The recently hit TV series version of "Flowers" has become a phenomenal film and television work. As of 7:30 p.m. on January 6, the TV drama version of "Flowers" has been updated to the 24th episode on Tencent Video, and there is a lot of content related to stock investment in the plot, especially from the 15th episode, showing the audience a large number of ups and downs in the securities investment market that year, which is fascinating.
Senior financial commentator Ying Jianzhong, born in Shanghai in 1955, he began to intervene in China's securities market in 1986, began to write stock market reviews in 1991, experienced many thrilling events in the stock market, and wrote three novels on the theme of the stock market, such as "Red Men and Green Women in the Sea of Stocks".
Since October 2020, Mr. Ying Jianzhong has participated as an advisor to the crew of "Flowers". As a first-hand witness of the stock market in the 90s of the last century, he shared with us the relationship between the characters in the play and the times and his personal perception of the drama version of "Flowers".
Q News Morning Post: From the play, we can feel that in the 90s of the last century, stock investment has become a big thing that affects the families and daily lives of many citizens.
A Ying Jianzhong: The first stock subscription warrant issued in 1992 had the greatest impact on the public at that time. During the seven-day issuance period of this week, people experienced wait-and-see, hesitation, non-buying, and sales snubbing, until the last day, when someone found an investment opportunity and "grabbed it". Many people sighed that "life can make money like this!", because everyone's wages were relatively low at that time, and many people bought 100 subscription warrants and found that they had earned back 10 years of wages.
In the plot, there are large households, and large households have different standards from 500,000, 1 million to 5 million, and 5 million was a super large household at that time. At that time, the large households "only recognized funds and not people" (professional background) for investors, breaking the "rigid" state of various professional groups in the original society. Whether you are a university teacher, or a stall selling fish in the vegetable market, or even from the "coming down from the mountain" (Shanghainese: refers to those who have been in prison after a lawsuit), everyone can sit together very fairly, which is also a change in social form, which had a greater impact on the citizens of Shanghai at that time.
In the play, the role of Uncle (played by You Benchang) is not in the original novel, and the background design of Uncle Grandpa's character is "down from the mountain", according to the plot introduction, he went to Tilanqiao Prison for speculation, and after being released, he taught Bao to speculate in stocks and do business, which is also a type of character in the social group. The role of Uncle was designed by the director under the influence of an article I wrote ("The Fission of Wealth in the Stock Market" The "Old Master" who drank morning tea at the Seventh Heaven Hotel) tells the story of the old people who were trading at the Seven Heavens Hotel.
Q News Morning Post Thoughtful: There are a lot of close-ups about the subscription warrants in the play, and after watching it at the time, I thought how could the actor buy so many stock subscription warrants back then. So, Po seized the opportunity to buy stock warrants that year, did this become the original capital for his career success?
A Ying Jianzhong: Because Ah Bao in the play runs a foreign trade company, doing foreign trade business means that he has a certain amount of primitive accumulation, and after having primitive accumulation, he also did some small-scale stock trading at that time. Seeing that there is such a good opportunity to have stock warrants, a value like Ah Bao, who bought 1,000 or 2,000 warrants at that time, there are not a few such people in the market, so this design in the play is completely logical. According to what I have learned, in 1992, there were still quite a few people who bought 2,000 to 3,000 subscription warrants in the market, especially those who did business in Jiangsu and Zhejiang came to Shanghai to buy them.
Q News Morning Post Thoughtful: Are the performances of the actors who play the role of the stock market in the play close to the prototype characters in novels and real life?
A Ying Jianzhong: In the play, in addition to the male protagonist A Bao, who is related to the stock market, there is also Commander Cai (played by Zhang Jianya), these characters have prototypes in real life. Commander Cai's role, we called the leader of the "fleet" at that time, he may not have enough funds, only two or three million, but there are financial requirements to enter the big house, so relatives, friends, neighbors, and colleagues put money in him, which constitutes a so-called "fleet". The "fleet" is based on 10,000 yuan as a unit, and there will be dividends every year, Commander Cai is such a character, and the plot also describes the situation at that time, which is the earliest prototype of private equity funds.
In addition, we designed two securities institutions in the play - Xiguotou and Nanguotou, of course, these names are made up for the plot. What impressed me more in the play was Mr. Qiang (played by Huang Jue) of Nanguotou, such a role as Mr. Qiang immediately reminded me of a group of influential figures in the stock market back then, who were eager to open up the situation in the market, their dominance, as well as their behavior and language, the role of Mr. Qiang is basically their prototype. These characters have nothing to do with the novel, but they are true in reality, and of course, I hope you don't sit in the right seats (laughs).
Q News Morning Post Thoughtful: Previously, director Wong Kar-wai gave his special interpretation in the trailer: "We are talking about the times, because our story is about how Ah Bao, who has nothing, became the boss of the world in just ten years. How do you look at a figure of the times like Po?
A Ying Jianzhong: Ah Bao in the novel is still a relatively humble character, because of his poor family background, doing a little business, he also has a fighting spirit, and a little spirit of fighting against fate. But Po in the plot strengthens this character, strengthens his unwillingness, and wants to be bigger. In the novel, Ah Bao is engaged in foreign trade business, has a processing point in Zhejiang, and has his own counter in Shanghai. In the play, Bao is the largest foreign trade customer of the fashion company, and has its own processing point. So what is Bao's dream in life? After the fashion company went public, his name was among the top 10 shareholders of the company, and he thought that he would be successful in this life.
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According to the requirements of the plot, Po is also full of ups and downs, and the ultimate goal is that he must be tied to the interests and fate of the company, and this kind of character also has a prototype in life. I think it would be more appropriate to position Po as a fighter of the times. As the director said, it was the times that provided Po with such an opportunity.
Q News Morning Post Thoughtful: Nong has been involved in China's securities market for a long time and has experienced many major events in the stock market, does this TV series show us a fragment or a microcosm at that time?
A Ying Jianzhong: Some time ago, CCTV 8 asked me to issue a letter of opinion as a consultant, and I put forward three opinions:
1. The TV series "Flowers" well restores the process of China's capital market from scratch and from embryonic state to continuous maturity in the 90s of the last century;
2. The TV series "Flowers" is very successful in the adaptation of Jin Yucheng's novel, and the description of the plot has been highly praised by the original author;
3. The TV series "Flowers" will provide the first influential drama for China's capital market, which is very beneficial to the healthy development of the capital market in the future.
Q Morning News: You have been involved in China's securities market since 1986 and began to write stock market reviews in 1991.
A Ying Jianzhong: My personal perception has the following aspects. The first point is to let today's investors know the history of the past. At that time, in the early 90s, the number of people involved in securities investment was still very small, my stock account started with 100, and the investors who opened accounts at that time were about 100,000, and these 100,000 people included the company's shareholders, and in 1993, the number of accounts opened was about 1 million, and now the number of investors is 220 million (as of July 2023). Through this drama, let today's investors know that opportunities and risks coexist in the market.
The second point is that the early market participants of our generation have actually gone through a lot of hard work, and it can be said that everyone has their own history of struggle. In the early 90s of the last century, the stock information available to investors, the amount of funds available, the channels available to the market, were very limited, and the risks of the market, such as the Shanghai Composite Index falling from 1200 points to 300 points. All of this was experienced by early investors. We hope to give young people a little inspiration that there are still opportunities in this market in the future.
Thirdly, we are living in a very happy era compared to the 90s of the last century. In the market faced by young people today, there is so much room for choice, to borrow a popular phrase "the world is still worth it".
Fourth, we have watched so many film and television dramas, and I believe that the visual and line language impact brought to you by this drama will be relatively large. We can see director Wong Kar-wai's alternative expression, a way of remembering and expressing the past, and the language structure and lens expression of the whole film will be relatively novel.
This interview with Mr. Ying Jianzhong is a reunion after more than 20 years. At that time, it was the national securities investment craze in the 1990s depicted in the play, and in addition to studying in college, I also went to China Normal University to study securities investment. More than 20 years later, because of the hit of the TV series version of "Flowers", I met Mr. Ying Jianzhong again, which can be described as a historical coincidence.
Mr. Ying Jianzhong told me that after his retirement, he had faded out of the market. At most, I had to write 20 or 30 columns a week, but now I do one or two columns, including the program "Financial Management Ying Jianzhong" hosted by the radio station in Shanghainese. And his participation in the crew of "Flowers" this time is also related to director Wong Kar-wai. Because before the first meeting, director Wong Kar-wai had read several books by Mr. Ying Jianzhong, some of which were published earlier, and some of which were no longer available in the market.
For Ah Bao in the play in just ten years to become the boss of the boss, teacher Ying Jianzhong said: "We still have to see the historical opportunities given to these characters in the play by the times, if there is no opportunity like the 90s of the last century, a prototype character like A Bao may still do small business, and others may continue to run a small workshop-style factory." ”
Teacher Ying Jianzhong said: "When this film is launched during the New Year's Eve, the audience should have a pretty fresh feeling after watching it. "After returning from the interview that day, Mr. Ying Jianzhong sent me a still. It turned out that Mr. Ying Jianzhong also played a stock critic in the play, and he said that this was a small role that he "wrote and acted", which was a little more elegant than Yangpu Xiaoliuzi (played by He Yi).
It seems that all the participants in the TV series version of "Flowers" and our audience friends have entered the play!