The Paper's reporter Gao Dan
Recently, Ma Jiahui's essay collection "Uncle: We Can Finally Talk About the Road We Have Traveled" was published. Ma Jiahui said on Weibo: "When this book came out, I was about to turn fifty-nine, and the small prose included in the book was written between thirty-five and fifty-six years old. "Uncle" was supposed to be published at the age of fifty-seven, but for various reasons, it was extended to this year, and it was printed just before my birthday, vaguely like a birthday cake sent by the god of time for me to taste. Then God said, 'After eating, wipe your mouth, I will take you to sixty, not to be a great uncle, but to be a great uncle.' Trust me, don't have a good taste. ’”
Ma Jiahui
The writing of the whole book begins with "home", and at the beginning of "Uncle", Ma Jiahui shares the "quarrel" between his parents when he was a child, which caused his mother to run away from home, and confessed his incomprehension about his grandfather and grandmother living at home when he was a child. As well as the understanding and cherishing of "home" in adulthood.
Ma Jiahui shared the most unforgettable experience in his heart, there was a year, a family - Ma Jiahui and parents and sisters, mrs. and children, traveled to Bangkok together, lived in one place for a week, ate, drank and played mahjong every day, the family played cards, chatted... Those few days of wonderful and ordinary family gatherings became his most memorable experience.
Ma Jiahui wrote in the book that Hong Kong has the so-called "spirit under the Lion Mountain", which means to have a hard-working spirit and know how to be flexible, and Ma Jiahui also believes that another key element of the "spirit under the Lion Mountain" is to attach importance to the family, that is, "take care of the family".
Over the years, many of Ma Jiahui's subjects have been life, his own life, and the lives of others, and he has recorded his own era in the form of prose.
Ma was born in Wan Chai, Hong Kong in 1963. In "Uncle", Ma Jiahui repeatedly emphasized the influence of Hong Kong on him.
He said that since 1841, generations of Hong Kong people have migrated here for different reasons. In the "borrowed time, borrowed space" to survive, find a way to survive. Therefore, the hard work of Hong Kong people has made Hong Kong's economic and social achievements. In addition to these prosperity, Ma Jiahui said that the spirit of Hong Kong is also to enjoy the ordinary. He said that if you look for a "Son of Hong Kong" from the show business, the first choice is Chow Yun Fat. Although Zhou Runfa is already a shining superstar, he lives the same life as ordinary people by taking the subway everywhere in his daily life, squatting in the food stalls to play the side stove, wearing slippers to buy vegetables in Kowloon City, queuing up to see a doctor, etc. He said, "Hong Kong is a city that can accommodate the ordinary heart, the prosperity is still not over, but it has enjoyed the ordinary, such as Chow Yun Fat, which is the best reflection of the spirit of Hong Kong." ”
"Uncle" is a collection of essays written by Ma Jiahui in middle age, and it is also a long memory of home and walking. Life, love, travel, human objects and other themes run through the writing, the last part of "Uncle" "screen memory", he also left a "character profile" for Zhang Guorong, Yang Dechang, Zhou Runfa, Ang Lee, Hu Jinquan, etc. This year, April 1, is the 19th anniversary of Zhang Guorong's death, "Uncle", with the title of "Zhang Guorong of the Healing Department", Ma Jiahui wrote zhang Guorong in his eyes.
Photographer Xia Yongkang under the lens of Zhang Guorong
"Zhang Guorong of the Healing Department"
Miss
Two days ago, in Hong Kong, "April Fool's Day" almost became "Brother's Day", and Zhang Guorong, who was overwhelmed by the sea, photos, videos, texts, heartbreak and nightmares more than a decade ago, still sting and frighten many people today. What is a classic? Classics are a vacuum that exists out of time, as if floating on the surface of the moon, looking ahead, suddenly behind, anytime and anywhere. Zhang Guorong's jump that year was not a fall, but just jumped into the classic galaxy, frozen in it, for us to look up infinitely.
Among the photos, one is the cover of "Outside the Horn" thirty years ago, the styling design that Liu Tianlan is responsible for, Zhang Guorong sits on the side and looks into the distance, with a pure white background, like a wingless angel. There are many photos in this issue, mainly nostalgic, many of which are black and white and yellowed, one of which is a close-up photo of his bust, looking back at the camera, looking very familiar.
Liu Tianlan grabbed his handsome appearance, through the shape, through the photo, let the two travel through time and space and strangely meet, not only joked with him, but also teased the time when they decided not to look back.
Yes, time. The atmosphere of mourning Zhang Guorong this year seems to be particularly strong, of course, it is a tribute to him, but it may also be related to everyone's eagerness to look back and remember those beautiful years.
The more rushed the times are, the more they inevitably want to find solace in the time that has been defined. In those years, it was as if all ideals, even if they had not yet been achieved, would wait ahead, waiting for us to chase, waiting for us to look forward, waiting for us to move forward faster or slower towards the goal. Our wind continues to blow, our uninhibited wind, handsome men and women and gold and jade, like sparkling jewels resting and dangling in the night sky of Hong Kong, reaching out and not touching, but at least can see, see is satisfied.
Mourning Zhang Guorong and even all people or things is increasingly healing. When you are anxious, you have to imagine the little starlight that you used to have, otherwise, how can you survive the day?
Contemporaries
Remembering Zhang Guorong must have a very different meaning for different age groups. People over the age of sixty-five look at Mr. Zhang, a generation apart, and the memories and feelings of Zhang Guorong's death are not so much mourning as deep regret and feelings: "Seeing him rise up a tall building, watching him collapse." The rise and fall of a star is a clear metaphor for the impermanence of life, there is no eternal brilliance, there is no eternal immortality, life is like this, whether it is self-severed or not, death is ahead, everyone is the same. Zhang Guorong's glory and efforts are separated from them by a layer, not in their list of idols, so at best there is only sorrow, no mourning.
As for people under the age of thirty-five, Zhang Guorong is indeed an idol for them, and he can only be an idol, because he is also separated by a generation, in the process of growing up, Mr. Zhang is already a dazzling star in the sky, looking up, far away, like the legends in weekly magazines, newspapers and fairy tale books, watching and listening to the stories of the other side, and even history. Since they understood things, Zhang Guorong has been Zhang Guorong, not anything else, and in 2003, the existing Zhang Guorong has become the non-existent Zhang Guorong, dead a star, and lost a name in the celebrity list. They are sad and sad, but they are still only sad and sad for the calamities of the world.
As for the group in the middle of these two age groups, that is, the group of good men and women who are about the same age as Mr. Zhang, because they spent the glorious years of Hong Kong with him, grew up together, worked hard together, and witnessed all kinds of unevenness and setbacks, struggles and achievements on the road, Zhang Guorong's death was like his own separation and collapse, and that kind of fright and trepidation, although not really "skin-to-skin", was a real pain. How can this be? It shouldn't be like that. When the news of his suicide by jumping off a building came and was confirmed, suddenly, like the usual order of life was disrupted, like the traveler who set out together suddenly had one less person, got off the bus, or got lost, and could not be summoned back, like a very familiar friend completely lost contact, leaving suspense, leaving worry, the only thing the living person could do was to accept the facts as soon as possible, and then slowly get used to the facts, admit it, but worry about him.
For this group of people, Zhang Guorongzhi became "Zhang Guorong" is a slow cultivation process, from obscurity to popularity, from lagging behind Chen Baiqiang's "lower hand" to the representative of Hong Kong's performing arts spirit, paying and reaping, specifically and subtly reflecting the optimistic belief of this group of people. He is beautiful, he loves beauty, he understands beauty, he is kind, he praises kindness, this group of people watched him become a star and accompanied him to become a star, he is a dream that can be approached, in him, condensed the memories of his peers, as well as laughter and tears.
And after all, he said to go. Abandoning his contemporaries behind, let his contemporaries weep in shock and sorrow, and cry himself for his own death. Can't go back, Zhang Guorong, and the poor people of his generation.
Surfers
Mainland media asked what the scene of the Hong Kong music scene is in the "post-Cheung Kwok Wing era".
It is inevitable to say a little seriously, as if Zhang Guorong was the only one in that era, creating and controlling the rise and fall of the music world, and one person was dominant, becoming the hall representative of his years.
Of course not. It is difficult for an era to monopolize the right of representation by one person, the so-called spirit of the times can only be manifested or indexed through a group at best, and the individual individuals in the group have their own posts, each with its own hills, each with its own characteristics, but also vaguely with the characteristics of mutual proximity, and when everyone is viewed together, the general outline of a feast of the times can be glimpsed.
Therefore, the "post-Zhang Guorong era" only has a simple temporal significance, that is, "after Zhang Guorong's death", that is, after 2003, in fact, if the era wants to change, he is not there, all the same, will change, and it is not because of the loss of Mr. Zhang.
In the more than 20 years between his debut and his death, Zhang Guorong has experienced two stages of localization in the Hong Kong music scene, first pluralism and then northbound, which are key characteristics of the times. The first wave of localization led by Xu Guanjie was completed in the late 1970s, and Cantonese songs officially replaced English songs as the mainstream, facing the sweetness, bitterness and bitterness of local life, without taboos, and laying a solid foundation for local identity.
Then, Hong Kong society took off, the Hong Kong music scene also took off, together into the brilliant years of professional division of labor, the pop culture industry began to create a full range of marketing strategies for stars, film and television songs developed across the board, and different brilliant images were constructed for different artists. In this past, the singers were only singing and singing, the charm of singing was greater than everything, and the singers after this were compound idols, although singing was the industry, but they were also prominently added to the achievements of other performing arts industries, like white sugar and white milk melted in coffee powder, how can not distinguish the proportion of voice acting contributions is lighter or heavier.
Zhang Guorong has all the necessary conditions to become an idol, is a treasure of the pop culture industry, and the industry operator has successfully promoted him to the Asian music scene, he has promoted Hong Kong to the local level, "rushed out of Hong Kong", let the Hong Kong music scene suddenly "connect with the world", and did not let Taiwan's Teresa Teng and Weng Qianyu be beautiful.
Further down, it is in line with the northern fans and big names. Participating in Chen Kaige's film is a key step, it is the first time that a native Hong Kong singer has taken on a heavy responsibility in such a serious and valued Chinese film, the idol goes north, he takes the lead on behalf of Hong Kong, but this is still the inevitable trend of the big times, he stands at the head of the wave, jumps to its prosperity, although the performance is good, he is always not the creator and inventor of the wave, even if it is not him at that time, there will be other him or her, living in the background of the world, he is a king-size surfer, not a mythical hero who makes waves.
Don't forget, there were still others in the idol community at that time. Everyone has a piece of heaven above their heads, and no one can occupy it.
Editor-in-Charge: Chen Shihuai
Proofreader: Yijia Xu