Chapter 1585: A Trip to South Korea

This thing called a sense of responsibility is sometimes quite mysterious. Zhao Fusheng never imagined that one day he would join Jiang Wen in worrying about the future of Chinese cinema.

But what Fan Baobao and Zhou Yun said was right: what's true can't be made false, and what's false can't be made true. Through the waves of time, truly good works will never be buried.

The film market is the same. Even after an era of chaos and disorder, it will eventually become better.

"I plan to go to South Korea with Old Jiang."

After dinner, Jiang Wen and Zhou Yun took their leave. Zhao Fusheng and Fan Baobao drove home. In the car, Zhao Fusheng spoke to Fan Baobao.

Go to South Korea?

Fan Baobao was slightly surprised, furrowing her brows. She asked Zhao Fusheng in confusion, "Are you planning to get involved in the South Korean film and television production industry?"

From her understanding of her husband, he wouldn't go to South Korea for no reason. Usually, when Zhao Fusheng talked about Japan and South Korea, although he didn't explicitly state his stance, anyone close to him knew he didn't really like those two countries.

"Yes."

Facing his wife's question, Zhao Fusheng had no intention of hiding anything. He said calmly, "South Koreans' film and television production, especially their TV drama production methods, are indeed more advanced than ours. Instead of letting them make money off us, I might as well start laying the groundwork now, so I can get a piece of the pie later."

With Fan Baobao, he didn't need to maintain any mystery; he could just be straightforward. She would definitely support him.

"That's good."

Sure enough, upon hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Fan Baobao nodded and said, "At least it's better to prepare in advance than to wait until they really overpower us."

She wasn't the type to be stubborn and outdated. She naturally understood that her husband was a businessman, so he had to think from a business perspective.

In other words, if it wasn't profitable, purely doing charity work might be fine at home, helping those in need. But when going abroad, it's better not to do business that doesn't make money.

Being kind is not wrong, but being too philanthropic can easily make you seem like a fool to others.

"But seriously, don't you think those South Koreans are actually quite interesting?"

Zhao Fusheng suddenly asked Fan Baobao with a smile.

"Interesting?"

Fan Baobao was puzzled, not understanding what Zhao Fusheng meant.

Zhao Fusheng shrugged and explained, "Geography plays an important role in shaping culture. Islanders inevitably have an island mentality. Mountain valley culture creates narrow-minded and insular attitudes.

When I was in the United States, I once chatted with a Korean who had lived there for many years. Because he had been abroad for a long time, he could compare and view the deep-rooted flaws of Koreans more objectively.

He said that South Korea is small, and in many places, when you go out, you see hills, which objectively causes their shortsightedness and narrow-mindedness. It's like a frog at the bottom of a well, always thinking they're the best and everything of theirs is good.

Their narrow-mindedness also reflects in that they can't see the vastness of the world and think all good things should belong to them. For example, they claim China's Dragon Boat Festival and even the globe as their own, make Yandi their ancestor, say that President Sun has Korean blood, and that Confucius is a descendant of Koreans, and so on."

"Really?"

Fan Baobao asked Zhao Fusheng in surprise.

She had really never heard of such claims before.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Sometimes I really feel sorry for the Korean Wave fans. Because they are too easily deceived and misled by the superficial images of Korean dramas. Only those who have actually been to South Korea know that apart from Samsung, South Korea has nothing. Last time I went to South Korea, I also felt that the streets there are not and cannot be as magnificent and grand as ours in China, which is directly related to their geography."

Fan Baobao laughed. She could clearly hear her husband's contempt for South Korea, which was evident in his words.

"Not only that, but South Koreans are notorious for playing dirty tricks. Anyone who has dealt with Korean businessmen knows their dishonorable tactics in business. The tricks they pulled at the World Cup were especially dirty; Portugal, Italy, Spain—one European powerhouse after another fell to their despicable methods."

Zhao Fusheng said bluntly.

Although the Chinese men's football team was hopeless, like a pile of shit, as a football fan, Zhao Fusheng still cared about this.

"Go on, go on."

Fan Baobao rarely saw Zhao Fusheng willing to talk about these things with her, so she naturally enjoyed hearing him out.

"This attitude of Koreans that 'no one is good enough, only Korea is the best' has reached an extreme level of arrogance. It is their shortsightedness and narrow-mindedness that have created their nouveau riche-style blind arrogance. But this blind arrogance cannot conceal the essence of their inner inferiority.

Today's South Korea is sandwiched between two powerful countries: Japan, the world's second-largest economy, and China, the world's third-largest economy. Squeezed between these two giants, this sense of inferiority and weakness is obvious. By belittling others to elevate themselves, South Korea tries to cover up its inferiority complex through arrogance. But South Korea, once a Japanese colony, and Koreans who were treated as the lowest slaves in Japan, hate Japan but never belittle or vilify it to the extent they do China. Don't you think these people have psychological issues?"

Zhao Fusheng said to Fan Baobao with a sigh.

Although Fan Baobao didn't fully understand what Zhao Fusheng was saying, she was aware of the recent craze for Korean and Japanese culture. Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, she sighed but didn't know how to comfort him.

After venting, Zhao Fusheng didn't say anything more.

Many things cannot be changed just by knowing them. One can only do their best and leave the rest to fate.

...

...

Jiang Wen's执行力 was beyond doubt. After the Lantern Festival, he called Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng naturally had no objection. He arranged matters at home and set off with Jiang Wen.

Of course, as the boss, he didn't have to worry about not being received there. Liang Jingyu, upon hearing that the big boss was coming in person, had already made preparations.

Having a rare opportunity to curry favor with the boss, only a fool would miss it.

After the plane landed with a jolt, Zhao Fusheng looked at Jiang Wen: "They say Koreans care a lot about face. Just looking at this airport, you can tell."

Jiang Wen was taken aback, then smiled: "You're right. Koreans really do care a lot about face."

He had also dealt with many Koreans at various film festivals. He had to admit that Zhao Fusheng's words accurately described Korean habits.

"Speaking of which, it seems there's a film festival in South Korea recently. Aren't you going?"

Zhao Fusheng suddenly remembered something and asked Jiang Wen with a smile.

Jiang Wen nodded: "I'm going."

Then he winked: "I'm still waiting to sell the copyright of 'The Sun Also Rises' to the Koreans."

Zhao Fusheng was stunned. Looking at Jiang Wen's righteous expression, he suddenly felt that this guy was too cunning, still thinking of tricking the Koreans at a time like this.

But why didn't he feel the slightest bit unhappy?

"I'm a good person, I'm a patriotic person, I'm a person who has risen above vulgar interests..." Zhao Fusheng kept reciting in his mind.

Then he said to Jiang Wen, "The branch here should have connections with many Korean film and television companies. I'll have them inquire later."

Jiang Wen was momentarily surprised, then smiled with satisfaction. He was very interested in Zhao Fusheng's suggestion.

This was much more effective than going to the film festival himself to sell movie copyrights.

Having connections makes things easier. This principle applies everywhere, past and present, at home and abroad.

"By the way, your branch here has made quite a few movies, right?" Jiang Wen casually asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "We made a few films before, and they caused quite a stir. As you know, Koreans are very interested in films that expose the corruption of their government and judiciary."

What he said was true. Koreans vent their dissatisfaction with reality mostly through movies.

In the original timeline, on June 22, 2005, some staff of the South Korean Disability Sexual Violence Counseling Center reported the sexual violence at Gwangju Inhwa School for the Deaf and Blind. The former school administrative director, rehabilitation teacher, and principal were detained on suspicion of sexual violence. Some students began to boycott classes and protest in front of the Gwangju Education Office. However, the suspected perpetrators received only light punishment due to 'insufficient evidence,' while the teachers who helped the students were severely punished.

The supervisory education and administrative authorities stated that 'legally, there is no problem, and there is no issue with school operations.' The public was furious, but their protests yielded no good results for a long time.

The film 'Silenced' (The Crucible), released six years later, was a realistic film based on the Inhwa School sexual violence incident.

The film basically follows the real events, with artistic embellishments. It fictionalizes a small town called 'Mujin' as the setting. Art teacher Kang In-ho and a human rights activist fight tirelessly to protect the rights of sexually abused children, ending with the betrayal of the defense lawyer and a final defeat. The film caused a huge stir in Korean society. Under the Korean film rating system, 'Silenced' was rated 18+ due to its content involving child sexual abuse. According to statistics, the film had about 5 million viewers, achieving box office success.

However, on November 8, 2012, the seven victims' lawsuit against the South Korean government, Gwangju city government, and Gwangju Gwangsan district government for approximately 440 million won in damages ultimately failed.

How much is 440 million won?

At the exchange rate at the time, 100 million won was about 580,000 RMB.

In other words, their total claim was less than 2.6 million RMB.

Yet, the result was still a loss!

This is a sad story, but such stories are not uncommon in South Korea.

It is a country controlled by chaebols, where the power of money and influence is beyond ordinary people's imagination.

Upon hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Jiang Wen was momentarily stunned, then shook his head helplessly.

Sometimes, this is the sorrow of ordinary people.

Faced with things we cannot change, we can only express support in this way.