Nothing accomplished

Chen Chong turned over the business report of the Oriental Charming Taiwan branch and smiled bitterly.

Last year, in order to pick up girls, he used 5 million Hong Kong dollars to open an Oriental Charming branch in Taiwan. Zhang Aijia spent half a year to build the company and then invested in Hou Hsiao-hsien and Chen Kunhou to shoot two dramas. Both of them performed well in the box office. Hou Hsiao-hsien also won the Best New Director for "Good Morning Taipei", which is a small achievement.

However, since this year, the Taiwan Branch of Oriental Charm has not been made in a single movie because all the scripts submitted for review were shot, and the reasons are strange. For example, Hou Hsiao-hsien was preparing to shoot "Is it the She" which is a very traditional Qiong Yao-style pure and beautiful love film. It was blocked by the News Bureau with the reason of "exaggerating urban-rural conflicts and not conducive to social stability" - the script describes the plot of demolishing the ancestral house for building a road for the sake of dramatic conflicts. This is common in Taiwan's top ten constructions and is not news at all.

A big thing, an optional problem. With Chen Chong's financial and fame and good interpersonal relationships with Song Chuyu, the News Bureau turned a blind eye and passed it, but now it became an excuse to shoot. If there is no one behind the scenes, no one believes it...

In addition to film companies, the Taiwan editorial department of "Movie Age" is often harassed by various inspections and interviews. The already well-known "Weekend Fan Salon" and "Taiwan Film Critics Association" have been forced to stop their activities. Many insightful film reviews cannot be published. Magazine sales have been falling again and again, from 50,000 copies per issue at the beginning of the year to less than 30,000 at present.

The reason why people are deliberately suppressed is that, first, political force majeure. Under the impact of the "Beautiful Island Incident", Taiwan tightened control and censorship of the media and the film industry; second, after the Film Awards, Hu Jinquan's "Empty Mountain Spirit Rain" was very popular in the mainland. Less than two months after the release, the number of viewers exceeded 100 million, causing a phenomenal sensational effect, which made the people in the Hong Kong film industry fluctuate and itchy. In order to prevent Hong Kong filmmakers from "defecting", the Taiwan authorities used both soft and hard work, and on the one hand, reduced it. The import quota of American movies has increased the number of Hong Kong films. On the other hand, documents have been issued to strictly prohibit "the country films produced by Free Films are released in the "bandit zone, theater". Shen Chong, a thorny head with the mainland, naturally bears the brunt of the flag sacrifice. The Oriental Charm is not only unable to film in Taiwan, but even the "Industry Rules" and "The List of Evils" filmed in Hong Kong at the beginning of the year will not be released in Taiwan. If he had not released a 5-year, $1 billion satellite in U, "Die Hard" would probably not have been able to enter Taiwan.

While film companies and magazines were suppressed, Galaxy Image's business also suffered a lot of setbacks in Taiwan.

After the Spring Festival, stimulated and inspired by the hot Hong Kong video tape market, many "underground video halls" appeared on the streets and alleys of Taiwan. Most of the film sources of these video halls come from Galaxy Images in Hong Kong. As we all know, Chen Chong has a fanatical hobby for collecting film copyrights. Galaxy Image provides a variety of videotapes, including Hong Kong, American, and some from the mainland. In May, there was a boss in Taipei who had a brain or was bold, but he secretly took mainland movie videotapes to Taiwan for release, and was reported, and was stabbed, and was put into prison for the crime of "communist-bandit spies" and "collaborators"...

Although Galaxy Image posted notices in every store at the beginning of its opening, reminding Taiwanese travelers not to rent or buy mainland movie video tapes, and not to bring them back to Taiwan, it was still affected by this incident. After Zhang Yonglin's Academy Awards, he went to Taiwan at least three times a month. After three months, various benefits were everywhere, but he still couldn't get a business license and could not open a chain store.

In addition to sensitive political factors, the Taiwanese film screening industry insists that the popularity of video tapes will reduce audiences' interest in going to cinemas and is not conducive to box office. It not only firmly opposes video tape entry into the Taiwan market, but also forms the so-called "investigation and banning team for illegal business of film and television video tapes", sweeps and reports underground video halls everywhere, and actively lobbies the government to define the distribution of video tapes as an illegal commercial activity...

But then again, if there are any matters related to interests, some people will inevitably support them. The film screening industry resists video tapes, but the film production industry welcomes video tapes. Chen Chong bought the copyright of movies to make video tapes, which is a major benefit for the production industry - those old movies and old movies are also a waste to throw them out in the warehouse. Why not sell them for money? After the new movies are released, they will be converted into video tapes and released again, and they can be divided into a money, and the money is not less than the box office. Unexpected money, don't do it in vain.

The Taiwan government's attitude towards videotape distribution is very vague. It neither supports nor prohibits it. It allows the underground videotape to grow like wild grass and allows China Television to sell TVs everywhere, but never issues business licenses to Galaxy Video. Behind this, most of the matter is related to politics.

Chen Chong took out the operation brief of Galaxy Images, looked through it casually, and saw more than a dozen key member information. These members came to visit every ten days and half a month, and rented hundreds of videotapes each time. Many of them were the same movie or TV series, which was obviously abnormal.

Taiwanese people really know how to take advantage of loopholes and actually start a business of moving and releasing...

Yes, it is very convenient to travel from Taiwan to Hong Kong. The round-trip air ticket is only a few hundred Hong Kong dollars, but it costs dozens of yuan to buy a videotape. It is much more cost-effective to rent it than to buy it...

But these people have a good idea. Taiwan has strict surveillance for anything related to publicity. Occasionally, you can pass the border with one or two videotapes, and you may be lucky enough to bring hundreds of them at a time, but it is not that easy to bring in...

Could it be that these people are related to Taiwan’s underworld? Taiwan’s underworld and the government collude with each other, have huge power, are cruel and ruthless, and should not be underestimated...

Xiang Huaqiang has been in Taiwan before, so I'm waiting for some time to ask...

He was closing the book and thinking, when Zhang Aijia knocked on the office door and walked in.

"Didn't you bother?"

"No." Chen Chong closed the financial report, looked at his watch, and found that it was getting faster, so he asked, "Is your party over?"

"It's almost done." Zhang Aijia put his left hand on his hips and his right forehead, sighed: "After a while, I answered seven or eight calls, and I couldn't continue at all."

"It's all called from Taiwan?"

Zhang Aijia made a helpless face and made a promise.

"Your Taiwan's confidentiality work is so bad, it's just leaking everywhere." Shen Chong's big Malaysian golden knife leaned on the back of the chair and asked, "Who calls you?"

"It's not that you're doing it in a bad way, it's that your $1 billion is too tempting." Zhang Aijia held the table and said, "It's basically everyone who comes to try it out. Only Huang Renzhong said that he came to Hong Kong with Li Guoding and asked if he could join in the fun during dinner?"

Huang Renzhong is Huang Shaogu's only son. Huang Shaogu is one of Chiang Ching-kuo's confidant generals. He used to be the Secretary-General of Taiwan's National Security Conference and is now Taiwan's "Judges Minister" and is known as one of the "Eight Great Elders" in the Kuomintang. He has a high position and is well-informed. Huang Renzhong started his business by operating circuit substrates and owns many electronic circuit processing factories. Shen Chong wanted to invest in and produce game consoles in Taiwan, which was a major benefit for him, so he was extremely enthusiastic. Last time he went to Singapore and this time he followed Hong Kong.

"I haven't decided to have dinner with Li Guoding tonight." Chen Chong smiled, and he pressed the call button and said, "Xiaoyu, come in."

After Qiu Siyu came in, he knocked on a pile of documents on his desk and ordered: "Plant these troubled information and make it simple, just three or four pieces of paper."

"Taiwanese media have fabricated a lot of negative news about the oriental charm. Should I also include it?"

Chen Chong nodded, raised his thumbs up, praised her keenness and intelligence, and asked: "Have Mr. Li from Taiwan called?"

"Yes, Mr. Li called ten minutes ago and wanted to make an appointment to have dinner with Mr. Shen at 7 o'clock tonight."

"You call again and ask Mr. Li's specific room number."

"OK."

After Qiu Siyu left, Zhang Aijia asked with a little curious expression: "What are you thinking?"

"In the past, Xiang Yu met Liu Bang and set up a Hongmen Banquet. Today, I met Li Guoding and wanted to have a killing stick." Chen Chong stood up while talking nonsense and said with a smile: "Go to have a meal and treat you, and you won't kill you."

"Hey, don't do anything randomly. Although Li Guoding is doing idle jobs now, he is also one of the eight elders in Taiwan's political arena. He has a great influence in economics. Even President Chiang is very afraid of him."

"I know, I won't mess around."

Seeing that he had a relaxed expression but a tired face, Zhang Aijia stopped talking about it, but instead spoke relaxed gossip: "I was crying and said that she was going to vomit blood even if she was offering a building. Please help me to ask for a favor and let her go with mercy."

"A guy with sharp teeth and sharp mouths can't be cleaned up." Chen Chong laughed. When he walked out of the office, he saw Chen Yunwen standing in the corridor with several women of similar age, and joked: "Is it good if we take a plane to Paris for a French meal today?"

"Paris is where we little women go." Chen Yunwen was not outdone and joked: "The God of Wealth spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a minute, so how can I have time to go to France for a big meal? Why not just find a teahouse nearby and eat a bowl of fish and egg noodles."

"I knew you were stingy." Chen Chong shook his head and looked down upon him, then waved his hand generously and said, "Today I'm going to eat sushi, I'll invite you, I've already set a seat.

"Amitabha, thank God of Wealth."

The other women laughed, and Zhang Aijia introduced them to Chen Chong one by one, and then they realized that some were college teachers and some were talented women who wrote film reviews. They all watched "Spring in a Small Town" today - this movie has been played forever since yesterday and has caused a sensation in a small range.

"How do you feel about this movie?"

"I think this is the best work in the history of Chinese film." Chen Yunwen was the most active and sighed in the elevator: "Borrowing things to describe people, expressing emotions with scenery, blending emotions and picturesque, it is hard to imagine a movie made in that chaotic era 30 years ago. After watching it, I feel that all the things I wrote before were graffitied by children."

"The suppression of sentimental atmosphere, the mentality of wanting to refuse but still waiting, the condensed and beautiful lens, and the gurgling rhythm are indeed a poetic movie. In connection with the era of its shooting, people recall Du Zimei's "Spring Look". The country is broken, the mountains and rivers are there, the city is deep, the grass and trees are deep, the flowers are shed tears when they feel, and the birds are scared to death... Moreover, Director Fei Mu's use of film languages ​​such as lens scheduling, deep focus photography, depth of field, and long lens is no less than that of the current Western directors."

The person who said this is Huang Ailing, who is a very rare professional female film critic. He has published many articles in "The First Movie Review". He has been studying in France before. He has just returned to Hong Kong for a few days. This is the first time Chen Chong has seen her herself.

"Hey, Shen Caishen, I heard from Editor-in-Chief Lin that there are hundreds of thousands of films in the China Film Archives in Beijing. How did you find "Spring in a Small Town"?"

"That's right, the night was long, and I had no intention of sleeping, so I put on my clothes and sat up, watching the sky at night, and saw a white light rushing into the sky, wandering between bullfighting, knowing that there was a treasure born, and immediately used the technique of flying with swords..."
Chapter completed!