The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 801 Sixth Uncle, Times Have Changed!!!

There is a wolf in front and a tiger behind.

In Hong Kong, Shaw Brothers faced its biggest competitor.

At this time, Shao Yifu was nearly fifty years old, and he resolutely returned to Hong Kong from Lijiapo.

Upon returning to Hong Kong, Shao Yifu first spent over HK$300,000 to buy a plot of land in Clearwater Bay, covering more than 60,000 square meters, from his second brother, Shao Yiren.

Then, a large amount of funds were used to build large-scale outdoor filming studios such as "Tang Street", "Song City", villages and gardens, which were named "Shaw Studios".

At the same time, they invested heavily in purchasing advanced film equipment from America, introduced top film talent, and revitalized Shaw Brothers' reputation.

Shao Yifu stood on the high ground of Qingshui Bay, looking at the bustling construction site in front of him, his eyes shining with determination.

He knew that this piece of land was not only the foundation of Shaw Brothers Studio, but also the starting point for him to revitalize the Shaw Brothers film empire.

In order to create a first-class film production base in Asia, he personally participated in the design and planning, and even spent a lot of money to hire internationally renowned architects to strive to restore the outdoor locations such as "Tang Street" and "Song City" to life.

Shao Yifu demonstrated exceptional vision in attracting talent.

He not only poached veteran cinematographer John Wilson from Hollywood, but also hired special effects master Robert Chan at a high salary.

At the same time, Shaw Yi-fu did not forget to cultivate his own talent, and founded the "Shaw Brothers Film Academy", which has since provided a lot of fresh blood for the future prosperity of Hong Kong's film industry.

As the project progressed, Shaw Studios gradually took shape.

On the quaint "Tang Street," craftsmen are meticulously carving every detail; in the magnificent "Song City," workers are busy building pavilions and towers.

Shao Yifu personally inspects the construction site every day, demanding strict attention to every detail.

He believes that only by striving for excellence can more beautiful and realistic movie scenes be created, which will surely allow Shaw Brothers films to regain their former glory.

Shao Yifu then established Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Limited and poached Zou Wenhuan, who was then the head of the Hong Kong News Office in America, to serve as the publicity manager.

Zou Wenhuan's first suggestion to Shao Yifu was to poach Lin Dai, the top actress of Cathay Organisation, and to tailor-make a film for her, "Diao Chan".

From then on, the power of Shao Yiren and his son was lost, and they were only responsible for the operation of cinemas and film distribution in Hong Kong. The real core business - film production - was taken over by the sixth son, Shao Yifu.

Just before filming began for "Diao Chan," Shao Yifu made another bold decision—to change the film from black and white to color.

This decision caused an uproar throughout the entire crew, as there were very few teams in Hong Kong capable of shooting color films at the time.

However, Shao Yifu defied public opinion and personally flew to Tokyo to purchase the latest color film, and also invited top colorists from Japan to assist him.

During filming, Shao Yifu spent almost every day on set.

He demanded that every scene in "Tang Street" be aged, and that the eaves of "Song City" be built strictly in accordance with the regulations of "Yingzao Fashi" (Building Standards).

For a rainy night scene, he ordered people to make three hundred oil-paper umbrellas overnight, and the patterns on the umbrellas were all hand-painted by master craftsmen.

The film became an instant hit after its release.

Lin Dai's portrayal of Diao Chan, with her captivating gaze, makes the magnificent Hanfu appear even more radiant under the color film.

The audience was amazed by the grandeur of "Tang Street" and even more impressed by the exquisite details of "Song City".

The Hong Kong Daily praised it as "a masterpiece marking the rise of Hollywood in the East".

Riding this wave of success, Shao Yifu went on to produce a series of epic period dramas, including "The Beauty and the Kingdom" and "The Butterfly Lovers".

Every film is shot on location, and even expensive restorations of ancient warships are made.

A saying began to circulate in the industry: "Anything produced by Shaw Brothers is guaranteed to be a masterpiece."

Former Cathay employees are leaving for other jobs, and young people line up every day outside Shaw Brothers Studio to apply for jobs.

At the annual board meeting, Shao Yifu proposed to establish a complete film industry chain.

From scriptwriting and actor training to costumes and props and post-production, we must be self-sufficient.

Shao Yifu said, "In the future, we will also build a dubbing studio and an animation department. We want to make Shaw Brothers the heart of Asian cinema."

The second brother, Yiren, was furious that he had been sidelined by the third and sixth brothers.

In the late 1950s, Shaw Yat-jen officially announced his retirement from the film industry and asked his son, Shaw Wai-ying, to resign from Shaw Brothers.

From then on, Shao Laosan and Shao Laoliu officially replaced Shao Yiren and his son, and Shao Yifu took the first step in building "Oriental Hollywood".

One year, after finishing a day's work, Shao Yifu went to his own Shaw Brothers theater to listen to songs.

Just then, a slender young woman with clear eyes appeared on the stage.

Her singing voice was sweet, and her rendition of "A Perfect Date with Flowers and Moon" lingered in the air for days.

At the time, Shao Yifu, who was nearly fifty years old, was immediately intrigued. Upon asking, he learned that the woman's name was Fang Yihua, a popular singer known as "the nightingale emerging from the valley."

Shao Yifu had a waiter present flowers, and Fang Yihua, as was customary, came to express her gratitude.

During their conversation, Shao Yifu learned that Fang Yihua was the daughter of Fang Wenxia, ​​a "dance star" in Shanghai.

This turned out to be the daughter of an acquaintance of Shao Yifu from his hometown of Shanghai. When fellow townsmen meet, tears well up in their eyes.

Shao Yifu deliberately asked a few questions in the Shanghai dialect, and Fang Yihua answered in the same accent. Shao Yifu was immediately overcome with homesickness.

I couldn't help but ask her to sit down and chat a bit more, but I found that the girl in front of me was not old, but she spoke and acted with great poise and had wisdom far beyond her years.

Fang Yihua may not be very old, but she has been performing on stage for a long time.

Over the years, Fang Yihua has met all sorts of people and has naturally learned the "wisdom" of saying the right thing to the right person.

In addition, she was indeed ambitious, and her speech and manner were very different from those of ordinary singers who lived only a day.

Shao Yifu quickly developed different feelings for her, and would come to support Fang Yihua whenever he had free time.

Shao Yifu and his wife Huang Meizhen have been married for more than ten years and have four children. Their love has long since turned into familial affection.

Not to mention that at that time, Southeast Asia still maintained the traditions of the late Qing Dynasty.

It was common for wealthy Chinese businessmen to have multiple wives and concubines. Fang Yihua, however, had a relationship with Huang Meizhen and became Shao Yifu's "confidante".

When Shao Yifu returned to Hong Kong, he did not bring his wife and children, but instead invited his confidante "Miss Fang" to accompany him to work at Shaw Brothers.

Without a word, Fang Yihua took off her glamorous clothes, gave up her booming singing career, and followed the over-fifty-year-old Shao Yifu back to Hong Kong to rebuild her career.

From then on, Huang Meizhen never appeared in Shaw's business empire again.

During the interview, Shao Yifu referred to her as "a first-class wife," while the one who stood by his side through thick and thin became "Miss Fang."

Shao Yifu began to cultivate Fang Yihua's management skills.

He often brought her to board meetings, patiently explaining every aspect of film production.

Fang Yihua was exceptionally intelligent and quickly grasped the essentials of the production process.

Later, as Shao Yifu's entertainment business grew larger and larger, Fang Yihua gradually became one of the leaders of Shaw Brothers films.

As Shao Yifu's seniority rose higher and higher, people in the "underworld" all respectfully called him "Sixth Uncle".

However, the title "Sixth Aunt" never belonged to Huang Meizhen, but to Fang Yihua.

Regardless of how entangled these three people were, and whether Huang Meizhen was willing or not, Shao Yifu never intended to abandon his wife who had shared his hardships, nor did he take Fang Yihua as a concubine.

Even after Huang Meizhen passed away in America, a media outlet interviewed Yi Fu and asked, "When do you plan to marry Miss Fang?"

Shao Yifu paused for a moment: "I didn't plan to."

When asked about this, Fang Yihua answered frankly, "I've never thought about marrying him."

More than 10 years after Huang Meizhen's death, 90-year-old Shao Yifu married Fang Yihua in Las Vegas. She was 63 years old that year.

The famous TV host said, "He finally gave this woman, who was like a kapok tree, standing guard beside him, a proper title." Strangely, Fang Yishu never lived with Shao Yifu in her entire life; even after their marriage, she lived in a separate villa.

He ate with Shao Yifu at a fixed time every day and reported his work to him, but he rarely stayed overnight.

In fact, like many other wealthy young men in the past, Shao Yifu had countless female confidantes throughout his life, and paparazzi often photographed him drinking tea with young actresses in teahouses.

First it was He Lili and Li Qing, then Cao, Zhang, Chen... Fang Yihua never seemed to get angry about it. She always said with a smile, "Teacher Shao has bad legs and needs young people to help him in and out of the teahouse. I thank the young people on his behalf."

Shao Yifu declared: "I am romantic but not vulgar. Chatting with beautiful women is the secret to longevity."

Furthermore, when Shao Yiren retired, he used filial piety to pressure his son Shao Weiying to withdraw from public life.

Unlike his father, Shao Yiren, Shao Weiying was passionate about movies.

At the time, Shao Weiying was the production manager of Shaw Brothers, in charge of many filming matters, and was highly valued by Shao Yifu.

They plan to groom this nephew as the next head of the Shaw Brothers.

Unfortunately, Shao Weiying chose filial piety over her father and the family business.

Shao Weiying's departure saddened Shao Yifu, forcing him to rely on outsiders Zou Wenhuan and He Guanchang, who took over as producers.

This was a turning point for Shaw Brothers films, and it foreshadowed the eventual acquisition of Shaw Brothers by the Asia Pacific Film Group many years later.

Wrinkle Ring is a cinematic genius with a keen eye.

When Zou Wenhuan, then 30 years old, entered the Shaw Brothers studio in the late 1950s, Hong Kong cinema was still stuck in the mold of opera films and family dramas.

This young man, a graduate of St. John's University's journalism department, was initially just an ordinary employee in the publicity department.

But Zou Wenhuan has one talent: he understands the audience.

When Shao Yifu was racking his brains over the box office of his film, Zou Wenhuan handed him a report: "The European and American markets are chasing after Westerns, why doesn't Hong Kong make its own 'Eastern Swordsman'?"

Shao Yifu was skeptical, but still let him try.

After some debate, Zou Wenhuan suggested that Shao Yifu start with the popular Huangmei opera to win over Li Hanhanxiang and lay the foundation for the Shao dynasty.

In the mid-60s, under the advocacy of Zhang Qie and Hu Jinquan, Shaw Brothers focused its production efforts on martial arts films.

Zhang Qie's "The One-Armed Swordsman" burst onto the scene and grossed over one million Hong Kong dollars—thus, Hong Kong's first "martial arts blockbuster" was born.

The title of "Godfather of Wuxia" fell to Zhang Qie, while Zou Wenhuan, who was behind the scenes driving the genre film revolution, remained hidden in Shao Yifu's shadow.

Shaw Brothers ushered in the golden age of martial arts films, and martial arts films played a pivotal role in the development of Shaw Brothers.

In the 70s, Chu Yuan rose to prominence again, continuing Shaw Brothers' glory by adapting Bone Dragon's novels.

At its peak, Shaw Brothers owned a total of 15 factories.

The facility includes office buildings, restaurants, dormitories, and banks, and has over 1700 employees, excluding contracted directors and actors.

Shaw Brothers was also known for its prolific output, releasing more than 40 films a year. By the time it withdrew from the film market in the mid-to-late 1980s, it had produced more than 1000 films.

Shaw Brothers dominated the Hong Kong film market for 20 years, from black and white to color, from period dramas to modern films.

For decades, Shaw Brothers' filming base remained the largest film and television production base in Hong Kong, and was known as the "Hollywood of the East".

However, nothing lasts forever, and internal and external troubles gradually eroded this behemoth.

Zou Wenhuan was a very intelligent and capable person, and he quickly became the de facto second-in-command of the Shaw Brothers.

However, according to Zhang Qie, Shao Yifu had a problem with his personnel management: "Top-notch talent, third-class positions, and top-level power."

Zou Wenhuan was doing the work of the second-in-command, but he never received the corresponding salary. Over time, he became dissatisfied and joined forces with He Guanchang to control Shaw Brothers' production business.

How could an old fox like Shao Yifu not know that he and his third brother had joined forces to send his second brother away, and that this family business was not something that others could covet?

Soon, Shao Yifu's countermeasures came.

He sent Fang Yihua to the materials procurement department, giving her direct control over the accounting, cashier, and finance departments, thus effectively controlling the production department.

Fang Yihua is nicknamed "Cutting Manager".

Because she would cut all the subscription orders that came into her hands in half with a wave of her hand.

This aroused dissatisfaction among Wrinkle Ring, He Guanchang, Zhang Qie, and others, and their conflict with Fang Yihua deepened.

Early 1970s, Hong Kong.

The lights at the Shaw Brothers studio had long been turned off, but Zou Wenhuan sat alone in the empty office.

A resignation letter lay open on the table, the ink from the fountain pen still wet.

Outside the window was the night view of Victoria Harbour, and what appeared before his eyes was the first blueprint for the future of Golden Harvest films.

That night, he personally ended his status as "the most capable minister of the Shaw Brothers Dynasty," and from then on, he quietly rewrote the fate of Hong Kong and the entire East Asian film industry.

A battle between veteran officials and the newly appointed "favored concubine" was inevitable. First, Li Hanxiang left, followed by the departure of other veteran officials such as Zou Wenhuan and Wang Yu.

Zou Wenhuan, He Guanchang, and Liang Feng simply established "Golden Harvest" together, officially challenging Shaw Brothers' dominance.

This made Shao Yifu furious, but that's another story.

The breakup that year was portrayed by Hong Kong media as a "master-disciple falling out".

But in her resignation letter, Zou Wenhuan wrote only one sentence: "Uncle Six, times have changed, and Hong Kong films should not only have one flavor."

He founded Golden Harvest with his old colleagues, including Ho Kwun-cheung, but faced a complete blacklist from Shaw Brothers: film studios refused to be rented, actors were poached, and theaters boycotted them.

At its most difficult time, the company had only HK$40 left in its account.

The turning point came in the second year after Golden Harvest was founded.

That year, a kung fu actor who was frustrated in America called Zou Wenhuan: "I want to go back to Hong Kong to make movies, but Shaw Brothers is only willing to give me 1 US dollars as payment."

What terms can Golden Harvest offer me?

Zou Wenhuan mortgaged his house: "I can only give you $7500, but that's plus a share of the global box office."

"make a deal!"

This frustrated actor is named Li Shaolong.

After its release, "The Big Boss" raked in $300 million at the box office, reviving Golden Harvest.

Zou Wenhuan's pioneering "satellite company system," which allowed stars to establish subsidiaries and participate in film box office revenue sharing, completely overturned Shaw Brothers' "salary-based system."

The wrinkles are always a gamble, and the stakes aren't money, but the direction of the times.

By the early 1980s, Golden Harvest's opening animation—that bouncing golden cube—became a totem for Hong Kong films of that era.

By the mid-1980s, Golden Harvest, which was already the number one film company in Hong Kong and even Asia, was acquired by the Asia Pacific Film Group.

Although, at the time, Asia Pacific Film Group was a newcomer to the film industry.

However, behind it stands "Liu's Overseas Capital," an Asia-Pacific financial giant and the uncrowned king of Hong Kong.

Ordinary people may think that the top echelons of Hong Kong are the Ho family, the Fok family, the Li family, etc., but Hong Kong's elite class, such as Zou Wenhuan, know very well that "Liu's overseas capital" is the real power behind the rise of Chinese in Hong Kong and even Southeast Asia.

Faced with the olive branch offered by Asia Pacific Film Group, Zou Wenhuan did not hesitate for long and immediately agreed to sell "Golden Harvest" to them.

The tycoon of "Liu's Overseas Capital" was very satisfied with Zou Wenhuan's ability to recognize talent and appointed him as the general manager of "Asia Pacific Film and Television Group".

Zou Wenhuan thus became the nominal second-in-command of this largest film and television group in Asia, but in reality, the person in charge.

(End of this chapter)