My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 898 Only Change Remains the Constant Theme
Liang Jiahui's performance became known to audiences nationwide after this performance was showcased to sales managers across the country.

This established his pivotal role in the mainland film industry, bridging the past and the future.

What is the mainland like right now?

Fei Xiang's performance at the 1987 Spring Festival Gala, in which he attempted to express the emotions of the song through dance, was deemed not solemn enough and inappropriate.

Even with respect for foreign singers, they requested that the camera only focus on his shoulders.

The live performance was so good that it won the approval of the leaders, which is why the director zoomed in on the whole body.

This quickly sparked a nationwide fashion craze.

At this time, there were restrictions everywhere that would be unimaginable to later generations.

Therefore, mainland Chinese films at this stage were still at two extremes.

Or they'll stick to the same old template of a great, glorious, and righteous protagonist, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, fooling their superiors into conforming to the mainstream narrative because it's simple, easy, and avoids mistakes.

Or they'll just create some tacky, vulgar stuff to cater to the market and make easy money.

It coincided with the golden age of Hong Kong films, which were shifting from the martial arts and awkward comedy styles of the 1960s and 70s to violent aesthetics and江湖恩怨 (jianghu enyuan, a term referring to the complexities and rivalries within the martial arts world).

Therefore, the Hong Kong filmmakers who have collaborated with the mainland in recent years are basically veteran martial arts filmmakers who have been squeezed out of the market by the new generation.

"Shaolin Temple" is the pioneering work in this genre.

This resulted in many of the mainland co-productions during this period being martial arts films.

This alone is enough to amaze mainland audiences.

Even in film shooting techniques, the mainland is much more closed off and backward.

Leung Ka-fai's "The Chess King" is a story told entirely based on the realities of mainland China, using contemporary Hong Kong film narrative techniques.

The mainland's "Sorghum Field," which aims to bring a fresh perspective, has only just finished filming and hasn't been released yet, and it lacks the sophistication and completeness of these Hong Kong filmmakers.

Chow Yun-fat had two or three of these art-house films out of his ten or so movies last year, which shows he's quite mature.

Therefore, the character of Leung Ka-fai in the film does not have the typical burden of being a great and righteous person that is common among mainland actors, nor does it have the overly commercial atmosphere of Hong Kong films.

A watershed-like landmark stands there!

He was just like any other educated youth sent to the countryside a few years ago, so real that it seemed like you could see him anywhere.

It's so ordinary that it's as inconspicuous as any small pebble on the roadside.

Nature is like dust that will be pressed down by the course of history.

But as soon as he loosens his collar and immerses himself in the game of Go, he can quickly transform into a king of his own spiritual world.

Regardless of one's cultural background or ability to understand the vast spiritual world expressed behind the scenes, Leung Ka-fai's acting skills can make people feel exhilarated from bitterness and open-mindedness from contemplation.

The movie's "premiere" was quite impressive.

All sales staff, whether college students, a very small number of construction soldiers, retired athletes, or senior executives from various companies sitting in the back row.

Everyone was completely silent, and no one left their seats, all intently experiencing the entire story.

It seems the boss actually made such a high-quality film in order to give his managers a "re-education" on "remembering the bitter past and appreciating the sweet present."

The sales managers' eyes showed a hint of thoughtfulness.

People like You Qili and Gui Zhenfei, who clearly don't watch movies often, felt they benefited greatly from the experience.

"True maturity comes from being able to tame the surging emotions, understand the complexities of the world, and establish a framework for thought. Wei Dong, you are not only successful in your career, but you also tirelessly teach and nurture young people in this way. I want to learn from you in my future career."

After saying this, the CEO of the electronics company shook hands with Rang Weidong and headed to Hong Kong.

He wanted to obtain firsthand information about fiber optic technology and bring it back to the research institute that was replicating the switches, so as to catch up with and surpass Britain and the United States.

This film served as an inspirational microcosm for him, who had experienced setbacks in middle age.

He would never give up or waste an opportunity to dedicate himself fully to his career.

You Qili summarized it as follows: "Your strategy and tactics are very different from mine. I have been thinking about your idea of ​​state-owned assets being privately owned for the past few days. You seem to be very wary of avoiding the red line of encroaching on state-owned assets. So I would like to remind you to pay attention to the theory of human capital. The two aspects that can truly make an industry run well are nothing more than capital and talent. Isn't private ownership all about talent? In fact, this part of the assets is even more important than money, and it will not touch the red line."

So those who become grandmasters don't come for nothing!

This made Wei Dong's mind suddenly clear.

You Qili has once again accurately seized a huge loophole.

Everyone is concerned about the loss of state-owned assets, but in fact, at the point where Wei Dong is in a similar situation, money is no longer the most important thing; talent is the key!

Just like many people don't realize that physical beauty is also a kind of capital.

Talented individuals within enterprises are also extremely valuable assets, yet they are not protected by law and are not viewed with suspicion as cheap and valuable assets coveted by state-owned enterprises!
For example, the reason why the basketball market in Hong Kong has reached its current state is because of Kemp.

The key to the success of the film industry lies in the two weeks of film festivals and the two leading actors.

Money isn't really that important.

He laughed heartily and had Wei Dong see them off.
You Qili brought two people with him, both of whom were his finance and assistant assigned by Wei Dong. It was clear that his fellow villagers were no longer keeping up.

Gui Zhenfei already had a small team of five, composed of his original confidants, who were all busy with their own tasks. Wei Dong instructed Li Xuehong, who had returned to Pengzhen with him, to assist them in obtaining travel permits in the western district.

After the final awards ceremony, sales managers from all over the country were seen off one by one.

The first batch of inter-regional transfers was immediately launched.

In the most severely affected provinces, all those with problems, from managers to supervisors, were transferred to Shenzhen to experience the baptism of the reform wave.

Those transferred over were all highly capable personnel selected from the platoon leaders of the infrastructure corps.

Wei Dongcai stayed in Shanghai with his family for a month or so.

By the eve of the Spring Festival, the projects for the deep-water port terminal and the 10,000-seat basketball stadium had been basically sorted out and submitted for approval.

The latter, in particular, is much more difficult than the deep-water port terminal, which is expected to require an investment of over 10 billion yuan.

After all, building a basketball arena isn't difficult. If the entire Shanghai basketball community doesn't cooperate, the empty arena, in an era with little concert market, could easily fall into disrepair amidst ridicule and spectators within a few years.

So Wei Dong was just fooling around and directly asked Xiao He, who was involved in the architectural design of basketball stadiums and sports cities in Hong Kong, to bring the complete set of blueprints to Shanghai.

They gathered staff from architectural firms in Shanghai, along with Liu Xiaoyong and his team who had just returned from Citibank at the end of the year, to make minor modifications to the exterior of the basketball court.

The original ratio of buildings to basketball courts in the Binhai Sports City was changed from 8:1 to 2:1 in the application.

There's no need to develop such a large plot of land.

If it works, great; if not, Wei Dong won't be too disappointed or bothered.

The sports industry in mainland China is a deeply entrenched circle, and Shanghai can add another layer of shell to this deep-rooted circle.

It's hard to shake.

The most important thing at this stage is to do our own things well.

The computer manufacturing plant is expanding its production capacity, and the international community is undergoing advertising shoots and landscaping improvements.

Wei Dong was able to be at the scene almost every day.

Moreover, in January 1988, the automotive industrial park finally assembled ten Dodge 600 cars by hand using parts transported in containers in the newly completed assembly plant, employing the most primitive methods.

One each in black, white, and red was donated to the city of Shanghai as a souvenir.

We also donated one vehicle each to the shipyard, Zhenhua Shore Machinery, Customs, and Shanghai Vacuum Electronics Factory as a token of our gratitude.

The remaining three cars were given to Lao Cheng from the car factory, Liu Xiaoyong from the design studio, and the factory manager of the computer OEM factory as their daily vehicles.

These ten historically significant assembled vehicles will enjoy lifetime free maintenance and replacement of all parts and exterior components.

Then, no sooner had they sent him away than Wei Dong was ordered to make sweeping modifications at the car factory!
This alone is already quite groundbreaking and innovative.

We dare not arbitrarily reduce or adjust anything from imported production lines; they are as unattainable as imperial edicts.

In Rang Weidong's eyes, there was no such psychological barrier.

He had been wanting to complain about that commercial vehicle that was already widely used in Hong Kong.

Citizen's mass-produced cars in the mid-to-late 1980s still largely retained the somewhat flamboyant and nouveau riche American aesthetic of the 1960s and 70s.

They often cover their seats with corduroy, and the inside of the seats and door panels are covered with flocked fabric, which is not only easy to get dirty but also looks bulky and sloppy.

Otherwise, they're shiny chrome-plated parts, but in reality, even a little wear will reveal the plastic underneath.

And those leather wraps that don't look high-end shouldn't be used for unnecessary decorative embellishments.

This mid-size sedan, which is nearing the end of its model cycle at Citibank, doesn't need these so-called "luxury" elements at all.

That's exactly the kind of stable and reliable chassis performance we're looking for in American sedans.

To minimize the cost of the car's interior and deliberately lower its brand image, we aim to reduce the price of this car to below 100,000 or even lower!

In fact, this Dodge 600 is sold at Citibank for only $8,000 to $10,000, which translates to about $60,000 to $70,000.

The price of the Cherokee is similar. The FOB price of a complete set of parts before assembly is more than nine thousand US dollars, and it eventually sells for 160,000 RMB or more in mainland China, with a normal price of around 200,000 RMB.

The situation is similar for Santana.

This is due to several factors, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) selling parts at the price of whole vehicles to make a profit, coupled with shipping costs, joint ventures acting as middlemen to make another profit, and the doubling of automobile tariffs.

Tariffs are, of course, intended to prevent the complete collapse of domestically produced automobiles.

Ironically, many self-media outlets later fabricated stories claiming that the government insisted on pricing the Santana high to make money off ordinary people, and even that foreign businesses insisted on selling it cheaper, using a vulgar, slapstick tone.

The government has no intention of selling these assembled cars that were bought with foreign exchange.

The sole purpose of doing this is to urge car manufacturers to quickly learn modern car manufacturing techniques, so that higher prices can save precious foreign exchange by selling fewer cars.

Without Wei Dong interfering, they could comfortably live a good life for ten years by simply selling imported parts and assembling cars. State-owned joint ventures don't have that kind of motivation for localization and improvement.

This time it's a little different.

Even though Wei Dong didn't go to Beijing, the Cherokee component plants were already starting trial production one after another, and the Cherokee SUVs being assembled now were improving their localization rate at an ever-increasing pace.

They've already started ramping up production capacity, and they're even giving out Cherokees as awards!
(End of this chapter)