Preface
"You're hype!" "I want to make a fortune with national feelings, disgusting!"...
This is the question that an old man named Xu Wenrong faced when he decided to invest 30 billion yuan to "rebuild" the Old Summer Palace in Hengdian, and almost everyone at the time expressed opposition.
However, Xu Wenrong finally chose to persist in the midst of accusations.
After four years of construction, he finally recreated the original glorious "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens" on a vacant land, and named it "The New Yuan Ming Palace", which has been completed for 8 years.
So, why did Xu Wenrong spend a huge amount of money to "rebuild" the Old Summer Palace despite the opposition of society and experts?
What about the "New Yuan Ming Palace" now?
The legendary boss of Hengdian Film and Television City
In 1935, Xu Wenrong was born in an ordinary family in Dongyang, Zhejiang, and his family was as difficult as most people at that time, and he often worried about food and drink.
Xu Wenrong has shown a talent for business since he was a child, and he has a strong interest in those vendors who buy and sell things everywhere, and often follow them to learn or imitate, which has also taught him a lot.
As time passed, Xu Wenrong soon grew into a young man and began his working career.
Unlike most people at that time, who farmed or went into factories, Xu Wenrong chose to become a hawker and made a fortune by relying on his business talent, and the facts proved that he succeeded.
Xu Wenrong, who started successfully, was not satisfied, but began to move towards other fields, he sold toilet sand, ran a grocery store, and led the villagers to raise silkworm silk...
Later, he was keenly aware of the trend of the times, followed the reform and opening up, founded his own factory, entered the industrial field, and finally succeeded in becoming a well-known local tycoon.
But even so, Xu Wenrong was still not satisfied, looking at the desolate hometown of Hengdian and the villagers who were not satisfied, he decided to lead everyone on the road to prosperity together, and the way is to do a good job in local tourism.
This was simply nonsense in the eyes of many people at the time, just such a wasteland, no mountains and no water, why come here to travel?
But Xu Wenrong firmly believes that this is a good way, and if you don't have it, you can make it yourself!
Since then, Xu Wenrong has used his wealth to renovate five villages, he has built bridges, roads, and hotels to give them a new look, but because they are not famous, there are still few tourists.
It just so happened that at this time, director Xie Jin was preparing to shoot a movie "Opium War", and in order to restore the scene at that time, he needed to use the old buildings of the Republic of China.
But this is undoubtedly very difficult to find, and the few who remain are either not borrowed, or it is very expensive, and once there is a loss, they will face a huge amount of compensation, which makes Xie Jin very headache.
Xu Wenrong, who learned of this, immediately recommended himself and told Xie Jin that as long as he was given three months, he would definitely be able to give Xie Jin an authentic Republic of China venue, and Xie Jin quickly agreed.
After that, Xu Wenrong immediately started construction, he convened 120 construction teams to start construction, in order to be realistic, he also specially purchased bricks and tiles and other materials during the Republic of China at a high price.
Three months later, Xie Jin, who came to the venue, even thought in an instant that he had really traveled back to the Republic of China, and such a realistic effect made Xie Jin ecstatic, and he started shooting directly in Hengdian.
Since then, "Opium War" has been successfully released and achieved better results, and Hengdian has also taken advantage of this to become popular in the director circle.
Later, in order to better shoot "Jing Ke Assassinates the King of Qin", Chen Kaige specially found Xu Wenrong and asked him to build a palace of King Qin, and the result also made Chen Kaige very satisfied.
After this incident, Hengdian suddenly became popular all over the country, and countless tourists flocked to Hengdian, so that Hengdian's economy has developed rapidly.
But Xu Wenrong was not complacent, he clearly realized that these heat were only temporary, so he made a decision that shocked everyone:
Since then, Hengdian will no longer charge venue fees for the crews who come to shoot for free.
This news made many people unbelievable, and after confirming the authenticity of the news, countless crews instantly rushed to Hengdian, which also drove the economic development of Hengdian again.
With the passage of time, more and more Shengjing has been recreated in Hengdian: Hong Kong Street, Qingming Shanghe Garden, Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace, Jiangnan Water Town......
These have made Hengdian more and more famous, more and more tourists, and was rated as "the only national film and television industry development base experimental area" by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and even its fame has spread abroad, known as the "Hollywood" of the East.
In 2001, the successful Xu Wenrong retreated to the second line, no longer participated in the operation of Hengdian Group, and began to enjoy his old age...
Rebuild the Old Summer Palace
Although Xu Wenrong's life was much easier, it also made him feel empty.
Until one time when he saw the ruins of the Old Summer Palace, this patriotic old man felt a deep sting in his heart, which also made him suddenly have an idea, that is, to recreate this once glorious royal garden.
The construction of the Old Summer Palace took about 150 years, experienced three generations of emperors of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, in addition to the characteristic gardens of various parts of China, there are even Western gardens, it is a collection of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign garden art, and is called "the garden of ten thousand gardens" by foreigners.
However, in 1860, British and French thugs ransacked the building, snatched and destroyed everything they saw, and finally destroyed it with a fire, which became a scar in the hearts of all Chinese.
With the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's national strength became stronger and stronger, and more and more people began to propose the reconstruction of the Old Summer Palace, proving that China has shaken off the humiliating modern history and returned to the peak of the year.
But in the end, this plan was rejected, because the ruined Old Summer Palace can better warn the Chinese children of the hard truth that "if you fall behind, you will be beaten", let us remember history, refuse to be complacent, and always stride forward.
Therefore, when Xu Wenrong just proposed that he wanted to rebuild a Yuanmingyuan in Hengdian, he was questioned by many people...
"This is hype!" "There are no identical cultural relics just an empty shell, and they are not the same when they are built, and they are meaningless" "You are entertaining history and dissolving the enlightenment brought to us by the Old Summer Palace!"
The society and experts are not optimistic about Xu Wenrong, and one of the most important points is that no one has really seen the luxurious royal garden with their own eyes, how can he rebuild it?
But Xu Wenrong did not give up, and it happened that the state was beginning to conduct a detailed investigation of the archaeological work of the Old Summer Palace.
And these data, although they can't be said to be 100% accurate, are enough for Xu Wenrong to reproduce a very high degree of similarity.
In this way, the huge project costing 30 billion yuan and covering an area of 7,000 acres was officially started, but Xu Wenrong still suffered many difficulties:
First of all, when he started to raise funds, because the amount was too huge, the bank did not dare to lend him at all, so Xu Wenrong could only take out all his savings and continue to raise funds at the same time.
But then Xu Wenrong was also reported that he was illegally occupying state land, and it was not until Xu Wenrong made a lot of efforts that the whole project could continue.
According to the regulations, Xu Wenrong named the newly built garden "Yuanming New Garden".
After four years of events, the "New Old Summer Palace" was successfully completed and came out, and the brilliant scenes inside it attracted many people, and Xu Wenrong integrated modern technology with it, showing many shocking scenes, such as "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace".
Many tourists could not help but burst into tears after seeing this light show and made up their minds to contribute to the motherland.
At the same time, the Old Summer Palace has once again driven the rapid development of the local economy, solved the employment problem of many people, and set another record for Zhejiang's cultural tourism.
However, the relevant criticism and skepticism have not disappeared, and many people think that using the Old Summer Palace or even the burning of the Old Summer Palace as a scenic spot or program is too entertaining, downplaying the impact of history, and betraying history.
However, Xu Wenrong insisted that only by seeing the glory and seeing the ruins of today can he more deeply appreciate that period of history and remember the lessons it brought more firmly in his heart.
Today, the New Yuan Ming Palace has become a 5A-level scenic spot in the mainland and has been welcomed by many people.
In this recreated scene, we are not only amazed by the talent of the ancients, but also more aware of the cruelty of the world, only by continuous progress, so that the country and the nation will always be at the forefront of the world, in order to better inherit our culture, better life!