Chapter 504

After waking up, Wei Hong immediately reached out to touch the side of the bed.

Where was Mao Mao Amin!?

"It's over, she must be sleepwalking. She's probably in Brother's room right now. She hasn't been eaten up, has she?"

Worried and curious, she tiptoed out of bed, only to see Mao Mao Amin in the kitchen, boiling porridge.

"Where's my brother? Still not up?" Wei Hong asked.

Vivian Chow answered while busy: "He just received a phone call when I got up and then went out. He told us to play on our own and that he'd accompany us to the movies tonight."

"Whose call was it? Nina Li's?"

"No, it seemed to be from the Xinhua News Agency, saying a high-ranking leader had arrived," Mao Mao Amin said.

It was Comrade Ji, who had just succeeded Liao Gong as the director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, visiting Hong Kong to inspect the situation. The old gentleman wanted to meet with people in Hong Kong who could be united, basically all wealthy merchants and celebrities, such as Mr. Huo, Qiu Degen, Jin Yong, and Xia Meng.

However, people from the Xinhua News Agency mentioned that Wei Ming was also in Hong Kong at the time, so they called him over as well—after all, many hands make light work.

Among these people, Wei Ming was the youngest, so his initial thought was just to bring his ears and listen, without intending to speak.

However, his international reputation preceded him; although he was young and lacked seniority, his achievements were remarkable, and no one would overlook him. Comrade Ji personally named Wei Ming and asked him to speak about what they could do for the peaceful recovery of Hong Kong.

He couldn't avoid speaking now. Wei Ming organized his thoughts: "Ms. Xia Meng, Mr. Fu Qi, and I are all on the cultural front. We've been busy with new films in Hong Kong recently, so let me speak from that perspective.

Taiwan established a 'Freedom Association' in Hong Kong and set up some clauses that cut off the connection between the Hong Kong film industry and the mainland. Even a great director like Li Hanxiang, who filmed in the mainland, would be threatened with a ban at every turn.

Hong Kong filmmakers are deeply disgusted by this, but they are helpless because Taiwan has a market, and it's even larger than Hong Kong's local market. So, except for a small number of tough bones, they all have to bow their heads to the rules of the Freedom Association.

For this group of people, one could certainly scold them for being fence-sitters, but fence-sitters aren't entirely useless; one cannot allow them to lean completely toward the other side..."

Hearing Wei Ming's interesting take, the leaders nodded slightly.

"So, I was thinking, could we appropriately open up part of the mainland market and allow some high-quality Hong Kong films with acceptable ideologies to enter the mainland market? Use profit to entice them, while also enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the mainland people. Of course, these are just some of my immature suggestions." After finishing, Wei Ming shyly scratched his head; his acting was quite on point.

One of the leaders working in the mainland spoke up: "It's not like Hong Kong films haven't entered the mainland; wasn't *Three Smiles* very popular a few years ago?"

*Three Smiles* was a film by the Great Wall Company in the 1960s. It was approved for entry into the mainland in 1979 and caused quite a sensation, making Great Wall's 'Three Princesses' Chen Sisi a household name in the mainland.

Wei Ming shook his head: "Whether it's the old Great Wall, Phoenix, and Sun companies, or the current Sil-Metropole, I essentially view them as our own mainland film studios. Their film production is basically done according to mainland standards; they are family, so their entry into the mainland is naturally beyond reproach. The films I'm talking about are those outside of Sil-Metropole—Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, and Cinema City."

And doing this has another benefit: it can catalyze the reform of domestic film studios. If those captivating Hong Kong films come in and you're still doing the same old thing, you're destined to be abandoned by the audience.

Of course, although Wei Ming made the suggestion, he didn't expect it to be adopted. After all, the mainland's view of film has never been entertainment, or even art, but a propaganda tool. Since it's a tool, it naturally doesn't allow outsiders to control it.

What they need to consider is whether the entry of Hong Kong films into the mainland will affect the ideology of the people; that is the big issue.

Even a high-quality film like *Shaolin Temple*, which had no flaws in any aspect, was considered to have a bad influence on male audiences because it was too popular, not to mention the earlier *Garrison's Gorillas*.

Comrade Ji nodded in deep agreement after hearing this and asked Liao Yiyuan, the head of Sil-Metropole, for his opinion.

Wei Ming had a decent relationship with Liao Yiyuan. He didn't challenge Wei Ming's face but stated that the review work must be strict and rigorous, and they must provide mainland audiences with the highest quality and non-toxic film experience.

"And how should the profits be distributed? These Hong Kong film companies are very profit-oriented." The implication was that they weren't domestic film studios or Sil-Metropole; a few pennies wouldn't be enough to dismiss them.

In the mainland, films like *Shaolin Temple* and *Mom, Love Me Once Again* were models with box office earnings exceeding 100 million. And that was selling tickets in regular cinemas, but what the film studios received was a fixed acquisition fee.

And film studios could be guaranteed that regardless of whether the film was good or bad, China Film Group would cover the bottom line, so they wouldn't lose money, but they wouldn't earn too much either, so their production enthusiasm naturally wouldn't be too high.

Comrade Ji nodded, looking thoughtful. A moment later, he changed the subject: "Little Wei's *Spring in the Sheep-Herding Class* is about to be released in Hong Kong, right?"

Liao Yiyuan hurriedly said: "Yes, it's today. Hong Kong audiences have been looking forward to it for a long time. This is the first time our Chinese film has won the highest honor internationally."

Comrade Ji: "There should still be people here who haven't seen it. I suggest everyone watch it. I've seen it, and I've seen it twice. It's filmed really well, with both laughter and tears, and it's thought-provoking."

Wei Ming hurriedly expressed his gratitude. The topic of the film ended there, and they moved on to the next agenda item.

Wei Ming also ate lunch with everyone. Fortunately, the meeting finally ended in the afternoon, and Wei Ming could finally go on a date with his girlfriend.

But he didn't expect Wei Hong to be a third wheel during the date.

"Little Hong, don't you have other important things to do tonight?"

Wei Hong held Mao Mao Amin's arm and said: "No."

"But haven't you already seen this movie?"

"How could seeing such a classic movie once be enough?" Wei Hong said, "And it's been over a month since I last saw it; I've long wanted to revisit it."

Fine, having her along was also good for keeping a low profile. After all, Mao Mao Amin was still young, and Wei Ming didn't want their relationship to be known to everyone in the publicity department.

And if her fragile fans knew that their goddess already had a boyfriend, they would probably have a hard time.

In Hong Kong, there were about six film magazines, such as Shaw Brothers' *Southern Screen* and Golden Harvest's *Golden Harvest Film*; these magazines basically had big companies behind them.

In addition, *City Magazine* was invested in by Ms. Tang Shuxuan and reorganized from *Close-up* magazine, and its popularity skyrocketed due to its professionalism and the Hong Kong Film Awards.

As for *Chinese and Foreign Film*, it relied on Chinese and foreign film information and rich illustrations to have a good market performance, and its influence even penetrated into Guangdong; it was an important publication for Guangdong people to understand the Hong Kong and even international entertainment circles.

One of the founders was named Lie Fu, an educated youth who swam from Shenzhen to Hong Kong in the 1970s. He had deep memories of that special era and had also read Wei Ming's original work, *Spring in the Sheep-Herding Class*.

On the first day of the film's release, he brought his wife to watch it. The two of them had swum over together and got married a year after arriving in Hong Kong.