1990My Entertainment System

Chapter 184 96 Spring Festival Gala
At 8 p.m. on February 18, the 1996 Spring Festival Gala started broadcasting on time.

This year's gala adopted a three-location live broadcast format, with the main venue in Beijing, a branch venue in Shanghai, and a branch venue in Chang'an, allowing the Spring Festival Gala to extend beyond Beijing and let audiences outside of Beijing experience the atmosphere of the live gala.

The main venue was still hosted by Zhao Zhongxiang and Sister Ni.

Before the show even started, a children's song group called "Childlike Innocence and Fun" appeared, and the first song was "Counting Ducks," written by Xia Tian.

A flock of ducks were braised under the bridge in front of the gate.
Nowadays, people are more casual about the Spring Festival Gala in the summer. Some even don't pay much attention to the earlier performances backstage, since they've already seen them during rehearsals.

Until Guo Da and Cai Ming's skit "The Amusing Tale of Robots".

Cai Ming: It's okay if you can't sleep, you don't have to stew my head! Put my head next to your pillow and I'll tell you stories. I'm especially good at telling ghost stories, like "A Pair of Embroidered Shoes," "The Blue Skull," and "The Green Corpse."

Then came Pan Zi's skit "Crossing the River"!
The skit lacked sufficient conflict, so some song and dance elements were added to compensate for the lack of tension.

They both acted and sang, quite in a Indian style~
Unexpectedly, combining "song skits" and "comedy skits" has a wonderful effect!

Is there a boat? The boat is here!
A winding river flows before the brother, while his sister sings a sweet song on the opposite bank. Waves surge in the brother's heart; sister, when will you let me cross your river?
Unfortunately, now whenever Xia Tian sees Pan Zi, she thinks of how he "will seek benefits for his family" in the future.

He just couldn't get into it.
There's also "A Working Adventure" starring Zhao Lirong and Gong Hanlin!
Empress Dowager Restaurant
Our manager said he's not here.
Is she the Empress Dowager who ate over 200 dishes in one meal?
No, no, no... I'm a PN (Parent of Eight Generations), her background is too strong, I won't pretend to be one.

While others sit, I stand; while others eat, I watch. Wouldn't that make Empress Dowager Cixi rather miserable?
Fabric sellers have fabric shills, sock sellers have sock shills, shoe sellers have shoe shills, and I'm the food shill!
One hundred and eighty cups of imperial jade liquor.

This joke later became a way to identify whether someone was a "netizen from northern China," showing that it has become a memorable point in the memories of a generation!
The part sung by Zhao Lirong and Gong Hanlin includes: "Imperial Jade Liquor, 180 yuan a glass, how's this wine? Let me tell you... One glass whets your appetite, I exclaimed 'Delicious!' Two glasses won't harm your kidneys, still delicious!"
This is a modified version of a aria from the old Pingju opera "The Cheapskate".

How should I put this play?
The story is about a man who was frequently beaten by his wife and wanted to commit suicide. Then he met another masochistic man who enjoyed being beaten by his wife.
But his wife wouldn't hit him, so the two couples... switched places!

It featured a classic Japanese storyline~
This play was banned because it was considered lowbrow.

Therefore, the laughter of those who know their stuff is quite different from the laughter of ordinary viewers when watching a skit these days.
The next impressive work was the skit "Three Whips" performed by Zhao Benshan and Teacher Fan from northern Liaoning!
In front is Gaozhuang, behind is Zhaozhuang, this is Majiahezi. Do you understand?
Your honking is like the news tree falling down back then. Forget about people, even the barely breathing animals: chickens won't listen to their calls, pigs won't let you touch them, dogs are climbing hills, and even the turtles in the pond are scared into shock—they're all afraid it'll be their turn to end up on the dinner table.

This area is full of pits I designed, big pits inside small pits, deep pits inside old pits, and there's water in the pits, and nails in the water. Once you go in, you'll disappear without a trace.

As it turned out, the foreigners were very decisive. They got things done in just three sentences. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

This road is neglected; it's full of bumps and ditches. People come in cars to drink, then speed back home after their drinks. This road is truly unique; it hasn't been paved for years. Fertilizer can't be transported in for spring planting, and persimmons from greenhouses can't be transported out! The people are crying their eyes out in desperation!

When I, Old Zhao, crack my whip three times, the villagers immediately gather to welcome the county magistrate.
Hahahahaha! ! !
If you were to compile a disc of classic Spring Festival Gala performances from all over the years, these skits would definitely qualify for inclusion!
Later, somehow, Huang Hong and Ms. Xu, the lover of the pants guy, actually put on a skit together?

As for the content, I can't remember it.

……

Then came the summer program, featuring the song "Women Are Tigers".

The young monk went down the mountain to beg for alms, and the old monk gave him instructions.
The women down the mountain are like tigers; if you encounter them, stay far away!
These days, the Spring Festival Gala is really daring. If it were ten years from now, this song definitely wouldn't be allowed on! Why do I say that?

The song was sung very well, with great flavor. It was also very cheerful, which suited the atmosphere of the Spring Festival Gala quite well.

That's right, that's right! When Xia Tian sang this song, I wonder how many friends who know his background will burst out laughing!
The women down the mountain are like tigers; you'd better stay away from them in the summer!
Summer: Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Later, La Ying also sang a duet with Mao Ning called "We'll Always Wait for That Day".

Then there's my good friend Sally Yeh, whom I met in Hong Kong this summer—we invited her here this year.

Then there's Tong Ange, who frequently interacts with the audience during his performances and is much more lively than mainland singers.

...When I got home in the summer, the Spring Festival Gala hadn't even finished airing yet.

There weren't many new songs on this year's Spring Festival Gala; most of them were medleys of old songs, the kind that are decades old!

"Lift Your Veil," "The Wine of September 9th," "Little White Poplar," "Let's Sing and Dance with Hand Drums," "Where the Peach Blossoms Bloom," "Kangding Love Song," "Meeting at the Aobao," "Picking Water Chestnuts," "The Girl from Alishan"...

There are also songs like "Song of the Yangtze River," "Ode to the Yellow River," and "Toast Song"!
It gives off a classic, nostalgic feeling?
When I first saw the finalized program list in the summer, I had a feeling of "What am I doing here? Is this still 1996?"

A classic being recreated?!

The final performance was Li Guyi's "Unforgettable Tonight"!
The performers from the three venues sang together, bringing this year's Spring Festival Gala to a close.

……

The Spring Festival Gala is playing here, firecrackers are going off there, people are eating dumplings, and the New Year celebrations have already begun!
After the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, everyone starts working, and the new year begins.

During the summer, before and after the Lunar New Year, I met and talked with friends from all over the country who came to Beijing, explaining some things and some general strategic directions.

This year, another two hundred or so people came, and we all ate together, sharing information and expanding our networks...

In the summer, they managed to get the idle staff of Tianxia Entertainment back together and set up the crew for "Tai Chi Master," waiting for the weather to warm up before starting filming.

On the other hand, they received some news!
Weren't we waiting all summer? Waiting for the internet boom to arrive.

Like a fierce tiger lying in wait on a desolate hill, patiently concealing its claws and teeth.
Meanwhile, others who had high hopes for the internet couldn't hold back any longer.

In March, the first internet company in China emerged!
In early spring in Beijing, a huge billboard suddenly appeared at Zhongguancun, the southern gateway to China's Silicon Valley.

The large characters above read: How far are Chinese people from the information superhighway? — 1500 meters to the north.

Continue north for 1500 meters, and you'll find Yinghaiwei, the first internet company in China!
Its founder is Ms. Zhang Shuxin.

That shows exceptional insight and courage!

That place is not actually Yinghaiwei's headquarters, but a science and education center set up by Yinghaiwei—specifically used to popularize Internet knowledge to the public.

Teaching people how to use the internet gives me a feeling of being a first-generation network administrator.
It can be said that China's first generation of internet users were largely developed through Yinghaiwei.

It allows users to register on Yinghaiwei and provides them with services such as chatting, sending and receiving emails, browsing news, and making friends.

At this time, its money-making methods were also very primitive—it calculated money based on the time users spent on the forum!
What do you say?
This is the biggest problem in the first stage of the development of emerging things—profitability!

If this problem isn't solved, then the first rafter to stick out will rot!

Finally, Yinghaiwei is a very large company, after all, it has no competitors.

Its biggest "competitor" is broadband service fees!
The money from netizens' internet fees simply couldn't sustain it. So it went under!

A genius is half a step ahead of others; a madman is a full step ahead.

The reason why Xia Tian didn't compete for first place is that there needs to be a "pioneer" role to help force "hardware and network upgrades"!
We will continue to pay close attention to Yinghaiwei throughout the summer!
In fact, among the first batch of users to go to Yinghaiwei, there were more than a dozen people from Xia Tian. They were using Xia Tian's money to go online "at public expense"!
After all, these first batch of netizens are very valuable.

Even though Yinghaiwei went bankrupt in the future, these netizens should cherish what they had for him.
First, get the influential "big V" accounts involved; then, they can directly drive traffic to your website.
A straightforward and unpretentious business battle, hehe~
(End of this chapter)