Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 226: The Emperor Leads the Army in Person to Destroy the Chaos

The person who came was Pan Yaoming, the president of Mingchuang Society and also the executive president of the Hong Kong Writers Association.

He and Xu Zidong were also familiar with each other. After greeting each other, Pan Yaoming said, "Zidong is still very popular. After Zhang Chao announced the important news to the reporters, he came to you first."

Xu Zidong naturally didn't know what happened in the morning, and asked Zhang Chao in surprise: "What big news did you announce?"

Pan Yaoming helped Zhang Chao tell Xu Zidong about his plan to build a museum for Lu Xun. Xu Zidong was surprised and said, "It's really a big deal! In a place like Hong Kong Island, it will cost more than just money to build a museum - but this is a good idea! Mr. Lu Xun inspired the new literature of Hong Kong Island, so there should be a symbol."

Zhang Chao said: "It was an idea that came to me when I was looking up information on the way to Hong Kong Island. It is not mature yet and needs to be improved."

Xu Zidong said with a little excitement: "If you need any help, just come to me." As a literature professor from the mainland, Xu Zidong's feelings for Lu Xun are naturally deeper and more complex than those of local researchers in Hong Kong.

Pan Yaoming said: "It counts as my contribution! If this can be accomplished, it will be a milestone in Hong Kong literature."

At this time, Zhang Chao said to Pan Yaoming: "President Pan, I wanted to see you again this afternoon, but I didn't expect you to come to my door so soon."

Seeing that only Zhang Chao and Xu Zidong were present, Pan Yaoming was obviously relieved, so he said, "I'm the person in charge of the Hong Kong section of the 'New Concept Essay Contest', so of course I'm anxious."

Xu Zidong stood up and said, "I'm going to go back, you guys chat."

Pan Yaoming pointed at his watch and said, "It's noon. Let's eat together. Don't leave in a hurry."

Xu Zidong smiled and declined, "My wife made soup at home, and I'll be scolded if I don't go back to drink it!"

Pan Yaoming also went with the flow and said, "The sky is big, the earth is big, but my wife is the most important! Then I won't keep you!"

The two men sent Xu Zidong to the entrance of the bookstore. The young man who picked up Zhang Chao in the morning had already driven over. Xu Zidong said "goodbye" and got in the car and drove away.

Pan Yaoming breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and said to Zhang Chao, "Shall we talk while we eat?"

Zhang Chao nodded, Pan Yaoming waved his hand, and a Toyota Crown drove over. The two got in the car and soon arrived downstairs of a restaurant.

Pan Yaoming was obviously a regular customer. As soon as he got off the car, the receptionist greeted him warmly and took him to a small private room.

Although the two men are more than 30 years apart in age and have different seniority in the literary world, Pan Yaoming is easy-going and cheerful, and is also good at socializing, so he is not bound by these things.

The two of them were not paying attention to the food. After a simple meal, Zhang Chao got straight to the point and asked, "President Pan, the semi-finalists may not come to the mainland to compete. Why did this matter only break out now?"

Pan Yaoming sighed: "If I say it's still because of you, will you be angry?"

Zhang Chao: “Hmm?”

Pan Yaoming explained: "It's not a big deal for students from Hong Kong to participate in a competition in the mainland. It has become the norm since the handover. But you were so popular in the past two months that you were featured in the headlines of Hong Kong newspapers and even appeared on TVB.

The competition you organized also attracted a lot of attention. Many people took this opportunity to compete with each other. To be honest, the competition was a disaster caused by the internal division of the Hong Kong literary world.

The reason I didn't tell you at the beginning was that I wanted to do my best to mediate internally so that the students could participate. I was also afraid that once you came, it would become a topic of struggle again."

Zhang Chao did not ask about the specific content of the split, but asked: "I heard that the publicity investment of the competition is very different in different schools. Is this true?"

Pan Yaoming didn't hesitate at all and admitted, "That's right. We have invested almost all of our resources in good schools. Except for one high school student and two college students, all the 12 semi-finalists from Hong Kong Island are from these good schools that we have invested in."

Zhang Chao didn't expect the other party to be so frank. Instead, he hesitated for a while before asking, "Can I ask the reason?"

Pan Yaoming said: "Seeing is believing. How about I take you to see the reason now?"

Zhang Chao nodded, drank the tea, and followed Pan Yaoming downstairs. After driving through the narrow streets of Hong Kong Island for half an hour, they arrived at an old building.

Zhang Chao looked up and saw the building was called "San Po Kong Industrial Building". He couldn't help wondering, "Where is this?"

Pan Yaoming said, "Follow me." As he spoke, he took Zhang Chao to the 5th floor in an elevator that required Zhang Chao to pull the barrier himself.

After walking out of the elevator and turning a corner, we saw a large room with many workstations densely packed together, and some small offices separated by glass walls. Pan Yaoming led Zhang Chao to the door of one of the offices, where four or five young men and women who looked to be no more than 20 years old were sitting. It was very crowded, but everyone was concentrating on their work.

The most eye-catching thing is the books and magazines piled everywhere.

Pan Yaoming knocked on the door gently, and the young people put down their work in surprise, stood up and greeted him, "Hello, Uncle Pan!"

One of the girls with curly hair and round glasses came over, looked at Zhang Chao, and said, "I guess this must be the great writer Zhang Chao!"

Pan Yaoming nodded and said, "Xiaohua, he is Zhang Chao." He then said to Zhang Chao, "This is Deng Xiaohua. This is the office of the newly founded literary magazine "Zihua". Xiaohua is the editor-in-chief. Where are Xiaohong and Lizhu?"

Deng Xiaohua replied, "They all have classes in the afternoon and can't come." Seeing Zhang Chao curiously looking around the office, he said shyly, "It's very shabby here, isn't it? We are just starting out, and the office is shared with other companies. We work from 2pm to 7pm."

Then the two were allowed into the office, and the others hurriedly made room for Zhang Chao and Pan Yaoming, but some people had no choice but to stand in the corner.

Pan Yaoming sat down without hesitation, but Zhang Chao waved his hand to indicate that it was not necessary.

Pan Yaoming took out a magazine from the pile of books and handed it to Zhang Chao, saying to him, "This is the first issue of Zihua. Take a look."

Zhang Chao took it and was attracted by the cover first - a young deer with innocent eyes, holding a branch with bright red fruits in its mouth.

After flipping through the magazine and quickly reading a few paragraphs, Zhang Chao looked up and said in surprise, "It's a very avant-garde style, with a strong sense of language form. Is this a pure literature magazine?" Deng Xiaohua nodded proudly and explained, "We prefer magical realism and avant-garde literature, and we pay attention to the form of literature. We hope to capture the hearts of target readers as quickly as possible from packaging to content."

Pan Yaoming also joked: "It's a very young team, and they killed the Hong Kong Island Literature magazine run by us old guys."

Zhang Chao said with emotion: "I never thought such a special magazine was started in such a difficult environment. How is the sales volume now?"

Deng Xiaohua blushed and said, "The first issue sold about 600 copies, and the second issue sold more than 800 copies. The response is not bad. The next issue is expected to sell 900 or 1000 copies. We are a bimonthly magazine, published in odd months."

Zhang Chao turned to the back cover and took a look at the price "HK29". He calculated it in his mind, then looked at the people in the office. He wanted to say something, but did not open his mouth.

Pan Yaoming said to Zhang Chao: "Are you surprised? In fact, most of these people are part-time workers, and some don't even receive any salary."

Zhang Chao couldn't help but say, "Even if I don't get paid, the printing costs of each issue of the magazine, the author's royalties, and the rent here... I can't imagine how this magazine can survive."

Pan Yaoming said to Deng Xiaohua: "Explain this to Zhang Chao. Don't feel embarrassed. Zhang Chao is a young man like you. He can understand."

Deng Xiaohua then said: "In fact, we still rely on subsidies from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council to maintain our business. However, the Arts Development Council's annual subsidies are also limited. We at Zihua expect to receive a total of 40 to 50 yuan.

现在港岛文学杂志给作者的稿费大概是每个字0.25到0.3港币，也就是内地的千字250元到300元。我们《字花》每期的稿费支出大概就在3万左右。

The printing cost in Hong Kong Island is much higher than that in the Mainland. Adding other miscellaneous expenses, labor and office rent, our actual cost per issue is 8 to 9 Hong Kong dollars. So the subsidy of 50 Hong Kong dollars plus sales can only barely sustain.

Without subsidies, each issue of Zihua would have to sell for HK$100 to break even. But who would buy a literary magazine that costs HK$100 per issue?

Poon Yao Ming said: “It is not easy to get subsidies from the Arts Development Council. The accounts have to be audited every year, and they also have to look at the sales of your magazines and whether you have taken any practical actions to improve the quality of citizens’ culture.

Only five literary magazines in Hong Kong can receive subsidies every year, but the amount for each one is very meager. To be honest, there is no literary magazine in Hong Kong that can be self-sufficient through sales and advertising.

Deng Xiaohua continued: "In order to get subsidies next year, in addition to increasing magazine sales, we must try our best to participate in or hold more cultural activities, including going to campus to give literary lectures and provide writing guidance.

These will be included in next year’s grant application.”

Zhang Chao suddenly realized: "This is what Zhong Weiming said..."

Pan Yaoming nodded and said, "It doesn't matter if Zhong Weiming is naked. He is already a famous writer and is now engaged in the gem and antique business. He does not need to bear any responsibility for the continued existence of literature in Hong Kong Island.

He made it sound so bad to receive subsidies, as if Xiaohua and his friends were all well-fed. In fact, even with subsidies, magazines like Zihua are struggling to survive. Do you know how much the highest-paid full-time executive director here makes a month? 1 Hong Kong dollars, including everything.

What can you earn 1 Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong? A dishwasher can earn 2 Hong Kong dollars a month. If it weren't for my love of literature, I would earn more than that if I worked 4 hours a night at a convenience store.

Before he came to Zihua, he was a senior editor of other newspapers and had a master's degree. He is not here today, he must have gone to the market again. "

Zhang Chao was a little shocked when he heard this. 1 Hong Kong dollars, in Hong Kong Island now, can't even rent a single apartment with a good location and private bathroom, but it is already the highest fixed income position in this magazine.

He originally thought that no matter how bad the literary environment in Hong Kong was, at least there was such a developed local economy to support it, and the income of practitioners would not be too bad. The result was beyond his imagination.

Zhang Chao believed that Pan Yaoming had not lied to him. Firstly, there was trust in the cooperation between the two of them, and secondly, there was no need for him to do so as it was too easy to verify.

At this time, Pan Yaoming said to Deng Xiaohua: "You guys go ahead and do your work. Zhang Chao and I are going to talk outside." Then he took Zhang Chao out of the office.

The two of them walked to the corridor, and Pan Yaoming said to Zhang Chao: "This is an important reason why we want to focus our resources on BAND1 school. We also want to find a way out for the literary societies and literary magazines in Hong Kong Island through this competition.

The students in BAND1 schools are of high quality and have a good foundation, so it is easier for them to produce good talents. The key is that their family conditions are better, and they are more suitable for pursuing a literary career in Hong Kong Island.

Today is different from the past. The literary environment in Hong Kong Island no longer allows poor children to succeed through writing. The miracle of Ni Kuang writing serials for ten newspapers and buying a house and a car will not happen again.

In Hong Kong today, no one reads serious literature, let alone martial arts novels. Everyone reads entertainment magazines and the Internet.

If the students in Hong Kong can achieve relatively good results this time, it may stimulate everyone and make them pay more attention to literature. On the other hand, it can also be regarded as a proof that literary magazines and groups like "Zihua" are useful to society. "

Zhang Chao fell silent after hearing this. If he still had some grudges against Pan Yaoming for hiding the truth before coming here, now he was already thinking of ways to help this old senior save the situation.

Seeing that Zhang Chao was silent, Pan Yaoming continued, “The main criticisms of serious literature in Hong Kong come from a few local websites. Their “reasons” for criticism are nothing more than the theory that literature is useless, that the market determines the survival of literature, and that applying for funding for niche art is a waste of public resources, etc.

Deng Xiaohua, Xie Xiaohong, Han Lizhu... These people who, according to their critics, defrauded "literary comprehensive assistance" are actually the bravest and most selfless literary builders in Hong Kong Island.

They received meager salaries and put in intensive work to create a magazine called "Zihua" that is in no way inferior to other literary magazines in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

To be honest, as their uncle, I feel ashamed that I can’t do more. I can only try to help as much as possible so that these magazines and societies can survive one more day.”

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "I understand your feelings, but doing so will give people a handle. Now the entire public opinion is being hijacked by Zhong Weiming and his group. If students go to the mainland to participate in the competition, they will be "receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance", which is unfair."

Pan Yaoming said: "I will try my best to help students and parents so that they don't feel burdened. ..."

Suddenly Pan Yaoming's cell phone rang. He took it out and looked at it. His eyes were immediately filled with anger and he cursed, "Zhong Weiming, this bastard..." But then he realized that Zhang Chao was still around and quickly shut up.

Zhang Chao hurriedly asked what happened, and Pan Yaoming handed his phone to Zhang Chao, who saw a picture message on it. When he opened it, it was a photo of a newspaper, and he could clearly see the headline:

Zhang Chao personally led the army to destroy Hong Kong's local literature!
(End of this chapter)