And TVB temporarily parted - the golden supporting actor Gu Minghua "came up", staying in an isolated hotel for 101 days a year

Economic Observer reporter Zhang Rui, like most of Hong Kong's golden supporting characters, the name Gu Minghua may not be familiar to mainland audiences. However, if his face appears on the screen, countless classic Hong Kong dramas shot by Hong Kong Television Broadcasting Corporation Limited (TVB) will also emerge.

The 57-year-old Gu Minghua, who has spent nearly half of his life in TVB, has starred in "Domestic Lingling Paint" with Stephen Chow, played nightclub bosses, underworld gangsters, company executives, etc. in four "Forensic Pioneers", and participated in the roles of "Deer Ding", "Tianlong Eight Parts", "WashEd Injustice Record", "Forensic Record", how many roles have been played? Even he couldn't remember clearly. In 2012, Gu Minghua won the title of "Best Supporting Actor" at the Ten Thousand Stars Awards Ceremony hosted by TVB.

TVB is a glorious mark on a generation of Hong Kong artists, as well as for mainland audiences and for Koo Ming-wah. However, in early 2020, after Gu Minghua's contract with TVB expired, he chose to leave temporarily and try to develop in the mainland. He said that not renewing his contract was not because TVB's salary was rumored to be low, but because he felt that it was time to "have to step out first".

From Hong Kong to the mainland, Gu Minghua used to say "up". In his mouth, the interior is not called the interior, he often says "motherland". In May 2020, Gu Minghua and another former Hong Kong TVB signed artist Tang Junming officially signed a contract with a media company in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, starting from the operation of Douyin, and developing business in various cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

231,000, which is the number of fans in Gu Minghua's Douyin account as of November 25 this year. For more than a year, he has been live for almost 4 hours a day, including 101 days in quarantine hotels. Despite his hesitations and ridicule, he was firm in his thoughts. He and his family said that, as in those days, he would be given another five years to "do something" and have the opportunity to take them to the mainland to enjoy their happiness. If not, he can do whatever he wants back to Hong Kong.

On August 21, 2021, Gu Minghua once again starred as a supporting role, and "Only Daddy is Good in the World", co-produced by Hong Kong and mainland China, was officially released. So far, he has completed the shooting of about 4 film and television works in the mainland. In September and November this year, a reporter from the Economic Observer contacted Gu Minghua twice.

"At this moment, the motherland is developing well, and I have explained that I have seen the zhongzhi of the house (Mandarin meaning: why can't my family see it yet?"). In an interview, Gu Minghua said that life in the interior is very different from what he imagined, and all the landscapes and all his feelings are no longer his old impressions.

"At this moment, I have to step out first"

"I've been at TVB for about 27 years, and I officially left in early January 2020, but I actually felt that the market was transforming for a long time." Gu Minghua said that for a senior practitioner like him, the development of the mainland and the mainland film and television industry, he saw it in his eyes and knew very well that this was the best time to come out.

In Gu Minghua's acting career, he always appeared as a supporting role, but in fact, he had a professional training background. In 1990, He graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and worked in the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre for several years before entering the Hong Kong television industry.

According to the QS World University Rankings published in 2021, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts ranks first in Asia and tenth in the world in the performing arts category.

"Hong Kong's 'cake' has always been so big, so big a decade or twenty years ago, and it's still so big. In the past, TVB was a 'production' company that shot more than 50 plays a year and raised many actors, but now this model is outdated. Gu Minghua said that in the 80s and 90s of the last century, he felt that "there was only one TVB in the world." At that time, TVB seemed to have a magic power that could call on all actors to do things with their hearts. Both the education of the family and the education of the society tell them to survive in the face of adversity. He felt that it was the hearts of the Hong Kong people of that era that made the scenes made in Hong Kong full of cohesion.

"As can be seen from previous documentaries, Hong Kong is actually very simple and innocent, even if it is a black-and-white film, laughing is also a very rich color." Gu Minghua said that in the past few years, many film and television works in Japan and South Korea have surpassed Hong Kong, and mainland works have suddenly taken off. In contrast, the development of TVB is not good enough, not fast enough. But in fact, he believes that TVB's production is still of good quality, but the speed cannot catch up.

"Now you don't have to watch Hong Kong when you watch costume films, and TVB doesn't dare to make costume films anymore, because it loses and shoots (Mandarin: completely lost, can't shoot), and the resources of people and scripts are not good enough." Gu Minghua said that the number of TVB productions is decreasing every year, and more and more people, the workload shared among each person is less and less.

"But on the contrary, all the technology, resources, and growth rates have become so fast, even a bit like when TVB first got up." Gu Minghua said that although TVB's low salary will be ridiculed by many people, and not everyone who is a star can become a big name, almost all people who come out of TVB have a grateful mentality, because they know that if there is no TVB, no audience knows them. Over the years, TVB has been slowly changing, and in the next five or ten years, we may see a TVB that no longer has "production", just like most TV stations now.

Mr. Gu had considered changing careers more than a decade ago, but the support of his family had made him change his mind.

"I feel that with my own ingenuity, I can make more money if I 'don't do the drama'. At that time, the real estate industry was very good, and I told my wife that I would definitely make a lot of money doing real estate. Gu Minghua said that his 8-year-old daughter said to him, "Daddy, you have to do this to be happy." He felt comforted because that was what he had in mind, so he decided to "do it all the way" until now.

"It's not impossible for Hong Kong, but the mainland has done it"

"It's not that I can't live in Hong Kong, but it's very clear that you will see tvb will also return to the embrace of the motherland, we will not 'come up' now, five or ten years later." Gu Minghua said that time is not waiting for anyone, he still has enthusiasm and wants to make good works.

Although the cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland in the film and television industry has begun many years ago, for actors like Gu Minghua, coming to the mainland for development means that all resources must start again. First, all he needs is to maintain exposure.

"I actually want to show myself to everyone through this platform and tell investors and directors that we are coming." Gu Minghua said. Tang Junming, who signed the same company as Gu Minghua, is doing similar things, insisting on running live on Douyin. The two said that they actually have no resources now, and they think it doesn't matter if their income is not high. Even so, a single mainland cooperation usually pays them twice as much as Hong Kong.

Life in the mainland is very different from what you imagined, which is the feeling that both Gu Minghua and Tang Junming have.

"WeChat is convenient for giving money." Tang Junming was very surprised by this matter, he now goes out without even carrying a wallet, a phone call is all done. He said that in the past few years, Hong Kong has also implemented electronic payments, but they are not widely used.

"I now feel like I have a lot to learn and adapt to quickly." Tang Junming said that sometimes he will be in a trance, suddenly feel how Hong Kong lags behind, "Hong Kong is not impossible, but the mainland has done it, I do not want to talk about who did well, who did not do well, but we know that the mainland has been 'different' (Mandarin meaning: completely different). ”

The control of the epidemic by the government across the country has made Gu Minghua feel very safe. He felt very magical, which area has an epidemic, everyone is very united. "Where there is a case, the whole people immediately do nucleic acid, it is really powerful." In fact, most Hong Kong people do not know much about the mainland, just as they did before he came. In the past, they felt that Shenzhen's "wish" was to chase hong Kong, but when they walked out of Hong Kong, they would see that there may be many things that have been "chased".

"I don't have the ability to change people's opinions, but I can tell them from my own experience that 'coming up' is right. I'm right. I'm so comfortable and free. Gu Minghua said that there are still many difficulties in customs clearance between the two places, and his real time in the mainland is still too small. He wanted to do more, wanted a little more exposure, and recovered the time he had missed.

He said that if there are 500,000 directors in the mainland, one in ten will be 50,000 people who will see him; another tenth of the people will know that he has come to the mainland to develop; another tenth of the people will be 500 people who feel that they can cooperate with him; even if one in ten is 50 people who come to him for cooperation, it will be impossible.

"There's an actor in Hong Kong who really wants to do a film in the mainland." Gu Minghua tilted his head sideways and smiled a little, which was the familiar laugh in his Hong Kong drama scenes.