Chang Kaishen is a smart man. Zhou Hexuan once persuaded Zhang Xueliang to change his banner in the Northeast. This time there seemed to be hope of persuading Zhang Xueliang to assist the Central Army, which made him pay more and more attention to Zhou Hexuan. What's more, Zhou Hexuan was not only knowledgeable, but also enjoyed great reputation at home and abroad.
With such a great reputation, such a great scholar is also worth wooing.
On the third day after Cai Yuanpei sent the calligraphy works, the editor of the publishing house affiliated with the Guangzhou Center for International Studies suddenly came to Shanghai for a visit. The other party directly explained the purpose of his visit, and wanted to reprint Zhou Hexuan's "The Rise of the Great Powers", and the new edition of the book would also come with it.
Chang Kaishen's preface said that after printing, it would be distributed internally by governments at all levels.
This is awesome, government procurement. It is equivalent to the central government and the Kuomintang Party Headquarters helping to promote the book "The Rise of the Great Powers".
At that time, important government officials at all levels, as well as senior members of the Kuomintang Party, would all have a copy of "The Rise of a Great Power". Zhou Hexuan found it interesting when he thought about it.
It was just a request from the publishing house, hoping that part of the content of "Russian Chapter" could be deleted and all the chapters that said good things about the Soviet Union would be removed. Zhou Hexuan didn't care about this. Anyway, he was not a Soviet propagandist, and there was no need to talk to the Nanjing government about this.
It was unpleasant.
Chang Kaishen wanted to write a preface to the new edition of "The Rise of the Great Powers". Naturally, he could not write the article himself. Instead, he asked his secretary Chen Brai to ghostwrite it. Chen Brai was Chang Kaishen's literary talent. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, Chang Kaishen
There is a famous declaration of the Anti-Japanese War: "If the war breaks out, the land will be divided into north and south, old and young, and everyone will have the responsibility to defend the land and resist the war." This sentence was written by Chen Bulei.
The Nanjing government not only wanted to reprint "The Rise of the Great Powers", but also completely relaxed restrictions on "The Goddess", "The Dog Official" and "The Dog Official's Biography". Officially, these three books were characterized as criticism of the old-style warlords, and
It is said that under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek and under the guidance of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three People's Principles, China will completely eradicate the evil policies of Beiyang, and the tragedy in "The Goddess" will not happen in China under the rule of the Kuomintang.
Books such as "The Goddess" began to appear one after another in the major party-run bookstores of the Kuomintang Party, and the publications of the Kuomintang Party organizations also began to have review articles about "The Goddess" and "The Dog Official". Anyone with a discerning eye would know at a glance that Zhou Hexuan had obtained approval from the Nanjing government.
Acknowledge and support.
The funniest thing is that Chen Dezheng, who once criticized Zhou Hexuan angrily, actually wrote an article praising "The Rise of the Great Powers", calling Zhou Hexuan "the first person in international historical research", and even invited Zhou Hexuan to give a speech at the Shanghai Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang.
Zhou Hexuan put down Shanghai's "Republic of China Daily" dumbfounded. In this newspaper, Chen Dezheng had already praised him to the sky, and there was no trace of any conflict between the two.
"Sir, there is Mr. Luo Mingyou asking to see you." The servant came in to report.
Zhou Hexuan had never heard of the name Luo Mingyou. He thought about it and said, "Invite him in."
Not long after, Zhou Hexuan saw a young man wearing glasses come in, speaking in awkward Cantonese Mandarin: "Zou Xiansen, dogs are raised, dogs are raised!"
"My surname is Zhou, and I'm not raised by a dog." Zhou Hexuan couldn't laugh or cry, "You'd better just speak Cantonese."
Luo Mingyou looked a little embarrassed and said in Cantonese: "I'm sorry, there's something wrong with my accent."
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "It's okay, please sit down. Can you introduce yourself?"
Luo Mingyou said: "I, Luo Mingyou, am from Panyu, Guangdong, and general manager of North China Film Company."
"Oh, I know," Zhou Hexuan nodded and said, "You open most of the movie theaters in Peiping and Tianjin."
Luo Mingyou is also a powerful person. He entered Peking University at the age of 18. In his second year of college, he opened a movie theater in Peking and worked as a manager part-time in his spare time. Now he is just 30 years old. His movie theaters have opened in North China, northwest and northeast China, and have cooperated with Shanghai,
Cinema companies in Guangzhou have reached a cooperation and become the largest cinema trust in China today.
If we want to talk about the secret of Luo Mingyou's success, the first thing is of course that he can reincarnate. Otherwise, how could he have the money to open a movie theater while he was still studying, and how could he have the money to acquire more than 20 movie theaters in North China within two years?
Reincarnation is a technical job.
One was a former Peking University student and the other was a former president of Peking University. After chatting about Peking University, the two quickly became closer.
Finally, Luo Mingyou revealed his intention: "Mr. Zhou, my North China Film Company is planning to unite Minxin Film Company, Greater China Lily Film Company and Shanghai Film Company to form Hualian Film Production Company. Are you interested in investing in it?
"
Zhou Hexuan said in surprise: "Why did you think of asking me to become a shareholder in the film company?"
"When you start a company, everyone adds fuel to the flames," Luo Mingyou said with a smile. "Mr. Ho Tung, the richest man in Hong Kong, has agreed to invest in shares and serve as the chairman of the company. The board of directors also includes Zhang Xueliang's wife, Ms. Yu Fengzhi, a former state minister.
Prime Minister Mr. Yan Huiqing, former Minister of Justice Mr. Xu Shiying, former Minister of Finance Mr. Liu Enyuan, and certain senior Nanjing government officials who cannot be named."
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Okay, your company is rich and has political backing, so it has a bright future."
Luo Mingyou said: "Only money and backstage can't run a film company well. I decided to introduce advanced Western company management models and film equipment, and have great directors such as Mr. Lai Minwei (Gigi Lai's grandfather), Miss Ruan Lingyu and other great directors.
Stars will join. I hope Mr. Zhou can also join the company and be responsible for artistic supervision of the film. If possible, I would like to ask Mr. Zhou to write the screenplay himself. I just came back from the United States two months ago. Your novel "Titanic"
"No. 1" is very exciting. Various drama adaptations are becoming popular in the United States. You are a top master at telling stories."
Zhou Hexuan finally understood that Luo Mingyou wanted to ask him to be the literary director.
Filmmaking is not always decided by the director. In addition to the director-centered system, there are also star-centered systems, photographer-centered systems and screenwriter-centered systems.
When cinema first emerged, it was a photographer-centered system. However, at this time, the Chinese film industry was still a screenwriter-centered system.
Nowadays, when making movies in China, screenwriters have very great rights and can criticize directors and actors. Because in the hearts of filmmakers in the Republic of China, the story is the core of the movie. Movies are used to tell stories. The director can be changed, and the actors can be changed.
But the screenwriter cannot be changed at will.
The screenwriter even holds the final editing rights of the film, which is a right only enjoyed by top directors in later generations.
Zhou Hexuan asked with a smile: "If I invest 100,000 yuan, how many company shares can I get?"
Luo Mingyou said: "Because there are too many shareholders, I only have the right to allocate 5% of the shares to you. An investment of 100,000 yuan is just about the same."
An investment of 100,000 yuan is really not that much, because the soon-to-be-formed Lianhua Film Company owns dozens of cinemas (already monopolizing the theater chain industry in northern China), has also merged with several large film companies, and has many advanced cinemas.
Film equipment and stars.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "I agree to become a shareholder. The script and story are also ready-made. Just adapt "The Goddess"."