Back to 80: My Literary Life

"Minghua, have you heard that Tianya virtual community gave birth to this online forum?" Han Shaogong suddenly asked.

"I have heard of it. Many people thought it was the online version of your Tianya magazine." Fang Minghua said.

"Two different things." Han Shaogong explained: "It was run by a man named Xing Ming, and it was affiliated with the Qiong Province Writers Association. Our magazine also has business dealings with them. Our magazine has opened a column on their forum called Tianya Zongheng. Isn't it popular to go online now?"

Both laughed.

As we were about to enter the millennium, the domestic Internet developed at an astonishing speed, and many traditional entities were proud of going online.

For example, Shengshi Books also founded a website, similar to the online bookstore model, specializing in selling various books published by its own company, and entrusted to Shengshi Network Literature for management and operation.

Now, Shengshi Film and Television in Xijing is also actively preparing its own official website, in Song Tangtang's words, to better promote the company.

"Would you like to meet Xing Ming? He has admired you for a long time." Han Shaogong suddenly said.

"Okay. "Fang Minghua agreed readily.

Anyway, I'm here to play, and I'm very interested in Tianya Forum and Xing Ming.

"Okay, I'll contact him first and arrange a time to meet."

"Okay. ”

The two met in the afternoon before Fang Minghua left, and met Xing Ming in Wanghailou.

Fang Minghua stayed here several times when he came to Hainan. Compared with ten years ago, Wanghailou is no longer as glorious as it was in the past, but people like to reminisce and live in the places they lived in before when they are old.

In the private room of the restaurant on the second floor, Fang Minghua met Xing Ming.

He just turned thirty this year and graduated from the Chinese Department of Sun Yat-sen University. He seemed very gentle.

The two shook hands cordially. Han Shaogong and his two children were with them. Naturally, they ate and talked.

In fact, it was mainly Xing Ming who talked about the Tianya Community he founded.

The Tianya Community was founded in March this year (1999). It has opened stock forums, Tianya Miscellaneous Talks, Computer Technology, Emotional World, Art and Literature Essays and other forums. It soon became one of the most popular forums on the Internet.

"Chairman Han, Chairman Fang, some time ago we founded a special area called "Guan Tian Tea House", which mainly discusses topics related to politics, philosophy, social culture, etc. Both of you are famous writers and literati. Welcome to come and discuss. ”

“Guan Tian Teahouse”?!

This was well-known in the early days of Tianya Community, and the topics of discussion were also very explosive: those who promoted theism, those who criticized Lu Xun.

If it were in the future, you would be blocked in minutes!

Fang Minghua found that although Xing Ming managed the website well, he was essentially a literati, otherwise he would not have founded Tianya Community instead of portal websites like NetEase and Sohu.

The three chatted for a while and talked about website management. Xing Ming complained that making a website was simply burning money.

“To be honest, Chairman Fang, our Tianya Community has only been established for a few months, and 200,000 yuan has been burned in!”

Only 200,000 yuan?

Under the Banyan Tree has been established for almost three years, and it has burned nearly 20 million yuan!

Of course, the two websites have different positioning. I heard that the moderators of Tianya Community do not want wages, and they all work for love.

“Minghua, Shengshi Network Literature is very wealthy. Can you ask Mr. Dai if he is interested in Tianya Community? Are you willing to invest? "Han Shaogong said.

Oh, after all this time, you want to do A round of financing.

Let Han Shaogong be the lobbyist.

The relationship between Fang Minghua and Shengshi Group has become an open secret, but now it is 1999, and the social environment is no longer the same as it was ten years ago.

No one cares about these.

Fang Minghua was quite tempted by this proposal.

Tianya Community is the memory of the post-80s generation, but it is a pity that it was closed in the end. It is a pity.

If Shengshi Online Literature invests now, perhaps it can find a way out.

So Fang Minghua said: "Okay, I can help you contact Mr. Dai and get back to you with the results. "

Xing Ming immediately expressed his gratitude.

The next morning, Fang Minghua got up at around 8 o'clock and called Dai Jiali in Shanghai to briefly explain what happened.

Dai Jiali certainly knew Tianya Community, which was the most popular website this year, but the positioning of the website seemed different from that of Under the Banyan Tree, more like Shuimu Tsinghua University.

Now that Fang Minghua said that Tianya Community lacked funds to find someone to invest, he was also quite interested.

"Jia Li, you can send someone to talk to Xing Ming. What I remind you is that since it is an investment, it is a commercial behavior, and you have to consider the commercial interests of Shengshi Literature." Fang Minghua reminded him at last.

"I understand. I will arrange the things on hand and go to Haikou in person in a few days. I have been away from Hainan for several years and have not been back. I will see what changes have taken place in Hainan. "Dai Jiali said on the phone.

Dai Jiali was also one of the 100,000 talents who went to Hainan that year. He met Zhao Hongjun and Fang Minghua who were going to Hainan to develop business. Later, he joined Shengshi Books and achieved his current status.

People who venture into the sea have a special feeling for Hainan.

Having been in contact, Fang Minghua called Han Shaogong and Xing Ming respectively to explain the matter. He no longer worried about the specific matters and flew back to Xijing.

Two months later, Shengshi Network Literature and Tianya Community Network Technology Co., Ltd. signed a contract. Shengshi Network invested 2 million yuan, accounting for 35% of the shares, becoming the second largest shareholder of Tianya Community, and promised to invest no less than 20 million yuan in the next five years.

Time soon came to winter, the last winter of the 21st century.

Shengshi Film and Television has been preparing to shoot several TV dramas this year. Except for "Hero" which is still under intense filming, the rest have been released one after another.

Zhang Yuan's "Going Home for the New Year" was successfully released, but it failed miserably at the mainland box office, with only less than 2 million yuan.

But Fang Minghua's original words were fulfilled: You have the right to shoot, and others have the right not to watch it.

Its heroine Li Bingbing became the second actress signed by Shengshi Film and Television.

However, it was nominated for the Golden Lion Award and the other five awards at the 56th Venice International Film Festival, comforting Zhang Yuan's wounded heart.

Wang Quanan's "Eclipse" performed amazingly. After being released in the mainland, the box office reached 10 million yuan, and the film won the International Jury Award at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Feng Xiaogang's "Endless" was released as a New Year's film, and the box office earned 35 million yuan, becoming the box office runner-up in 1999.

He also became the first director outside the Xiying system to sign a contract with Shengshi Film and Television.

In the literary world, the magazine "Mengya" held a seemingly inconspicuous "New Concept Composition Competition", and a group of literary enthusiasts stood out.

A teenager named Han Han won the second prize in the National New Concept Essay Competition with his work "Wearing a Cotton Jacket to Take a Shower", which is not too outstanding.

The millennium is getting closer and closer, and people are waiting for this day with excitement and anxiety.

The 20th century was too heavy, with wars, killings, poverty, death... People can't wait to step into the 21st century and welcome a new life. Moreover, the turn of the century is a moment that comes only once in a thousand years. In order to welcome the sun shining on the earth in the year 2000, people all over the world are looking forward to it...

In the new century, even the sun and air are so fresh and valuable.

In order to become the first country to enter the year 2000, a small island country in Oceania decided to delay the time by one hour; a family in New Zealand bought and sold the television broadcasting rights at a high price because their family was the first family on earth to see the sunrise in the new century.

In France, hundreds of thousands of people were excited at the lighting ceremony under the Eiffel Tower; in the UK, BBC TV broadcast live to the world the grand celebrations of the millennium around the world; in China, tens of thousands of people gathered in Tiananmen Square, and the millennium bells rang on the city wall.

Especially in the United States, more than 2 million people gathered in Times Square in New York. Although everyone was worried about the millennium bug and terrorist organizations, personal safety was not worth mentioning in front of the grand moment of the millennium. After all, life is short, and not everyone can be a part of the cross-century.

Of course, some people are terrified, and the "end of the world theory" and "millennium bug (Y2K)" are making a lot of noise.

Nostradamus predicted in "The Centuries" that the world would be destroyed in 1999. It sounds a bit unreasonable, but at that time it caused the doomsday panic to reach an unprecedented level.

The computer virus "Y2K" broke out around the world, and many Americans lined up at ATMs to withdraw money, fearing that the Y2K would eat up their coffers; Hong Kong also arranged for each hospital to vacate one bed to deal with emergencies that might be caused by the Y2K.

At that time, most people's lives had nothing to do with the Internet, and many people mistakenly believed that the Y2K was a plague, which caused panic for a while.

As a result, the whole world counted down together, the cross-century bell rang as promised, and gorgeous fireworks illuminated the night sky. The 21st century roared in a bustle.

Everyone was alarmed, the end of the world did not come, and the destructiveness of the Y2K was not worth mentioning.

When I woke up, the sun rose as usual in 2000.

Some domestic media also sent reporters to New Zealand to collect the first ray of sunshine in 2000.

Unfortunately, this gimmick was not hyped up after all. However, the Chinese also have a traditional way of celebrating, which is to give birth to a "millennium baby", and the obstetrics and gynecology department of the hospital is booming.

This year, Ouyang Feifei's brother got his daughter, Ouyang Nana; Chen Kaige and Chen Hong welcomed their second child, Chen Feiyu; in Huaihua, Hunan, a family surnamed Yi also welcomed a millennial baby.

To commemorate the millennium, his parents gave him a special name - Yi Yang Qianxi.

However, Fang Minghua did not see any sunrise, because it was cloudy in Xijing today.