Chapter 1499: Return

"The Chronicle of Lin County was personally adapted and directed by Comrade Wang Yan, starring Tang Wei Guoqiang, Zhu Lin, and others. Told from the perspective of the people of Lin County, it recounts the reform achievements attained there and praises the spirit of the northern Shaanxi people in battling heaven and earth..."

During the Spring Festival of 1982, The Chronicle of Lin County, a film that took over a year to shoot and complete post-production, finally premiered.

The film features multiple protagonists: the folks of Bai Dian Brigade, Secretary Zhang of the Hechuan Commune, and a minor cadre from the county.

These are all highly representative figures; the people of Bai Dian Brigade were witnesses from start to finish, engaging in carpentry, well-digging, tree planting, breeding, factory establishment, foreign trade, and a whole series of activities, accompanying the entire process.

Secretary Zhang of Hechuan Commune fully played his leadership role throughout this process, offering trust, assistance, and bold delegation of authority, while possessing a strong sense of responsibility and the ability to shoulder burdens; furthermore, he became the primary leader after Lin County's development took off.

Later, when Wang Yan went to work in the county and adjusted the industries, it was Secretary Zhang who stepped up to become the second-in-command and then the top leader, before Wang Yan departed.

That minor county cadre was merely a small official back then; nowadays, he is the top leader of the county...

Besides these individuals, there are various other types of people: old farmers, experts, and some leaders from both the provincial and municipal levels, though they serve mostly as background, illustrating that leaders' decisions are not made on a whim and that there are reasons why opportunities were given to Lin County.

As the absolute protagonist, Wang Yan does not have much screen presence in this film; it merely narrates what actions he took, what decisions he made, and where his influence lay regarding the other protagonists.

In the film, he resembles less a character and more a symbol, a thought, a representation; similarly, the old farmers, experts, foreigners, and others appearing in the story also represent certain deeper concepts.

Watching the entire film without overthinking, it is a perfectly normal story of the people of Lin County developing and becoming prosperous, just as the masses expected, featuring elements of growth, face-slapping, and satisfaction; yet, if watched with thought, it becomes the path New China has traveled...

"It's filmed so well."

At the screening meeting, a leader sighed with such admiration.

"I didn't expect this kid to excel not only in filming fights and killings but also in handling this kind of grand narrative quite impressively."

"This kid is a writer himself and understands our traditional culture very deeply, so whatever he films is bound to be good."

Wang Yan politely responded to the leaders' praises, neither sorrowful nor joyful.

This outcome was hardly unexpected; had he filmed a pile of trash, he wouldn't have had the face to let the movie premiere, let alone show it off at a screening meeting of such a high level.

Correspondingly, in theaters outside, every screening was packed to capacity, with seas of people.

Thanks to Wang Yan's popularity, the affairs of Lin County already attracted significant attention, and sales of the book The Chronicle of Lin County were very high; in the years prior, Wang Yan had successively filmed movies like King of Knives Wang Wu and Swallow Li San, which were greatly loved by the masses, leading various film studios to start producing similar genre films—from this perspective, Shaolin Temple, which swept the nation and emptied the streets, was actually following the trend...

Due to the superposition of all these factors, the popularity of The Chronicle of Lin County exploded; those who followed these matters had long been anticipating it, and even those who did not follow would inevitably hear discussions among colleagues and friends, making those with the means want to go see it.

Its impact domestically was far greater than that of Shaolin Temple, whereas abroad it lagged considerably.

After all, this film is not a martial arts piece or a romance but a transformation told through grand narrative, containing much Chinese traditional culture and spiritual essence that those unfamiliar cannot understand.

Of course, even if foreigners could understand it clearly, the film would still not garner good reviews or box office results.

After all, they are unwilling to see how China is good, preferring only to see how it is bad.

Yet The Chronicle of Lin County speaks entirely of the correctness of the ideological line, the excellence of spiritual culture, the hardworking endurance of the masses, and the dedication and responsibility of leading cadres, with absolutely no mention of the Ten Years, no account of how that event caused destruction, nor how it inflicted such persecution upon people.

Could this be considered correct?

Although the several martial arts films Wang Yan filmed previously were sold worldwide, earning millions of US dollars, and although even within those martial arts films there was considerable ideological output, ultimately they were satisfying to watch, and without deep thought one would not notice so much, making them pure pleasure films.

Martial arts films are truly exhilarating; with action designs personally created by Wang Yan employing various wire-hanging techniques, they displayed a strong sense of impact and power; combined with cinematography by Zhang Yimou, Gu Changwei, and others, the result possessed absolute aesthetic beauty, looking great and feeling thrilling, so foreigners naturally loved watching them—wuxia and kung fu are genres originating in China, and those foreign devils lack this culture...

But in the final analysis, Wang Yan never intended to win foreign awards; decades later, people would no longer take these awards seriously, as everywhere reeks of foulness.

He was unwilling to expend effort deliberately filming those kinds of things just to prove himself; as long as he could answer to the movie-going masses and show everyone some good films, it was enough; even if some people might use these awards to question him, sooner or later there would come a day when everyone knows what is good and what is bad.

He would even write articles analyzing various works that won foreign awards, examining why they could win, what kind of 'correctness' they represented, and what ideology they embodied, writing it all out clearly and publishing it.

If someone bold enough dared to argue with him about creative freedom, claiming that art knows no borders and that beauty is universal, he would unleash a verbal barrage, making life difficult for those who wanted such 'freedom'; since there are no borders, then go mix it up outside.

Wang Yan could certainly accomplish this, as he was a participant in the literary and artistic reforms, actively offering suggestions while also undertaking certain responsibilities; otherwise, why would he have run to Hong Kong to deal with those hooligans?

At the same time, when he filmed movies, he brought along a large team for crew training, involving props, makeup, costumes, action direction, special effects, cinematography, screenwriting, and a whole series of tasks, all handled by a large group of people; apart from some senior veterans, most participants were young people, including students like Zhang Yimou and some apprentices from film studios who had long been unable to get hands-on experience.

Beyond these efforts, he also constructed a film and television city in Jingcheng, initially creating settings from the Republic of China era for those wuxia films he filmed, and construction and expansion had been ongoing, creating many sets.

What Wang Yan aimed to do was to establish film production processes, gradually systematizing and industrializing the film industry.

Simultaneously, he had already begun implementing film reforms, such as how film studios should exist, how cinemas should develop, and how box office revenues should be shared.

Others dared not touch those million canal laborers, but he was stubborn enough to withstand the pressure; whenever people elsewhere dared to stick their heads up, he would whack them like playing whack-a-mole, hammering each one until they behaved obediently, for disrupting people's livelihoods was something he excelled at most.

In truth, the difficulty or failure of many matters lies in constant compromise, in the fact that things can still muddle along for now, and even when they cannot, the situation has not yet reached its worst, so people keep muddling through, delaying again and again, until forced by necessity to finally summon the resolve to solve the problem.

Wang Yan was ruthless from the very beginning, acting like a bulldozer: whatever problem appeared, he solved it; whoever had a problem, he dealt with them; having withstood the initial surge of public outrage, those people eventually retreated, and it became their turn to compromise, finding excuses to comfort themselves...

"Wang Laoshi, your film is wonderfully made, the reception is excellent, and here is another huge pile of letters praising you."

Zhang Yimou, looking like an old farmer, huffed and puffed while carrying a sack into the vice-principal's office where Wang Yan was located...

Having spent these past few years organizing and summarizing the ideological theories of literary and artistic workers, publishing some suggestions, leading certain works, and simultaneously filming several critically and commercially successful movies while writing a few best-selling books.

Regarding professional capabilities in film, integrating directing and screenwriting, proficient in both literary and martial aspects, and mastering everything involved, Wang Yan naturally received a promotion within the academy, becoming the vice-principal in charge of teaching affairs, effectively taking over Old Master Zhong's position.

"It is all recognition from the masses," Wang Yan waved his hand. "Leave them in the corner; I'll find time to read and reply to a few."

"That's you, never detached from the masses," Gu Changwei added, playing the supporting role.

The other few students who had come along also nodded in agreement, wearing smiling faces.

"Nonsense; even letters sent to the compound receive replies, so who am I?"

Wang Yan took out cigarettes, lit one for himself, and tossed the pack around for everyone to take one.

He said with a smile: "Why have you all come running to me?"

"Wang Laoshi, isn't it because we're about to graduate..." a student chuckled.

Wang Yan scanned the group: "You have all followed me to film projects over these four years and also filmed quite a few pieces for the Directing Department, so your resumes are very strong; in principle, job assignments are based primarily on personal preference, but conditions differ across various film studios—some lack personnel, others have surplus—so each case requires specific analysis."

"You coming to me means you all want to stay in Jingcheng, right? That's impossible! Moreover, given our extensive collaboration with the Beijing Film Studio during previous productions, you know the situation clearly: how many people down below are waiting for opportunities, yet there are only so many films being made, so who gets chosen and who doesn't? Senior comrades have steady skills, young comrades have high aspirations, and it's a chaotic mess of issues."

"Our academy cannot accommodate so many people either; let me tell you, the only ones who can stay are Zhang Yimou and Gu Changwei, as you all know—their skills are excellent, and my films were mainly shot by the two of them; as for the rest of you, you should carefully consider where you wish to go; you are all university graduates with impressive resumes, so basically you can go wherever you want."

"Wang Laoshi, we don't need academy establishment positions; is it not possible to work at the academy's film and television company instead?" a student asked thus.

Wang Yan looked over; this student was named Lv Le, also a very formidable player, known for works like To Live, Keep Cool, and If You Are the One.

The company he referred to was an affiliated company of the Film Academy established upon Wang Yan's suggestion, responsible for the production and financing of films.

Its purpose was to align with reforms, effectively utilize resources, and operate academy projects commercially; all instructional films, student assignments, and the academy's research projects were operated through this company.

Losses would be covered by funding, and profits would replenish the funding.

Currently, this academy company's funding is very sufficient; it was all earned by Wang Yan from filming, specifically the foreign exchange brought in by those previous martial arts films.

Of course, if it were merely that, it would not be worth mentioning. Wang Yan is using this company to carry out reforms and is currently studying the merger with the equipment company. Furthermore, due to the previous symposium with the Hong Kong literary and art circles, he is researching opening the market to Hong Kong films and has organized several projects for co-productions with Hong Kong, among other things.

If drawing a comparison, Wang Yan intends to seize this opportunity for early reform to establish a China Film group under his command, uniformly managing film-related businesses as well as co-productions and the introduction of foreign films, and so on.

Wang Yan looked at them, nodded with a smile, and said, "The reason I haven't told you these things is that the company operates according to market principles; it has no established staffing quotas, so compared to a film studio, it is not very secure. You are all talents, and if you want to join the company, I certainly welcome it. But this is a major matter; there is no need to rush your decision. There is still more than a month left; you should ponder it carefully. Alright, disperse."

After sending off these students worried about their future paths, Wang Yan processed a few documents, then went out, drove, and arrived at the Workers' Stadium in the east.

Right next to the Workers' Stadium, there was a plot of land where construction was in full swing, clanging and banging.

"Brother Yan, you're here," Li Kui called out with a smile, waving his hand.

"Look at you; I told you just to find a place for an office, yet you insisted on coming to the site to supervise the work. Do you understand construction? Can you supervise it clearly?"

"I'm here to demonstrate my attitude. If I am serious and treat the worker friends politely, they won't fool me."

Li Kui chuckled, then scratched his head and said, "But Brother Yan, you really need to reconsider; this job truly isn't suitable for me."

"Who is suitable? Where would we find a suitable person? You have to start doing it first; once you get going, it will be fine. You must read the books I sent you; if you don't study, you will be deceived by others. Precisely to avoid being deceived, you must study hard. I don't think this job of yours is very difficult. We are the first major Shangcheng; once the goods to be sold are settled, the opening will definitely be packed with people, and in the future, we certainly won't lose money.

By then, we will build Shangchengs everywhere across the country; once the Shangchengs are built, prosperity will follow. Additionally, every Shangcheng will have a cinema built within it; by then, my matter regarding the cinema chain will also be resolved, and the cinemas will be upgraded. It will attract people to watch movies, allow people to spend money in the Shangcheng, and those spending money can conveniently go see a movie as well. It kills multiple birds with one stone; it's a great thing."

"Brother Yan, you speak as if it's already accomplished; my heart truly has no confidence," Li Kui let out a long sigh. "Who would have thought that one day I could get involved in something so massive?"

"Didn't you previously think about becoming a speculator?"

"That was just small-time messing around; who would have expected that after you, Elder, said a word to that fellow Peng, such a huge business would emerge?"

"They are begging you to make a fortune," Wang Yan said with a smile. "None of them are fools; they know this land will definitely be profitable in the future and want to acquire more plots. They are drunk on the sweetness of the New Territories' massive development. Just stay steady; if they have problems, scold them if you should, hit them if you must. If anyone dares to cause trouble, tell me, and I will stand up for you.

Da Yong, you really must make this business work. The cinemas are one aspect; our school also plans to build family housing, and there needs to be more construction within the campus. Once your construction team becomes proficient, they can go directly to the academy to work. In the future, the money you earn will be too much to count."

Li Kui grinned and burst into laughter...

After having lunch with Li Kui, Wang Yan went home to enjoy warm parent-child time with his wife and children...

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