Cai Lan, who is known as the "Four Great Talents of Hong Kong" along with Jin Yong, Huang Zhan, and Ni Kuang, is 82 years old, and his friends have left one after another, and now he is the only one left.
In 2023, Cai Lan's wife also passed away, and he did not go to a nursing home without children and daughters, but lived in a hotel suite with a panoramic sea view in Tsim Sha Tsui, inviting many people to take care of himself.
Cai Lan said that he had arranged the funeral and scattered all his family wealth to give away all the collectibles, and the only thing he didn't give away was Pu'er tea.
He goes to bed at any time and gets up at any time, and when he wakes up, he drinks tea and plays games. Whoever cares about him will be driven away.
One day he ate a lot of wine soaked in yellow mud snails, and after eating, he was drunk for two days, and it happened that his younger brother came to visit him in Hong Kong, and saw Cai Lan sleeping on the sofa and couldn't wake up, so scared that he thought his brother was gone like this.
For life and death, Cai Lan has long been pessimistic.
He lived a "life of living one day at a time", waiting for death to come at any time.
Cai Lan's decision to move to a hotel is related to the death of his wife.
In March last year, Cai Lan heard a bang in his wife's room, and he and the workers rushed over as soon as possible, and he fell halfway through.
Mrs. Fang Qiongwen left soon after the accident, and Cai Lan had surgery to insert steel plates because of a broken femoral neck, and is still doing physical therapy and rehabilitation exercises.
Facing the pain of losing his wife, Cai Lan remembered what Ni Kuang told him before his death:
"The pain of the body can be eliminated by taking painkillers, and if one is not enough, you can eat a few more grains, and it will definitely relieve the pain; As for the pain of the soul, I came up with it myself, and as long as I don't want to, I won't be in pain, so I try not to think about her, telling myself that I don't have my wife by my side, and now I'm free. ”
After the death of his wife Fang Qiongwen, Cai Lan had to face the last journey of his life alone.
Eventually, he decided to leave his old apartment and live in a serviced apartment over Victoria Harbour.
As soon as Cai Lan entered the door, the whole sea view was reflected in front of him, and he sighed that "I don't enjoy such a good scenery, it seems to be very wronged", and also thought of the scene when he first came to Hong Kong to see the beautiful scenery of Victoria Harbour when he was in his twenties.
Cai Lan when he was young
Before moving, Cai Lan gave up all the items he owned, and he gave away all his collections, including calligraphy and paintings, books, antique collections, furniture, etc.
The only thing he left was tea, Pu'er tea that was eight yuan a cake back then, and now he can't buy it for 10,000 yuan, Cai Lan wants to keep it for himself to drink slowly.
Living in this luxurious hotel apartment, there are eight people who take care of Cai Lan's daily life: secretary, assistant, doctor, nurse, housekeeper, driver, and two Indonesian workers.
Since last year's fall surgery, Cai Lan, who has been active on social platforms all year round, has stopped for a long time, and during the time of his disappearance, various versions of rumors have been circulated from the outside world, and even said that he has been critically ill.
Until some time ago, when interviewed by Hong Kong media, Cai Lan responded with a smile: "Don't worry about them, maybe I will live longer than them." ”
Cai Lan hates others to take care of him the most, he doesn't want to be restrained.
This is true when you are young, and it does not change when you are old.
"Whoever tells me to do this and that, I will scold him, sometimes drive him away, I have worked very hard to this point, no one cares about me, you still take care of me!"
Cai Lan, who doesn't want to be managed, has multiple identities: film producer, gourmet, columnist, host, businessman...... He did everything with ease.
Cai Lan was deeply influenced by his mother, and although his family was wealthy, he still took the initiative to learn various survival skills.
Cai Lan has been fulfilling the sense of responsibility in her mother's mouth, not asking her parents for money when she studies abroad, and working and studying part-time. Since he was a child, Cai Lan knew that he couldn't rely on others, he had to rely on himself for everything.
Cai Lan (right) in the Japan office
When he was studying in Japan, Cai Lan found that the Japanese around him were all strained and looked unhappy, and he often told them jokes to make everyone laugh.
Their lives were also relatively poor, so Cai Lan went to the vegetable market and bought a lot of pig's feet and a large pot, put soy sauce and sugar, and braised them for everyone to eat.
The Japanese didn't eat pork knuckles, but they were satisfied with that meal.
Cai Lan thought to himself that he must bring this wisdom to his friends.
When he was young, Cai Lan understood: "Compared with the entire universe, we are just a few decades, a momentary thing, and I hope that we will be happier." ”
Cai Lan when he was young
Today, he is known as a foodie, hosting several food shows and publishing more than 300 food-related books.
In the eyes of many people, they thought that Cai Lan was just a glutton who ate and drank, but they didn't know that he was once a good film producer who had paid a lot of effort for the prosperity of Hong Kong films in the last century.
Cai Lan, who is known as the god of food, was actually engaged in film work at the beginning of his career.
In 1959, 18-year-old Cai Lan went to Japan to study and study film editing and directing at the Faculty of Arts of Nihon University.
His love for film stems from his family background, his father was a Singaporean poet and calligrapher, later worked for Shaw Brothers Film Company, and his mother was a local school principal.
As a child, Cai Lan became interested in movies under the influence of his parents, and since he published film reviews in the newspaper at the age of 14, he seems to have begun a hedonistic life.
The manuscript fee was always used by Cai Lan to eat and drink, and he squandered it, and his two hobbies of movies and eating and drinking accompanied him all his life.
Cai Lan's family, with Cai Lan in the middle of the back row
When he was in college, he worked part-time at Shaw Brothers Film Company as the Shaw Brothers Japan Division Manager.
Because Cai Lan's father worked at Shaw Brothers, Run Run Shaw is very familiar with Cai Lan's family, and he said that he grew up watching Cai Lan.
Shaw admired this young man with great ideas and entrusted him with important tasks, which allowed Cai Lan to start making a name for himself in the Hong Kong film industry.
Later, whenever he thought of Run Run Shaw, Cai Lan said that he was the person who had a profound influence on him.
Cai Lan when he was young
The golden age of Hong Kong movies was applauded and sold out.
In 1963, after Cai Lan arrived in Hong Kong, he worked as a film producer in the largest studios in Southeast Asia such as Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest for a long time, and witnessed all commercial entertainment films starring Jackie Chan, "Thunderbolt", "Serious Crime Unit", "Lucky Star Gaozhao" and so on.
It seems that he has gained fame and fortune, but he is not so happy.
"I'm just in time for the easiest time for movies to sell, but as an aspiring filmmaker, it's actually quite painful."
Cai Lan and Jackie Chan
Cai Lan has always wanted to make a humanistic film with texture, although the company has made a lot of profitable commercial entertainment films, and resolutely does not make a good movie that does not make money.
In this regard, Cai Lan was very disappointed and felt sorry for himself, but he also understood that movies were not a personal matter, and he had to have a conscience about his boss.
He said: "Wong Kar-wai's movie, how many people die at your feet, how many bosses lose money, and how many people support you will become Wong Kar-wai's work." ”
Cai Lan knows that in his own values, if a person has too strong individualism, he should not make movies.
In the late 90s, Hong Kong films gradually declined.
Cai Lan, who did not take the usual path, did not shoot the popular martial arts comedy films in Hong Kong at that time, but made many niche films, including many large-scale Fengyue films, such as "Liao Zhai Yan Tan", "The Girl Who Doesn't Button", "The Elf of Love" and so on.
Almost every one of them has been a successful box office hit, but some people say that making erotic movies is a stain on Cai Lan's life.
To this, he himself responded: "I bring joy to the audience, no bad, no harm, this is the process of my existence, there is nothing to be ashamed of." ”
Cai Lan, who is full of humanistic feelings and loves movies, knows that the commercial wave is unavoidable.
So, he left the film industry.
The 80s and 90s of the last century were the golden age of Hong Kong pop culture.
There are many talents in the music and film fields: Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Stephen Chow, Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Chow Yun-fat, Tsui Hark......
The Hong Kong film industry is even more beautiful: Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, Kwan Zhilin, Zhou Haimei, Wang Zuxian, Qiu Shuzhen......
From left to right: Leslie Cheung, Guan Zhilin, Cai Lan
During this period, there were also literati who were known for their outstanding talents: Jin Yong, Huang Zhan, Ni Kuang and Cai Lan, who were collectively known as the "Four Great Talents of Hong Kong".
The four of them have their own achievements in martial arts, music, science fiction and film, and they are also inextricably linked.
From left to right: Cai Lan, Huang Zhan, Ni Kuang
The first to study Jin Yong's novels was Ni Kuang; Ni Kuang's son Ni Zhen recognized Huang Zhan as his godfather; Huang Zhan was a witness to Jin Yong when he proposed to Lin Yanni; Jin Yong likes to travel, drink, smoke and chat with Cai Lan the most; Cai Lan thinks Jin Yong is the most powerful; Huang Zhan called Cai Lan the most trustworthy friend.
Cai Lan opposes the statement of the "Four Great Talents", because Jin Yong is a master-like figure in his heart.
Cai Lan and Jin Yong
These four friends often get together to drink and chat about the gossip of female stars, and Jin Yong always takes the initiative to pay. As long as they are there, the people at the dinner table will want to eat, and they will be amused to laugh all the time.
At the age of 54, Ni Kuang fell in love with a mother Sang, and often invited Cai Lan and Huang Zhan to his mother Sang's nightclub for a drink at night, and as long as the three of them spoke, they made the women present giggle.
Cai Lan thought to himself, spending 10,000 or 20,000 yuan every time in a nightclub to make not-so-beautiful women laugh, it is better to make a TV show, invite the most beautiful female stars to chat, drink the best wine, make everyone laugh together, and make money.
"No Defense Tonight" was born.
In 1989, Cai Lan hosted this unique Cantonese talk show with his friends Ni Kuang and Huang Zhan. Speech is open and free, without taboos, and relaxed like a gathering of friends.
The three hosts do not exist as cameras at all, and often drink and talk in the show, in a relaxed and witty atmosphere, so that the stars participating in the show are more willing to reveal their hearts and analyze their inner world.
Leslie Cheung revealed in the show when he lost his virginity, and hugged Huang Zhan and Ni Kuang left and right.
Leslie
At the end of the show, Huang Zhan couldn't even help but kiss Leslie Cheung, and this episode later became a classic that his brother's fans kept revisiting.
Leslie
Maggie Cheung faced the camera and admitted that she participated in the Miss Hong Kong draft absolutely because of greed and vanity.
Maggie
Wang Zuxian, who has excellent beauty, said to Cai Lan, Ni Kuang and Huang Zhan with a happy face: "I am very satisfied, I will live a very ordinary life, a girl always wants to get married." ”
Wang Zuxian
Chow Yun-fat can be seen wrapping Erlang's legs, telling the details behind the kissing scene with a female star, relaxed and unrestrained.
Chow Yun-fat
This is the first time in the history of Hong Kong TV programs, and many celebrities are still annoyed that they are not enough to be on "No Defense Tonight".
"No Defense Tonight" has set a ratings record for TV programs in Hong Kong at the same time, and Cai Lan has come to the stage from behind the scenes of many years of movies and is familiar to the audience.
The TV show hosted by Cai Lan is very popular, but his movie ideals have not been realized for a long time, and he did not hesitate by nature, but chose a survival skill that is contrary to the movie - eating.
Cai Lan successfully turned the ordinary trivial matter of eating into an authoritative business.
From movies to TV to food, he didn't do it deliberately, but as long as he did it, he had to do it well, he had to eat it three times a day, and what he had to do three times a day had to be done well.
He laughed at himself: "My name is Cai Lan, and it sounds like a vegetable basket, which is a basket for buying vegetables, so I am destined to eat and drink all my life." ”
In 1997, Hong Kong Radio created a variety show "Cai Lan Sighs the World" for him, and Cai Lan and the program team went to 13 countries to shoot life scenes that represent the highest enjoyment of life.
"Sigh" in Cantonese means to enjoy life, which is not a state that the general public can easily achieve.
Ten years later, Cai Lan hosted the TVB program "Cai Lan Sighs for Famous Dishes", he took two beauties to accompany him, and tasted various famous dishes in famous restaurants in Southeast Asia and Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, which was very comfortable.
He described the food with two simple words, "delicious and juicy", which made the audience drool. Eating color is also sexual, and the general public is just eating men and women.
Eating is also a skill, and you must work hard to eat with your heart.
Cai Lan is a person who will never let himself be at a loss no matter what kind of environment he is in, he is proper and tactful. The so-called "naughty boy" is in the era of frustration, even if there is no opportunity, he finds other pleasures in it.
Cai Lan will not feel pain if he doesn't do well enough in a field and chooses to leave, he thinks that no one will sympathize with this kind of pain, and the painful time is better used to learn new survival skills.
Cai Lan studies all kinds of cuisine, regardless of region, ancient and modern, he once reproduced the "Twenty-four Bridge Bright Moon Night" made by Huang Rong to Hong Qigong in his friend Jin Yong's novel.
He bought a whole Jinhua ham, cut off one-third, used an electric drill to open 24 round holes, put in the tofu ball, and then covered the ham and steamed it for 8 hours, and finally the tofu was covered with the aroma of ham, which tasted good.
Regarding the ham that was used up, Cai Lan smiled and said: "Abandon it!" ”
He also tried to make dishes in "Dream of Red Mansions" and Zhang Ailing's novels, but they were not delicious when cooked.
Cai Lan said: "To become a good person, you must first be curious and try anything." ”
In 1992, he entered the business world and created a series of products such as violent tea, violent rice coke, as well as salted fish sauce, Caifu scallop sauce and spicy sauce.
Cai Lan is very smart, and he personally operated a number of food shows while it was hot, and he made a lot of money along the way.
Not only in Hong Kong, but also in many restaurants in the mainland will also hang a photo of the boss and Cai Lan, as if his name is a detector for whether the food is delicious or not.
Cai Lan sometimes gets in the way of favors, and there are too many photos with the store, so he has set up an invisible rule: if Cai Lan smiles in the group photo, it is delicious, and if he does not laugh, it is not delicious.
Cai Lan has a soft body and a smart mind, and every time he withdraws in time, he makes himself fame and fortune.
Cai Lan likes to immerse himself in the city life, and he and his wife often go to a café inside the Kowloon Municipal Services Building in Hong Kong for morning tea.
It is a downtown area in the bustling city center of Hong Kong, where Cai Lan is a frequent visitor and is friends with every vendor in the wet market, and he often comes here to buy vegetables, fish and braised pork...... Some stores have photos with Cai Lan on their doors.
Cai Lan and his wife Fang Qiongwen
At lunchtime, Cai Lan and the vendors selling vegetables and fish had a meal in a food stall-style tea restaurant, drinking brandy and chatting about family life.
Hong Kong citizens who are accustomed to seeing celebrities will not come forward to disturb them, but at most say hello.
Kowloon City is full of fireworks and is a place to live, and Cai Lan said that the people he sees here are "more like people", with the smell of people and a smile on his face.
Cai Lan is at the Kowloon wet market in Hong Kong
Jin Yong likes to travel with Cai Lan the most, Cai Lan laughs at any unpleasantness during the trip, never complains about the food is not delicious, does not complain about traffic jams, and teaches Jin Yong how to suck the beef bone marrow in the food stalls, understands a lot, has good popularity, and has many boyfriends and girlfriends.
Jin Yong commented that Cai Lan has a wide range of knowledge, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, wine and wealth, literature and movies, and knows everything. In movies, poetry, calligraphy, and food, it is the first-class mastery.
"A truly chic person, in terms of amorous and versatile, I am not as good as him."
From left to right: Jin Yong, Jin Yong's wife Lin Leyi, Cai Lan
Cai Lan, who has a good relationship with women, is envied by many male compatriots, and some people ask him for advice on how to get a girlfriend, and his answer made the people present laugh.
"It takes practice to have a girlfriend, how to practice? That's the ugly photo killing, kill too much, you will become a sister expert, and beauty will naturally come. ”
In terms of getting girlfriends, the mediocre-looking Cai Lan has never lost, he has publicly dated 61 girlfriends, including girls from various countries and female stars, which can be said to be a lifetime of romance.
Director Li Hanxiang commented on Cai Lan: "Learn from China, Britain and Japan, and love the sea, land and air." ”
When asked who the woman he loved the most in his life, Cai Lan shook his head and said, "No, where is there such a thing, this one is the favorite at present." ”
He was referring to his wife Fang Qiongwen, who is also a film producer like Cai Lan, and is a strong woman.
Cai Lan said that his wife "can do it, knows how to eat, and doesn't care about me", no matter what it means here, it means that Fang Qiongwen never cares about her husband's extramarital affairs.
After being married for so many years, Cai Lan's erotic encounters have been one after another, and Fang Qiongwen never asks about this and never interferes.
Cai Lan insisted that Dink not have children, and Fang Qiongwen agreed. He didn't want any ties, and he felt that the world was rotten, and there was no need to bring another life.
The outside world has been controversial about Cai Lan's lack of children, and some young people also envy his freedom and ask: "I don't want to have children, and I'm afraid that I will have no one to send me when I get old, what should I do?" ”
Cai Lan felt that the young man nowadays was more feudal and old-fashioned than his old man, and replied: "Will you know if someone will die if you die?" Really! ”
When he had the ability and physical strength, Cai Lan worked hard to make money, and when he was old, he lived in a top hotel suite, spent money to hire various professionals to take care of himself, and in the matter of Dink's pension, he achieved the unity of knowledge and action.
The free and hedonistic attitude of life meets the psychological needs of young people today.
Cai Lan, who is in his 80s, likes to deal with young people and is willing to try new things, Weibo, Douyin, Douban...... He can do anything.
In March 2018, Cai Lan held a calligraphy exhibition in Hong Kong, holding crutches with his friend Ni Kuang
With more than 10 million followers on Weibo, Cai Lan is a first-line star, and he jokes that he is "more than the population of Hong Kong".
Every year at the end of December before the Lunar New Year, Cai Lan will open Weibo comments to answer questions from netizens.
He cherishes words like gold and is very vicious.
Most people ask questions about dissatisfaction with their studies, work, and life, and Cai Lan unanimously answers: "McDonald's." (Go to McDonald's to work and experience the hard work.) ）
Someone is 28 years old and still wants to be a rich second generation, Cai Lan directly said: "Ask you Lao Tzu, ask your mother, I am not available." ”
When dealing with emotional problems, he always replies carefully, and some netizens asked: "How can I have someone I like?"
Cai Lan replied: "Are people for you?" ”
Living to this age, Cai Lan felt that he was very lucky, although there was a "Lan" in his name, he did not experience too many waves in his life.
Once, when Cai Lan was traveling abroad, he encountered a cyclone on a plane that continued to descend for five minutes. The Australian man sitting next to him was so frightened that his legs were weak and his hands were shaking, Cai Lan sat calmly, and the stranger asked him: "Have you ever died?" ”
Cai Lan replied: "No, no, no, I lived." ”
Over the years, there have always been publishers who asked Cai Lan to write memoirs, but he refused, "I won't even write if I die."
In his opinion, most people's memoirs are plastered with gold on their faces, so many shortcomings dare not be written, they are lying, and there are no perfect people in this world at all.
If one day, Cai Lan decides to write a true memoir, he says, "I can write it when the people I want to write about are dead."
Cai Lan, who loves to eat and can eat, also made a list of "must-eat before death", with various dishes: charcoal-roasted whelk, lard rice, Sichuan mapo tofu, sliced French black pine mushrooms to make Amlie, anti-taro, Indian curry crab, French white asparagus......
Cai Lan said that if you finish eating the world's food, no one will be afraid of death.
Looking back, Cai Lan felt that the happiest afternoon was at his home in Amsterdam with his teacher who was learning to paint.
It was a converted home from an elementary school, with a kitchen upstairs and a studio downstairs. In the empty kitchen, Cai Lan and the teacher made scallion pancakes together, drank champagne, and the breeze blew the fragrance of flowers outside, which was extremely leisurely.
That afternoon of scallion pancakes with champagne, that special aroma still makes him unforgettable.
Cai Lan once said that in the future, after death, the cremated ashes should be scattered in the sea, so that he will always be in the beautiful Victoria Harbour.
Before he died, his goal was to spend all the money he had earned in his life.
There are still many regrets in life, Cai Lan feels that there is no need to say that it is better to eat a bowl of wine and soak yellow mud snails with this effort.
Some references:
1, Lu Yu has an appointment: an interview with Cai Lan
2, Episode 8 of "Thirteen Invitations Season 1" Xu Zhiyuan talks to Cai Lan
3, Mingzhou Entertainment: Interview with Cai Lan Live a life one day at a time
Image source: Internet, interview video, Douban