1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 653 "Godfather"

Jiang Xian of Ming Pao certainly knew about it; it is one of the most influential newspapers in Hong Kong today.

This newspaper does not have as long a history as Ta Kung Pao; it was only founded in 1959.

At that time, Cha Liangyong, also known as Jin Yong, invested 8 yuan and Shen Baoxin invested 2 yuan to jointly establish Ming Pao. It was just a tabloid with five employees and published one copy every day.

In the early days of the publication, Shen Baoxin was in charge of business operations, while Jin Yong was mainly responsible for editorial work, which essentially involved publishing some novels in the newspaper.

Unfortunately, despite these people constantly changing the content of the supplement and altering the news route, Jin Yong even wrote "The Return of the Condor Heroes" while ill and serialized it in Ming Pao.

Unfortunately, Ming Pao gradually slid down the path of "debauchery and extravagance," with sales fluctuating between a thousand copies and a serious loss in its first year.

That was also the most miserable time for Jin Yong.

On the one hand, he often had to stay up all night writing articles, and on the other hand, he was troubled by financial problems.

It is said that he had to rely on pawning to keep Ming Pao afloat. A veteran employee of Ming Pao recalled: "Mr. Cha was really in a bad situation at that time. When he was tired from work in the afternoon, he would order a cup of coffee, which he would drink with his wife."

In addition, Jin Yong lived in Tsim Sha Tsui. Every night when he finished get off work, the Star Ferry had already stopped running, so he had to take the electric ferries, commonly known as "wa-la-la," to cross the sea.

When they finish get off work late at night, the Star Ferry has already stopped operating, so they have to take a motorboat to cross the sea. However, the boat can only depart when there are six people on board, and the fare is cheaper.

If you want it to be ready to go immediately, a rental fee of three yuan is required.

Therefore, Jin Yong and his wife preferred to wait in the chilly night wind rather than charter a boat to cross the sea.

Although Jiang Xian saw coffee and ferries as nothing more than a microcosm of the countless laborers in later generations, not to mention the hardships in the mainland, it did reflect how dire the situation was for Jin Yong's Ming Pao newspaper.

Nobody reads this newspaper. Even Ni Kuang said, "Ming Pao is only keeping itself afloat thanks to Jin Yong's martial arts novels."

Because Jin Yong's martial arts novels already had a large readership when they were serialized in the Commercial Daily, many people only paid attention to Ming Pao in order to read Jin Yong's martial arts novels.

However, Jin Yong's novels could never elevate the status of this publication. The turning point came in the 60s.

In these turbulent times, many major news stories in Hong Kong, such as those reported by Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po, are being avoided as much as possible.

However, Ming Pao acted "recklessly" and spoke out loudly.

From then on, Ming Pao changed its style, transforming from a "petty bourgeois newspaper" that focused on martial arts novels, sensational news and horse racing into a newspaper accepted by readers and intellectuals.

In just three years, Ming Pao completely escaped its financial predicament, with an average daily sales volume of 5 copies.

To be fair, although many people ridiculed Ming Pao and Mr. Jin as opportunists, Ming Pao did indeed make a huge contribution to satisfying Hong Kong people's understanding of the mainland at that time.

As the saying goes, a gentleman judges by deeds, not intentions. Jin Yong's great reputation in later generations is largely due to his contributions to Ming Pao during that period.

In short, by 1988, Ming Pao had a daily circulation of nearly 20 copies in Hong Kong, holding a very high position in the newspaper industry.

"Mr. Dong is here?" Fei Yimin laughed. "Mr. Jiang, you should have announced your presence in Hong Kong earlier. There are quite a few people in Hong Kong who want to see you."

"Who is Mr. Dong?" Jiang Xian looked over with some confusion.

Unexpectedly, this Dong Qiao was also quite influential. He handed Jiang Xian a business card with the words "Editor-in-Chief of Ming Pao" written in large characters.

"So you're the editor-in-chief of Ming Pao, my apologies for not recognizing you sooner." Jiang Xian warmly shook hands with Dong Qiao.

Seeing that Jiang Xian did not recognize Dong Qiao, Fei Yimin immediately gave him a warm introduction.

This Dong Qiao is truly extraordinary; he is both an editor and a writer.

He primarily wrote essays, blending Chinese and Western styles. He skillfully used "scholarly" language to reshape the literary tradition of the Republic of China era. His writing was powerful, profound, elegant, and vigorous, combining erudition and vividness. He is considered somewhat famous in the Chinese literary world in later generations, but he is also somewhat controversial.

Those who like him feel that he continues the leisurely writing style of Zhou Zuoren and Liang Shiqiu, bridging the cultural gap between ancient and modern times.

Those who dislike him bluntly say that some of his works have problems such as "over-embellishment" and "limited scope," and some even directly call his style "high-class confidant style."

In short, his greatest fame is still as the editor-in-chief of Ming Pao, because he was a close friend of Jin Yong despite their age difference. He had been employed by Ming Pao since the 80s and made remarkable achievements for the development of Ming Pao. As the editor-in-chief, he earned an annual salary of one million Hong Kong dollars, which has always been a topic of great interest in the Hong Kong news industry.

As Jiang Xian listened to Fei Yimin's introduction, he smiled and looked Dong Qiao up and down.

Meanwhile, Dong Qiao was also observing Jiang Xian.

He had heard of Jiang Xian's name long ago, but compared to Jiang Xian's writing of "Huo Yuanjia" and "Shaolin Temple", Dong Qiao was more concerned about Jiang Xian's performance in the literary field.

What he found most unbelievable was that Jiang Xian, at such a young age, was already the head of People's Literature, a major literary journal in mainland China.

Dong Qiao is only in his forties this year, and many people have already commented that he is a "young talent" for taking on the position of editor-in-chief of Ming Pao, because Dong Qiao is really young for the position of editor-in-chief.

Dong Qiao was very aware of the status of People's Literature magazine in mainland China. It was surprising that such an important publication was being edited by Jiang Xian.

Jiang Xian is much younger than him.
This young man is truly remarkable.

Dong Qiao had no need to attend today's press conference, but upon hearing that Jiang Xian would also be there, he couldn't resist coming to find out. After all, in his eyes, this young man was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in mainland China and definitely worth meeting.

“Mr. Jiang, I’ve admired you for a long time,” Dong Qiao said with a smile. “Back then, you had a novel called ‘You Have No Choice,’ which was being reprinted in Hong Kong. I saw it and was deeply moved.”

After the novel "You Have No Choice" was published, it was reprinted in Hong Kong and unexpectedly became popular there.

After reading the novel, Dong Qiao was deeply moved and immediately wrote a literary review entitled "You Have No Choice" published in Ming Pao. It became a highly regarded literary review in Hong Kong. In the review, he directly called the popularity of "You Have No Choice" in Hong Kong "a whirlwind of Jiang" and said that the novel was like a prism, reflecting the spiritual dilemma of intellectuals caught between ideals and reality.

It can be said that Dong Qiao's literary review played a significant role in fueling the continued popularity of "You Have No Choice" in Hong Kong and the "Jiang whirlwind" sweeping through the city. After recounting this, Jiang Xian immediately expressed his gratitude to Dong Qiao, who promptly responded with a polite tone: "A work as excellent as your novel would have been written by many others even if I hadn't. Not only me, but I remember many colleagues in the Hong Kong literary world praising your work highly."

“I met with some Hong Kong writers a few days ago, and they all talked about some of my works. I’m currently in mainland China, so I really didn’t know that so many people in Hong Kong love my work. I’m truly grateful for the kindness of my Hong Kong colleagues,” Jiang Xian said.

The two chatted for a while, but Jiang Xian had to help Huang Baiming and Zhu Lin with the press conference today, so he didn't have much time. He could only make an appointment with Dong Qiao to find a place later to have a more detailed chat.

Although he said he wanted to help, Jiang Xian didn't really have much to do at the press conference.

Raymond Wong is capable of doing these things very well, and he is definitely more familiar with the Hong Kong system than I am.

A huge poster for "Family Reunion" was displayed at the scene, featuring a shot of the actors standing together from the movie, with Michael Hui undoubtedly in the center position.

At the press conference, Michael Hui, the biggest star in the cast, was invited by Raymond Wong to the stage to answer reporters' questions.

The media members all picked up their cameras and started snapping away.

Xinbao's two bosses, Chen Rongmei and Feng Bingzhong, were also present. The stands were filled with stars such as Hui Koon-man, Raymond Wong, Cheng Man-ya, and Joey Wong. They were extremely satisfied and felt that their collaboration with Jiang Xian was a very worthwhile deal.

Looking at the lively scene, Chen Rongmei couldn't help but sigh, "Who knows, it might really be able to compete with 'Aces Go Places'."

“Yes,” Feng Bingzhong nodded.

However, in their minds, "Aces Go Places" still had a better chance of winning.

After all, "Aces Go Places" is Cinema City's flagship IP. Although the two expressed optimism about "Family Reunion," a new film from a new company can't compare to an established brand.

But it doesn't matter.

For Xinbao Cinemas, being able to schedule such a promising film as part of the Lunar New Year season is already a huge achievement.

Moreover, recently, the two have found many film and television companies to join their Xinbao Cinema Line.

The night after the press conference, Jiang Xian and Zhu Lin, along with Raymond Wong and Michael Hui, attended a dinner hosted by Chen Rongmei, who said she wanted to introduce them to some friends who were filming at Xinbao Cinema.

The four arrived early. After greeting Chen Rongmei and Feng Bingzhong and taking their seats, a muscular, chubby guy with a mushroom haircut was soon ushered in by the crowd.

Jiang Xian smiled as soon as he saw him.

Isn't this a "godfather"?

The visitor was none other than Sammo Hung.

This is the period when he is most active in film and television, winning Best Actor awards and Hong Kong Film Awards one after another.

However, his career declined in a few years. As Hong Kong films reached their peak in terms of production and box office revenue, Sammo Hung gradually faded into obscurity and even disappeared from the film industry for a time, only doing some behind-the-scenes work such as production, supervision, and martial arts choreography.

However, even after the decline of Hong Kong cinema, "Godfather" was still very active in filmmaking, and his image remained consistent, mainly playing "big brother" roles. Playing a nimble fat man was also very fitting for his status in the underworld.

At this time, Sammo Hung was not as domineering as he would be in later years. He was still a young and chubby man. Anyone who has watched comedy movies should recognize him. He greets people with a smile and a cupped-hand salute as soon as he enters the room.

"Sammo Hung greets everyone."

"Mr. Hong, please have a seat."

Jiang Xian had never met him, but Raymond Wong and Michael Hui were clearly very familiar with Sammo Hung, especially Raymond Wong, because when he first entered the film industry, his boss was Sammo Hung. At that time, he first entered the film industry as a screenwriter at Garbo's film company, and the "Bao" in Garbo's name is Sammo Hung.

Raymond Wong later revealed that Sammo Hung rarely smiled and always had a dignified air about him. When he got angry, he was even more terrifying, which made Raymond Wong feel very afraid. Even after the two had reached similar status and were both big shots in the Hong Kong entertainment circle, Raymond Wong still had a shadow over Sammo Hung.

Incidentally, Raymond Wong and Sammo Hung later co-starred in "Ip Man," as Raymond Wong was the producer of the film.

He revealed that there was a scene where Sammo Hung was knocked unconscious while fighting someone. It was supposed to be acting, but the foreigner didn't stop and actually hit him in the face. Sammo Hung was genuinely knocked out and woke up with blood in his mouth. Everyone said they would wrap up and take him to the hospital, but Sammo Hung said he couldn't wrap up because there were still two hours left to finish filming the whole movie. In the end, he insisted on finishing filming before going to the hospital.

To be fair, while this generation of Hong Kong stars was riddled with scandals, their dedication to their work was truly exceptional. This kind of hard work is something the younger generation of young actors should learn from; otherwise, their wounds will soon be healed.
"We're so sorry, it seems we're the last two to arrive. We apologize to everyone."

As they were talking, a pair of men who looked like they belonged in a gangster gang entered the room, accompanied by Chen Rongmei.

Those who enjoy watching Hong Kong films will recognize these two brothers; whether it's "God of Gamblers," "Fight Back to School," "Hail the Judge," or "Flirting Scholar," their names are always listed as producers or executive producers.
—Towards victory and strength.

Xiang Huaqiang needs no introduction. He is Xiang Zuo's father and Xiang Huasheng's younger brother. He is the youngest of the 13 brothers in the Xiang family, while Xiang Huaqiang is the tenth.

The Xiang family is a large and influential family in the underworld. Xiang Huasheng made some money running a restaurant and had assets of over a million yuan by his early twenties. With the encouragement of his tenth brother, Xiang Huaqiang, they decided to start a film company.

Because Xiang Huaqiang had already been very successful in the film and television industry, having acted in many movies.

Xiang Huasheng wanted to start a company to make movies. Although 1 million seemed like a lot, it was too meager to start a film company. So he gritted his teeth, borrowed 2 million from loan sharks, and with a total of 3 million, he established Yongsheng Company and officially entered the film industry.

With the arrival of the Xiang brothers, the entire gathering was complete.

Besides the two bosses of Xinbao, a total of four forces have gathered.

Raymond Wong is now cooperating with the Jiang family, so Jiang Xian, Zhu Lin, and Raymond Wong are all considered to be members of the Jiang family.

Although Michael Hui also acted in movies with the Jiang family, he actually represented his Hui brothers.

Sammo Hung is the owner of their own company, Bo Ho.

The Xiang brothers are from Yong Sheng.

(End of this chapter)