Back to the teenage years

Chapter 576 The First Head-on Showdown

The weather was partly cloudy and partly sunny on Saturday.

The temperature is pleasant, so pleasant that it would feel like a waste of the last remaining spring sunshine in the north if I didn't go out for a stroll.

As usual, Xidan Commercial Street was bustling with people. On Saturday afternoon at 3 pm, the Aiwa Electronics VCD Super Error Correction Competition was held in Xidan Electronics City on Xidan Commercial Street.

This place has a huge flow of people and a strong commercial atmosphere. It is the largest home appliance distribution center in the capital and one of the top destinations for consumers in North China to buy home appliances.

The mid-90s was a crucial period for the popularization and upgrading of home appliances in Chinese urban households, and Xidan Electrical Appliance City was an important witness and promoter of this wave. It represented the early form of the transformation from traditional department stores to large-scale professional chain stores, although at this time it was still mainly single stores or a few stores, and had not yet formed the national chain giants like Gome and Suning.

Aihua Electronics invested heavily, setting up the VCD Super Error Correction Challenge stage directly in the square in front of the main entrance of Xidan Electronics City.

By 3 p.m., the crowd below the stage was completely packed, and the long lenses and microphones of the hired media reporters were already everywhere. This event was quite innovative for its time, turning laboratory testing into street performance art and directly demonstrating to the public the selling point of Aiwa Electronics' VCD's "super error correction". But an event is ultimately a standalone event; no matter how exciting or unconventional it is, its impact is extremely limited. How it became known to everyone depended entirely on the pens of these reporters.

At 3:30 p.m., the event began. After a passionate and enthusiastic opening speech, the female host invited Hu Zhibiao, the head of marketing operations at Aihua Electronics, to the stage.

Zhang Yunqi didn't go on stage; he stayed backstage to watch the excitement.

However, after nearly a year of training, Hu Zhibiao had become accustomed to such scenes. Holding the microphone, he spoke eloquently to the crowd below the stage, first giving a comprehensive introduction to the overall situation of Aiwa Electronics, and then detailing the various performance aspects of the new generation of Aiwa Electronics VCD products centered around the "super error correction" technology.

The event flow was simple and straightforward. After the new product introduction, we went straight to today's main event, the error-correction contest that everyone had been eagerly anticipating.

The first segment is an extreme challenge.

The host, holding up a card, loudly explained the rules: "We will randomly select 5 discs from everyone on the spot. The damage level of the 5 test discs is level 5. If the damage is higher than level 5, you cannot participate in the challenge, because the discs are already considered junk and there is no point in participating in the challenge. If the damage is lower than level 5, you can first damage them to level 5 in our violent testing area before playing them."

The host paused for a moment, then said, "If there is a playback malfunction, the challenge is considered successful, and we will give you a brand new VCD player worth 3000 yuan on the spot! If the playback is smooth for 30 seconds, the challenge is considered unsuccessful, and we will give you a set of two genuine 'A Chinese Odyssey' DVDs + 10 blank discs, with a total value of 398 yuan!"

These words caused a stir among the audience. The prize was quite substantial, befitting the generosity of a large company.

The host continued, "Of course, in addition to the prizes mentioned above, Aiwa Electronics has also specially set up a 'Master of Destruction' area, inviting several folk artisans. The folk artisans will carve the discs that the challengers have completely damaged into disc patterns on the spot, making them into 'works of art' and giving them to the challengers. They will also issue a damage certification card to record the level of disc damage and playback results. Challengers can use the card to enjoy a trade-in discount at the store!"

At this point, the host looked up at the audience and said, "The rules of the Extreme Challenge have been explained. Now, please raise your hands! The prizes are great, and this is a rare opportunity! There are only 5 spots available, first come, first served! Anyone interested in participating?"

Although there were many people in the audience and the atmosphere was very lively, there seemed to be relatively few people who actually wanted to go on stage. They looked at each other and encouraged one another to go up and be the first to try something new. After a while, only a few people raised their hands. The host then randomly selected one of them and invited him to go on stage.

The audience member was a young man in his early twenties with dyed blond hair, which attracted attention. He was also quite bold, holding a CD with several scratches in his hand, and jumped directly onto the ring in full view of everyone.

The host took the disc from his hand, looked at it, and said with a smile, "This looks like the Hollywood movie 'Beauty and the Beast.' Young man, what problem did you encounter while playing this disc?"

The young man, holding the microphone, said, "It's just choppy, it keeps buffering, like I'm constipated, it's impossible to watch. To be honest, this is a pirated DVD I bought in Xidan for 12 yuan, and I haven't even watched it once yet, damn it! It's infuriating."

The audience burst into laughter.

These days, with pirated CDs available, who would bother buying genuine discs that cost hundreds of yuan? They just know that pirated discs are of poor quality and will encounter various playback issues. This is the core reason why Aiwa Electronics' error correction function competition has garnered consumer attention.

Hu Zhibiao, holding the microphone, chuckled and said, "I understand the feeling of not being able to watch your favorite movie. But I have a question for you: which brand of VCD player are you using?"

The young man scratched his head: "Wanlida's."

A considerable commotion arose below the stage. There were quite a few staff members from Aihua Electronics' competitors—Xinke, Wanlida, Wanyan, Xianke, Samsung, and others—watching the spectacle. Xidan Electronics City, as a super-large professional electronics market, is where any VCD brand manufacturer with any real strength sets up a counter, directly competing with each other. They've long been at odds with each other, and with the DVD player market booming, the tension between them has only intensified.

With Aihua Electronics making such a big fuss today, they naturally wanted to investigate. However, when the staff at Wanlida heard what the young man said, their faces turned green.

A man wearing a Malata uniform immediately retorted, "Bullshit! This is pure slander!"

Immediately, someone nearby shouted, "Your Aihua Electronics is truly shameless! You have no bottom line at all, trying to undermine your competitors and elevate yourselves! You have no business principles whatsoever! That blond guy is definitely a shill you hired!"

These words caused another stir in the crowd.

Hu Zhibiao on stage, however, seemed completely unconcerned. Holding the microphone, he laughed and said, "There's an old Chinese saying: 'Seeing is believing, hearing is deceiving.' Who is real and who is deceiving, who is good and who is bad, who is strong and who is weak, isn't determined by anyone's words. Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth! Today, with so many consumers and media reporters witnessing this, we'll use practice to see which brand of VCD is the most affordable and of the highest quality!"

While preparing for this competition, Hu Zhibiao seemed ready to go head-to-head with his peers. He wanted to utterly humiliate them in front of everyone and the media, maximizing the publicity and creating a nationwide sensation.

Holding the pirated disc given to him by the blond-haired man, Hu Zhibiao raised it high in the air and said to the crowd below: "Although this pirated disc will stutter when played on a Malata VCD player, its damage level does not reach our level 5 damage standard, and it also has limited impact on the super error correction capabilities of our Aiwa Electronics' latest generation VCD player."

Hu Zhibiao then changed the subject, saying, "Now, our staff will further damage this pirated disc, and then use the Aiwa JCL-1996 VCD player for error correction and verification! If there is any stuttering, I will present you with a gift worth 3500 yuan on the spot!"

Hu Zhibiao's words were delivered with great confidence, which made the audience feel that he was somewhat convincing. However, at this moment, a young man in the audience suddenly shouted: "Then go ahead and destroy it! Don't just listen to the good stuff, come and do the experiment!"

This triggered a herd mentality among the audience, who urged one after another: "Yes, yes, hurry up and destroy it! Stop bragging and just talking the talk. Let us see how much better your VCDs are than other brands!"

Seeing this scene, Zhang Yunqi, who was watching the show backstage, couldn't help but wonder if the young man was a plant arranged by Hu Zhibiao. The cooperation was so timely that it made the audience drool. Even some of the employees of the competitors in the audience, who were not very bright, put on a laughing expression.

Hu Zhibiao waved his hand unhurriedly, and a young man wearing blue Aihua Electronics overalls came up on stage, took the pirated CD from him, and then walked to the "violent test area" on the side of the stage.

That place immediately became the focus of everyone's attention.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the young man grabbed a piece of sandpaper marked "800 grit" and pressed it onto the surface of the pirated disc. It quickly produced a piercing "sizzle! sizzle!" sound that made people's teeth ache.

The audience in the front row witnessed the disc being scratched back and forth with sandpaper, and the pristine reflective surface quickly became somewhat cloudy. The young man then picked up a steel needle and carved several sharp scratches on the most vulnerable inner data area of ​​the disc.

Aihua Electronics is serious this time!

A cheer erupted from the crowd, many people showing expressions of anticipation. A large group of reporters, seeing this, started snapping photos indiscriminately. Staff from Wanlida and several of its competitors were dumbfounded by what they saw.

Soon, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the battered disc was carried by staff into the tray of an Aiwa JCL-1996 VCD player in the center of the stage.

With a click, the door closed, and the machine lay quietly beneath the 29-inch Sony Trinitron TV.

Time seemed to stretch out.

The audience stared intently at the television screen, one second, two seconds…

Deep within the screen, a dark, deep blue sea suddenly surged silently, followed by Celine Dion's soul-piercing voice, which rang out without warning and with perfect fluency.

At the entrance of Xidan Electrical Appliance City, a long-awaited roar suddenly erupted.

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