Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 894 The Man Called Weng Wange
Wang Longchang recognized him and looked at the old man with some surprise.

"Mr. Weng, are you here to attend the Confucius Institute's opening ceremony? Why didn't I see you just now?"

The old man, whom Wang Longchang called Old Weng, smiled and said, "I just arrived. I heard that Mr. Fang donated a batch of calligraphy and paintings to the Confucius Institute, so I came to take a look out of curiosity."

Seeing Fang Minghua was still a little confused, Wang Longchang explained, "Mr. Weng is a famous Chinese American activist. His name is Weng Wange. He is the chairman of the Chinese American Institute and the fifth-generation grandson of Weng Tonghe."

"Weng Tonghe? Is he the imperial tutor of the two Qing emperors Tongzhi and Guangxu?" Fang Minghua blurted out.

"That's right." Wang Longchang continued, "Mr. Weng's family has a large collection of calligraphy and paintings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Just three years ago, Mr. Weng transferred his family's collection of 80 types and 542 rare ancient books from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties to the Shanghai Library through China Guardian Auctions Co., Ltd. for $450 million. This event caused a sensation and demonstrated Mr. Weng's deep patriotism."

Weng Wange laughed and waved his hand, saying, "It's just a small matter. Besides, these ancient books are the old collection of my ancestor Weng Tonghe. We are just keeping them as his descendants."

Only 542 million dollars were sold out of 450 ancient books? An average of less than dollars per item?
Almost for free.

Fang Minghua also admired him very much.

However, it seems that more than ten years later, he donated more than one hundred precious calligraphy and paintings to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts free of charge, including the famous "A Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River" by Wang Hui of the Qing Dynasty?
What's the idea behind this?

Fang Minghua's mind was turning, and he heard Weng Wange say again: "Mr. Fang, you haven't answered me yet, is this painting from the Palace Museum? I saw this painting in the museum 20 years ago."

"Yes, I bought it. At that time, the museum had a batch of calligraphy and paintings from the Republic of China era for public sale, so I bought them," Fang Minghua said frankly.

"So, the mysterious buyer of those more than 10,000 pieces of calligraphy and painting works is you!" Weng Wange said in surprise.

"What did you say? Mr. Weng, ten thousand pieces?" Wang Longchang and Zhou Mingsheng were both surprised.

"Yes, 1983 pieces. That was in 30. The Palace Museum was short of funds and a large number of cultural relics could not be properly maintained and preserved. Under pressure, it sold nearly works of calligraphers and painters from the Republic of China period, such as Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Li Kuchan, etc. I had just returned to China and learned about this by chance while browsing the museum's calligraphy and paintings. I also admired a few paintings, including these paintings from the Republic of China. I decided to buy them all. I think the total price was more than RMB."

"But I went there in a hurry. I didn't bring much money with me, and I didn't pay a deposit. I just made a verbal purchase agreement with the museum. I originally thought that no one would pay attention to these paintings. After all, it was only a few years after the reform and opening up, and the Chinese were relatively poor. Who would pay 30 to buy these paintings when they couldn't even get enough food? But I didn't expect that when I went there again a few days later, someone had already bought them! It seems that these words have nothing to do with me." At the end, Weng Wange sighed.

Wang Longchang and Zhou Mingsheng were stunned. When they came to their senses, they saw Fang Minghua's eyes become hot.

Ten thousand pieces, oh my god.
"Chairman Wang, Chairman Wu, please don't try to take my calligraphy and paintings. I won't sell any of them!" Fang Minghua said immediately.

Wang Longchang was extremely disappointed. Wu Mingsheng was unwilling to give up. "Mr. Fang, I am willing to pay a high price for it. I like Zhang Daqian's paintings the most. As long as it is his authentic one, it will be no less than 30 US dollars. No, 50!"

50 US dollars, equivalent to 400 million Hong Kong dollars, is definitely a high price in two years.

Fang Minghua just smiled slightly, shook his head and did not answer.

Zhou Mingsheng was about to raise the price again, but Wang Longchang next to him said, "Old Zhou, don't worry about it. Does Mr. Fang need money?!" Zhou Mingsheng was immediately discouraged when he heard that.

According to rumors, the author in front of you has publicly disclosed assets of more than a billion US dollars in the United States, which is more than your own assets. Will he care about your three or five hundred thousand? !
At this time, Weng Wange spoke again: "Mr. Fang, I know you will not sell these paintings and calligraphy. If I return to China, can I go to Xijing to appreciate these paintings and calligraphy?"

"That's fine." Fang Minghua agreed cheerfully: "To be honest, I plan to build a calligraphy and painting exhibition hall in Xijing. It will be open to the public free of charge, and everyone can come and see it!"

"So good, so good."

After the Confucius Institute's opening ceremony, Fang Minghua returned home, but the institute's work was not over yet.

According to the college's plan, it will gradually launch Chinese language teaching courses, organize academic activities such as Chinese language and China issue research, and promote Chinese traditional culture.

Li Li also serves as the director of the Confucius Institute, so Fang Minghua will of course give her all possible help. Forget about giving lectures, as she is only living in the United States for a short period of time. However, she can teach traditional Chinese culture, such as calligraphy. She only needs to attend one class a week to teach students how to write with a brush, and Fang Minghua is happy to do so.

Time flies, and it is almost the end of the year. Fang Minghua has also completed the script writing of "The Snowy Swordsman".

In later generations, Feng Huo's "Snow Swordsman" has nearly 400 million words, and the content and characters are very complex. When Fang Minghua submitted it to Hong Kong's "Martial Arts World" in 86, it had already been refined and screened. The first half mainly writes about the grudges in the rivers and lakes, and the second half mainly writes about the battlefield and world affairs. The plot is relatively clear, and it is also easy to be adapted into a TV series.

He had also watched the original TV series. The whole story and style had changed a bit from the original. The characters' dialogues seemed light-hearted and funny, probably to cater to the tastes of young people born after 00, but it seemed out of place with the entire atmosphere of the martial arts world and the fighting in the temple and battlefield.

It is now 2003. The people born in the 90s have just grown up, and the people born in the 00s have only just begun to show some signs of growth. The TV series' audience is still mainly those born in the 70s and 80s. They grew up reading Jin Yong and Gu Long's novels and watching TV series. They like the thrilling love and revenge in the martial arts world, and the tragic and heroic deeds on the battlefield, which suits the style of the novel "In the Snow".

As for the action writing in the TV series which has been criticized, it is mainly based on close-ups and slow motion, which is mainly due to the physical fitness of the actors themselves. They have no martial arts foundation, but the basic quality of this generation of actors is still acceptable.

As for the selection of actors, it was left to Shengshi Film and Television and Fang Minghua did not interfere.

Finally, in late December, I finished writing the script, a total of fifty episodes, and sent it to Song Tangtang via email.

I heard that the film and television studio decided to let Zhou Xiaowen be the director, and also invited Cheng Xiaodong from Hong Kong to be the martial arts director.

After the broadcast of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" directed by Zhou Xiaowen, the ratings were quite good.

Today is December 12th. Christmas has just passed and the weather is not very good. It is drizzling outside and the whole of San Francisco seems particularly gloomy and cold.

Fang Minghua usually doesn't go out in this kind of weather. He stays in the warm villa, drinking tea, surfing the Internet and reading books leisurely.

But he had to go out today because the investment company that he had been planning for nearly three months officially opened.

(End of this chapter)