In 1981, I had completed the entire course at the London Film School, and only after writing my graduation thesis, I could receive a diploma and officially graduate after passing the defense.
One day, The Third Secretary of the Chinese Embassy in the Uk, Sister Wang Zhangli, approached me, and it turned out that the Chinese Martial Arts Delegation had come to the UK for its first commercial tour next month.
The appearance of the Chinese Embassy in London in the UK, the picture on the left is the third secretary of the embassy, Wang Zhangli's eldest sister
In the past, the Chinese martial arts delegation has performed abroad countless times, all of which are state-to-country cultural exchanges, and all local matters are responsible for by the receiving o country, which is very smooth.
This is the first time after China's reform and opening up that the Chinese martial arts delegation has performed a commercial tour.
The Chinese Wushu Delegation is a national-level martial arts performance team
Perhaps the State Sports Commission did not have enough experience at that time, and the newly established China Sports Service Company signed a commercial tour performance to a patriotic overseas Chinese who opened a museum in London and sold calligraphy and paintings, but he had no experience in operating stage performances!
There are many successful Chinese mansions in London, but operating a stage performance and operating a mansion are two very different things!
The overseas Chinese boss's concept is that if you find a gymnasium, a carpet floor, and a cassette tape recorder that plays music, you can perform. What lighting atmosphere, acoustics, stage supervision? Not at all.
The Chinese Embassy in the UK only learned of this when the Wushu Delegation applied for a passport to go abroad to the UK. Take a closer look at the British organizers, and find that this patriotic overseas Chinese has no experience in operating stage performances.
The embassy knew that before I came to the UK, I had worked at the Great Wall Film Company for ten years, and I had participated in the 100 grand shows celebrating the National Day in Hong Kong, so I was asked to help the overseas Chinese bosses, hoping to do a better job in the tour performance.
Before coming to the UK, I worked at the Great Wall Film Company for ten years, and I participated in 100 performances in Hong Kong to celebrate the National Day
The overseas Chinese boss saw that I was introduced by the embassy, which was very good to me, and also named me the general manager of the newly established entertainment company. But within three days, I resigned from the embassy.
Sister Wang Zhangli asked the reason, and I confessed: "The company office is in the grain and oil utility room on the upper floor of the annex, there are no colleagues, only me." This is not to mention, the boss feels that there is no need to spend money on publicity, and there is no need to hire any lighting and sound professionals. If so, the show must fail! I'm afraid I can't help, but I might as well resign as soon as possible. ”
Sister Wang told me: The martial arts delegation signed a contract and could not fail to come. If you come and fail in a mess, isn't that a loss of face for the country? She encouraged me to think of a way as much as I could.
No one has no money, things are difficult. When I thought about it, I suddenly remembered that many sports performances or competitions in Hong Kong are sponsored by companies. Can we try to find sponsorship?
Superb performance by the Chinese martial arts delegation
Sister Wang is very supportive of my idea. I immediately drafted a heartfelt letter of sponsorship, attached a promotional video of the Performance of the Chinese Martial Arts Delegation, and sent it to more than a hundred companies and media in London.
The British are polite and almost everyone has replied, but most say that the time is too short, and the next time please apply earlier, you may consider it.
The BBC response was short of time to prepare, so we could only broadcast some tidbits of interviews after the news programme on tv
The BBC and Channel 4 (INDEPENDENT) also responded, saying that the level of martial arts delegations in the promotional video was very high, and if they had been contacted half a year ago, they could even consider recording live. But now there is not enough time to prepare, so we can only broadcast some trivia interviews after the TV news program.
Channel 4 (independent television) also replied that if you contacted them half a year ago, you could even consider recording it live
Holiday Inn is very enthusiastic and willing to provide half-price accommodation to the martial arts delegation, on the condition that all public relations interviews for the delegation must be held in the function room of the hotel, and the background must see the Logo of the Holiday Inn.
Holiday Inn is very enthusiastic and willing to offer half-price accommodation to martial arts delegations
What made me happiest was the response of a sports performance company under the Daily Mirror Group!
The managing director of the sports performance company invited me to the interview and said that they were fascinated by the superb performances of the Chinese martial arts delegation!
The managing director of the Daily Mirror Sports Performance Company invited me to an interview and said that they were fascinated by the superb performances of the Chinese martial arts delegation
They say their company has more than sixty professionals related to sports performance, from stage supervision, lighting, sound, to publicity and ticketing.
He said that as long as I could ask the Chinese Embassy in britain to send an official to attend the formal meeting and confirm the matter, more than sixty professionals from all over the company would be put into preparations and could be dispatched by me.
Mr. Zhou Erjun, Cultural Counsellor of the Embassy, was very supportive
I immediately reported to the embassy. Mr. Zhou Erjun, the cultural counsellor of the embassy, was very supportive, and in addition to the third secretary, Sister Wang Zhangli, who went with me, he also sent a first-class secretary (I have forgotten his name for a long time) to accompany us to the Daily Mirror for a meeting.
With the full support of the Daily Mirror, the performance of the Chinese martial arts delegation in London was very successful!
Royal Albert Hall, London's premier performance venue, royal Albert Hall
The first performance and opening ceremony was held in the Royal Albert Hall, the top performance venue in London, mr. Ke Hua, the Chinese ambassador to China, and Mr. Zhou Erjun, cultural counsellor, and others, and the British side attended by the British commonwealth diplomat and the mayor of London.
The Chinese side attended by Mr. Ke Hua, Chinese Ambassador to China, and Mr. Zhou Erjun, Cultural Counsellor, and the British side attended by the British Commonwealth Diplomat and the Mayor of London
Subsequently, the Chinese martial arts delegation performed several consecutive performances at the London Theater, the best venue for commercial performances in London, and the venue was full. British newspapers and magazines, radio and television have come to interview. For a time, London was full of Chinese martial arts, and everyone laughed about the silver gun piercing the throat (a qigong program performed by the martial arts troupe).
The best venue for commercial performances in London, the London Theater
Most people don't know that behind this superficial scenery, there is actually a conspiracy and a sharp and fierce battle!
The day after the london show, we flew to Glasgow, a big city in the north of england, ready to tour from north to south, Manchester, Birmingham, Dover...
Glasgow, a large city in the north of the United Kingdom
At the dinner hosted by the mayor of Glasgow, we received an ultimatum from the Daily Mirror sports performance company, saying that the Daily Mirror had "saved" the Chinese martial arts delegation, but the delegation did not understand "gratitude", so it threatened to immediately withdraw all support and sponsorship, so that the Chinese martial arts delegation could fail to perform and let the Chinese out of the ugly!
Why is that? Interested readers please pay attention to my next article "Teacher Zhong on Movies and Life" (My Film and Life - 21).
The Daily Mirror is the uk's most widely circulated "small" newspaper, a bit like Hong Kong's Oriental Daily.
(Thank you for your attention and reading!) Welcome to communicate with me through the headline platform, and talk about your feelings and expectations for movies and life. In the past decade, in addition to continuing my efforts to create and produce films and television series, I have also taught film courses part-time at the Film School of the University of Hong Kong. I especially hope to listen to the opinions of young film friends, so that I, the old man of the film, can maintain a young heart! Thank you! )