Literary Master 1978

Get five more investors? 40% of the investment?

These two sentences are easy to understand, but Li Hanxiang couldn't figure it out.

The movie made money, and Lin Chaoyang's first thought was not to get rid of him who was making money by riding on the wind, but to continue to invest with him and let him bring others to invest together?

Accustomed to the Hong Kong movie bosses' forgetfulness for profit, Li Hanxiang was full of doubts when facing Lin Chaoyang's seemingly bizarre operation.

I just felt that the smile on Lin Chaoyang's face was full of mystery.

Seeing this, Lin Chaoyang didn't keep it a secret and asked Li Hanxiang: "Do you remember last year's Golden Horse Awards?"

Last year's 23rd Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards was held in October. At that time, "The Truman Show" and "A Better Tomorrow" had already been released in Taiwan, and both box office and reputation were harvested.

But at the Golden Horse Awards, these two pre-match favorites were unexpectedly eliminated from any awards.

From this result, it is not difficult to see that Taiwan has noticed Lin's Pictures, and the hostility is quite obvious.

The release of "The Truman Show" and "A Better Tomorrow" is probably the result of the capital of Golden Harvest and Cinema City, and the officials of the pseudo-film bureau of Taiwan turning a blind eye.

However, the Golden Horse Awards is a film award led by the Taiwan government, and the political atmosphere is strong. They naturally don't want the two films in which Lin's Films participated to be in the limelight in the awards.

After the Golden Horse Awards were upset last year, it caused a heated discussion in the Hong Kong film circle. Many people believed that Lin's Films had been targeted by the pseudo-film bureau and pseudo-culture bureau of Taiwan, and might be on the ban list at any time.

This argument caused a lot of discussion at the time, but now a few months have passed, and Taiwan has not made a statement, so this wind has not blown out.

Li Hanxiang is very clear about this matter, so when Lin Chaoyang mentioned the "Golden Horse Awards", he seemed to understand.

"Lao Li, we are old friends, I won't hide anything from you.

You are unwelcome in Taiwan now, and our Lin's Film will probably be on their blacklist within a year and a half..."

The reason why Lin Chaoyang said this is because it is well known that "The King of Children" won the award.

Before, Lin's Film had no official background and was riding on the coattails of Golden Harvest and Cinema City, so Taiwan didn't care too much.

But after the movie "The King of Children", the situation is different. Lin's Film is the producer of this movie.

Associated with the two names of "Silver City Organization" and "Xi'an Film Studio", Taiwan can't let them grow wildly in Hong Kong like before.

According to Lin Chaoyang's estimation, Taiwan will not take too long to react, and it is possible that Lin's Film will be blacklisted and banned in the next two months.

The scary thing about Taiwan's ban is not that the movie cannot be released in their market.

But all people related to this movie will be banned from appearing in the Taiwan movie market, to put it bluntly, it is collective punishment.

Today, Taiwan is the largest foreign market for Hong Kong films, and therefore has a great influence on the Hong Kong film industry.

It would be too late to wait until the ban is implemented before making any maneuvers. Now that the first pot of gold of Lin's Films has been accumulated, it is natural to attract more people to join the car so that they can better deal with it.

After understanding Lin Chaoyang's thoughts, Li Hanxiang's expression relaxed.

He thought about it and asked again: "But if we really wait for Taiwan to express its position, it is not certain that anyone will be willing to invest? After all, this is not only equivalent to giving up the Taiwan market, but it is also likely to affect their development in Hong Kong."

Lin Chaoyang showed a disdainful smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Capital fears no profit or too little profit, just as nature fears a vacuum.

Once there is a proper profit, capital becomes bold.

If there is a 10% profit, it is guaranteed to be used everywhere; with a 20% profit, it becomes active; with a 50% profit, it takes risks; for 100% profit, it dares to trample on all human laws; with a 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime, even at the risk of being hanged.

If unrest and disputes can bring profits, it will encourage unrest and disputes, as evidenced by smuggling and slavery."

Lin Chaoyang used a paragraph to explain his purpose for doing so, and his tone was full of confidence.

Li Hanxiang was born in the mainland, and when he was young, it was the time when revolutionary activities were most active. He naturally knew the origin of the paragraph that Lin Chaoyang recited.

He has been in the film industry for many years and understands that Lin Chaoyang's idea is right.

Capital has never been divided into left and right, and his former boss, Mr. Shao, is a clear proof of this.

Since the 1950s, when the wind blew to the left, Mr. Shao was on the left, and when the wind blew to the right, Mr. Shao was on the right. He was always a fence-sitter.

"Chaoyang, can you guarantee that your company's movies will always make money?"

Li Hanxiang asked the biggest question in his heart, which was also the biggest loophole in Lin Chaoyang's plan.

Filmmaking has always been a high-risk investment. Lin's Films has just arrived in Hong Kong, and all the films it participated in and independently produced have sold well. This is already a miracle of some size.

But Li Hanxiang didn't dare to believe that they could maintain such a miracle.

Even if Lin Chaoyang's plan went smoothly, he could really unite a group of investors and filmmakers to fight against the ban in Taiwan.

But as long as one or two movies failed to invest, it would very likely cause the building to collapse. Li Hanxiang didn't believe that Lin Chaoyang didn't understand this.

"Old Li, you still don't understand the weakness of capital. It doesn't matter if one or two movies fail. As long as we have successful movies all the time, they won't leave so easily.

Besides, even if the Taiwan side wants to ban them, they won't be able to hold out for long."

At this point, Lin Chaoyang showed a mysterious smile again, which made Li Hanxiang feel itchy.

He asked a few more questions, but Lin Chaoyang refused to tell him.

Li Hanxiang had to think about it alone. After thinking about it, he felt that the reason why Lin Chaoyang was sure that the ban from the Taiwan side would not last too long was probably because of cross-strait relations.

Cross-strait relations have improved in the past two years, and maybe the "handshake of the century" will come someday.

Li Hanxiang knew Lin Chaoyang's status in the mainland and thought he had learned some inside information.

Thinking of this, he felt relieved all of a sudden.

Lin Chaoyang patted his shoulder at this time, "The matter of recruiting people is left to you, you have to promote it well for me!"

Li Hanxiang finally understood at this moment that he was the role model set by Lin Chaoyang, and he had already been tied to the chariot of Lin's Film Industry, but he was completely unaware.

But he did not have the slightest resentment of being calculated in his heart, but was happy with it, and wished that such "calculations" would come more often.

"Don't worry about me, Li, doing things!"

Li Hanxiang patted his chest loudly, fully demonstrating what it means that people die for money and birds die for food. As long as he can make money, it doesn't matter if the island bans it again.

Looking at his performance, Lin Chaoyang showed a gratified smile.

In mid-April, Lin Chaoyang received news from Gallimard Publishing House in France.

Six months after the publication of "The Truman Show" in France, the sales volume easily exceeded 30,000 copies, and the growth momentum was strong. Of course, all this was due to the popularity of the movie.

In addition to being sold in France, The Truman Show has also been sold in several European countries where French is the official language, such as Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. The sales of 30,000 copies include these countries.

These sales brought Lin Chaoyang 210,000 francs, or about 28,000 US dollars in royalties.

These royalties are not much, but according to Clement Metayer, the French pure literature book market is different from some European and American countries.

Its long tail effect is more obvious and lasting. It should be said that everything is just beginning, and the sales of 30,000 copies of The Truman Show have surpassed the level of many French local writers.

In the next few years, or even more than a decade, this novel will continue to bring income to Lin Chaoyang.

That night, Lin's Pictures held a celebration party for Best Friend.

"That Gao Zhisen was originally going to Debao, but later he heard about the treatment of Adu and Atai here, so he came directly. I plan to make a movie for him called "The Rich and Powerful"."

"As you said, Xingzai does have some potential. This time "Best Friends" performed well."

"This movie is a big hit at the box office, and Ajing will earn at least 3 million again. The directors in the company are more active, hoping to make a fortune by making movies like Ajing."

...

Lin Chaoyang looked over as Tao Yushu said, and saw Wang Jing surrounded by a group of people, toasting each other, full of energy and pride.

"Best Friends" just came out these two days, and the local box office was 100,000 Hong Kong dollars more than "The Romance of the Condor Heroes", reaching 21.82 million Hong Kong dollars.

The local box office alone made Lin's Films a lot of money. If the foreign box office is included, the profit should easily exceed 20 million Hong Kong dollars.

At this level, if Lin's Pictures can make five films a year, the profit can basically beat more than 95% of the listed companies in Hong Kong today.

In addition to the huge profits of Lin's Pictures, the success of two consecutive films has also brought huge wealth to director Wang Jing.

In today's Hong Kong, a director like him is already very successful.

Except for those big directors and big stars who can start a company and fully control their own lifeline and have a cooperative relationship with big companies, few people can make so much money from making a movie like Wang Jing.

Therefore, it is not difficult to understand Wang Jing's pride.

"Zhang Guozhong of Yi Neng Pictures contacted me these days, hoping to cooperate with us. He wants to ask Ah Jing to tailor a movie for Andy Lau."

Lin's Pictures wants to unite Hong Kong filmmakers. Of course, it is not enough to rely on Li Hanxiang alone. Tao Yushu is also trying to win people over.

There is no need to think about the two giants, Golden Harvest and Xinyicheng. Lin's Pictures wants to compete with them for the market. Everyone is a competitor, but the small and medium-sized film companies all over Hong Kong are Tao Yushu's best partners for cooperation.

Yi Neng Films is the one that Tao Yushu is more optimistic about. This company was founded by agent Zhang Guoqiang, who is also the nephew of the wife of Alan Tam, the most popular singer in Hong Kong today.

Yi Neng Films was founded in 1985. From the beginning, it has been walking on two legs, doing both film production and record distribution, and is also an artist management company.

Now it has many stars such as Alan Tam, Andy Lau, Max Mok, Michael Miu, etc., and its strength is quite good.

"Promise them, get them to invest some funds, and then get a few more companies. For Gao Zhisen's film, Lao Li was counted as one of them. He got Hu Jinquan and Wu Siyuan."

Tao Yushu nodded slightly after listening to his words, and then said: "Yongsheng has just changed its name to Yongsheng recently. The Xiang brothers seem to be making a big splash in the film industry. They contacted Ajing and said they wanted to insert a heroine."

Wang Jing had cooperated with the Xiang brothers before, and was intimidated by the Xiang brothers' background. He did not dare to refuse, so he could only come to say hello to Tao Yushu.

"Don't let them just fill you in, invest in one share as well." Lin Chaoyang said magnanimously.

He is not afraid of many people now, but afraid of few people. Tao Yushu also understands this truth.

After the lively celebration party, Lam Films is still busy.

April 24 is the day of the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards Ceremony. More than half a month ago, the Film Awards Organizing Committee released the shortlist for this year’s awards to the outside world.

Among them, "The Truman Show" was nominated for 11 awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and "A Better Tomorrow" was nominated for 10 awards.

During the shortlisting stage, these two films showed overwhelming advantages over other shortlisted films.

In the past, Golden Harvest was behind "The Truman Show" and New Art City was behind "A Better Tomorrow." The major media in Hong Kong would inevitably hype up the heated scene of the confrontation between the two major film companies.

But this year, although many media are also reporting on the company behind the film, the media's focus is on Lam Pictures. It is true that there is a big company behind "The Truman Show" and "A Better Tomorrow", but no one can ignore that there is another thing in common behind the two films.

That is Lam Pictures.

On the night of the 24th, the Academy Awards ended.

"The Truman Show" won seven awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Art Direction.

"A Better Tomorrow" won three awards: Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Film Song.

There are only fourteen awards in the Academy Awards, and these two films won ten awards together, leaving only four awards for the other dozen or so shortlisted films.

Among these films there are many powerful films such as "American Heart", "The Story of Madman", "Fire Dragon", "Swordsman" and "Underground".

As soon as this result came out, many Hong Kong media exclaimed: This can be called the most fierce competition in the history of the Academy Awards.

Not only that, this result also caused many media to increase their attention to Lin's Pictures by another level.

Even on the day after the Academy Awards ceremony, some media already shouted that "the Hong Kong film market has once again ushered in a three-legged pattern."

Awards and awards have always been a feast for the media. In their words, Lam Films has become another new giant in the Hong Kong film market.

But only Tao Yushu himself knew that compared with Jiahe and Xinyi City, Lin's foundation and strength were still too weak.

They must continue to develop steadily rather than follow the media's praise and become complacent.

While she was busy with the company, Lin Chaoyang received a call from the mainland, and then hurried back to the mainland.

On April 30, 1987, the final match of the second China-Japan Go Tournament started at the Nippon Go Academy in Tokyo.

One year ago, the second China-Japan Go Tournament started here, and today the game will also end here.

This is the 17th game of this China-Japan Go Tournament. The two countries had previously tied with a record of 8:8.

Before today's game, Chinese coach Nie Weiping had already defeated Japanese famous players Kataoka Satoshi, Yamashiro Hiroshi, Sakai Takeshi and Takemiya Masaki, almost replicating the plot of last year's game.

Now in front of Nie Weiping, only the Japanese coach, the super-class chess player Otake Hideo, is left.

Nie Weiping's consecutive victories against Japanese players pushed the atmosphere of this China-Japan Go Tournament to a climax, and the enthusiasm among the people of the two countries was high.

CCTV will broadcast this game. A large number of Go enthusiasts have also gathered in front of the Japanese Chess Academy, enthusiastically surrounding the chess players as they enter the Academy.

Lin Chaoyang was invited to the game room as a guest spectator. Nie Weiping, who was closing his eyes to rest, heard the noise and opened his eyes, and saw a flash of relief in Lin Chaoyang's eyes.

The mascot has arrived, this game is stable!

When the game started, Hero Dazhu, who was in his prime, laid out his game calmly, playing chess in a solid and upright manner.

On the contrary, Nie Weiping made a series of strange moves. First he decisively discarded the baggage on the right side of the chessboard, and then after several moves, he gradually opened up the situation.

At the last moment, Nie Weiping made another disaster in the upper right corner. However, in the back and forth battle of more than 40 moves, Nie Weiping, who had the advantage in the robbery, had the last laugh. Zhihei won this critical moment with an advantage of two and a half eyes. of a game.

The victory in this game also allowed the Chinese team to achieve a winning streak against the Japanese team in the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament, creating an unprecedented achievement.

After the game, everyone in the Japanese team felt like they were mourning.

In the first arena competition, they could make excuses and say they were careless, but they failed in two consecutive competitions, and no amount of excuses could cover up their incompetence.

On the other hand, the Chinese team cheered and hugged, ecstatically.

Lin Chaoyang beat Nie Weiping on the chest and congratulated him, "Finally, it was not in vain. Last year we fought three against three, and this year we fought against five. Old Nie, this time you have really become our national hero!"

As early as last year, Nie Weiping asked Lin Chaoyang to help him. As a result, the first few games dragged on and Lin Chaoyang only cheered him on the phone.

Today is the final battle of the arena competition. Nie Weiping called Lin Chaoyang a few days ago and asked him to come to participate no matter what. For this reason, Lin Chaoyang flew back to Yanjing first.

Now the positioning of Lin Chaoyang's Go team mascot has long been spread in the Sports Bureau. Chen Zude, director of the Chess Department, specially asked the comrades of the WS department to give the green light for visa application, so that he could fly to Tokyo with the Chinese team.

Anyway, the Sports Bureau's current idea is to use the mascot first, regardless of whether it is useful or not.

The huge victory filled Nie Weiping's heart. He gladly accepted Lin Chaoyang's congratulations. The two were talking when the translator of the WS department suddenly came over with someone.

"Comrade Weiping, a reporter from Japan's NHK TV station wants to interview you."

Seeing this, Lin Chaoyang stepped aside and let Nie Weiping go for the interview.

Two people came from NHK TV station, one female reporter was responsible for interviewing and asking questions, and the other was responsible for filming. Nie Weiping was interviewed with the help of the translator.

After Nie Weiping answered several questions related to the game, the Chinese translator translated a question from the reporter to Nie Weiping.

"The reporter asked, you performed well in both tournaments and defeated many top-notch Japanese players in a row. Do you have any secrets?"

When Nie Weiping heard this question, his expression was gloomy, but he was complaining in his heart.

These reporters always ask some strange questions, secrets? What secrets can there be?

He was about to say some official documents, and his eyes happened to glance at Lin Chaoyang beside him, and a childish feeling rose in his heart.

"If you want to talk about the secret, it may be because of morale. Our Chinese team has to read the novel "The Go Master" before the game to motivate ourselves!"

After Nie Weiping said this, the translator was stumped.

Can a novel like "The Go Master" be talked about in such an occasion? Do you still talk about Sino-Japanese friendship? What if people ask in detail?

But at this time, the reporter was staring at him, and the translator could only bite the bullet and say: "The secret is that the Chinese team likes to read a Chinese Go novel before the game."

The reporter felt brightened when he heard this.

The Japanese people have a strong admiration for the strong. Since the China-Japan Go Challenge was held, the Chinese team has won two games in two games.

Although it brought a huge defeat to Japanese Go, making them frustrated and angry, it also strengthened their attention and respect for Chinese Go.

Nie Weiping talked about "The Go Master" seriously, and the NHK reporter seemed to have found the key factor for the Chinese team's victory and couldn't help asking about the specific details of the novel.

The translator was so nervous that sweat began to appear on his head. If he was not careful, it would be a WJ accident.

In the end, Chen Zude found that something was wrong and interrupted the reporter's interview on the grounds that the players needed to go back to the hotel to rest.

When he returned to the hotel, he criticized Nie Weiping.

"Why do you say everything? We just need to know about "The Go Master" ourselves."

He was not worried about causing any WJ accident, but with a mystical mentality, he whispered to Nie Weiping: "Some things don't work if you say them out!"

Nie Weiping glanced at Lin Chaoyang and felt that his words made sense.

For the sake of victory, I will never mention this again.

That night, the news of the China-Japan Go Challenge Tournament was simultaneously broadcast on television media in both China and Japan.

The Chinese side was concerned that the Chinese team had won the Challenge Tournament again, defeating the strong enemy Japan for two consecutive years, and the Go community was cheering.

However, the focus of the Japanese side was a bit strange.

In addition to condemning the players after another defeat, NHK TV broadcast an interview with Chinese player Nie Weiping after the game that night.

Since the mid-to-late 1970s, Nie Weiping has always performed very well in the competition against Japan, and he won the title of "Nie Tornado" in Japan many years ago.

Now there are two consecutive eight-game winning streaks, which has made Nie Weiping's reputation in Japan reborn, so many Go players and Go fans in Japan are no strangers to Nie Weiping.

The interview broadcast by NHK TV did not attract much attention from the public at first, but was noticed by the Japanese Go team.

Did the Chinese team read Go novels before the game to boost morale?

The Japanese, who always like to make a fuss about everything, seemed to have discovered some great secrets. They immediately began to inquire about the so-called "Go novels".

It is impossible to find out by just looking at the answers of the Chinese translators, so the Japanese specially found students who had studied in China to translate what Nie Weiping said.

The novel "The Go Master" thus entered the eyes of the Japanese Go community. After the translation and introduction of the students, they learned the specific content of "The Go Master".

Then they understood the origin of Nie Weiping's so-called "reading novels to boost morale".

After understanding the ins and outs of the matter, the first thing the little Japanese did was not to get angry or to protest, but to gather together to discuss whether this operation was meaningful for Japanese Go.

At this time, the first game of the third China-Japan Go Challenge Tournament was held in Tokyo again.

The final match of the second China-Japan Go Challenge was on April 30. According to the competition agreement, the next day, May 1, was the opening day of the third China-Japan Go Challenge.

May 2 was the first game of the third challenge. This game was between Chinese female player Yang Hui and Japanese female player Ogawa Seiko. In the end, Yang Hui easily defeated Ogawa Seiko.

In this game, Chinese women's Go showed a strength that was obviously stronger than that of Japan.

This situation made the Japanese Go team in a mess. The challenge tournament was held for two years, and the Japanese team lost for two years. If they continued to lose, the players would really commit suicide.

Seeing this situation, there was no need to continue the meeting.

Learn from it! We must learn from it!

"The Go Master" is a Chinese novel, and it tells the story of fighting against Japan with Go. They definitely cannot read it directly.

But it doesn't matter. There happened to be such a Go novel in the history of Japanese literature, "Master" written by Japanese literary giant Kawabata Yasunari.

This novel tells the story of the 65-year-old Honinbo Shusai in Japan in the 1930s, preparing to bid farewell to the Go world and start a game with the then 29-year-old Kitani Minoru, 7th dan and 1st dan.

Because Honinbo Shusai suffered from chronic heart disease, the game was interrupted several times, from June 26, 1938 to December 4.

In the end, Shusai, who had been "unbeaten for 50 years", lost to the rising star Kitani Minoru, and passed away a year later.

This novel is full of tragicism, which is in line with the aesthetics of the Japanese.

The novel caused a great response in Japan when it was published, and was highly praised by the Japanese Go community. However, in recent years, fewer and fewer people have read this novel.

Now that they know the secret of the Chinese team's victory, they must be restrained in a targeted manner.

It doesn't matter that the Chinese team has "The Go Saint", the Japanese team also has "The Master".

The writer behind the Chinese team is Lin Chaoyang, who sounds like an unknown person.

The writer behind the Japanese team is Yasunari Kawabata, the famous Nobel Prize winner in literature.

No matter how you look at it, the Japanese team has a greater chance of winning.

This game is a sure win!