Volume 3: Taking Roots 2016 Chapter 524: Horse Racing
New Year's Eve, compared with Christmas Eve in the West, there are so many details about Chinese New Year's Eve, and each place has its own characteristics.
There is also a little-known fact: the so-called sending apples on Christmas Eve is a completely localized Chinese way of playing, which came into being based on the translation of the word "peace".
After all, foreigners don’t think the word “apple” has anything to do with Christmas Eve.
China's festivals are very particular. In addition to the widely circulated differences such as the northerners eating dumplings and the southerners eating glutinous rice balls, and the dispute over sweet and salty food, local cultures draw on local materials and often have their own set of local customs with their own logic.
For example, in the Chaoshan area , there is the "Twelve-Color Flowers", a panacea custom symbol, which can be said to play an extremely critical role in local folk customs.
Whether it is for praying to gods and Buddhas, exorcising evil spirits and praying for blessings, moving into a new house, getting married, and other happy or sad occasions, it can be used. It can be said to be a panacea.
Moreover, the twelve-color flowers do not need to be restricted by form. You only need to gather twelve kinds of plants, tie them up with red paper and red rope, and soak them in water to take effect. You can splash them or use them for bathing. It can be said to have endless uses.
Therefore, once a specific festival comes, the streets and alleys of Chaoshan area will be filled with all kinds of people, searching among the grass and flowers on the roadside, just to collect these twelve kinds of twelve-colored flowers that embody the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
For such an important festival as New Year's Eve, a sense of ritual is naturally indispensable. In this way, one washes off all the worldly things and then puts on new clothes, which means leaving all the bad things in the past. The new year is a new beginning.
Perhaps this is the most simple hope expressed by this custom. Rounding it off, this can also be regarded as a baptism with Chaoshan characteristics.
Although Zhou Dongsheng did not attach importance to these rituals, his mother did, and she prepared two portions of freshly picked "Twelve Color Flowers" in the bathroom early in the morning.
After taking a bath, Zhou Dongsheng symbolically scooped a spoonful of twelve-color flower water and poured it over himself. This was considered the completion of the ritual and a good omen.
Zhou Dongsheng changed into new clothes and came to the living room comfortably. His smiling old mother was also wearing red and purple new clothes, full of the flavor of the Chinese New Year, and holding a big red envelope in her hand.
According to the unwritten rules in the Chaoshan area, anyone who is not married is considered a "child" in the eyes of their elders.
Even if you are in a hotly contested situation outside, you can still get red envelopes when you return home during the Chinese New Year. Obviously, in the eyes of his old mother, Zhou Dongsheng belongs to this stage.
Zhou Dongsheng was not pretentious. During the Chinese New Year, everyone wanted good luck. He took the red envelope without changing his expression and squeezed it. It was quite bulging.
Then send a sincere New Year's blessing "Mom! New Year's wishes!" (equivalent to may all your wishes come true)
"Well, I wish you a big business and hope you can find me a daughter-in-law and give me a grandson as soon as possible."
Liu Huaiying was all smiles, and she did not forget to bring some personal goods during the New Year, which can be said to be the good intentions of an old mother.
As a son, Zhou Dongsheng naturally filtered out the rumors selectively, letting them go in one ear and out the other, and said with a smile, "I'll definitely do it next time!"
"We, mother and son, have been having New Year's Eve dinner together for more than ten years. Even if you are not tired of it, I am. You'd better hold on tight..." Liu Huaiying sighed.
"It's not easy to have a lively occasion. I will invite over a hundred and eighty people to celebrate the New Year with you next year..." Zhou Dongsheng said with a grin.
"How can that be the same? Okay, let's clean up and eat." Liu Huaiying rolled his eyes at Zhou Dongsheng. However, since his son was so promising, he really didn't need to worry about him.
Liu Huaiying was just muttering a few words out of habit. If nothing else, in this small area of Gu Town, there was an endless stream of people coming to propose marriage.
Without exception, she easily blocked them all.
"Great..." Zhou Dongsheng sat leisurely at the tea table. He turned on the TV purely to add to the New Year atmosphere, and then made tea while playing with his mobile phone.
The controversy over Teacher Liu in the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Monkey has long been settled. Many viewers felt puzzled and indignant that Teacher Liu, the Monkey King, was not invited.
However, if we extend the timeline over a few years, we have to say that although fewer people watch the Spring Festival Gala, its value is still there.
After Teacher Liu revealed many controversial things one after another, such as "co-production between China and the United States", "adaptation is not random editing, and parody is not nonsense", his identity as a veteran artist in the minds of many audiences almost fell apart.
Looking back, it is natural to understand why the Monkey King, who best represents the Year of the Monkey, was not invited to the Spring Festival Gala.
After all, promoting "China-US co-production" at the memorial hall of my mentor is indeed...
After casually glancing at Weibo, Zhou Dongsheng happily opened the Douyin short video. Now the development momentum of Douyin short video is at its peak.
After all, the benchmark for the short video industry that Zhou Dongsheng painstakingly established through the Golden Second Award has worked wonders, whether it is the clear-cut division of multiple sub-sectors provided to short video creators as choices.
Or the move to promote two distinctive creators, Papi Jiang and Muziqi, as the leaders of short videos, both played an excellent guiding role.
After all, most creations start with imitation. With good examples in the past, more users will naturally imitate them for their own amusement. As the base expands, the gold will naturally emerge after the sand is washed away by the waves.
Of course, despite the two major Golden Second Awards and the platform’s strong promotion, the content that first became popular on Douyin short videos is still short, flat and fast short video content.
Among them, Su Qian, who had received instruction from Zhou Dongsheng, seemed to have suddenly enlightened and had a lot of fun playing the Douyin short video.
Neither lines nor text are required. Compared with a lengthy live broadcast, a short video is obviously simpler and more straightforward, and its efficiency in attracting fans is just as good.
Starting with the simple idea of hip-twisting dance, Su Qian applied it to various challenges, combining elements such as contrast and cross-dressing, and soon set off a wave of imitation on Douyin.
Compared to Papi Jiang's creative direction that requires thinking, this simple and crude happiness is obviously more in line with the rhythm of short videos and is naturally easier to become popular.
After all, not everyone can use their brain.
As the instigator, Zhou Dongsheng naturally found this kind of happiness again that does not require any brainpower.
I didn’t expect that I would rediscover the joy of watching short videos so soon. Who can resist watching a beautiful woman for 5 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour?
Not for anything else, just for the sake of happiness.
With Zhou Dongsheng's good start, the development momentum of Douyin short videos has been very fierce in this period.
Faced with a vast blue ocean in the first year of mobile, sometimes what matters is not whether one has the best professional ability, but who has the opportunity to be the first to enter the market and grab the market.
Although those who enter the market first may not necessarily get the biggest piece of cake, those who enter the market too late will obviously not even get the leftovers.
Douyin short video, which has seized the niche market of music short videos, has undoubtedly started running.
"Crackle, crackle..." The sound of New Year's firecrackers has begun to ring outside, accompanied by the sounds of children laughing and playing. Compared to cities where fireworks are banned, the countryside undoubtedly still retains some of the New Year atmosphere.
Happy New Year!
