Seen from the sky, large areas of Shanghai's urban area are pitch black, dotted with scattered bands of light.
Shanghai was engaged in the development of Pudong and contacted all the foreign companies that had invested in Shanghai before. The only person who responded was Liao Liao, and they were all in a wait-and-see mode. No foreign businessman was willing to take the lead.
So it's not surprising that the top leader came to pick him up personally.
After chatting for a while, everyone got in the car.
The Shanghai authorities arranged for Lin Chaoyang and his party to stay at the New Jinjiang Hotel. It was already past nine o'clock when they settled down at the hotel. It was too late and the journey was tiring, so everyone took a rest early.
The next day, the government leader came to the New Jinjiang Hotel early in the morning. Last night, he said he would have breakfast with Lin Chaoyang and his wife.
The New Jinjiang Hotel, opened in 1988, is the tallest building in Shanghai today, with a height of 153 meters overlooking the entire Shanghai.
Accompanied by him, the group took the elevator to the observation deck on the top floor, and then took the elevator down to the revolving restaurant on the 41st floor.
"This is currently the largest revolving restaurant in Asia, with 424 seats. If you gather here to have a meal and drink tea, you can enjoy the seamless view of the stars in the sky and the beautiful scenery of Shanghai."
When the top leader introduced the revolving restaurant, there was a bit of pride in his tone.
What he is proud of is not the restaurant itself, but the warm land beneath his feet.
Today's breakfast is better said to be a breakfast than a promotion meeting specially held by the top leader for Lin Chaoyang and his wife.
As soon as they entered the restaurant, everyone's eyes were attracted by the huge round table in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass window. There were two large photos on it. One was a map of Shanghai and the other was a map of Pudong.
It contrasts with the scenery of Shanghai below and complements each other.
In addition, there is a sand table on it, which is a lighting model of the central area of ​​Lujiazui to be precise.
"This is the model we plan to report to the elderly after the new year. It's better to come sooner than later. How about I practice it with Comrade Chaoyang and Comrade Yushu and introduce it to you two?" the leader said wittily.
Lin Chaoyang and his wife are doing nothing wrong, this kind of thing is how it should be.
"To develop Pudong, the first thing we need is money. To be honest with you, we have no money. It's not that we don't have a penny in our pockets. It's that our government's money has more important uses and cannot be diverted to development.
You two can come, I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the Shanghai Municipal Government and the people of Shanghai -"
The first step in developing Pudong is to develop Lujiazui. Our plan for Lujiazui is as follows.
Lujiazui currently has a road network, but it runs along the Huangpu River coastline and is relatively narrow. The widest Pudong Avenue only has four lanes in both directions.
As the amount of development increases, the traffic will definitely not be able to carry it——"
The introduction of the top leader was different from ordinary investment promotion speeches, and was somewhat aloof. This was not only because he stood at a different height from ordinary investment promotion leaders, but the most important thing was that he did not treat Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu as ordinary people.
Businessmen who come for profit.
Who can come to Pudong to invest without any hesitation at the call of the motherland? How can he be an ordinary businessman?
This breakfast lasted much longer than usual, but everyone did not find it boring, but listened with great interest.
After the talk was almost finished, the leader planned to take Lin Chaoyang and his party to Pudong in person.
But at this moment, the secretary came over and whispered a few words to the leader, who looked serious.
After the secretary retreated, he smiled at Lin Chaoyang and his wife.
"You two, come with me to the Xijiao Hotel."
Xijiao Hotel?
Seeing that the couple was confused, the leader explained a few words softly.
In the afternoon, the top leader still had something to do, so he asked his deputy, Comrade Ni, to accompany Lin Chaoyang and his wife to Pudong for an inspection.
People in Shanghai say: I would rather have a bed in Puxi than an apartment in Pudong.
Before the 1990s, the urban area of ​​Shanghai was very small. From the map, the vast Pudong was more attractive.
It is a pity that since the opening of Shanghai as a port, its development has been towards the west, starting from the west of the Huangpu River.
Later, there was the Public Settlement, the Bund, Nanjing Road, and the International Hotel as the starting point of the city center.
After a century of development, Pudong and Puxi are no longer the same.
Today's Pudong, along the west side of the river from south to north, forms the main port area of ​​Shanghai.
In the port area, factories, businesses, and living areas are crowded together. This is also the earliest urbanized area in Pudong.
But unfortunately, there has not been a situation where cities like New York, London, Paris and other cities can prosper together on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
For many years, Pudong's municipal construction has lagged behind that of Puxi, with narrow roads, poor living conditions, few cultural facilities, and extremely inconvenient water and land transportation.
Under the leadership of Comrade Ni, Lin Chaoyang and his party came to Dongchang Road.
This is the most prosperous commercial street in Pudong. It is jokingly called Nanjing Road in Pudong by the people in Shanghai. The T-shaped intersection with it is called Lannidu Road.
The mud crossing road is about four to five meters wide. When it rains, water will flood the mud road.
"---In the coal dock over there, in the early years, most of the dock workers came from rural areas in northern Jiangsu, fled to Pudong, and built simple shacks in Lannidu as shelter from the wind and rain.
Therefore, there is a saying in Shanghai that goes, "If you want hardship, come to Yangshupu; if you want hardship again, come to Lannidu."
People here are used to calling people going to Puxi ‘Shanghai’ because Pudong is not Shanghai, it’s the countryside.”
Comrade Ni's tone of introducing the situation was somewhat self-deprecating.
Lin Chaoyang said with a smile: "You are looking at the problem from the perspective of the people of Puxi. From my perspective, the situation here is much better than 90% of prefecture-level cities across the country."
Just now Comrade Ni introduced some details of Pudong. Taking their current Lujiazui as an example, there are 39 large central enterprises and Shanghai key enterprises, 14 dock warehouses, and more than 250 small enterprise stores in the 1.7 square kilometers of land.
With such a dense industry and commerce, only the people of Shanghai can agree that this place is underdeveloped.
Comrade Ni smiled bitterly and said: "Compared with the areas in Jinqiao and Waigaoqiao that are mainly farmland, the conditions here in Lujiazui are indeed much better. But now that we are going to develop, these original advantages have turned into disadvantages."
To engage in development, relocation is a big problem.
Lujiazui has a large population, buildings, and enterprises, so the future relocation task will be extremely arduous.
Half a day was too short to inspect Pudong. Out of caution and enthusiasm, Shanghai arranged a several-day itinerary for Lin Chaoyang and his party.
The purpose is to enable them to have a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of the current Pudong and strengthen their investment confidence.
But Lin Chaoyang and his wife did not give them this opportunity at all.
After spending the afternoon shopping in Pudong, Comrade Ni appeared again downstairs at the New Jinjiang Hotel early the next morning, intending to invite them to continue their inspection, but the couple pulled Comrade Ni and said:
"Let's talk about investing!"
Comrade Ni: Huh?
Lin Chaoyang and his wife did not act according to common sense, but Comrade Ni had seen the world and calmed down immediately after the initial surprise.
If Shanghai wants Lin Chaoyang and his wife to buy land and directly develop it, the couple may not invest because real estate is indeed not within the scope of their business.
However, in order to develop Pudong, Shanghai innovatively proposed to invest in land and establish joint ventures with foreign companies.
A model for joint development.
To put it bluntly, one party provides the land, the other party contributes the money, and both parties jointly operate, but mainly with state-owned assets.
For businessmen who specialize in the real estate industry, this strategy is not very friendly, but for Lin Chaoyang and his wife, it is just right.
Comrade Ni invited the couple to the revolving restaurant on the 41st floor and pointed to the bay in the center of the Huangpu River on the map of Pudong.
"We plan to develop a 24-hectare piece of land here. What do you think?"
Tao Yushu's slightly invisible jaw. Geographically speaking, this location is the most elite location in Pudong and Lujiazui areas, and it is also the closest to Puxi. Taking out this land is enough to prove Shanghai's sincerity.
Lin Chaoyang looked at the land and felt even more emotional. Tao Yushu didn't understand the content of the land, but he did.
Isn’t this the rich world built along the river in later generations?
It is said that many people in Fudu World have no idea. Across the Huangpu River, on the opposite bank is the famous Bund. After introducing the situation of the land, Comrade Ni also introduced the joint venture model.
This time the Shanghai government will jointly establish a Sino-foreign joint venture with a registered capital of US$30 million.
Shanghai invested 24 hectares of gross land at a 55% ratio, while Lin Chaoyang and his wife invested 45% of the corresponding capital, or US$13.5 million.
Because he was too excited, Comrade Ni spoke very quickly. He talked for more than ten minutes and his mouth was dry.
After the introduction was finally completed, he took a tactic to drink water, and then observed the expressions of Lin Chaoyang and his wife.
"If you two have any ideas, please bring them up and we can discuss them!"
"I do have some ideas," Tao Yushu said.
Comrade Ni was already prepared in his heart. It was nothing more than bargaining. People came from afar and had a strong heart. It was reasonable for the government to make some concessions.
"I think this land is a bit small!" Tao Yushu said again,
Comrade Ni fell silent.
Tao Yushu explained: "Lujiazui is the essence of Pudong, and the government is indeed very sincere in offering this land.
But this is what I think. To develop a place as big as Pudong, we cannot rely on the financial resources of one or two rich people. Instead, we should mobilize the efforts of the whole country and even the world.
Under current circumstances, since we, the couple, are the first to come, although our financial resources are meager and what we can do is limited, we still have to do our best.
The first development project in Pudong should be able to bring together the best of the world, focus on developing a display belt along the river, and create a ‘world card’.
Let the world see China’s determination. Only in this way can we strengthen the confidence of those foreign investors who are hesitant to invest in China——
Tao Yushu's words were so powerful that Comrade Ni's blood boiled when he heard them.
Those who knew it was a patriotic businessman, but those who didn't know it thought it was a mobilization meeting for D members.
Chairman Tao, what a red heart!
"The 24-hectare area is a bit small and not enough to show our ambition. The most important thing is that more than 10 million U.S. dollars of funds are really not enough to do anything."
Comrade Ni's expression was a bit subtle. Why is more than ten million dollars not enough?
This is why these words are so refreshing and refined coming from your mouth.
It took us more than half a year in Shanghai to come up with 100 million, and we distributed it to several lower-level units.
As his thoughts changed, a warm smile appeared on Comrade Ni's face.
"Comrade Yushu's idea is to build on the high ground! 'Riverside Exhibition Belt' is a good idea! It coincides with our municipal government's idea of ​​'Riverside Film'!"
He first gave a couple of strong compliments, and then asked Lin Chaoyang, "Comrade Chaoyang, do you have any ideas?"
Lin Chaoyang: "Yu Shu is right!"
Comrade Ni nodded.
Well, you are worthy of being the head of the family, the final word!
"Wait a moment, everyone, I'm going to make a call."
More than half an hour later, the top leader reappeared at the New Jinjiang Hotel.
The Chinese New Year is coming soon. He was originally inspecting the factory below today. As soon as he received a call from Comrade Ni, he immediately ended his trip ahead of schedule.
I thought I was here to set an example, but I didn't expect that I wanted to be a white jade pillar holding up the sky and a purple golden beam bridging the sea. How could I not come here myself?
Seeing Lin Chaoyang and his wife again, the leader's smile was as bright as the warm winter sun.
With the presence of the top leader who could make decisions, the conversation between the two parties went very smoothly and showed the pattern.
"$100 million!"
Tao Yushu shouted out a number. His voice was not loud, but it was shocking.
"I will not make specific requirements for this US$100 million. We will make overall planning in Shanghai to see how big the scale of development can be.
I only have one vision, which is to develop this area into a Chinese business card facing the world!"
The top leader and Comrade Ni were once again inspired by Tao Yushu's speech.
Lin Chaoyang on the side said, "What a good guy, my daughter-in-law's acting skills are becoming more and more superb now. She is at the level of the Secretary of Group D of the Deep Water Bay Road Subdistrict Office!"
"Thank you Comrade Yushu, thank you Comrade Chaoyang, thank you two comrades for your strong support!"
One hand held the couple's hands and shook them vigorously up and down, with excitement written on their faces.
The scale of fundraising suddenly jumped from the expected tens of millions of dollars to the level of 100 million yuan. The top leaders were both surprised and surprised. They immediately summoned staff from the Shanghai Municipal Government, Pudong Development Office, Lujiazui Development Company and other parties to the revolving restaurant of the New Jinjiang Hotel.
"Research here, we must come up with a plan within today!"
The top leader issued a military order, and dozens of people racked their brains around the model and map.
Until after nine o'clock in the evening, the current night in Shanghai is far from the bright lights and drunkenness of later generations.
Especially the east bank of the Huangpu River is pitch black as far as the eye can see.
When the subordinates handed the results of the discussion to the top leader, he looked calm and calm after reading it.
"They paid 100 million U.S. dollars, but we only gave them this little space?"
"It's a little less, but this is the essence of our Lujiazui and our Pudong, leader!"
Wang Ande, director of the Policy Research Office of the Pudong Development Office and general manager of the Lujiazui Development Company, explained.
The leader shook his head, "If you don't have it, it will make people feel chilly!"
Wang Ande was silent, and Comrade Ni suggested: "How about adding this area to the north?"
"There are too many, and we have to consider future development. Foreign businessmen will come in in the future," Wang Ande said.
"Without the present, where would the future come from? Besides, there are still so many places!" Comrade Ni said.
The two argued without saying anything, but handed over the decision-making power to the leader.
The top leader looked solemn and pondered for a moment. Finally, he waved his pen on the map and included the area mentioned by Comrade Ni.
"That's it!"
After discussing the specific plan with his subordinates, the top leader called to discuss it with the main leading comrades.
After a short and serious discussion, Shanghai finally decided to take out the best 180 hectares of land on the east bank of the Huangpu River in the Lujiazui area.
This plot of land is seven times larger than the original 24 hectares, which exactly matches the US$100 million investment given by Tao Yushu. The shareholding ratio of both parties is still 55%:45%.
The leader stood by the floor-to-ceiling window and solemnly held the hands of Lin Chaoyang and his wife again.
"Previously, Comrade Yushu said that the development of Lujiazui should be turned into a business card for China.
Let me tell you, patriotic entrepreneurs like you are China’s business card!”
Faced with the heartfelt praise from the top leader, the couple quickly said a few words of humility.
Shanghai plans to hold a press conference after the year to announce Lin Chaoyang and his wife’s investment in Pudong.
This investment is nominally funded by the couple's sole proprietorship. The company has no trace of it yet. The couple has to set up a company in the next few days.
In time for the Chinese New Year, even if the light is green all the way here in Shanghai, it will take several days to complete the procedures, not to mention the issue of funds leaving the port.
100 million U.S. dollars, converted into Hong Kong dollars, is nearly 790 million.
Several subsidiaries owned by the couple have healthy cash flows, especially Lam Pictures.
This year, Lam Pictures' "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" hit the global box office, and its cash reserves are as high as HK$850 million. It's extremely rich!
As for the problem of draining all the funds from Lin's Pictures, Tao Yushu is not worried at all. After all, the listing will require financing, and the money will not be wasted unless it is in vain.
"I have an immature opinion——" Tao Yushu said after shaking hands.
He said solemnly: "What a name!"
After discussing the investment, Lin Chaoyang and his wife planned to fly to Yanjing the next day.
But the authorities in Shanghai enthusiastically allowed the couple to stay and let them stay for two more days no matter what. A banquet was specially held for the couple on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month.
At the banquet, Lin Chaoyang also met Xie Jin, whom he had not seen for more than half a year.
"The boss knows that I'm familiar with you, so he specially asked me to come over to accompany the guests!" Xie Jin said to Lin Chaoyang.
There is no entertainment industry these days, it has to be called the literary and art world. It is normal for famous people like Xie Jin to participate in various high-end government meetings and activities. He is worthy of the reputation and status of a "people's artist".
"Red Cliff War" has received the support of Tao Yushu, so there is no need to worry about funding. It has been in preparation since the beginning of the year, but it has not yet started filming.
There's nothing we can do about it. A movie with an investment of 30 million yuan these days is almost the same as a blockbuster movie with an investment of 20 to 3 billion yuan in the future. There is too much work to be done.
For more than half a year, Xie Jin has not been idle for a day.
"How is the preparation for the movie going?"
"That's almost it. Thanks to Yushu's decision, I took advantage of CCTV and saved a lot of effort."
The CCTV version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is also currently in preparation. It is a Three Kingdoms-themed film and television production like "Red Cliff War", and the two have natural convergence in terms of location.
In order to control costs, Tao Yushu contacted CCTV and proposed the idea of ​​renting the filming base for "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
The CCTV version of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" invested 170 million yuan, which is huge. 100 million yuan was used to build the filming base, and the remaining 70 million yuan was used for filming. CCTV's funds were also very tight.
It is of course a good thing to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. Tao Yushu's proposal quickly received a strong response from CCTV.
In this way, both parties save a lot of money, and only a small amount of coordination work is required.
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has planned 84 episodes of the plot, which is huge in scale. It plans to shoot in the spring next year and the cycle will last for 3 years.
Years can be coordinated no matter what.
In addition to the shared use of filming bases, both parties also share actors.
For example, after CCTV selected the role of Guan Yu played by Lu Shuming, Xie Jin also took a fancy to his appearance as Guan Yu. At that time, he had to coordinate the filming time of the actors.
This is because of the reputation of a famous director like Xie Jin, otherwise CCTV would never be able to let him go.
"When will it be turned on?" Lin Chaoyang asked.
"I plan to stagger it with CCTV by one month in April. As long as it can be filmed, it should be completed next year, and it will not be a big problem to release it in the first half of the next year."
Sensing the urgency in Xie Jin's words, Lin Chaoyang comforted him: "Don't put too much pressure on yourself."
Xie Jin smiled bitterly, "30 million! Is there no pressure? If the shot fails, I won't be able to see Jiangdong's father!"
"The more you think like this, the easier it is for you to take bad pictures."
"Oh, just do your best!" Xie Jin sighed.
Then he said, "Can you tell Yushu about something?"
"You want me to turn a deaf ear? What's the matter?"
"It's about actors. Yushu wants to use two more stars, but the candidates are indeed a bit different from my ideal image."
Tao Yushu's idea is also easy to understand. If "Red Cliff War" is to be sold abroad, it must include a few stars with box office appeal.
However, she also fully took into account Xie Jin's ideas. She did not decide the actors directly as the boss, but kept discussing with Xie Jin.
"Who is it? Zhuge Liang or Zhou Yu?"
"Red Cliff War" is about the events of Red Cliff. There are only a few main characters, and the one who makes Xie Jin worry is probably between these two people.
"Zhou Yu has been handed over to Xiao Pu from Yanjing Renyi, and Yushu also approves Xiao Pu's appearance. It's Zhuge Liang,
She still insisted on letting Chow Yun-fat play the role."
Lin Chaoyang asked: "Do you think Chow Yun-fat is not good?"
Xie Jinchou grinned, "It's not impossible, how can I put it? If we follow the standards of "Three Kingdoms", 'eight feet tall, very majestic in appearance, and different from his time', there is nothing wrong with his image."
Hearing this, Lin Chaoyang understood that "The Battle of Red Cliff" is a classic part of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and the criteria for selecting actors must of course be based on the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a literary work that pursues aesthetics and romance. How is Zhuge Liang described in it?
"He is eight feet long, has a face like a crown jade, wears a silk scarf on his head, and wears a crane. He looks like a god."
It's almost meaningless to measure Chow Yun-fat by this standard.
Chow Yun-fat is more than handsome, elegant, but lacking in air.
"Then do you have any candidates?" Lin Chaoyang asked.
Xie Jin shook his head, "No."
"The filming will start in two months. Your leading role has not been decided yet. Do you want to change it?"
"I'm looking for it too!"
Lin Chaoyang knew that Xie Jin had made a lot of concessions in the script creation of "Red Cliff War".
As early as the late 1950s, Xie Jin discussed with Liang Xin, the screenwriter of "Red Detachment of Women", about adapting "Red Cliff War" to the screen.
In 1989, Liang Xin finally finished writing the script of "Red Cliff War" and handed it over to Xie Jin. Later, Xie Jin cooperated with Lin's Pictures. Knowing that the 30 million investment was hard-earned, he followed Lin's ideas and worked on the film.
Some commercial elements were added to the script.
Thinking of this, Lin Chaoyang also realized Xie Jin's difficulty and said, "Let me recommend someone to you."
"Who?" Xie Jin's eyes lit up, he still trusted Lin Chaoyang's vision.
"Zhuge Liang on CCTV——
Before he finished speaking, Xie Jin said doubtfully: "Where is CCTV? They haven't chosen Zhuge Liang yet!"
Regardless of whether it is a movie or a TV series, due to the shooting cycle, the actors are often not selected at the same time.
For a TV series like "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that spans several years, many actors may have been in the cast for a year or two.
Tang Guoqiang's Zhuge Liang was not decided by chief director Wang Fulin until the autumn and winter of 1991.
This decision also encountered a lot of criticism at the time. It was generally believed that Tang Guoqiang's acting skills were average and he could not support the role of Zhuge Liang.
Lin Chaoyang was unclear about this detail. Hearing Xie Jin's words, he felt a little strange and changed his words: "Zhuge Liang at CCTV can also refer to ours."
"Who is it?" Xie Jin thought he was showing off and couldn't help but ask.
Chapter completed!