Chapter 302, next episode? Don't take a break!
The TV series "Director Qin" began filming in the summer of 1981. The lead role of "Qin Xuru" was played by Su Mei, a pillar of the Shanghai Drama Troupe. She was known for her superb acting skills and for portraying strong female characters.
"Director Qin, you're quite different from what I imagined." Su Mei was tall with healthy tan skin, and she was stunned when she met the real "Qin Xiangxiang."
The resolute factory director she had imagined was actually so beautiful and charming, with a pretty oval face, eyebrows like a crescent moon, and eyes like water apricots. Her round and large eyes showed almost no trace of scheming.
This was completely different from the infallible Factory Director Qin she had imagined, one who could "devise strategies within the command tent and win battles a thousand miles away."
Is it true that "you can't judge a book by its cover"?
Qin Xiangxiang said, "What you and I think is exactly the same."
She looks like a female warrior, as if she's always charging into battle.
Su Mei sincerely asked Qin Xiangxiang, "Director Qin, what kind of turbulent emotions did you experience when you decided to implement the reforms?"
Qin Xiangxiang was silent for a few seconds: "..."
"The Shangpu Textile Factory is not far from Lannidu. It's a mess that nobody wants to take over. People say, 'I'd rather have a bed in Puxi than a room in Pudong.' How would you feel if you took over such a mess?"
Qin Xiang thought to himself: Of course, it's just delaying!
With a determined look in her eyes, Su Mei said, "I believe that no matter how great the difficulties, I will find a way to overcome them!"
"Director Qin, I understand your belief back then. I will definitely complete the task assigned to me by the organization."
Qin Xiangxiang: "???!!!!"
The role of Secretary Li is played by Chen Jiaye, a character actor who frequently portrays various leading cadres; the role of Assistant He is played by Zhou Yukang, a young actor from the drama troupe, who is handsome and clever, completely unlike the sycophantic Su Peisheng he played in the past; and the role of Liu Manfu is played by Sun Hao, an excellent actor who plays villainous roles...
After the cast was finalized, Director Xie led the crew back to the former Feiyan Textile Factory on the island to film the story that begins in 1970.
Originally planned as a 15-episode series, "Director Qin" was expanded by the screenwriters, who felt that 15 episodes would not be enough to tell the story of Director Qin. It was decided to film the first 10 episodes of "Director Qin" first, and if the response was strong and funds were raised, "Director Qin Sequel" would be filmed.
Filmed chronologically, the first ten episodes are mostly set on an island, which left the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television somewhat bewildered. The original intention was to promote the story of the reform of state-owned factories in Shanghai... but now, it seems to be starting from the creation of the world by Pangu.
They read Qin Xiangxiang's story, each one engrossed in the book.
"This experience should be preserved."
"This part is also very exciting!"
"Extremely difficult to part with."
"...Keep them all, so that the people of Shanghai can learn more about Director Qin's 'real experiences'."
Director Xie and his crew filmed from summer until winter of 1981. After intensive production, the first ten episodes of the TV series "Director Qin" were broadcast on Shanghai TV in early 1982.
Initially, during prime-time commercial breaks, television showed snippets of the trailer for "Director Qin," edited together with flashbacks of the textile factory's reforms, accompanied by the narration: "Everyone knows she's a pioneer of reform, but nobody knows where she came from..."
"Factory Director Qin? It's that Factory Director Qin again?"
"Where did we come from? We came from our mother's womb... I'm sick of hearing Director Qin's story. Fine, fine, let her reform, let her reform. I can recite Director Qin's battle of wits against Liu Manfu by heart."
"It's not exciting anymore."
"Could you film some stories about other factory managers?"
...
When Sun Xianjin, the director of the Tenth Textile Factory, heard the discussion among the citizens, he felt secretly pleased. He thought to himself: "Of course, this Director Qin is an old story. Who wants to listen to her reforms every day?"
"If the response is bad and 'Director Qin' is met with a cold reception, then come and listen to the story of my Director Sun's reforms!"
By 1982, the majority of the articles in the newspapers were stories of reforms by factory directors across the country. Reforms were happening all the time, one after another, and many of them ended up as a complete mess.
Although the factory manager's story is still the mainstream at this time, it is also easy to arouse resentment, because people have seen too many stories about factory managers by now.
People hate rehashing old ideas.
However, there were very few television programs in the early 1980s, and many people still turned on the TV at fixed times and tuned in to Shanghai TV channels out of curiosity about TV dramas.
"Although I've heard the story on the radio, I'm curious to see what new tricks this 'Director Qin' can come up with."
Many people watched the first episode of "Director Qin" on TV, where a ship carrying the army arrived at the island and Qin, heavily pregnant, discussed land acquisition.
The television footage vividly depicted Factory Director Qin, pregnant with her daughter, communicating repeatedly with the doubtful commune members under the scorching sun. Her communication did not stop at shouting slogans, but relied on practical guarantees such as "when the factory is built in the future, it will solve the employment of family members" to move people's hearts.
Land acquisition, relocation of ancestral graves, handling of member relations—a factory rose from the ground. In the early days of entrepreneurship, the journey was arduous and arduous.
After the factory was built, batches of machines were delivered. Without technical support, "Factory Director Qin," her face smeared with machine oil, worked alongside the workers through the night, adjusting machine parameters and carefully listening to the noise until it became steady. At that moment, a relieved smile appeared on her face, and she fell asleep on a cotton swab next to her, exhausted.
...
"My God! That's how Factory Director Qin started! So many difficulties."
"The sight of her sleeping on the cotton swabs, looking so haggard, was truly heartbreaking!"
Even Zhou Aodong, a woman with a hard heart, couldn't help but turn her face away and wipe away her hot tears as she watched "Factory Director Qin" on TV.
This is so heartbreaking.
"Mommy, am I the one in your tummy?"
"...Hmm." Qin Xiangxiang stared blankly at the scene on TV. Was this how things happened back then? It seemed to have happened—land acquisition, machine debugging... But it didn't seem to be like that.
confused!
Li Jianzhi: "Your mother had a very hard pregnancy with you. When she was about to give birth, your maternal grandmother came over and made your mother study textile machinery. They said that she should study even if her water broke!"
Little Li Qinghui was extremely shocked!
Her mother was so diligent when she was pregnant with her... but why didn't she have that much energy? Instead, she was so lazy.
Zhou Aodong sighed: "I didn't know you had such a hard life. No wonder you were selected as a provincial model worker at such a young age. It's really not easy."
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
Li Jianzhi put his arm around his wife's shoulder and said, "It's really not easy!"
Qin Xiangxiang raised her hand and pinched his increasingly mature and handsome face, then glared at him with her beautiful eyes, indicating: You know what kind of person I am!
"Sui Sui, you must take good care of your mother from now on."
After the first two episodes of "Director Qin" aired, they caused a huge sensation. Citizens became curious about the process of "Director Qin" founding Feiyan Textile Factory and were even eager to know what would happen next.
"This Factory Director Qin is truly remarkable; he single-handedly built up the textile factory."
"No wonder, she's such a capable person."
...
Mawangdui, the Canton Fair, provincial gifts, the Khmer prince... As the plot rapidly unfolds, we arrive at the highlight and most exciting part of the story: the fight against the typhoon.
In the scene, as a typhoon strikes, Factory Director Qin organizes the workers to orderly salvage the factory's textiles. Meanwhile, Director Xie, who is filming the movie "Blue Sea Silver Shuttle" on the island, has captured this breathtaking scene on film—in the wind and rain, the workers, undeterred by the natural disaster, fight tenaciously with resolute eyes.
The first ten episodes ended abruptly here, followed only by a "sequel trailer":
"The Blue Sea and the Silver Shuttle" aired on television as a film within a film, while these true stories appeared as a post-credits scene with narration:
"This film is dedicated to all the brave warriors who fight against the sea."
In the screening room at the Canton Fair, audiences from home and abroad watched the black-and-white documentary footage with tears in their eyes.
...
When the TV series "Director Qin" reached this point, real film footage from "The Blue Sea and the Silver Shuttle" appeared directly on the screen. This intertextuality across time and space deeply immersed all the viewers, and the emotional impact and realism reached their peak at this moment!
This actually happened!
Many viewers in front of their televisions burst into tears: "So the female textile worker in 'The Blue Sea and the Silver Shuttle' is also Director Qin!"
"She is a hero who bravely resists the storm!"
"Director Qin is a remarkable person."
...
When will the next episode air?
"What?! There's no next episode? It just ends here?"
"Wait, isn't this supposed to be a story about the reform of the Shangpu Factory? It was cut off before it even came to Shanghai?"
Television viewers were shocked to realize that the tenth episode had already ended. They were practically going crazy. The plot—did it end here?
"That's it? That's all for these ten episodes?"
"Why not make another episode and release it as a movie? I heard that the movie was shown to foreigners at the Canton Fair, and that Master Zhu, wasn't he criticizing Director Qin's patchwork embroidered shirt?"
"What? Is that true? Where did you hear that from?"
"In the past, Master Zhu wrote a lot of articles criticizing Factory Director Qin in the newspapers..."
"It stops right here, the director must have done it on purpose! I curse that director to never be able to poop!"
"I also curse that director will never be able to poop!"
...
Countless television viewers wrote letters and made phone calls to the Shanghai Television Bureau, strongly urging them to quickly finish filming all the episodes of "Director Qin".
Director Xie himself received countless urgings from relatives and friends:
Where did you film?
"Old Xie, you need to finish filming the sequel quickly! We're all cursing you out! We're saying you're a terrible person! How could you leave it hanging like this! Everyone's itching to see it."
"Don't you dare rest!"
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