Chapter 00147: Heading to Hong Kong
# Heading to Hong Kong
Chapter 147
Novel: 1979 Golden Age
Chapter 147: Heading to Hong Kong
"Bizarre and fascinating, truly one of a kind!"
"Compared to last year's *Spooky Encounters*, *The Miracle Fighters* takes the portrayal of folk magic to a whole new level. The jar people, shadow-nailing, flying swords, and paper bridges in the movie are all dazzling and leave you in awe!"
"Combining martial arts with folk magic, if they can produce another masterpiece, they could establish a new genre and add a major category to Hong Kong cinema!"
At the end of last year, Sammo Hung's *Spooky Encounters* was released, grossing over 5 million at the box office and pioneering the supernatural martial arts genre.
At the beginning of this year, the Yuen Clan's *The Miracle Fighters* hit the screens, earning 8 million in just over 20 days, marking a strong start.
The reception was excellent, with audiences and peers alike praising it, and even the media, which rarely gives compliments, had a few good words to say.
At the time, there was no concept of "supernatural martial arts films," but everyone knew this path was viable, and a wave of imitations was bound to follow.
The brilliance of Hong Kong cinema was inseparable from the ingenuity, opportunism, and innovation of its filmmakers.
For example, when martial arts films became popular, but audiences grew tired of them after a few years, what did they do? They combined martial arts with comedy, and voila, a new genre was born.
And when that got old too? They blended martial arts with Taoist magic and folk legends, and another sub-genre emerged.
Subjectively, it was about being creative.
Objectively, it was about the limitations of the environment.
A group of people crammed into this tiny place, fiercely competing—if they didn't come up with something new for the audience, how would they make a living?
So, in the 80s and 90s, Hong Kong films were incredibly diverse and bizarre, having explored almost every possible element.
What came later was mostly rehashing old ideas.
"Cheers!"
At a restaurant, the Yuen Clan was celebrating their success.
In Hong Kong cinema terms, this was a feast of shark fin soup, double-headed abalone, and a super luxurious Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, with a table full of fresh seafood.
"Boss, we've hit it big this time—8 million! Last year, that would've ranked us third!"
"Not necessarily this year. There are so many films being made now, and box office records are being broken faster than a hostess changes shifts. I think making it into the top ten would be good enough."
"Top ten is still great! This is only our first film, and it's already a hit!"
As the leader, Yuen Woo-ping smiled as he watched his brothers.
He hadn't expected *The Miracle Fighters* to perform so well.
If they could keep it running for a while longer, reaching 9 million or even breaking 10 million would be even better.
But he knew that was unlikely because the Lunar New Year season was coming up.
The original King of Comedy, Michael Hui, had a new film, *Security Unlimited*, and Golden Harvest would surely reserve all their theaters for it.
Hong Kong had three major cinema chains: Shaw Brothers with 16 theaters, Golden Harvest with 19, and Golden Princess with 15. There were also some foreign film theaters, small rural cinemas, and eight leftist theaters.
To briefly explain, in later years, a film would typically be released nationwide across all theaters, but that wasn't the case back then.
Shaw Brothers operated on a studio system, producing and distributing their own films exclusively.
For example, Bruce Lee, who was with Golden Harvest, couldn't be seen in Shaw Brothers theaters even at the peak of his fame.
Golden Harvest operated on a satellite company model, setting up companies for Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Michael Hui, and others, investing in and sharing profits with them.
Their theaters mainly screened films from these stars, and only if there were leftover slots would they take in outside films.
Golden Princess had Cinema City under its umbrella, but Cinema City's production capacity was limited and couldn't sustain an entire theater chain.
As a result, they allowed a lot of films from smaller companies, making them the most inclusive.
Occasionally, there were exceptions.
For instance, during Cinema City's peak, Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest would screen each other's films to compete, but most of the time, they kept to themselves.
This situation persisted until the late 90s when the industry declined, and major companies could no longer invest heavily.
Production decreased, and theaters had to open up, leading to unified nationwide releases.
But that's a story for later.
Mainland China also didn't have unified releases at the time, but for different reasons.
Most local cinemas were affiliated with regional film companies.
Provincial companies would buy the film reels and arrange their own screening schedules.
Given the backward conditions and regional disparities, unified releases were impossible.
"..."
Yuen Woo-ping was deep in thought.
While the strong start was good, they needed to maintain momentum.
He still hadn't figured out what to do for their next film.
Suddenly, Yuen Cheung-yan nudged him and whispered, "*Tai Chi* is coming to Hong Kong for promotion. Should we meet them?"
"You want to show support?"
"Not publicly, just a private meeting."
"Then let's not involve too many people. Just invite Ah Kei and Jie for a meal."
Yuen Woo-ping honestly didn't have much of an impression of others, but he couldn't forget these two.
Yuen Cheung-yan nodded, "A small gathering is fine. We don't want the newspapers catching wind of it."
If they publicly showed support, that would be siding with the leftists, and they could be blacklisted in an instant.
A private meeting was the only way.
…………
There were no direct flights from Beijing to Hong Kong at the time.
There were two routes: one was to go to Shanghai first, then take a direct flight to Hong Kong; the other was to go to Guangzhou and cross the border through Shenzhen.
They chose the first option.
Besides the ten-person team, there were a few officials from the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office leading the group, and a leftist representative accompanying them throughout the trip—about a dozen people in total.
At the moment, everyone was already on the plane to Hong Kong.
Gong Xue, who was on a plane for the first time, curiously touched this and that, then noticed how calm Chen Qi was and asked, "Have you been on a plane before?"
"Nope!"
"Then why aren't you surprised at all? Look at Ji Chunhua and the others."
"Comparing people leads to death, comparing goods leads to throwing them away. Some gaps are innate. I'm different from them."
"How are you different? You're just a silly fool!"
"Hey, I understand that one. Don't insult me."
"I'm not insulting you. You're a silly fool!" Gong Xue said with a smirk.
The relationship between a man and a woman changes after physical intimacy—except for those simps who spend millions without even getting into bed.
That's a different species.
After they kissed and visited his home, Gong Xue had become much closer to him, more at ease, and sometimes even teased him.
Seeing her playful attitude, Chen Qi thought, "Who's afraid of whom?" He leaned in closer and said with a grin, "Say it again and see how I deal with you!"
"Are you crazy?"
Gong Xue quickly backed away, hitting him with her small hand, "Everyone's here! What are you doing? Stay away!"
"Is that Moutai free too?"
"Not only free, but each passenger also gets a bottle!"
"Holy... I mean, thank you very much!"
Ji Chunhua, ever loyal, was making a fuss over there, drawing everyone's attention.
It turned out the flight attendant was pushing a cart with meals, and on it was a bottle of Moutai.
Flying to Hong Kong counted as an international flight.
Back then, international flights would give each passenger a bottle of Moutai.
Later, they stopped giving bottles and offered free drinks instead.
Eventually, even that stopped, and Moutai became an investment product.
"Give me some! Give me some!"
"Do they give out Chunghwa cigarettes too?"
"Yes, five per passenger."
"Come on, give me five!"
"What else is there? Bring it all out!"
So embarrassing!
Not just Ji Chunhua, but even Xiong Xinxin and the others weren't much better.
They were all rough-around-the-edges folks who hadn't had much education and were used to hardship.
They'd never seen anything like this before.
Chen Qi spread his hands and gave Gong Xue a look, "See? We're different, right?"
(End of Chapter)