In 1982, the time for Hong Kong's return to the motherland was finalized, which aroused the patriotism of many Hong Kong citizens, and Zhang Mingmin was one of them.
The following year, Zhang Mingmin released the song "My Chinese Heart", but no one cared about it at the beginning of the release.
Until Zhang Mingmin was invited to sing on stage at the 1984 National Spring Festival Gala, once the show was broadcast, Zhang Mingmin became an instant hit.
But Zhang Mingmin, who became popular, was hit hard after returning to Hong Kong, whether in the entertainment industry or other careers.
Patriotic singers came to Hong Kong and were not welcomed, how could Zhang Mingmin shake his Chinese heart because of this?
Despite the difficulties he experienced later, he did not stop his steps to return to the motherland.
What did he do when he was frustrated? Is he okay now?
(The information in this article is from official media, and it has been repeated at the end)
The more frustrated the more courageous the youth
In the 80s of the last century, after graduation, Zhang Mingmin entered the society and engaged in many industries and did a lot of things.
In addition to working part-time, he also opened a factory, at that time Hong Kong's small and medium-sized enterprises were very prosperous, and as a singer, Zhang Mingmin came out of the industry, and he used to work as a small worker in an electronics factory to correct watches.
But young people have dreams, and Zhang Mingmin also had his own dream, and when he graduated in 1975, he was ready to participate in the singing competition, the Hong Kong Amateur Singing Competition.
Zhang Mingmin did not stop and soon embarked on his dream-chasing journey, but his dream-chasing road was not all smooth sailing.
In 1976, Zhang Mingmin participated in the singing competition for the first time, but unfortunately did not enter the finals. A failure cannot mean anything, nor can it stop Zhang Mingmin's pace of progress.
The Hong Kong amateur singing competition is held once a year, and Cheung Ming-man, who was not discouraged, signed up for the competition again the following year.
Although he improved this time and finished third in the finals, this is still far from his goal of winning the championship, but being able to enter the finals gave Zhang Mingmin the confidence to participate in the competition for the third time, and he always believes in himself and believes that perseverance will be rewarded.
In 1978, Zhang Mingmin once again attacked the championship he had been longing for, but unfortunately fate always likes to joke, this time he won the second place in the competition, and he was just one step away from his goal.
The closest to success this time brought a big blow to Zhang Mingmin, and he also fell into deep anxiety and self-doubt for a while.
In 1979, Zhang Mingmin, who had regrouped, launched his last charge to the championship of the competition, and the stars lived up to the passers-by, and the emperor lived up to his heart, and finally won the championship trophy he had been striving for in one fell swoop in the fourth competition.
His insistence on chasing his dreams in life can also be seen in his other life journeys.
Sheden Spring Festival Gala dedication
Zhang Mingmin, who won the Hong Kong Amateur Singing Competition in 1979, embarked on his acting career and officially became a singer.
Although he won the championship, the level of the event was not high, and it was not a professional-level event, so he could not receive many commercial performances, and in order to make a living, he had to work as a small worker in the factory on weekdays.
It wasn't until February 1983 that the Hong Kong Youth Federation found Zhang Mingmin, who was 27 years old at the time, and wanted to invite him to audition the song "My Chinese Heart" that was in preparation, and it was this song that made Zhang Mingmin an instant hit.
Zhang Mingmin, who received the invitation at the beginning, was very pleasantly surprised, he had been silent for many years and finally ushered in the opportunity to release his own song, knowing that the opportunity was not easy to come by, he decisively agreed.
When Zhang Mingmin came to the recording studio, Party A was attracted to his sunny and upright appearance, and said that he was not looking for the wrong person, because such a patriotic song needs to be performed by a righteous and masculine person.
What surprised Party A even more was that Zhang Mingmin's voice gave people a feeling of national peace and security, which was exactly what they had been looking for, Zhang Mingmin fell in love with this song when he recorded it for the first time, and the strong patriotic feelings and sense of belonging in the song deeply attracted him.
Soon, the song was put into CD production, but the CD that was first put into the market did not get much feedback, Zhang Mingmin has never been famous, and even if he sings well, it is difficult to be discovered.
But the year after the song was released, the British Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, came to China and negotiated the "Hong Kong question", finalizing the great news that Hong Kong would return to China on July 1, 1997.
Such an opportunity also happened to make a wedding dress for Zhang Mingmin, and Huang Yihe, the chief director of the Spring Festival Gala at the time, wanted to take advantage of the heat to be happy and invite a Hong Kong artist to star in the Spring Festival Gala.
According to Huang Yihe later, when he was in the taxi, he happened to hear the driver playing the song "My Chinese Heart", and when he heard the passionate music, Zhang Mingmin's calm singing, and the national righteousness of the lyrics, he was so excited that he almost burst into tears.
He immediately recorded the song into a tape, took it to the Beijing headquarters to report to the leader, and without Zhang Mingmin's knowledge, he strongly recommended Zhang Mingmin to participate in the Spring Festival Gala that year, and the proposal was passed very smoothly, and Zhang Mingmin also got this golden opportunity.
As the first Hong Kong artist to participate in the CCTV National Spring Festival Gala, he attracted attention on the trailer before he performed.
On Chinese New Year's Eve, the party came as scheduled, Zhang Mingmin held the microphone with an excited heart, trembling hands, and sang a shocking lyric:
Yangtze River, Great Wall, Yellow Mountain, Yellow River
It weighs a thousand pounds in my heart.
The lyrics were sung into the hearts of every Chinese child, arousing the sense of national identity in the hearts of every descendant of Yan and Huang, and Zhang Mingmin became popular.
Although he was highly respected in the mainland, in Hong Kong, which had not yet returned to China at that time, he was calculated everywhere. Many evildoers with bad intentions have done a lot of unfavorable things to Zhang Mingmin in the open and in the dark.
His acting career in Hong Kong was also hit hard, when Hong Kong Entertainment banned the patriotic singer for more than ten years.
But such a small setback is nothing in the face of the great righteousness of the big right and the big non-national righteousness, since Hong Kong Entertainment wanted to ban him at that time, he found another way.
What happened to him?
Actions prove China's heart
Although he was not treated well by Hong Kong entertainment in Hong Kong at that time and had few performance opportunities, he was deeply loved by the people as a patriotic singer in the mainland.
After the Spring Festival Gala in 1984, he set several firsts and became the first Hong Kong artist to hold a solo singing party in the capital of Beijing.
In 1988, as the 11th Asian Games were being held in Beijing, he raised funds for the event and held 154 concerts in 24 cities across the country.
Later, Zhang Mingmin began to engage in business, gradually faded out of the entertainment industry, and singing became his side hustle. During this period, he worked in song halls, bars, public relations companies and media companies, but he did not achieve good results.
It wasn't until later that he invested in the biofrontier technology-related industry, and in 2005 he became the company's executive director, so far, he has broken into another world outside of acting.
Later, he vigorously supported cross-strait cultural exchanges in social activities, and promoted the prosperity and win-win development between the mainland and Hong Kong.
In September 2021, Zhang Mingmin was invited to participate in the "Bay Area Rising Moon 2021 Greater Bay Area Mid-Autumn Festival Film and Music Gala", and he and Alan Tam, Wang Zulan, Li Yanan and other veteran stars stood on the stage again and sang "My Chinese Heart" to us.
In June 2022, he was even invited to participate in the popular program "The Sound of Life" to promote cross-strait relations.
In a previous interview with him in the CCTV column "Art Life", he said that he still has a Chinese dream, and hopes that more young people will come to Hong Kong, promote Hong Kong's culture and exchanges between the two places, which is his dream now. His mother is an Indonesian overseas Chinese and his father's Filipino overseas Chinese, so it has been his concept since he was a child to make a little contribution to the motherland.
It can be seen that Zhang Mingmin's patriotism not only stays in words, nor does it stop in singing, but also proves himself in actual actions.
His words tell us that patriotism should be cultivated from an early age, starting from a baby.
Let us also learn from Zhang Mingmin, not only from his more and more courageous attitude towards life, but also from his consistent patriotic feelings.
Shingen:
CCTV3 [Art Life] Zhang Mingmin: Dreams need to be persistent
https://tv.cctv.cn/2014/07/17/VIDE1405611017594753.shtml?spm=C52493215293.P4fXRcoelwMx.0.0
【Voice of Jinjiang at the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress】Zhang Mingmin: Strengthen scientific research cooperation between Hong Kong and the Mainland
http://news.ijjnews.com/system/2017/03/14/010989373.shtml
Wen Wei Po: The program list of the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala in the Greater Bay Area has been announced, and artists such as Faye Wong, Joey Yung, Yi Yang Qianxi and other artists will sing
https://www.163.com/dy/article/GKC6FLMU05506BEH.html