Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 489 Zhou Shan Foundation and Charity Conference

For this banquet, Liu Zhou also made use of his connections.

The Internet industry is where Liu Zhou has the greatest influence besides the film and television industry. Moreover, as an emerging industry, the circle is actually relatively small, and some well-known bigwigs know each other.

So this time Liu Zhou invited almost all of the most outstanding bigwigs in the Internet industry, including Jack Ma.

Previously, Liu Zhou had a feud with Taishan Club because of the acquisition of Sina Group. At that time, Jack Ma, who was a member of Taishan Club, also stood on their side and spoke for Duan Yongji.

This is indeed understandable, but conflicts between the two were inevitable.

However, as the influence of Liu Zhou and Jack Ma grew, Jack Ma no longer needed to rely on the Taishan Society, nor did he want to continue to be at odds with Liu Zhou, so he took the initiative to show goodwill to Liu Zhou several times.

Liu Zhou didn't keep holding on to the previous incident. Since the other party took the initiative to make friends with him and Ding Lei was mediating, he just went along with it.

Jack Ma is indeed a sociable person, and after several industry gatherings, the two of them established a friendship.

And no matter how future generations evaluate Jack Ma, Liu Zhou thinks he is quite awesome and has changed people's lifestyles to a certain extent.

Some of his financial initiatives have indeed forced banks to make changes, making life more convenient for the public.

But later on, he must have become a little too arrogant, and in the end the country was forced to intervene and stop Ant Financial's listing.

There is a report that said it very well, which goes, there is no era of Jack Ma, there is only Jack Ma under the era.

But there is no doubt that he is also the most well-known and influential entrepreneur since the new century.

So Liu Zhou admired him very much and was willing to be friends with him.

The feud with Taishan Society is mainly with Liu Chuanchuan, Duan Yongji and others.

As for the invited bigwigs from the real economy, some were met by those who attended the China Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting, such as Zhang from Suning, and some were met at the East Guangdong Chamber of Commerce, such as Wang Shi from Vanke, Dong from Gree, and the CEO of Midea.

As for Wanda’s boss Wang, since Wanda entered the film and television industry a few years ago, the two have actually had a lot of dealings with each other.

In addition to these business tycoons, many well-known companies that have business cooperation with Golden Harvest, such as China Mobile, PepsiCo, BMW, and Septwolves, also arranged senior executives at the vice president level and above to attend the banquet.

The above-mentioned people are the real big guys. Although celebrities are glamorous, most of them work for capital.

It is rare to see so many business leaders gathering together, except for officially organized events.

So many media reporters couldn't help but take several photos over there.

But then they saw Liu Zhou leave, and soon he came back with a few people.

Some reporters thought it was another new big shot who wanted to take pictures, but was stopped by industry seniors.

"Don't take pictures of this, take pictures of other people or those celebrities instead."

In response to their curiosity, the senior did not say much, but simply introduced the identities of the two leaders:
"The deputy in charge of culture in the capital government and the deputy in charge of propaganda in the capital."

Upon hearing this, they shut up instantly. They were also entertainment reporters from major newspapers or platforms, and they knew very well what the warning line was.

There must be official media reporting on the two people's arrival, so they don't need to worry about it.

As soon as several leaders arrived, the party was basically about to begin.

The whole evening party is divided into two stages, one is the special topic of Golden Harvest’s 40th anniversary, and the other is the charity gala.

Both phases take about the same amount of time, about two hours.

In fact, Liu Zhou also had an idea in his mind. Except for those guests who had deep roots with Golden Harvest and had deep feelings for Golden Harvest, they were eager to write about it in detail and tell the world about the hard work and brilliant achievements of the past forty years, which would arouse everyone's admiration.

Others who don’t have much to do with Jiahe don’t actually care about Jiahe’s past.

It's just like attending a wedding banquet, where everyone is not interested in the love story of the bride and groom and just wants to enjoy the feast. The guests come to show their faces and are not very interested in the history of Golden Harvest.

Put yourself in their shoes. If Jiahe was not Liu Zhou's company, many people might not even want to participate, let alone listen to long speeches and spend five or six hours here.

But this time it is not as simple as just holding a banquet for eating and drinking. The main purpose of Golden Harvest’s commemorative event is to promote the Golden Harvest brand.

It is mainly for the majority of netizens to watch, and they are quite interested in the history of Golden Harvest.

So this time Liu Zhou invited the founder of Golden Harvest, Wrinkles Huai, who has been in charge of Golden Harvest for nearly 30 years, to open the show.

However, Wrinkle Huai is very old after all, over 80 years old, so he didn't say much and returned to the audience.

The first glorious period of Golden Harvest was the Bruce Lee era. It was Bruce Lee who helped Golden Harvest gain a firm foothold despite the suppression from Shaw Brothers. Several films he shot broke the box office records in Hong Kong one after another.

But now Bruce Lee is gone, and even his son Brandon Lee is gone. The deaths of the father and son are also an unsolved mystery in the entertainment industry that arouses the curiosity of the outside world.

Therefore, Golden Harvest specially produced a documentary for this period, telling and commemorating the glorious achievements of Bruce Lee during his collaboration with Golden Harvest.

The second glorious period of Golden Harvest was the Xu Guanwen period.

After Bruce Lee's death, many film companies in Hong Kong were looking for the next Bruce Lee. It was during this period that people like Liang Xiaolong, who played Cheng Long and Chen Zhen, came to prominence.

But the audience didn't buy their imitation of Bruce Lee at all, it was just a lot of noise but little results.

Unexpectedly, in the end, Xu Guanwen, dissatisfied with Shaw Brothers' exploitation, cooperated with Golden Harvest and achieved unprecedented success.

Several comedy films by Xu Guanwen once again broke records one after another, ushering in the comedy era of Xu Guanwen.

Jiahe also specially invited the three brothers Xu Guanwen, Xu Guanying and Xu Guanjie.

Next, Golden Harvest entered the era of Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan. In the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s, after Xu Guanwen reduced his production, the kung fu comedies brought by these brothers took over and created even more brilliant achievements for Golden Harvest.

Although Sammo Hung later left to start his own company, Jackie Chan had already grown into Asia's most popular kung fu star, supporting Golden Harvest in the late 1980s and the entire 1990s.

After filming "Feng Yun", Golden Harvest began to go downhill, and with the departure of Jackie Chan, it fell into a complete trough.

Finally, Liu Zhou acquired Golden Harvest and made it rise again. During this period, the most representative figures of Golden Harvest were Liu Zhou, Qin Hao and Ning Hao.

There was originally another person named Zeng Li, but she doesn't want to be in the spotlight now, so she was not included. As for Fan Xiaopang and Huang Xiaoming, although they achieved more success in Jiahe, they joined in the middle after all.

Another important figure in Golden Harvest, Xu Ke, is in a similar situation. He has even more experience. He is from the same period as Jackie Chan and became famous in the late 1970s.

Liu Zhou, Qin Hao and Ning Hao are the only three people who have been with Jiahe since Liu Zhou acquired it and have great influence.

Whenever a glorious period of Golden Harvest is discussed, the artists who created the glory together with Golden Harvest are invited to come on stage to reminisce about the past and receive everyone's applause.

Finally, Liu Zhou took several senior executives and took a group photo with the above-mentioned representatives of Golden Harvest.

All of these people were or are the top stars in the past, but people like Xu Guanwen and Xu Guanjie rarely appear in public, so the younger generation of audiences don’t know them.

With this ceremony, through the live broadcast of Sina Video and the interaction on Sina Weibo, the two brothers once again returned to the memories of their fans.

It also allowed a new generation of movie fans to get to know these two top Hong Kong superstars of the 1970s and 1980s.

As the 40th anniversary celebration of Jiahe came to an end, two leaders in Beijing gave speeches.

The reason we can invite them here today is not only because Liu Zhou has great reputation, but mainly because Jiahe has indeed been a cultural benchmark enterprise in Beijing and even in the mainland in recent years.

At such an important juncture for an enterprise, it is normal for relevant official units to send people to show their support and give a few words of encouragement, but the level of the people this time is slightly higher.

However, today, due to the large amount of exposure, the leaders did not stay long and left after completing their mission.

Liu Zhou personally saw him off, and when he came back, the second phase of the charity gala had already begun.

Charity galas are divided into charity performances and charity auctions. Charity performances are when a singer or celebrity performs on stage. After all, if it were just an auction, it would be rather boring, so it’s just right to have some performances to balance it out.

After the charity performance, the performing stars will cooperate with the host to call for donations. Any donations raised will be counted as proceeds from the charity performance. At that time, the performers and donors will be included in the charity list of tonight's charity gala.

As hosts, Liu Yan and He Jiong of course had to advocate for their employer and publicize the various charitable initiatives of Golden Harvest over the years.

"Since 2005, under the leadership of Mr. Liu Zhou, Jiahe has donated money and materials to Hope Primary Schools, orphanages, nursing homes and other welfare institutions for the widows and orphans many times...

...The company's artists also took action. Zeng Li is a public welfare ambassador for campus safety. She visited poor children in mountainous areas in person and worked with local authorities to improve the children's learning and living environment in a practical way.

Fan Xiaopang is keen on charity and has sponsored the poor and lonely in his hometown many times. Qin Hao and Huang Xiaoming have participated in organizing charity activities and helped charities raise funds, ultimately directly and indirectly helping more than 8000 poor patients..."

Before Liu Zhou acquired Golden Harvest, he had already instilled in the artists under his studio the idea of ​​doing more charity and public welfare, and this was even more so after he took over Golden Harvest.

Although these charitable activities are highly utilitarian, they have indeed achieved some results. In the mainland entertainment industry, the artists of Golden Harvest are definitely the backbone of charity.

As for Liu Zhou, there is no need to mention that after he became famous, he began to actively engage in charity. Although he did not practice it himself, he never stopped donating money.

Later, after his wealth increased, he established the Zhoushan Foundation and began to carry out larger and more specific charitable activities.

Since the completion of the first Zhoushan Primary School in 2004, Zhoushan Foundation has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in nearly six years, allowing Zhoushan Primary Schools and even Zhoushan Middle Schools to flourish across the country.

As of the end of December 2010, Zhoushan Foundation had invested in the construction of 12 Zhoushan Primary Schools and 6 Zhoushan Middle Schools, with accumulated funds exceeding RMB million.

If we include other charitable projects and donations, Liu Zhou's total charitable investment over the past decade is not far from the ten-digit figure, if not.

The media once gave Liu Zhou the title of "China's No. 1 Philanthropist", but he declined.

Even today, the main theme of the publicity is still Zhou Shan Foundation, and at most it is added that it was founded by Liu Zhou, but there is no mention that these are all his personal investments.

However, this matter is also very clear, so this is one of the reasons why the higher-ups support him so much. Liu Zhou has indeed been doing good things silently.

In addition, there are still many people who know the inside story. At the table where Liu Zhou was sitting, many business tycoons raised their glasses to toast him.

Because Ali went public and became the Internet company with the highest market value, even the extremely arrogant Jack Ma had to sigh.

"Mr. Liu, there aren't many people I truly admire, but your charity work is indeed worth learning from."

Regardless of whether Liu Zhou had other purposes, he actually invested hundreds of millions of real money, and more than one hundred Hope Primary Schools were built there. This is enough to make people give him a thumbs up.

"I am just trying my best, and I will continue to work hard in the future."

Liu Zhou was very humble, but many bigwigs were speechless. You have donated almost ten figures, and you still call it a small contribution. What are we? Just a drop in the ocean?

Everyone looked at each other and it seemed that they would have to spend money today, otherwise they would seem too stingy.

While a few people were chatting, the charity dinner officially began, and the first person to appear was Qin Hao.

Not only did he donate his favorite jade plaque made of Hetian jade, he also participated in the charity performance.

In order to prepare for this charity performance, he started preparing more than a month ago, but singing is really not his forte, and he was off-tune several times in Jay Chou's "Snail".

But this did not affect everyone's warm applause at all, and they easily raised more than 30 in donations for the charity performance, giving today's evening party a good start.

Next is the auction of his jade pendant. Generally speaking, the items in charity auctions are all very particular.

Celebrities and artists tend to bring out some meaningful things, but the value cannot be too low, otherwise they cannot be priced well, and it is equivalent to treating the buyer as a fool.

In addition to auction items donated by celebrities, many are sponsored by sponsors. For example, in the recent Bazaar Charity Nights, most of the items were sponsored by luxury brands, and many were limited editions, so it was not a loss for celebrities to buy them.

At the same time, these sponsoring luxury brands also gained considerable exposure, which can be considered as an advertisement and is a sure win.

The items for tonight's charity auction are mostly donations from celebrities and artists, and only companies that have long-term cooperation with Golden Harvest are eligible to sponsor.

That’s right, many companies rushed to Golden Harvest to sponsor auction items.

However, in order to prevent the charity conference from having too strong an advertising flavor, and also to give back to Golden Harvest's close partners, Liu Zhou rejected all the companies that came to him seeking cooperation.

Most of the items accepted are donated by celebrities and artists.

Moreover, Liu Zhou has invited so many bigwigs this time. Even if they contribute a little, the funds donated tonight will be very considerable, so there is no need to rely on corporate sponsorship at all.

(End of this chapter)