1. The unexpected ending of the "Gong Shou Dao" event
In November 2017, the long-awaited "Gong Shou Dao" martial arts competition kicked off and was successfully held in the capital Beijing for the first time. The event, which features the classic Tai Chi Tui technique, was co-founded by renowned business magnate Mr. Jack Ma and renowned martial arts master Li Lian.
With the ambition to propel Chinese wushu onto the world stage and the Olympic Games, both figures have high hopes for the event's bright future.
2. The deliberate conception of a martial arts cultural movement
Let's go back in time to 1993. That year, Mr. Jet Li, with his superb acting skills, created a very charismatic image of Tai Chi martial artists in the movie "Tai Chi Zhang Sanfeng", and since then, he has developed a deep love for Tai Chi martial arts.
However, despite his deep desire to carry forward the martial arts of Tai Chi, he has never been able to find the right opportunity.
It wasn't until 2009 that Mr. Jet Li met Mr. Jack Ma, who was also obsessed with martial arts. It turned out that Mr. Ma Yun was not only keen on strengthening his body through Tai Chi, but also often used Faye Wong's beautiful singing voice to boost morale in the early days of his business.
The two like-minded people hit it off, and Mr. Ma Yun did not hesitate to express his willingness to join hands with Jet Li to make a film with the theme of Tai Chi, which is undoubtedly a great opportunity to promote Chinese martial arts culture.
Mr. Jet Li was ecstatic and finally found a like-minded partner. Since then, a martial arts cultural movement of unprecedented scale has quietly begun to be born.
3. Many celebrities gathered together, but they "worked" for Mr. Ma Yun
Although the micro-film "Gong Shou Dao" is starring Mr. Ma Yun himself, the invited star lineup is star-studded: Sammo Hung, Yuan Heping, Wu Jing, Donnie Yen and a large number of top masters in the martial arts world have appeared, but they only played the role of Mr. Ma Yun's foil.
This phenomenon is rare in the film and television industry, and it will inevitably cause many questions from the outside world.
Some netizens joked: "If there is no Mr. Ma Yun's financial resources and social status, how can these stars willingly act as green leaves for him?" In response to such questions, Mr. Sammo Hung responded forcefully: "It is true that Mr. Ma Yun has a huge amount of wealth, but his wealth has nothing to do with us.
We, including Donnie Yen, are all involved in the show based on our deep friendship."
In fact, it was not Mr. Jack Ma who invited these stars to join, but their predecessor in the martial arts world, Mr. Jet Li. Mr. Jet Li explained to them in detail the original intention of the filming of "Gong Shou Dao", emphasizing that this is not only a commercial film, but also an important opportunity to promote traditional Chinese martial arts culture.
After learning the news, all the actors led by Mr. Sammo Hung put down their noble status and heavy work burden, and did not hesitate to devote themselves to it.
Mr. Sammo Hung did not hesitate to travel thousands of miles, even endured the pain of knee surgery, and relied on the difficulty of moving in a wheelchair to come to the filming site, and director Yuan Heping even sacrificed up to 700,000 yuan of personal income for this movie... All of these fully demonstrate their high regard and firm support for the project!
Mr. Sammo Hung also revealed that once, because of Mr. Ma Yun's delay, Mr. Wu Jing almost caused a conflict with Mr. Ma Yun on the set.
Fourth, Ma Yun visited the door three times, and finally Faye Wong joined in
Although "Gong Shou Dao" has invited many stars to participate, Mr. Ma Yun knows that the influence of these stars alone may not be able to achieve the expected publicity effect and let more audiences know about the film.
Therefore, Mr. Ma Yun recalled the arduous entrepreneurial years many years ago, whenever he heard Miss Faye Wong's singing, he would feel full of strength in his heart, and move forward bravely, Mr. Ma Yun secretly vowed that if he could succeed one day, he would definitely invite Miss Faye Wong to sing for his works.
Now is a great time to realize his dream, and Mr. Ma Yun sincerely invited Miss Faye Wong to record the theme song for "Gong Shou Dao". However, after reading the lyrics, Miss Faye Wong directly rejected it on the grounds that "the lyrics are not good".
As a diva-level singer, she naturally has extremely strict requirements for her musical works.
In the face of setbacks, Mr. Ma Yun did not lose heart, but quickly invited Mr. Gao Xiaosong, a famous domestic lyricist, to re-write the lyrics. In just a few days, the new version of the lyrics was completed, and Mr. Ma Yun begged Miss Faye Wong to review it again.
However, Mr. Gao Xiaosong's vision is really unique, and the lyrics still failed to satisfy Miss Faye Wong after several revisions, and it was not until the eighth draft that Miss Faye Wong reluctantly agreed.
It is worth mentioning that Mr. Ma Yun began to hesitate at this time. He was worried that his voice would affect Miss Faye Wong's classic interpretation, so he came up with the idea of hiding this wish deep in his heart.
Fortunately, Miss Faye Wong personally persuaded and encouraged Mr. Ma Yun to let go of his psychological baggage, and finally the two worked together to contribute to the movie.
Facts have proved that the theme song was widely praised as soon as it was launched, and it became a key link in the promotion of "Gong Shou Dao".
5. The production process of "Gong Shou Dao" was difficult, and the film industry was moved by it
Although "Gong Shoudao" has gathered many well-known movie stars to join, it was not all smooth in the arduous filming process of the film. The reason is that the lead actor Jack Ma has the important responsibility of chairman of the board of directors of Alibaba Group, and his workload is so heavy that he can devote very little time to filming.
In this case, Jack Ma's multiple postponements throughout the filming process became a problem for the rest of the crew, and even caused their dissatisfaction. When Sammo Hung recalls that past, his face still shows resentment.
He said frankly that if Li Lianming hadn't stopped him, Wu Jing would have already clashed with Ma Yun.
It turned out that Ma Yun's skills in action scenes were still unfamiliar, and in a fierce fight scene with Wu Jing, he accidentally hit Wu Jing with a wooden stick on the head. Seeing this, Jet Li immediately came forward to accuse Wu Jing: "He can only beat you, you can't fight back."
Jet Li, as the division commander, naturally had his considerations, but Wu Jing obviously couldn't accept this kind of arrangement to endure humiliation.
He is a well-known "wolf warrior" superstar in the film and television industry, how can he easily bow his head to others? So, his face was pale, his heart was full of anger, and he couldn't wait to give Ma Yun a head start. Fortunately, Sammo Hung and other crew members came forward to mediate in time, which reluctantly resolved the crisis.
As we all know, the income of celebrities mainly depends on their own popularity and market value. However, in the smaller crew of "Gong Shou Dao", they should have received a high salary, but they chose to participate for free, aiming to promote Chinese martial arts culture.
6. Ma Yun's sincerity in promoting martial arts culture is admirable
Looking back on the creative process of "Gong Shou Dao", we can clearly feel Jack Ma's ardent desire to spread traditional Chinese culture. From inviting Faye Wong to sing the theme song three times, to fully promoting the emerging "Gong Shou Dao" martial arts sport, and looking forward to its entry into the Olympic arena one day, Ma Yun has always used his influence to escort him.
Although in the end, "Gong Shou Dao" failed to achieve the expected commercial success, Jack Ma's original intention is undoubtedly commendable. This business leader, who was once uplifted by Faye Wong's singing in the early days of his business, has a deep emotional sustenance for traditional Chinese culture.
We have every reason to believe that he will not stand still, and will continue to exert his influence and make unremitting efforts to promote national culture.