling it a rice ball?"

Yang Ye didn't understand why wheat suddenly changed to rice, but it didn't matter. He smiled and nodded: "Of course!"

Turning to Liu Xiaoli, he said, "I have already contacted Xiaofeng's school, but we have to go to Europe first."

When Yang Ye was courting Liu Xiaoli, he promised to go to Europe with her to marry her. Liu Xiaoli was very touched to see that Yang Ye kept his word and treated her daughter as if she were his own. She couldn't help but lean on his arms and said, "Husband, you are so nice!"

……

The Hong Kong film industry made four major demands to Taiwan's eight major film producers. Except for the first one, which was to help urge the producers to deliver the products as soon as possible, the remaining three were rejected.

More than 200 films were not delivered on time, and the film producers were treated as fools, which is indeed wrong.

However, the major film companies only agreed to help with the release of the film, but did not make any promises.

After all, they just won't pay and it's clearly a scam. What can you do?
It's like not saying anything.

The second article limits the actors' pay. Several major film companies do think this, as first-line movie stars now earn tens of millions for a movie.

Actresses like Joey Wong also have to pay 2.3 million. Who can afford that?
But they were powerless. Chen Meirong said angrily: "It is you who pushed up the pay of Hong Kong actors. We are all upset, but it is easy to raise it, how can it be reduced?"

The third and fourth articles require that service fees be charged when Hong Kong films are distributed in Taiwan, and also restrict the purchase price of Hong Kong films. This is damaging the interests of Hong Kong film companies. Several bosses directly stated that there is no room for negotiation.

The eight major companies were furious. Wang Yingxiang of Longxiang Films said, "If you don't agree to our terms, we will boycott Hong Kong films."

Several Hong Kong bosses were happy. If they boycotted Hong Kong films, what would you show? Are your cinemas empty?
Wang Yingxiang said: "We will petition the government to relax the restrictions on the number of screenings of Western and Japanese films."

This move by the eight major film companies is very powerful, because Hong Kong films have always enjoyed the same treatment as domestic films in Taiwan, while Hollywood and Japanese films are subject to restrictions on the number of imports and the scale of screenings.

Hong Kong films have had a great advantage. Once the policy is liberalized, Hong Kong films in Taiwan will face fair competition from Hollywood and Japan.

But some Hong Kong bosses don't care at all. Just fair competition is fair competition. What is there to be afraid of?

There are no restrictions on the screening of Hollywood and Japanese films in Hong Kong, but what is the result? Isn't it still dominated by Hong Kong films?

Even though "Jurassic Park" was sweeping the world, they didn't think it was a big deal.

Because we have Yang Ye in Hong Kong. Didn’t “Kung Fu” suppress “Jurassic Park” in the Asian market?

But they never thought that Yang Ye’s awesomeness had nothing to do with them.

The fact is that after 1993, Hong Kong films began to go downhill, and the decline was getting faster and faster.

As soon as Taiwan lifted restrictions on Hollywood and Japanese films, Hong Kong films were defeated in Taiwan.

Soon, Taiwan became a Hollywood stronghold.

The same is true in Southeast Asia and South Korea.

After the huge success of "Jurassic Park", Hollywood blockbusters took advantage of the situation and defeated Hong Kong films, and even their base camp Hong Kong could not be defended.

Hollywood blockbusters can easily earn 2000 or million at the box office in Hong Kong, but with Hong Kong films later on, only a few can earn over million.

In 1997, another iconic movie, "Titanic," swept the world, with the Hong Kong box office reaching 1 million. Hong Kong films were completely powerless to fight back.

It's not just Hong Kong. The "high-concept movies" created by Hollywood are a dimensionality reduction attack on movies from other regions, and it is an inevitable trend to sweep the world.

A series of major events also occurred in the 97s, including currency crises in Malaysia and Thailand, riots in Indonesia, the Asian financial crisis that hit Hong Kong hard, and South Korea's bankruptcy...all of these had a huge impact on Hong Kong's film industry.

The rampant piracy also makes the situation worse.

The once popular practice of selling trailers has become a thing of the past.

Not to mention selling trailers, no one even wants ready-made Hong Kong films.

This directly led to a sharp drop in the output of Hong Kong films and the production costs became very low.

Except for a few charismatic superstars like Chen Long and Zhou Xingchi, whose films can maintain production standards, the costs and production cycles of most Hong Kong films have been forced to be compressed.

The industrial standard of Hong Kong films declined rapidly and became synonymous with shoddy production.

From then on, Hong Kong films were dead.

But it is not completely dead. Even a centipede is dead but its body is still stiff.

Although Yang Ye came to this era, he was unable to turn the tide and save Hong Kong films.

Because there is only one way to compete with Hollywood, and that is to hedge by making "high-concept movies" like Hollywood does.

But this requires a strong local market. Hong Kong is just a city and it does not have this condition.

Yang Ye now only wants to take away the talents of Hong Kong films, bring them to the mainland, and integrate Hong Kong films into Chinese films.

China in this time and space is developing rapidly, and with the advent of the Internet age, it is about to usher in a leap forward.

A strong domestic market is emerging.

……

The negotiations broke down, but the eight major film producers were unwilling to give up. Yang Dengkui from Judeng Company suggested that they should go and meet Yang Ye, or at least meet Xu Feng.

The eight major companies have been cooperating happily with Yangji over the years and there have been no conflicts.

In recent years, the Hong Kong film industry has been in a state of chaos, with everyone rushing to make money by making all kinds of crappy films.

But Yangji is more cautious and has always strictly controlled the quality. It is others who follow its trend, not it that follows others.

The eight major film producers made a lot of money by cooperating with Yang Ji, and this trip to Hong Kong was not aimed at Yang Ji.

But Yang Ji is the industry leader after all, and they hope that Yang Ji can stand up and uphold justice.

Among these people, Yang Dengkui was more familiar with Yang Ye and Xu Feng, so he was the one who contacted them.

But I was told that Yang Ye went to Europe.

As for Xu Feng, she went to Zhuhai with Wu Siyuan.

The two bosses were not in Hong Kong at the critical moment. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or they didn’t want to get involved in this matter.

The eight major film producers had no choice but to return to Taiwan and decided to fight to the death with Hong Kong films.

……

When the reform and opening up began, there were four special economic zones.

Shenzhen is close to Hong Kong, Zhuhai is close to Macau, Xiamen is close to Taiwan...

Shenzhen and Xiamen have both been carried away, but Macau is too small to carry Zhuhai.

Zhuhai is doing things on its own. As a special economic zone, it does not want to develop industry, but has started to develop tourism.

In the 1990s, the cultural sector was considering a question: as the economy was undergoing reform and opening up, how should culture develop?
Mayor Li of Zhuhai made a suggestion to the country: Zhuhai has a beautiful environment and convenient transportation. It is separated from Macau by a wall, and only one hour by water from Hong Kong. It only takes about two hours to fly from Taiwan to Zhuhai. If a film festival is held in Zhuhai, a convenient transportation node, it will allow the three places to understand and communicate with each other. Wouldn't it be wonderful?

As early as 1992, Zhuhai initiated a "Zhuhai International Film and Television Entertainment City Seminar" and invited many celebrities to discuss the feasibility of investing in and building a film and television entertainment base in Zhuhai.

This discussion in the original time and space was soon aborted, and there was no result in this time and space either, because Yang Ye had already developed a film and television base in Shenzhen on a large scale, and Zhuhai had no chance.

Since the film and television base cannot be established, Mayor Li suggested that we hold a film festival!

Mayor Li contacted some filmmakers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong and asked for their opinions, and everyone expressed support.

So the matter was reported to Minister Tian Congming of the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television, and finally the state approved that Zhuhai be the host of a permanent national film festival named: China Zhuhai Cross-Strait and Hong Kong Film Festival.

At that time, China already had the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, Changchun Film Festival and Shanghai International Film Festival.

The Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards and Changchun International Film Festival are for Chinese mainland films, while the Shanghai International Film Festival is an international A-class film festival.

The positioning of this new Zhuhai Film Festival is unique. It aims to be a film festival covering both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, bringing together films from the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong for awards.

This positioning is very interesting and is very similar to the Academy Awards in this time and space.

Mayor Li contacted the Chairman of the Golden Horse Awards, Li Xing, and the President of the Hong Kong Directors Guild, Wu Siyuan. Naturally, the two strongly supported and helped contact many Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers.

Since everyone came from different regions and had mixed opinions on the film festival, Mayor Li invited everyone to Zhuhai to discuss and come up with a specific plan.

Yang Ye supported the Zhuhai Film Festival, but he did not show up directly. Instead, he sent Xu Feng.

……

Zhuhai, Gongbei Port!
Mayor Li and Director Xie Jin personally went to the checkpoint to welcome Li Xing, Wu Siyuan, Xu Feng and others who came to attend the discussion meeting.

We had met each other at the "Cross-Strait and Hong Kong Directors Seminar" a year ago, and now we are all good friends and very close.

Xu Feng shook hands with Mayor Li and explained, "Director Yang was the ambassador of the 2000 Olympic Games. He went to Europe this time, so he can't come. I hope Mayor Li will forgive me."

Mayor Li said: "Hosting the Olympic Games is the common wish of all Chinese people. I admire Mr. Yang for his efforts in the Olympics. How dare I have any objection?"

The next day, some leading figures in the film industry from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong and Macau gathered together and began a discussion about the Zhuhai Film Festival.

First of all, let’s talk about the format of the film festival. The mature domestic film festivals include Golden Rooster, Hundred Flowers, Golden Horse, and Golden Image. Which selection method should be used?

Then the film festival will give out awards, what should the award be called? And the scope of the film festival selection and so on.

Xu Feng also brought some opinions from Yang Ye when he came this time.

Yang Ye pointed out some flaws in the original design of the Academy Awards and did not recommend that the Zhuhai Film Festival should follow the Academy Awards' method for judging awards.

He also pointed out that the Golden Rooster Awards pay more attention to ideology, which is true in the mainland, but since the Zhuhai Film Festival selects films from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, it must appropriately abandon some ideological elements, the so-called "set aside disputes and develop together."

The Hundred Flowers Awards' method of relying on public judges to judge the awards is obviously not feasible, because some films may not be released in China and the audience may not have seen them, so how can they be judged?
Yang Ye suggested that the Zhuhai Film Festival should refer to the model of the Golden Horse Awards, and stated bluntly that among the film festivals in the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, the Golden Horse Awards is the most fair!
It’s just that the Golden Horse Awards also has its own ideology, for example, mainland films are not allowed to participate.

If we could organize a film festival based on the Golden Horse Awards model that would open up participation not only to Chinese-language films from across Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, but also from around the world, it would definitely be a grand event for the Chinese-language film industry!
Xu Feng relayed Yang Ye's words, which excited many people at the scene, especially Mayor Li, who was extremely happy. If this can really be realized, wouldn't the value of this united front be amazing?
Even Taiwanese filmmakers thought this proposal was awesome and expressed their support.

Little did they know that Yang Ye was digging into the grave of the Golden Horse Award when he said this.

The Golden Horse Awards became the top award for Chinese-language film festivals in the late 1990s because of its open and inclusive attitude, which encompasses all Chinese-language films.

Now that the Zhuhai Film Festival has been held before it, what is the point of holding the Golden Horse Awards? (End of this chapter)