Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 961 Zaijiu Hall (23)

How about building a film and television city?
You've got a screw loose!
I'm going to make an art film and build a film studio too?
Besides, the ancient city of Danzhou itself contains the remains of Su Dongpo…

Why build a film and television city?
Local officials accompanied us for a day, and we discussed many ideas, such as combining the film and television city with the Ocean Flower Island cultural tourism city...

Shen Yan remained silent...

Seeing that Shen Yan wasn't interested, they changed the receptionists the next day...

This time it went much more smoothly...

The story of "Zaijiu Hall" is very simple; it recounts Su Shi's three years in Danzhou...

When Su Shi arrived in Hainan, he felt that he would never be able to return there in this lifetime, and that he would most likely die there.

Therefore, in a letter to a friend, he wrote: "Now that I have arrived in Hainan, the first thing I will do is prepare a coffin, and the next thing a tomb. I will leave a note for my sons, and when I die, I will be buried overseas." In a letter to Su Zhe, he also wrote: "Hainan, thousands of miles away, is truly my hometown."

In order to punish Su Shi, Zhang Dun imposed the following three prohibitions on Su Shi after his exile: first, he was not allowed to eat government rations; second, he was not allowed to live in government residences; and third, he was not allowed to sign official documents.

It is said that his friend Foyin once wanted to visit him in Hainan, but he wrote a letter to decline, saying that he was living a life of "no meat to eat, no medicine when sick, no house to live in, no friends to go out with, no charcoal in winter, and no cool spring in summer".

With his meager savings, Su Shi bought a small plot of land under a sago palm grove south of Danzhou City and, with the help of the local people, built several thatched huts, which he named "Sago Palm Hermitage".

Generally speaking, the expenses of exiled persons are borne by themselves and are unrelated to the local area.

But Su Shi is famous throughout the world!
Moreover, the Li people of Hainan are simple, kind, generous, and hospitable, and people often bring food and other necessities to Su Shi and his son.

Of course, Su Shi is Su Shi; his despondency was only temporary. Now that he's back to living his life, he's started thinking about food again.

Then, I was very happy.

The locals mainly eat sweet potatoes, and the father and son created a dish called "Jade Rice Porridge". They also wrote a poem about it: "Its fragrance is like ambergris, yet it is still thick and white; its taste is like milk, yet it is still clear".

That wasn't all; he also greatly expanded the recipes. In his poem to his younger brother Su Ziyou, "Hearing that Ziyou is thin in Dan'er and can hardly find meat," he wrote: "I see pork every five days, and chicken porridge every ten days. The locals eat taro every meal, and are served with smoked rats and roasted bats."

Eating pork and chicken is one thing, but smoking rat meat and roasting bats...

Of course, Su Shi couldn't just focus on food. According to historical records of Danzhou, during his more than three years in Danzhou, Su Shi spared no effort in spreading Central Plains civilization to the local Li people.

To spread civilization, they vigorously produced ink.

At that time, Hainan was short of writing brushes and ink, especially ink, which was very expensive.

In his essay "On Pan Heng's Ink," Su Shi recounts that Pan Heng, an ink merchant from Jinhua, came to Danzhou to make ink. He obtained a lot of pine soot, but the quality of the ink was very poor. Su Shi instructed him to increase the distance between the stove and the chimney, and to make the stove wider. As a result, although the amount of pine soot was only half of what it used to be, the ink was blacker and of better quality. This is the origin of the famous saying, "Hainan pine soot, Su Shi's method of making ink."

Incidentally, he also preached, taught, and resolved doubts, and founded the "Zaijiu Hall".

Zaijiu Hall was named after the story of "carrying wine to inquire about characters" in the Biography of Yang Xiong in the Book of Han. In the Qing Dynasty, Wang Fangqing, a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination), and Tang Bingzhang, a Juren (successful candidate in the provincial imperial examination), taught here, and Zaijiu Hall was officially renamed "Dongpo Academy".

On the surface, "Zaijiu Hall" was a "club" where Su Shi drank and made merry with his friends. In reality, it was a place where he made friends through literature, sought knowledge and insights, and promoted education. His most significant contribution was personally nurturing several outstanding local students.

Previously, no one from Hainan had participated in the imperial examinations, and no one from Hainan had ever held an official position in the Central Plains.

Ancient scholars and officials were immersed in the moral world created by "poetry, books, rites and changes," pursuing the grand ambition of self-cultivation, family harmony, national order and world peace. Under the teaching of "a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen," they mostly disdained the lower classes!

However, in that era when “children were taxed as adults and the dead were taxed as corpses,” the brilliance of the teachings of the sages remained only in books and in words, and would never be reflected in the imperial court or the lives of the common people.

Jiang Tangzuo was originally a teacher at the local school and a learned man.

He taught diligently while also immersing himself in his studies. Unfortunately, he failed the imperial examinations several times.

Upon learning that Su Shi had been demoted to Danzhou, Jiang Tangzuo brought his elderly mother from Qiongshan to become his disciple and served him by his side, thus deeply learning from Su Shi.

Jiang Tangzuo possesses an extraordinary temperament, and his writing style is upright, generous, well-organized, and has a strong Central Plains flavor.

Before he went to Guangzhou to take the imperial examination, Su Shi inscribed two lines of poetry on his fan: "The sea has never severed the earth's veins, and Zhuyai has broken new ground from this day forward." He also encouraged him, saying, "When you pass the imperial examination in the future, I will write this poem for you."

The following year, Jiang Tangzuo took this fan with him when he went north to take the imperial examination.

When they arrived in Ruzhou, they visited Su Zhe, who had been relieved of his exile and was on his way to take up his post in Ruzhou. Su Zhe was deeply moved and picked up the fan that his brother had carried, adding the last two lines for Jiang Tangzuo: "In his brocade robes, people will soon flock to see him; only then will I believe that Su Dongpo's vision is far superior."

Meanwhile, Su Zhe told Jiang Tangzuo that Su Shi's demotion order had also been lifted. However, Su Shi had already passed away on his way back north.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tangzuo felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Therefore, he told Su Zhe that he would no longer participate in any exams, but would return to his hometown to open a school and continue to spread the seeds of Central Plains culture sown by his teacher Su Shi.

Jiang Tangzuo returned to his hometown, started a school, and lived out his days there.

Jiang Tangzuo's groundbreaking act paved the way for the subsequent emergence of numerous talented individuals in Hainan. From then on, through the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, Hainan produced nearly a thousand successful candidates in the imperial examinations (举人 and 进士). For example, Hai Rui of the Ming Dynasty was from Qiongshan, Hainan, and Soong Ching-ling, hailed as "a great woman of the 20th century," was from Wenchang, Hainan…

A very simple story…

It's a record of people.

Jiang Tangzuo will be played by Shen Yan…

The script is simple; the most important thing is the cinematic presentation!
According to Shen Yan's vision, he wanted a near-black and white color scheme, with scenes of people reciting poems to express their feelings in the misty mountains and forests, or silently sighing at the moon, the sea, and the stars amidst the vast expanse of water. He wanted all these scenes to convey a classical and graceful beauty.

As for the clothing design, officials wore white official robes and black official hats, while the common people wore dark coarse linen clothes and had disheveled black hair.

Using only black and white, the story can easily distinguish between officials and ordinary people. It tells the stories of officials and ordinary people between black and white, allowing the audience to follow the life trajectories of different people and see how the characters in the torrent of the times drift between black and white. Black or white is itself a choice.

After estimating the set construction progress, Shen Yan told the photographer, "It looks like filming won't start until June. I'm going back to Xiangshan now..."

The photographer is Ms. Shao Dan, whose photographic style is characterized by distinct color blocks and clean lighting…

His representative works include "The Death of Wang Bo," "Lovers of Tianshan," "Village Opera," "The Secret of Fuchun Mountain," and the "Running Man" movie...

The main reason Shen Yan asked him to be the photographer for "Zaijiutang" was because of Liu Yin's recommendation... He was Liu Yin's senior!

Hearing that Shen Yan was leaving, Shao Dan wasn't surprised at all: "Go ahead and go... I'll keep an eye on the set construction... I'm planning to shoot some location scenes in Vietnam..."

"Vietnam?"

"...Danzhou is too developed here, it doesn't seem like the Northern Song Dynasty!"

"Alright, then you take them with you..."

Shen Yan pointed to the group of new directors who were discussing things nearby…

They were all assistant directors that Shen Yan found!

(End of this chapter)