Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 822 Let's Welcome 2000 Together
"Minghua, have you heard about the birth of this online forum in Tianya virtual community?" Han Shaogong suddenly asked.

"I've heard of it. Many people thought it was the online version of your Tianya magazine," said Fang Minghua.

"Two different things." Han Shaogong explained: "It was run by a man named Xing Ming, and it was registered under the name of the Hainan Province Writers Association. Our magazine also has business dealings with them. Our magazine has opened a column on their forum called Tianya Zongheng. Isn't it popular to use the Internet now?"

They both laughed.

As we entered the millennium, the domestic Internet developed at an astonishing pace, and many traditional entities were proud to have access to the Internet.

For example, Shengshi Books has also established a website, which is similar to an online bookstore model, specializing in selling various types of books published by its own company and entrusting Shengshi Online Literature to manage and operate it.

Now, Xijing's Shengshi Film and Television is also actively preparing to set up its own official website, in Song Tangtang's words, to better promote the company.

"Do you want to meet Xing Ming? He has admired you for a long time." Han Shaogong suddenly said.

"Okay." Fang Minghua agreed happily.

Anyway, I came here to play, and I am very interested in Tianya Forum and Xing Ming.

"Okay, I'll contact him first and arrange a time to meet."

"Row."

The two met in the afternoon before Fang Minghua left, and met Xing Ming at Wanghai Tower.

Fang Minghua stayed here every time he came to Hainan. Compared with ten years ago, Wanghailou no longer has the glory it once had, but as people get older, they like to reminisce and live in the places where they lived before.

Fang Minghua met Xing Ming in a private room of the restaurant on the second floor.

He just turned thirty this year, graduated from the Chinese Department of Sun Yat-sen University, and seems very gentle.

The two men shook hands cordially. The only people accompanying them were Han Shaogong and his two children, so they naturally chatted while eating.

In fact, it was mainly Xing Ming who was talking, talking about the Tianya Community which he founded.

Tianya Community was founded in March this year (1999). It has opened forums such as stock forums, Tianya Chat, computer technology, emotional world, and art and literature essays, and soon became one of the most popular forums on the Internet.

"Chairman Han, Chairman Fang, some time ago we created a special section called "Guan Tian Teahouse", which mainly discusses topics related to politics, philosophy, society and culture. Both of you are famous writers and literati, welcome to come in and discuss."

"Guan Tian Tea House"? !

This was well-known in the Tianya community in the early days, and the topics discussed were also very explosive: promoting theism, criticizing Lu Xun.
If it were in the future, you would be banned in minutes!

Fang Minghua discovered that although Xing Ming ran a good website, he was essentially a literati, otherwise he would not have founded Tianya Community instead of a portal website like NetEase and Sohu.

The three chatted for a while and then talked about website management. Xing Ming complained that building a website was simply a waste of money.

"To be honest, Chairman Fang, our Tianya Community has only been established for a few months, and we have already spent 200,000 yuan!"

Only two hundred thousand?

Rongshuxia was established almost three years ago, and has already burned through nearly 20 million yuan!
Of course, the two websites have different positioning. I heard that the moderators of Tianya Community do not want any salary and they all work for love.

"Minghua, Shengshi Online Literature is very wealthy. Can you ask Mr. Dai if he is interested in Tianya Community? Is he willing to invest?" Han Shaogong said.

Oh, after all this time, you want to get the A round of financing.

Let Han Shaogong be the lobbyist.

The relationship between Fang Minghua and Shengshi Group has become an open secret, but it is now 1999, and the social environment is no longer the same as it was ten years ago.

No one cares about this.

Fang Minghua was quite tempted by this proposal.

Tianya Community is the memory of the post-80s generation. It is a pity that it was closed in the end.

If Shengshi Online Literature invests now, perhaps it can find a way out.

So Fang Minghua said, "Okay, I can help you contact Mr. Dai and get back to you with the results."

Xing Ming immediately expressed his gratitude.

The next morning, after getting up at around eight o'clock, Fang Minghua called Dai Jiali in Shencheng and briefly explained what had happened.

Dai Jiali certainly knew Tianya Community, which was the most popular website this year. However, the positioning of the website was different from that of Under the Banyan Tree, and it was more like Shuimu Tsinghua University. Now that Fang Minghua said that Tianya Community lacked funds and was looking for investors, he was also quite interested.

"Jia Li, you can send someone to talk to Xing Ming. My reminder is that since it is an investment, it is a commercial behavior. You have to consider the commercial interests of Shengshi Literature." Fang Minghua gave a final reminder.

"I understand. I'll arrange my current tasks and go to Haikou in person in a few days. I've been away from Hainan for several years and haven't been back yet. I want to see what changes have taken place in Hainan." Dai Jiali said on the phone.

Dai Jiali was also one of the 100,000 talents who went to Hainan at that time. He met Zhao Hongjun and Fang Minghua who were going to Hainan to develop business. Later, he joined Shengshi Books and achieved his current position.

People who have ventured to the sea have a special feeling for Hainan.

Having already contacted them, Fang Minghua called Han Shaogong and Xing Ming separately to explain the matter. He no longer worried about the details and flew back to Xijing.

Two months later, Shengshi Online Literature and Tianya Community Network Technology Co., Ltd. signed a contract. Shengshi Online invested 200 million yuan, accounting for 35% of the shares and becoming the second largest shareholder of Tianya Community. It also promised to invest no less than 2000 million yuan in the next five years.

Winter soon came, the last winter of the 21st century.

Among the several TV series and movies that Shengshi Film and Television is planning to shoot this year, except for "Hero" which is still in intensive filming, the rest are being released one after another.

Zhang Yuan's "Going Home for the New Year" was released successfully, but it failed miserably at the mainland box office, grossing less than 200 million yuan.

But it is true what Fang Minghua said at the beginning: You have the right to shoot, and others have the right not to watch.

Its leading actress Li Bingbing became the second actress signed by Shengshi Film and Television.

However, the film was nominated for the Golden Lion Award and won five other awards at the 56th Venice International Film Festival, which comforted Zhang Yuan's wounded heart.

Wang Quanan's "Eclipse" performed amazingly. After its release in mainland China, the box office reached 1000 million RMB, and the film won the International Jury Award at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Feng Xiaogang's "Never Ending" was released as a New Year's film and earned 3500 million yuan at the box office, becoming the runner-up in the box office in 1999.

He also became the first director outside of the Xi'an Film Academy to sign a contract with Shengshi Film and Television.

In the literary world, the magazine "Mengya" held a seemingly inconspicuous "New Concept Composition Competition", and a group of literature enthusiasts stood out.

A young man named Han Han won the second prize in the National New Concept Composition Competition with his work "Taking a Bath in a Cotton-padded Jacket", which is not too outstanding.

The millennium is getting closer and closer, and people are waiting for this day with excitement and anxiety.

The 20th century was too heavy, with wars, killings, poverty, death... People can't wait to step into the 21st century and welcome a new life. Moreover, the turn of the century is a moment that comes only once in a thousand years. In order to welcome the sun shining on the earth in the year 2000, people all over the world are looking forward to it...

In the new century, even the sunshine and air are so fresh and valuable.

A small island country in Oceania decided to advance the time by one hour in order to become the first country to enter the year 2000; a family in New Zealand bought and sold the television broadcasting rights at a high price because they were the first family on earth to see the sunrise of the new century.

In France, hundreds of thousands of people were excited at the lighting ceremony under the Eiffel Tower; in the UK, the BBC TV station broadcast live to the world the grand celebrations of the millennium around the world; in China, tens of thousands of people gathered in Tiananmen Square, and the Millennium Bell sounded from the city wall.

Especially in the United States, more than 200 million people gathered in Times Square in New York. Although everyone was worried about the YK bug and terrorist organizations, personal safety was not worth mentioning in front of the grand occasion of the millennium moment. After all, life is short, and not everyone can be a part of the cross-century.

Of course, there are also people who are terrified, with "doomsday" and "millennium bug (Y2K)" making a lot of noise.

Nostradamus predicted in The Centuries that the world would be destroyed in 1999. It sounds a bit unreasonable, but at that time it caused an unprecedented level of doomsday panic.

It coincided with the global outbreak of the computer virus "Y1K". Many Americans lined up in front of ATMs to withdraw money, fearing that the YK bug would eat up their piggy banks. Hong Kong also arranged for each hospital to vacate one bed to cope with emergencies that might be caused by the YK bug.

At that time, most people's lives had nothing to do with the Internet, and many people mistakenly believed that the Y2K bug was a plague, causing panic among the people for a time.

As a result, the whole world counted down together, the bell of the new century rang as promised, brilliant fireworks lit up the night sky, and the 21st century came roaring in a bustle.

It was all a false alarm; the world didn't end, and the destructiveness of the Y2K bug wasn't worth mentioning.

When I woke up, the sun in 2000 rose as usual.

Some domestic media also sent reporters to New Zealand to catch the first ray of sunshine in 2000.

Unfortunately, the gimmick failed to catch on. But the Chinese also have a traditional way of celebrating, which is to give birth to a "millennium baby", and the obstetrics and gynecology department of the hospital is booming.

This year, Ouyang Feifei's younger brother had a daughter, Ouyang Nana; Chen Kaige and Chen Hong welcomed their second child, Chen Feiyu; and in Huaihua, Hunan, a family surnamed Yi also welcomed a millennial baby.

To commemorate the millennium, his parents gave him a special name - Yi Yang Qianxi.

However, Fang Minghua did not see the sunrise because it was cloudy today in Xijing.

(End of this chapter)