Chapter 497 Homecoming Ceremony
As the much-anticipated year was approaching, Su Yun came to a villa in the suburbs of France, bringing with her the memories of the past that she had collected during this long journey.
During these years, many people have come and gone in a hurry, but the development plan that has been arranged long ago has been moving forward unswervingly and courageously as time passes.
It is like Su Yun's money-making business all over the world, like Hong Kong's planned new development, and even more like the new urban construction plan that was proposed and submitted after Su Yun's influence.
The price a country pays for taking decades to catch up with others that have accumulated hundreds of years of hard work is that it skips many trial and error steps in the process of rapid development and loses a lot of experience gained from mistakes.
But if someone can reverse this unfrustrated thinking, they may be able to achieve some correct paths that have been tested by history to the greatest extent possible.
“We are good at imitating and following trends, but we are also good at integrating the strengths of others and making use of them for our own benefit.” In the movie “New Countryside”, which won Mei Yanshuang another Best Actress award, there is a line that this generation will never forget.
It is also this sentence and this movie, which, with its vision of the future created by light and shadow, warns people of the importance and necessity of urban planning, allowing the vast majority of people who are still confused to see the horror of the abnormal expansion of cities and changing the future thinking of countless people.
This year, Brother Zhao, who is still struggling in mainland China, sent a message saying that because of Hong Kong's successful transformation, the motherland no longer needs to sacrifice the economies of surrounding areas to support Hong Kong. People there can finally put their minds at ease and start converting the originally reserved preferential treatment back into the future budgets of the corresponding regions.
In addition, due to the influence and changes in the thinking of the mainland people from film and television, many policies have been implemented more smoothly in recent years. Therefore, many suggestions proposed by Su Yun and them, such as urban construction and planning, cultural and entertainment development plans, etc., have been taken into consideration in future plans.
Seeing that everything was about to get better, Su Yun took a long vacation after the "Resident Evil" movie series came to an end and traveled around the world to visit old friends.
For a unique memoir that she is about to release, she has traveled thousands of miles, visited all kinds of people and relationships, until she has successfully obtained all the things that need to be collected and approved, and then she returns to her hometown after a long absence with a layer of dust on her body.
At the end of June, a three-hour long film, “Memoirs of Mary Sue,” quietly appeared in front of the world.
This memoir, condensed by light and shadow, begins with Su Yun when she was an eight-year-old girl. It uses a storytelling tone to narrate a long story from a little girl in a housing estate to a Hong Kong entertainment legend.
With her natural talent, she moved from a housing estate to Wutaishan, won the first place in the 18-district primary school student knowledge competition, and then made a fortune during the financial crisis of those crazy years. The future path of a housing estate girl has since turned into a whole new direction of feasting, revelry and bizarreness.
Next, the eccentricity of "The Perfect Match", the purity and clarity of "Artificial Intelligence", the poignant romance of "The Sixth Sense", the pitiful loveliness of "Memoirs of a Geisha" and the freshness and brightness of "The Fault in Our Stars" created an era of infinite heartbeats in the memories of youth.
Those natural disasters and catastrophes, which have moved from the distant screen into the homes of thousands of people and are close to the masses, have become the inevitable pain of growth, teaching people to pick themselves up and stand up again after such setbacks, and embark on the road to stardom in the future.
Afterwards, the old stories of friendship and camaraderie were re-enacted on the big screen. Those praiseworthy stories with laughter and tears were interwoven into a moving movement in this amazing journey of life, inspiring endless inspiration.
Some people believe that this is a great work that is no less than "Oshin's Story", which is known to "truly record the changes of the times".
In particular, the extended version of "Memoirs of Marie Sue: The Complete Record", which is more than a thousand hours long and is even more substantial than the condensed version of the film, uses rare "real filming" throughout the entire process to allow the audience to walk through history and time and glimpse the old images and traces of the past.
This is the memoir of a man who created the myth of the era. It is also a true memory of an era and an extremely precious preservation of the era.
At midnight on June 30, 1997, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre was brightly lit. The handover ceremony, which had gone through a century of twists and turns, would be held grandly on this night in the spotlight of the public.
At the same time, other large venues across Hong Kong were also filled with excited people, looking forward to the final moment of the return amidst a series of dazzling celebratory performances.
The fine rain mist could not block the enthusiasm; the singing, lights and shadows all reached their highest splendor that night.
Ninety-nine years may not be a significant period of time in the long river of history, but when viewed from an individual perspective, it is the obsession of several generations.
With singing and dancing, bright lights and the grand ceremony, the night turns into day, telling the history of this city.
"She is one of the founders of the Cantonese singing world, she is a pioneer of Oriental Hollywood, she is the light of the inheritance of the martial arts spirit; she builds her own path so that everyone can follow the path; she is the eternal pride of us Hong Kong people... Let us welcome the brightest pearl in the East with the warmest applause - "Pearl of the Orient", Su Yun!"
Following the host's call, Su Yun, wearing a gorgeous red dress, walked out slowly. What attracted the most attention was the Grand Bauhinia Medal pendant on her neck, which was adapted from Hong Kong's highest honor and award. The pendant was inlaid with two precious metals, gold and platinum, and the pattern was a golden star supporting a bauhinia flower.
The golden star represents China, the bauhinia flower represents Hong Kong, and the red and gold ribbons surround them to symbolize nobility and honor. Together, they silently and steadily embody the harmony of "one country, two systems."
This is the highest honor under the China-Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's system of awards and commendations, used to recognize outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions to Hong Kong throughout their lives. It has been awarded since 1997.
A total of 11 Grand Bauhinia Medals were awarded this year. The first 10 recipients were all politicians, and only Su Yun, who received a special commendation, entered the entertainment industry. The only two women among the 11 were Tu Yieh-hsi-yin, the "Mother of Integrity" who created the anti-corruption scandal, and Su Yun, known as the "Pearl of Red Shadow".
Red means direction; shadow indicates location; the word "Pearl" is given to this future pillar of Hong Kong's film and television industry!
The red shadow walked slowly over, passing by the flowers and colors on the stage, and glanced at the familiar figures below. Finally, amid the warm applause, it sang a song with the most sincere voice in this situation and this scene.
“Looking back at the past, a hundred years have passed/There have been so many days of bitter wind and rain/The Pearl of the Orient, has endured the training/And gone through hardships and experienced so many changes…” Su Yun sang the song that she had once sung for the great man she most admired, while letting her gaze travel from the strong tea night with autumn wind and rain in the past to the homecoming ceremony of fireworks and rain mist tonight.
“There is more, thousands and thousands of years/This small island, new achievements are made/The Pearl of the Orient, who can envy it/It is like wearing a beautiful and dazzling crown…” As she sang, the St. Paul’s Primary School Children’s Choir followed closely behind her and began to sing along. The melodious and graceful children’s voices, carrying the vicissitudes of the entire Hong Kong region for nearly a hundred years, floated into the moment of the new era, looking forward to the moment when the red flag is raised again.
Looking forward to it, looking forward to it, everyone's eyes were fixed on the distance. In the seemingly boundless night sky, that was their hometown that they had missed for hundreds of years.
When the moment of return officially arrives, the song reaches its climax, the chorus, and the regional dialect is transformed into the same rhythm that is spread across thousands of miles of the motherland.
"Let the sea breeze blow for five thousand years/Every teardrop seems to speak of your dignity/Let the tide accompany me to bless you/Please don't forget my unchanging, yellow face..." The melodious and graceful singing voice becomes fierce and high-pitched with the changes of language and emotion.
When the sky is full of fireworks, the wanderer who has been away from his homeland for many years finally returns to the embrace of his motherland.
At this moment, the hearts of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were officially connected again, becoming an unforgettable memory for everyone who experienced this turn of the century.
Always remember, never forget, and I hope that the hearts connected on both sides of the strait will never be separated again.
From her first arrival in 1972 to the grand return ceremony in 1997, she spent 25 years, a quarter of a century, to realize this magnificent and colorful dream of Hong Kong entertainment.
She had seen and experienced the next twenty-five years and half a century before - but now, this world seemed more prepared and might have a better sequel than she remembered.
And when she looked at those familiar faces filled with smiles, she felt joy from the bottom of her heart, and couldn't help but smile and cry for the fulfillment of those regrets that had been changed.
The person I love and the person who loves me are both in front of me. This is the beautiful world that people dream of.
Many years later, a book recording legendary figures of the golden age, "Old Hong Kong Stories", described her like this: People thought her looks alone were enough to light up an era, but her talent turned out to be even more breathtaking; but at that time, no one would have thought that the young and immature girl who first appeared on the screen would become the dream and nightmare of all men and women born in the same era as her.
Although time is ruthless, the city’s bright lights and charming atmosphere will never fade in the audio-visual and video records that record the city’s stories.
The "Red Pearl" that created the legend of Oriental Hong Kong entertainment has long become a symbol of that glorious era.
As for the final ending of a long story, it is like those audio-visual and visual images that turn the old years into memories. Carrying the traces of those years, it walks through the long river of time and space, and meets generation after generation of later generations again in that magnificent dream.