On May 10, 2023, the TV series "South to North" directed by Zheng Xiaolong and Liu Zhangmu, written by Gao Mantang and Li Zhou, starring Bai Jingting and Ding Yongdai and others released a group portrait poster.
"South to North" starts in the late 70s of the 20th century, in the steam power from Ningyang to Harcheng (remember, it is steam power!). On the train, when the young policeman Wang Xin (played by Bai Jingting) was on duty among the bustling passengers, he mistook the old railway policeman Ma Kui (played by Ding Yongdai) for a fugitive, which opened a master-apprentice relationship without fighting or acquaintance.
From not being accustomed to each other, to later sympathizing with each other, Wang Xin and Ma Kui fought side by side on the front line of railway public security. They always put the safety of every passenger in the first place in their work, anti-pickpocketing, anti-abduction, anti-narcotics, line patrol, anti-theft and fraud, and loyally protect the safety of passengers on trains from south to north.
Another policeman's story! Two more generations of master and apprentice! Seeing these plot introductions, which TV series did you think of? Is it "Thirteen Years in the Dust"?
"Thirteen Years in the Dust" is an era detection suspense drama, the protagonists of the police are also two masters and apprentices, the old criminal guard Zhengrong and the apprentice Lu Xingzhi, spanning thirteen years, and finally the master and apprentice worked together to solve the serial murder case and find out the real murderer.
In this way, "South to North" and "Thirteen Years of Dust" seem to be somewhat similar, both are police masters and apprentices, and they are both period suspense dramas.
However, "South to North" should focus on the sense of age, rather than suspense to solve the case, and the theme should be to show the history of China's high-speed rail development from the perspective of the police! It is an emotional drama of the era that shows the characters of the railway!
In March 2023, after the period drama "May You Ten Thousand Lights", which reflects the history of the hard struggle of China's nuclear power industry, was launched, I guessed that the TV series with the theme of high-speed rail should also come out soon!
As a national business card, nuclear power and high-speed rail, the theme of nuclear power has been broadcast, and the theme of high-speed rail will never fall, nor can it fall!
However, I didn't expect that the high-speed rail period drama would be shown through the perspective of the police, which is good, after all, the safety of traffic travel is all-round, in addition to the safety of transportation, social security and public safety are the most important.
Through the variety of life on the train, the warmth and warmth of the neighbors, and the inheritance of the spirit of the new and old generations of railway police officers, witnessing the innovation and development of the railway industry of the great motherland, it is closer to the human fireworks than the panoramic description of the history of railway development!
"South to North" is written by gold medal screenwriter Gao Mantang, who has served as the screenwriter of popular TV series such as "Crossing the Guandong", "The North Wind That Blows", "My Natasha", "Old Farmer", "Wenzhou Two Families" and other popular TV series, especially good at writing period dramas.
The director of the play, Zheng Xiaolong, is a well-known domestic TV series director, and has directed TV series works such as "Golden Wedding", "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "The Legend of Miyue" and "Red Sorghum".
The cast of the play is even stronger, in addition to the leading actors Bai Jingting, Jin Chen, Ding Yongdai, Zuo Xiaoqing, Liu Jun, Jiang Yan, Liu Guanlin, the supporting roles are all powerful, there are Wang Jinsong, Ni Dahong, Hu Ke, Li Naiwen, Ren Zhengbin, Zhang Ruihan, Yang Kun, Fang Bin, Wu Yue, Ning Li, Song Jiateng, Li Qinqin, Wei Qing, Wang Xiaoli, Mu Liyan, Zhang Xiqian, Feng Bing, Wang Yuanke, Tu Songyan and other middle-aged and elderly powerful actors.
There are also young actors such as Tan Jianci, Wang Herun, Jiang Guannan and other young actors joining.
Among them, the performances of starring Ding Yongdai and Liu Jun and Liu Guanlin are the most exciting to me, and the mentor-apprentice friendship and collision between Bai Jingting and Ding Yongdai are also exciting.
Since "South to North" shows the forty-year development history of China's railways through the perspective of the police, then finally, I will tell you a story of "two peach kills three soldiers" related to high-speed rail, and look at the magical masterpieces in the history of China's high-speed railway development!
In 2004, the Ministry of Railways launched a tender: 140 EMUs with a speed of 200 kilometers per hour; Negotiations for the introduction of market-for-technology technology officially began, and four companies qualified: Germany's Siemens, France's Alstom, Japan's high-speed rail consortium and Canada's Bombardier.
The first three companies are relatively mature in technology, and Bombardier's strength is relatively weak, it can be said that it is a foil, but the attitude is the most positive and sincere.
The Chinese market, this big cake, is too tempting!
In order to ensure dominance in the negotiations, the Ministry of Railways put forward two conditions for the four companies:
1. The companies participating in the bidding must be Chinese enterprises, therefore, these four foreign companies cannot participate in the bidding as independent legal persons, but must have joint ventures with Chinese enterprises!
2. Chinese enterprises participating in the bidding must have the support of foreign mature technology (including Chinese joint ventures).
In addition, the Ministry of Railways has established three mandatory principles:
1. Key technologies must be transferred;
2. The price must be the lowest;
3. Must use Chinese brands.
The intention could not be more obvious, the real purpose of the Ministry of Railways is to introduce advanced foreign high-speed rail technology.
After the conditions and rules were determined, the Ministry of Railways designated CSR Sifang and CNR Changke as the main body of the technology introduction, completely sealing other negotiation entrances, and the four companies wanted China's market cake, they had to negotiate with these two domestic companies.
In this way, the Ministry of Railways has a strategic advantage and the initiative!
As a result, among these 4 families, only Siemens in Germany was overconfident and arrogant, unwilling to give in, and finally went out sadly, the news spread back to Germany, Siemens' stock price plummeted, and the entire negotiation team was collectively fired by Siemens.
However, in 2005, the Ministry of Railways began bidding for a high-speed rail with a speed of 250 kilometers per hour. This time, Siemens learned obediently, lowered his posture, and offered 190 million yuan per train, and the technology transfer fee was also 80 million euros, which can be said to be a super low price!
Under the strategizing of the Ministry of Railways, Chinese enterprises have successfully acquired advanced high-speed rail technology from Japan, France and Germany, and this unprecedented technology introduction has rapidly improved China's high-speed rail technology.
The Ministry of Railways' set of "two peach kills three soldiers" market exchange technology god operation has been written into the Stanford University textbook as a successful case!
I don't know, in the TV series "South to North", will this past be presented on the side?
I hope that "South to North" will start broadcasting as soon as possible, let us take this "South to North" train, through the magnificent forty years of 1978-2017, and enjoy the forty years of railway warmth, human joys and sorrows, and the changes of the years!