Chapter 740: "Counterattack" Europe
The news that Lu Yiming invested a lot of money in creating a stage play brand and established a company to promote traditional culture soon made headlines.
Lu Yiming had just made headlines as a business tycoon a few days ago, and even used eBay and Meg Whitman as a background. Now, in the blink of an eye, he is concerned about culture again. The speed and intensity of his cross-border expansion is simply ridiculous.
That afternoon, Zheng Youyuan and Lin Yuantao were drinking tea in a teahouse, and they talked about Lu Yiming's stage play "Civilization".
Lin Yuantao complained, "Hasn't Mr. Lu always invested in technology? This time he actually spent 100 million to do a stage play with Communication University of China. It's really unbelievable. Could it be that he has his eyes on a beautiful lady in Communication University of China? He must be spending so much money to win her smile. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense."
Zheng Youyuan smiled and said, "This is actually quite normal. After all, young people are frivolous and it's hard for them to resist beautiful women. There are so many beautiful women in Communication University of China. If I were a few decades younger, I might have fallen for them too."
"Too."
On the other side, Li Yiwen, who was reporting his work to Lu Yiming, also talked about this matter with Lu Yiming.
"Why are you suddenly setting up a cultural industry creative incubation base? Some people outside say that you are using this company as a cover to keep a mistress."
Lu Yiming immediately complained: "What do you mean by a beautiful woman in a golden house? I have nothing to fear if I am upright, okay? As for spending money on culture, isn't this a basic operation? I have money, I am happy to do it."
"There is a dangerous trend of thought nowadays. People always think that things from foreigners are more upscale, that drinking coffee is more sophisticated than drinking tea, and that piano and violin are more elegant than zither and flute. Isn't this a psychopath? Let's not talk about other things, just talking about food. The eight major cuisines, frying, stir-frying, braising, deep-frying, stewing, thousands of years of food culture, are not as good as a loaf of bread? Isn't Dong'an chicken better than KFC? Isn't Yangzhou fried rice and clay pot rice better than tasteless bread and baguette? And they say that people are civilized in using knives and forks to share food. The damn Xia Kingdom eliminated knives and forks seven thousand years ago. They are unsafe and impersonal. As a result, today's dogs say that this stuff is elegant? I am elegant, damn."
"All cultures need time to settle, but there are some people who don't eat the delicious meals at home, but enjoy eating foreign dog food. Wearing summer clothes is feudal superstition, but wearing H clothes is in line with the international standards. What the hell is this?"
"I still say that if we don't protect our culture, others will covet it. If a country or a nation loses its culture, it will be completely destroyed and will never be able to stand up again. This is what foreign countries are doing to us now. Many of us have been blinded by performance. I must stand up and reverse this trend."
Capital city.
2003, the tenth day of the eighth month, five days before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
At the entrance of the Workers' Stadium in the capital, countless people bought tickets and waited to enter to watch the world's first performance of "Civilization", a large-scale traditional epic musical.
Most of these people bought their tickets not because of slogans like "an artistic review of the glorious history of the Xia Kingdom" and "recreating the magnificent epic of five thousand years", but because they came with the mentality of "this is what Lu Yiming spent 100 million to create, I want to see what he came up with."
When it comes to cultural confidence and historical confidence, people born in the 1970s and 1980s don’t care about that.
In the backstage makeup area of the gymnasium, Lin Yuzhen sat in front of the mirror, being put on makeup by a professional makeup artist. After learning about the relationship between Lu Yiming and Lin Yuzhen, Song Meiyun brought her into the team, and after intensive training, she has successfully qualified for the job.
Lu Yiming sat on the sofa behind her, reading the script.
"Hello, Lu Yiming."
Lin Yuzhen suddenly spoke.
Lu Yiming raised his head and asked, "Ah? What's wrong?"
Lin Yuzhen said: "I am a little nervous."
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "Why are you so nervous? You've been in the industry for so long, what big scenes have you not seen?"
Lin Yuzhen retorted , “How can it be the same? Previously, it was all recorded and edited, and there was no live audience, so they could call “cut” at any time. This time there is a live audience, so you can’t make mistakes. And I’m not a professional dancer…”
Lu Yiming encouraged her, "No problem. You've performed very well in the previous rehearsals. Come on, I'm optimistic about you."
With Lu Yiming's encouragement, Lin Yuzhen felt much more at ease.
At 7:30, the audience finished entering, the warm-up music started, and everyone waited quietly for the show to officially begin at 8 o'clock.
Although Lu Yiming had the bonus of being the richest man, the attendance rate of this performance was only about 50%.
From this we can see how terrible the attendance would have been if there hadn't been Lu Yiming, a hot topic, and the gimmick of spending 100 million yuan to support traditional culture.
Look at the European classical music concert next door. The ticket prices are extremely high, but it is still packed.
It is an indisputable fact that those who are engaged in traditional culture cannot compare with those who are engaged in Western literature and art.
But Lu Yiming didn't care about these.
How much is the ticket? If the stock market goes up or down by just one point every day, it will cost more than this.
The entire stage play of "Civilization" lasts two hours, starting from the primitive era, to the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, to the Tang and Song dynasties, and ending with the suicide on Coal Hill. It covers almost 7,000 years of history and shows the magnificent history of the birth, development and growth of the ancestors of the Han nationality. With the gorgeous stage and dazzling lights, the whole performance can be said to be extremely shocking.
At the end of the performance, there was thunderous applause from the audience.
"Oh my god, this is so good. I've never seen a performance like this before."
"My DNA moved, and I felt like the knowledge in the textbooks came alive before my eyes."
"It's really worth the trip. I originally came here for Mr. Lu, but now I want to cheer for the entire stage play!"
"This is my nation, this is my culture, I am proud of it!"
"Can you act it out again?"
Aesthetics is probably engraved in our DNA. When those historical things are presented before you, you can't help but burst into tears, applaud and cheer for the wisdom of your ancestors.
On the contrary, when things imposed by outsiders, such as squinting eyes or patched clothes, appear in front of you, you will instinctively feel disgusted. You can't explain why, you just don't like them.
All the contents of the play "Civilization" come from historical materials. Not only is the arrangement very careful, but later Lu Yiming also hired domestic historians to conduct special research, and the content is completely reliable.
When the cast and crew came out to take their bows, a bald, fat man from France rushed up to the stage with an excited look on his face and said in broken Xia language: "Hello, I'm Andre from France. Your performance was so wonderful. I never thought that Xia could produce such an amazing stage play."
He said to Song Meiyun and Lin Yuzhen standing in front, "I invite you to perform in France. Paris is the capital of art. It would be a great loss if there were no beautiful dancing of you beautiful ladies there."
Song Meiyun felt very surprised, even unbelievable.
Invite the team to perform in France?
Paris!
The capital of art!
Those who engage in art seem to have a heart that yearns for Europe, and Song Meiyun is no exception.
And if a play presenting the history of the Xia Kingdom could be performed in the art capital of Paris, it would give people a sense of pleasure of "counterattack".
You know, in recent decades or even hundreds of years, the Xia Kingdom has only been able to worship European "art"!
Zhang Shuting, who was standing nearby, was so happy when he heard that the foreigner wanted to invite the Civilization team to perform in Paris that he said hurriedly, "Okay, we will definitely accept the invitation!"
He agreed so quickly, as if he was afraid that Andre would suddenly change his mind.
The main creative team of the play "Civilization" is composed of teachers from Communication University of China, headed by Song Meiyun. Most of the actors and staff are also students and teachers of Communication University of China. This play is naturally tied to Communication University of China. The success of this play is the success of Communication University of China. If this play can enter Europe and stand on the stage of Paris, it will be a great achievement in Zhang Shuting's career!
That's why he agreed so readily.
The world is bustling with people seeking profit, and the world is bustling with people seeking profit. It has always been like this.
After leaving the stage, Lin Yuzhen found Lu Yiming, who immediately said approvingly: "Congratulations, the performance was a complete success."
Lin Yuzhen's face flushed with excitement, and she said thankfully, "Luckily there was no mistake. I was so nervous."
Then, she said anxiously, "Just now a foreigner said that he wanted us to go to Paris for a performance. Do you think I should go? If I go, I will have to turn down several announcements I have on hand."
"I never thought that I would go abroad to perform as a dancer. It was just a whim."
I have to say that some people really have enviable talents in certain areas .
For example, Lin Yuzhen, who had never studied dance seriously since she was a child, only joined the dance club in college because of her interest and practiced with a beautiful teacher for a few years, and she became a good dancer. This time, she only received emergency training for a period of time and was able to perform in the repertoire.
Even she herself did not expect this.
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "Go, why not? What's the matter? Don't you like dancing?"
Lin Yuzhen muttered, "It's not that I don't like it, I just feel unsure."
Lu Yiming encouraged, "Why should you be unsure? Isn't today good enough? Life is short, do what you want to do, go where you want to go, and love who you want to love. There are not so many futures in this world, so don't leave yourself with any regrets."
Looking at Lu Yiming's handsome face, Lin Yuzhen couldn't help but blush and her heart beat fast.
Especially when Lu Yiming said "Don't leave any regrets for yourself", Lin Yuzhen's heart instantly became flustered.
Lu Yiming touched her forehead curiously and said, "What's wrong with you? Your face is suddenly red. Are you sick? Hey, it's so hot."
"You're the one who's sick. I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I'm going to take off my makeup."
Lu Yiming shook his head slightly, not knowing what had happened.
"Okay, I'll go out first. Wangzai is still waiting for me outside."
Lu Yiming walked out of the Workers' Stadium and saw Li Quanwang at the door.
"Wangzai, I'm here."
Li Quanwang glanced over here, then walked over and said, "Daming, I just did some calculations."
"Hmm? What's the account?"
Lu Yiming raised his eyebrows, not knowing what Li Quanwang was talking about.
Li Quanwang said: "A performance like this would cost at least 200,000 or 300,000 yuan, right?"
Lu Yiming calculated in his mind and said, "About the same."
Li Quanwang went on to say: "This does not include other daily living costs and the expenses of the cast and crew. If we count them, I estimate that it will take at least 500,000 or 600,000 to make back the investment."
"yes."
Li Quanwang hooked his fingers and said, "But I just counted, it seems that only more than 20,000 tickets were sold. The Beijing Workers' Stadium has 64,000 seats, and the occupancy rate is only one-third. The ticket price is 20 yuan, and the ticket revenue is only more than 500,000 yuan. It is a complete loss-making business."
Lu Yiming retorted: "How can you say that it is a loss for intellectuals? Besides, I have money now, so it is reasonable for me to pursue artistic taste a little bit, right?"
Li Quanwang's eyes revealed deep doubts: "By the way, I think I saw Lin Yuzhen on the stage just now."
Lu Yiming asked: "Is there? Why didn't I see it? Am I nearsighted?"
Li Quanwang immediately spat in his face: "Bah, I gave you a rainbow and you became so bright. You are an investor, don't you know Lin Yuzhen is here? I think you have no good intentions. She has already graduated and she is not a dancer. How could she appear in this crew under normal circumstances?"
Lu Yiming thought to himself, this is indeed the truth, but the other team is trying to return the favor and pull me in, what can I do?
"What do you mean by bad intentions? Don't talk nonsense. Lin Yuzhen and I are innocent, okay?"
"Tsk, you have the will but not the courage now, you can't say for sure in the future."
“…”
Lu Yiming waved his hand and said, "Stop talking, let's go back to the hotel for a midnight snack. Call the chef and ask him to prepare some Aulong Wagyu or something."
Li Quanwang licked his lips and said with a smile, "I'm hungry too. Let's go and eat all the wagyu beef you picked up on the roadside last time."
Half an hour later, Lu Yiming and Li Quanwang were already sitting on the observation deck of the presidential suite of the five-star hotel where Lu Yiming was staying. They looked at the lights of thousands of homes in front of them, opened a glass of fine champagne, and listened to the "squeaky" sound of the Wagyu beef being grilled on the iron plate.
At this time, Zhao Tiezhu came in and said, "Mr. Lu, there is a guest who wants to see you."
Lu Yiming asked: "Who?"
Zhao Tiezhu said: "I don't know him. He is a strange European face."
Lu Yiming said: "Forget it, I'm on vacation today and won't see any guests."
"OK."
Lu Yiming sent Zhao Tiezhu away and chatted with Li Quanwang while eating Wagyu beef and drinking champagne.
A few minutes later, Lu Yiming's phone rang. To his surprise, the call was from Shi Jinhua.
"Director Shi, you called me so late at night. What can I do for you?"
Shi Jinhua said: "Did a foreigner come to see you just now?"
Lu Yiming thought for a moment and said, "It seems that there is indeed such a person. I didn't see him. He disturbed my midnight snack, so I sent him away. What's the matter?"
Upon hearing this, Shi Jinhua was embarrassed and said, "He is Andre, a French jeweler, a European who deals in luxury goods. He thinks our country's economy is growing rapidly, so he wants to come and invest. He said he particularly likes our country's classical culture and art, and after learning that you supported the stage play "Civilization", he wanted to have an in-depth exchange with you. I heard that he also plans to request that the stage play "Civilization" be performed in Paris."
Hearing Shi Jinhua's words, Lu Yiming immediately remembered that Lin Yuzhen had just mentioned that a foreigner had invited him to perform in Paris, so he said helplessly: "Okay, I'll ask the butler to bring him up. Oh, I'll have to waste a few more pieces of Wagyu beef."
Shi Jinhua: “…”
After a while, Andre came in accompanied by Zhao Tiezhu.
Andre was very enthusiastic. Although his accent was a little awkward, he insisted on speaking Mandarin to Lu Yiming: "Mr. Lu, I have heard your name many times. The stage play you invested in is really great. I think Parisians should also have the right to appreciate such a wonderful performance."
Lu Yiming frowned slightly, feeling that there was something strange about these words.
However, he did not delve into it and simply said, "It would be great if we could perform in Paris."
"Civilization" tells the story of China. If it can enter the European art market, it will itself be an act of cultural propaganda and a major counterattack. Lu Yiming will certainly not object.
Andre immediately took the responsibility and said, "I can help with this matter!"
Lu Yiming said casually: "Will it be too much trouble for you?"
Andre said quickly: "No trouble! For me, art should have no borders. Xiaguo has a brilliant culture and it deserves to shine on the world stage!"
Afterwards, the two chatted and laughed around the topic of art, and it can be said that they had a very pleasant conversation.
When leaving, Lu Yiming even stood up and walked Andre to the door, and the two sides also left their contact information with each other.
When Lu Yiming returned to his seat, Li Quanwang said with emotion: "I didn't expect that there are good people among European and American capitalists."
Lu Yiming smiled and asked, "Why do you think Andre is a good person?"
Li Quanwang was also stunned when he heard Lu Yiming's question. He said in surprise, "He really likes our traditional culture of Xia Country. He is also kind-hearted and willing to provide selfless help. Isn't he a good person?"
Lu Yiming said disdainfully: "He is just a luxury goods seller who makes money by exploiting the vanity of the leeks. How can he be a good person? As for the artist or the avid art lover, these are just labels deliberately displayed to outsiders. In fact, he has no understanding of Xia country culture, and even his basic cognition is wrong. He is just pretending. As for helping, it's just a performance, and he didn't pay for it. How much can it cost? On the contrary, through this incident, he directly became an international friend, and he can save a lot of advertising expenses."
