Huayu: Starting from joining the mainstream entertainment industry in 96

Chapter 415, Section 413: Traitors!
On April 23, 2002, the war of words in Hong Kong Island not only failed to subside, but intensified due to Wang Sheng's neither humble nor arrogant statement.

Some media outlets, like sharks smelling blood, continued their attack, and some even fabricated baseless accusations such as "Shengying Group suppressing new Hong Kong film talents" and "Wang Sheng demanding that his artists choose sides."

However, Wang Sheng appeared unusually relaxed at this moment.

In the study of the Peninsula Hotel suite, he was listening to Li Tingting's report.

"Mr. Wang, through some...unspeakable channels, we have made a preliminary understanding of the main forces behind this."

Li Tingting placed a concise report in front of Wang Sheng, saying, "The ones that are jumping the gun the most are mainly these few companies."

Wang Sheng picked up the report and glanced at it:
Some conservative members of the “Hong Kong Island Film Workers Association”, led by Cheung Hung.

They have long held the power to dictate the industry's discourse, viewed mainland capital as a dangerous threat, and worried about the potential loss of their vested interests.

Zhang Xiong himself has close ties with several local small film companies.

Apple Daily and the Li Ying faction behind it.

This newspaper is known for its inflammatory reporting and pro-democracy stance. It seized this opportunity to portray Wang Sheng as a symbol of "mainland hegemony" in order to stir up public sentiment and expand its influence.

Some film critics and columnists who have close ties with traditional Hong Kong-funded film production companies such as China Star.

These companies have experienced a decline in performance in recent years, and they are filled with jealousy and vigilance towards Shengying Media, a "newcomer" that has risen rapidly by relying on the mainland market. They are happy to see it suffer setbacks.

A loose organization called the "Cultural Defense Alliance" is led by producer Chen Guanzhong.

This person uses the slogan of "defending the uniqueness of Hong Kong Island's culture" but is actually opportunistic and adept at gaining attention by creating conflict. His funding sources are complex and he has close ties with certain overseas NGOs.

"Sure enough, all sorts of demons and monsters have jumped out."

Wang Sheng chuckled and tossed the report back onto the table. "That's all the strategy we have. Leave Li Ying's line alone for now; fate will take care of it."

The other companies... you arrange for someone to "accidentally" leak some information we have about Zhang Xiong and his small companies' "legal tax avoidance" and bullying of new actors on set to their rival media.

"Investigate Chen Guanzhong's 'alliance' accounts and overseas financial transactions, and find an opportunity to send an 'anonymous gift' to the Independent Commission Against Corruption."

He was a regular soldier, so suppressing rebels was a piece of cake for him.

“Understood, Mr. Wang.” Li Tingting quickly took notes. “Regarding public opinion, should we continue to respond passively?”

"Passive? No."

Wang Sheng stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the small number of reporters still gathered downstairs. "Let them fight their battles, we'll fight ours. Let the traditional media bark if they want. We're going to open up a new battlefield."

He turned around, his eyes gleaming with a sharp business sense: "Tingting, contact two people immediately and ask them to come to Hong Kong Island as soon as possible. One is Mr. Ma from Tencent, and the other is Mr. Zeng."

Li Tingting was a little surprised, but she immediately agreed: "Okay, Mr. Wang. I'll contact him right away."

……

Two days later, February 25th.

In another highly private meeting room at the Peninsula Hotel on Hong Kong Island, Wang Sheng met Little Ma and Zeng Liqing, who had rushed over.

At this point, compared to two years ago when he received investment from Wang Sheng, Pony Ma was less green and more composed, showing more of the maturity one would expect from someone leading a rapidly growing internet company.

Zeng Liqing, on the other hand, remained as eloquent and persuasive as ever.

Accompanying them was Zhang Zhidong, one of Tencent's Five Tigers, a technical genius.

"Mr. Wang, thank you for waiting." After introducing Zhang Zhidong with a smile, Brother Ma shook hands with Wang Sheng with a respectful attitude.

He knew full well what this young "financial backer" and strategic guide meant to Tencent.

Tencent is no longer what it was two years ago. Mobile Dream Network and Legend have brought Tencent a huge cash flow, supporting their launch of Q coins next month, followed by the launch of various value-added paid items.

“President Wang,” Zeng Liqing said succinctly, her eyes questioning.

"Brother Ma, Engineer Zeng, please have a seat."

After a few pleasantries, Wang got straight to the point: "The reason I invited the three of you here today is because I have a new idea that requires the technical expertise of Tencent and the experience of Engineer Zhang to work together to realize it."

He paused for a moment, then clearly stated his idea: "I want to create a website, or rather, an online platform."

Its core functions are twofold. First, it serves as a database of movie information and a community for movie fans to exchange ideas, where users can rate movies, write reviews, and share their opinions. Second, and more importantly, it enables online movie ticket selection and purchase.

Is it technically possible?

Xiao Ma and Zeng Liqing looked at Zhang Zhidong.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Zhidong replied, "While there are still many limitations in the technical environment and infrastructure, the core functions are already feasible. Technically, dynamic web page technologies based on ASP/.NET or PHP are relatively mature and sufficient to support interactive functions such as user registration, posting, commenting, and rating (e.g., a five-star system)."

The database can handle the initial traffic using SQL Server or MySQL.

He thought for a moment and continued, "In terms of content, we need to assemble an editing team to manually input and maintain the film database, such as film titles, directors, actors, plot summaries, posters, etc."

The community format can draw inspiration from BBS and blog models, establishing sub-forums such as by film or genre, encouraging users to generate content, and creating an early film review community atmosphere.

It can be integrated with the QQ system to enable quick login or community interaction reminders.

"As for the online seat selection and ticketing system..."

Zhang Zhidong did some mental calculations: "In terms of hardware infrastructure, as of now, the national cinema computer network ticketing system has been initially established in mainstream cinema chains such as 'China Film Shengshi,' which is the data foundation for realizing online seat selection."

However, the interfaces of different cinema chains and theater systems are different, requiring individual integration, which is a huge workload.

He added, "The biggest challenge lies in payment methods. Although online banking transfers exist, they are extremely inconvenient, requiring users to have and activate online banking, which is cumbersome and has a very high barrier to entry for users."

Other alternatives, such as mobile phone bill payment, require cooperation with telecom operators (China Mobile and China Unicom) to deduct small amounts of money via SMS confirmation.

It's technically feasible, but it requires negotiating revenue sharing with operators, which is a complex process.

After analyzing the situation, Zhang Zhidong offered what he considered the most feasible solution: "I think using virtual point cards or recharge cards is the easiest."

They used offline channels such as the "Light and Shadow World" chain stores, partner internet cafes, and newsstands to sell "movie ticket recharge cards" specifically for the website.

After selecting a seat on the website, users enter their card number and password to complete the payment.

This solution bypasses the challenges of online payments and makes full use of our existing offline channel resources.

"There's another way..."

Little Ma added.

"In what way?"

Wang Sheng looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Pony Ma explained, "Mr. Wang, here's the thing: we'll be launching a virtual currency next month, which we'll tentatively call Q Coin. One Q Coin is equivalent to one yuan. It's mainly to help users pay for their various digital services more conveniently, such as QQ memberships, etc. However, it can also be used on this ticketing website; we just need to connect the interface."

"..."

Wang Sheng imagined the shady things Little Ma might do in the future.

He thought about it for a moment and didn't offer any advice.

Little Ma (Ma Huateng) is the one who suffers this loss.

Wang Sheng changed the subject, saying, "Let's stick with Engineer Zhang's proposal and discuss the cooperation model..."

First, a new subsidiary will be established, with Shengying Media holding an absolute controlling stake, while Tencent will invest in the company with technology and some capital (accounting for a minority stake). The Tencent team and the Shengying team will be responsible for the core system development and technical support.

The website must have a firm grasp of user and consumption data, and be deeply integrated with the ticketing systems of "China Film Shengshi Cinema Circuit" and other cooperative cinema circuits under the Shengshi Group to ensure priority in film scheduling and ticket availability.

It's not about trying to become a giant overnight, but about proceeding in stages:
Phase 1 (before the end of 2002): Complete the basic website infrastructure and launch the film review community. Pilot online seat selection and prepaid card payment functions in some core cinemas under "China Film Group".

Phase Two (2003): Integrate more cinema chains, improve payment and ticket collection processes, and conduct initial traffic generation and marketing in conjunction with QQ.

The third stage (2004 and later): With the increasing convenience of online banking, a gradual transition to more convenient online payment methods was achieved. Simultaneously, accumulated data was used to develop value-added services such as targeted marketing and box office prediction.

Wang Sheng explained this phased and pragmatic plan in detail to Ma, Zeng, and Zhang.

Little Ma and Zeng Liqing listened with gleam in their eyes.

They saw the enormous potential of this traffic entry point and the future potential in online payment and local life services, which perfectly aligned with their vision for Tencent's future development.

"Mr. Wang, this is an excellent direction! Tencent will fully cooperate, the technical team is on standby at any time, and QQ's traffic resources can also be allocated!"

Zhang Zhidong, however, was more concerned with the technical details. After a moment of contemplation, he nodded and said, "There are no problems on the technical level. Although the integration with the cinema system is complicated, it can be overcome."

The recharge card system shares similarities with our "Legend" game's point card system, so we can learn from it. I personally led the team that developed the core architecture.

"it is good!"

Wang Sheng nodded in satisfaction, "Then it's settled. Preparations for the new company will begin immediately, with Sheng Ying in charge, and Tencent and your team (Zeng Gong) as shareholders."

Let's call it 'Cat's Eye'. We want to make watching movies, from getting information to buying tickets and entering the theater, simpler and more fun.

(End of this chapter)