1990My Entertainment System

Chapter 185 Unaware of the Human World?

On March 14, Li Lianjie's film "The Adventurer" was released in Hong Kong.

During filming, a fire broke out and a gas cylinder exploded, nearly killing Li Lianjie!

As a result, some of the film that had been shot was burned, and reshoots were necessary, which caused many of the later shots to be disjointed.

Furthermore, in the summer, Wang Fei told him that because of a kiss with Rosamund Kwan in a movie, Li Zhi immediately threw a tantrum and wanted to return to the mainland. Li had no choice but to coax and lie to her, promising never to film intimate scenes again.
Then think back to "Twin Dragons," where Li Zhi almost went from level 2 to level 3.

Haha, you simp~
Oh right, Wu Jing's first film in the original timeline, "Kung Fu Kid," clashed with "The Adventurers."

The people here originally valued him, hoping he could replicate Li Lianjie's miracle. But the imposter met the real deal and suffered a crushing defeat—ruining Wu Jing's journey to Hong Kong!

Wu Jing didn't make any movies for many years after that, and director Zhang Xinyan also stopped making movies—he switched to making TV series, such as "Tai Chi Master".

This summer saved them two years of hard work.
On the same day that "The Adventurers" was released, there was also "Dragon in Shaolin" starring Shi Xiaolong and Hao Shaowen.

Among them was Hao Shaowen, who busked on the street, performing his childhood kung fu routine—Niu Niu throwing bricks.
The film only grossed one million in Hong Kong, but fortunately it did well on the island.

……

On March 15, the first episode of "Eastern Zhou Kingdoms: Spring and Autumn Period" premiered. Following the great success of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", CCTV adapted Feng Menglong's classic historical novel "Eastern Zhou Kingdoms" for the screen.

Many of the actors were selected directly from the cast of the TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"!

Many familiar faces from the summer are also in the cast!

For example, Dongfang Wenying, who plays Jia Tanchun, and Zhang Guangbei, an old classmate from Xia Tian's acting training class, who plays King Zhuang of Chu, one of the "Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period," who is known for his "silent until he speaks, then astonishes everyone with his voice."

Then there's Tang Guoqiang, who transformed from the famous Zhuge Liang into the cunning and ruthless Duke Zhuang of Zheng in the early Spring and Autumn Period.

Zhang Shan (one of the actors who played Zhao Yun) becomes King Cheng of Chu, Jiang Kai (the actor who played Guo Jia) plays Duke Wen of Jin, Tan Zongyao (the actor who played Wang Yun) becomes Duke Mu of Qin, Li Qingxiang (the actor who played Yuan Shao) plays King Helü of Wu, Xiu Zongdi (the actor who played Chen Gong) plays Duke Xiang of Song/Shen Baoxu...

What impressed Xia Tian the most was Wu Gang's portrayal of Wu Zixu, the character of Secretary Dakang. His performance was truly vivid – what man but a valiant warrior could achieve such a feat!

However, the show received a lot of criticism after it aired.

The audience's criticism focused on two points.

First, the characters' speech in the play is sometimes harsh and sometimes unclear.

Second, many plot points are explained too simply, and the story lacks coherence.

The first issue is a technical problem: the on-site sound recording quality was poor.

The second criticism is actually the inherent weakness of "Eastern Zhou Kingdoms: Spring and Autumn Annals".

The stories recorded in "The Romance of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms" span a much longer period of time, have more complex plot lines, and feature more characters than those in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," "Water Margin," and "Dream of the Red Chamber."

The Spring and Autumn Period lasted 242 years (770-476 BC), which is several times the time period covered by "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

During this period, the entangled grudges and conflicts among the five hegemons were complex and multifaceted.

Endless wars resulted in the deaths of 36 rulers and the fall of 52 states! Countless feudal lords fled in vain to protect their states, and it was commonplace for generals, ministers, strategists, and hermits to come and go.

More importantly, it has always been said that "there were no righteous wars in the Spring and Autumn Period," and that the Spring and Autumn Period was a time of "the collapse of rites and music."

The bloody wars between feudal lords, and the struggles and infighting among rulers and ministers, fathers and sons, legitimate and illegitimate children, wives and concubines within the states, were all devoid of reason and were solely for the purpose of seizing power and profit.

Therefore, unlike "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin", it does not have a consistent spiritual thread running through the entire story.

Regarding this period of history, Feng Menglong could only focus on the idea that "in short, those who gain the support of the virtuous win, and those who lose the support of the virtuous lose" and "looking at the rise and fall of dynasties throughout history, the only thing that matters is the use of sycophants and virtuous officials in the court."

Therefore, the difficulty of expressing this long and chaotic history using modern audiovisual language is self-evident.

To depict the vicissitudes of history spanning two and a half centuries, the script for "Eastern Zhou Dynasty: Spring and Autumn Period," meticulously crafted by three playwrights, was originally planned for 60 episodes, but was ultimately compressed into 30 episodes during actual filming.

Its purpose is said to be "to set an example for curbing the current trend of television".

What kind of ridiculous reason is that?! I feel like I've been set up!

This drama is brimming with ancient charm; you won't find another grand production with such a distinct Spring and Autumn Period feel. Many of the actors delivered exceptional performances; it's such a shame such a great drama has been overlooked!
On March 16, CCTV also launched a program called "Tell It Like It Is," hosted by Cui Yongyuan.

Later, I appeared in a skit in the magazine.
The true path of humanity is fraught with hardship.
……

……

On March 26, Changhong TVs significantly reduced prices nationwide, causing a stir in the national TV industry.

Konka, TCL, and Hisense quickly followed suit.

The price-cutting wave reached a point where prices were reduced by more than 20%, and even the chairman of Changhong went to the mall to personally promote sales.

At that time, the price reduction was so severe that you would lose several dollars if you bought one!
It's all about competing with the TV brands that cater to our daily lives!

That extremely bloody price war ultimately wiped out Xiao Rizi's market share in the domestic color TV market!
At the end of March, Xia Tian received some news and stayed home, not daring to wander around.

In the days that followed, a name began to be known by many people: Baibaoshan!
It's a mess, a complete mess!

However, what's even more confusing is that Xia Tian was invited by Li Chengru to go to a newly opened entertainment venue in Yanjing!

That place was in the west annex of the Great Wall Hotel, surprisingly very close to the Fengming Building!
When summer came, I looked at it and, holy crap, what is this "human world"?!
Is this thing really this early?!

—Nothing to do today, so I'm listening to music in the brothel, enjoying the enchanting beauty of a fair maiden.

They reportedly made a bold statement: "No matter what type of woman you like, if you can't find her on earth or in heaven, it's our fault."

This inevitably brings to mind a line from Lao She's play "Teahouse"...

I won't go into details~
Brother Tian'er is not only incapable of remaining unmoved by women in his arms, he doesn't even give anyone the chance to do so.

People usually say: "Hey bro, stop touching me, sing me a song! Your stockings are pilling!"
In the summer, it's like this: Brother, stop singing, look at me, your sister will do anything!

Summer couldn't help but want to sing a poem called "The Song of the End":
The humble room and empty hall were once filled with officials' tablets; the withered grass and dry willows were once a stage for song and dance.

Spider silk covers the carved beams, and green gauze is now pasted on the windows.

What do you mean by "your face is still radiant with rouge and powder, yet your temples are already frosted with white"?

Yesterday, white bones were laid to rest on the loess mound; tonight, mandarin ducks lie beneath the red lanterns...

In a modern context, it would be:

Ten years ago, you chose art, and I chose civil engineering; ten years later, we meet in a private room, sharing both elegance and commonness.

……

Summer has never kept these things from Milan; in fact, he even brought them up himself.

After all, even if you don't mention it, she'll find out soon enough.

Summer was even a little curious about Mr. Mi's intelligence network—was there anything in Yanjing that you didn't know?

Milan was really eager to see it after hearing what Xia Tian said: "Take me there next time!"

Summer thought to herself, if she didn't take her to satisfy her curiosity, a bunch of women might go.

It's better to bring it yourself!

So he took Milan to the human world.
When it came time to assign female companions, no one sat next to Milan.

Milan retorted, "What about me? Who do you think you are?!"

Not long after, someone said, "Sis, stop touching them, sing a song instead! Your stockings are pilling!"

But don't let Milan's seemingly unserious nature fool you; she loves being close to beautiful and unique women.
However, she actually had very high standards and didn't have many thoughts about the women in this area.

In her words, "It's become tainted. No matter how spiritual it was before, after spending too much time in this place, it's all corrupted... Now it's all just worldly dust. There's nothing to see here."

(End of this chapter)