When I was working in the Literature and Art Department of the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, I had many contacts with people in the Shanghai film industry. Among them, Xie Jin had the most contacts and the deepest impression.

Recently, the Shanghai International Film Festival released news: 2023 is the 100th anniversary of Xie Jin's birth and the 30th anniversary of the Shanghai International Film Festival. With four classic works, the Golden Goblet Film Forum "Commemorating the Centenary of Xie Jin's Birth" will be held at the same time. Well-known filmmakers and film critics will be invited to review the cross-age artistic achievements and film spirit of this film artist based on the classic works and artistic life of director Xie Jin. I would like to pay high tribute to him who has always maintained his creative passion and struggled for movies all his life. I was very relieved to see this news, and it also brought back my memories of the past.

2023 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous film artist Xie Jin. The 25th Shanghai International Film Festival "Salute to the Master" will screen classic works directed by Xie Jin.

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Since 1991, benefiting from the frontier position of reform and opening up, the creation of TV dramas in Guangdong has become popular, and TV series such as "Foreign Girl", "Miss Public Relations" and "Love in the Pearl River" have been launched successively, and their reputation has risen and caused a sensation nationwide. The creation of TV dramas is still in the state of "many and fast, neither good nor bad". For this reason, Xu Junxi, the vice minister in charge of literature and art in the Propaganda Department of the municipal party committee at the time, asked the literature and art department to regularly convene experts to discuss the national TV drama creation trends and the art rules of TV dramas. The Art Advisory Committee is composed of Xie Jin, Yu Qiuyu, Li Ziyun, Huang Shuqin, Zong Fuxian and other Shanghai literary and art circles. In order to facilitate the smooth development of the work, I also specially drafted the working regulations of the Shanghai TV Drama Creation Advisory Committee and Office.

Since then, the Art Advisory Committee has regularly held working meetings in the meeting room on the 5th floor of No. 19 Gao'an Road. Minister Xu was originally a professor of the Chinese Department of Fudan University, a characterful and accomplished literary theorist, and had a good relationship with these participating artists; moreover, because the meeting was held after work, the atmosphere was relaxed and lively, and the participants spoke freely. Show their true colors. Every time there is a meeting, director Xie Jin either just came back from a business trip or came from the crew.

Director Xie is tall and tall, he likes to wear baseball caps and camera vests; he speaks very loudly, and he sees his voice before he sees him; In my eyes, Dao Xie is very energetic, with a bold and enthusiastic personality, just like a raging fire. No. 19 Gao'an Road was originally a hospital built by the French during the Republic of China. The rooms are tall and spacious. Every floor above the second floor has a large balcony across the building. All the window frames are made of brass and the waxed teak floor The oil is shiny, and after work, the whole building is particularly quiet. But as soon as Director Xie got out of the elevator, the entire aisle on the 5th floor would be noisy. It felt that Director Xie was not alone, but a group of people.

Xie Jin

Director Xie's speeches are always very enthusiastic in every meeting. His speech was straight from the heart, full of passion, and he thought of where to say, a bit like a stream of consciousness. But no matter how he diverges, almost all of his topics are related to movies, or talk about creative experience, or criticize the current disadvantages of the film industry, or talk about his own creative plans, which are lively, interesting, and full of insights. Several times, Director Xie happened to go to Beijing for a meeting before attending the meeting, and was received by the central leadership. Therefore, Director Xie would convey to us the spirit of the instructions of the central leadership in a timely manner. Director Xie has a loud voice and speaks with passion. I sat next to Director Xie to take meeting minutes, and I always felt that thunder was ringing in my ears from time to time. After several meetings, I also found that if Director Xie was not interested in the topic discussed at the meeting, he would just pretend he didn’t hear anything, and sometimes he would talk to me in a low voice; but when the topic was interesting and beneficial to him, he would There is nothing wrong with my ears. Later I heard from other friends in the film industry that Xie Jin had this situation. I think this selective deafness may also be a kind of survival wisdom for him.

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In addition to the activities of the Art Advisory Committee, in the daily work of the Art Department of the Publicity Department of the Municipal Party Committee, I also have a lot of contact with Director Xie. After getting along for a long time, we also became friends.

Back then, I lived in the guest house of the Municipal Party Committee Office next to No. 19 Gao'an Road. This is a three-story single building with a garden, of which the first and third floors serve the outside world, and the second floor is used as a dormitory for our new single workers. In the 1990s, the cultural and art market in Shanghai was very prosperous. I often went out to participate in cultural and artistic activities at night, and I usually didn’t return to the dormitory until around 11 o’clock. At that time, not to mention mobile phones, even telephones were rare, and there was only one telephone at the service desk in the entire guest house. For a period of time, Director Xie often called me to find me, but when I couldn't find the office, he called the guest house. I remember one time when I went back to the hostel very late, a staff member of the hostel called "Big Man" saw me and said: Do you recognize Director Xie Jin? Tonight, Xiangyi made a phone call to find her, as if there was something urgent. ( Shanghai dialect, roughly meaning: Do you know Director Xie Jin? He called you several times tonight, as if there is something urgent. )

I called Director Xie early the next morning, and learned that it was Director Xie who was planning to film the TV series "Dong Zhujun" and "Rabe's Diary", and wanted to communicate with me about the project approval and funding of the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department.

In 1993, Shanghai Xie Jin-Hengtong Star School was established, specializing in cultivating actor seedlings, with Xie Jin as the principal. Not long after the school was established, Xie Jin invited me to visit, and Yuan Guoying, the person in charge of the school's daily work, introduced the school. After many years, I still remember the school motto put forward by Xie Jin back then: Do not come if you lack artistic talent; Later, the school joined Shanghai Normal University and became Xie Jin Film and Television Art College of Shanghai Normal University, but this school motto still remains.

Hometown of Xie Jin

Because of the frequent contact, Director Xie doesn’t treat me as an outsider, and he would yell at me several times after dinner after the event: Xiao Zhao, you too! Director Xie likes to treat guests in Shaoxing-style restaurants, so I know the newly opened Shaoxing-style restaurants very well. Whenever wine is served during meals, Director Xie always asks to serve Tai Diao. This is a specialty of Shaoxing, Dao Xie's hometown. The wine tastes sweet and mellow. It is usually served in a pottery urn. When drinking, it is poured into an iron pot and heated with shredded ginger. Director Xie drank a few cups of too much wine, and then talked loudly about the Classic of Mountains and Seas. When the topic of movies is almost finished, Director Xie will talk about his son Ah Si. Ah Si is mentally retarded, Director Xie takes special care of him, and Ah Si also has a deep affection for Director Xie. Director Xie said: Every time he goes out to film, Ah Si will wait for him to come back no matter how late. As soon as he entered the door, Ah Si would set up slippers for him to put on. Once, a producer of Director Xie went on to say: When Director Xie was reading the script at home, every time he read it happily, he would yell "Ah Si!" But Ah Si rushed over several times, and found that Director Xie was fine, he just yelled for joy, so when he called "Ah Si" again, Ah Si would say: Go! go! go! Director Xie listened and laughed with us.

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The last time I had close contact with Director Xie was in 1999. In this year, I participated in the creation of the key film "Women's Football No. 9", which was approved by the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee.

The film tells the story of the young national football coach Gao Bo reorganizing the Chinese women's football team after returning from Japan in the early 1990s, leading the players to fight tenaciously and finally winning the World Cup runner-up. The film was sponsored by Shanghai Huanghe Pharmaceutical Factory. At the opening ceremony, an elegant female director of Huanghe Pharmaceutical Factory also came to the scene and spoke. She said: Xie Jin is the pride of Chinese films. Huanghe Pharmaceutical Factory supports the filming of "Women's Football No. 9", which is not only a support for the Chinese film industry, but also out of respect for Director Xie and love for Director Xie's films.

After the filming started, I went to the location in Zhejiang with the crew. I lived in the guest house with the crew, and sat in Director Xie's room when I had time. I have seen Director Xie sitting at the table concentrating on studying the script many times and taking notes on the script. I was deeply moved by his dedication to film creation. This time I went out on location, and like the crew members, I also received a photography vest with the words "Vital Calcium" printed on the back.

"Women's Football No. 9" crew photography vest. Image courtesy of the author

I have hardly worn this vest since I came back from the location. One year in late autumn, when I was looking for warm clothes, I found this vest again. After a closer look, I found that there were two pockets on the back of the vest, probably for notebooks. Or the script, it is indeed very practical for the crew. Although I seldom wear this waistcoat, it is still in my collection and is now a cultural relic. I keep it not only to preserve the memory of an era, but also to remember Dao Xie. A popular concept at the moment is called "breaking away", but some items are hard to break, hard to give up, and hard to leave.

Poster of "Women's Football No. 9"

"Women's Football No. 9" is Director Xie's last film, when Director Xie was 77 years old. Since then, the film market has continued to decline, and films with serious themes have become more and more marginalized. They have been replaced by commercial and entertainment films such as action, police and gangsters, martial arts, and extramarital affairs. Raised funds. During this period, I heard that once any entrepreneur, including township entrepreneurs, expressed his willingness to contribute, Director Xie would always go there willingly, but often returned without success after the other party warmly received them and took a group photo.

After I left the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee in 2002, my contact with Xie Jin gradually decreased. I remember once I met Director Xie by chance, and after talking for a while, I learned that he was still working on raising funds for "Rabe's Diary". After saying goodbye, I looked back at Xie Jin's somewhat lonely back, and couldn't help but feel a little sad, feeling that the times had wronged him. Since then, I have been expecting this movie to be a success, but unfortunately it didn't.

On October 17, 2008, Xie Jin went to Shangyu to attend the 100th anniversary celebration of his alma mater, Shangyu Chunhui Middle School. The next morning, the waiter at the hotel where Xie Jin stayed found that Xie Jin had stopped breathing and died at the age of 85. The sad news of Director Xie's death shocked me, but also made me deeply saddened and regretted. It is difficult for me to imagine that a burning fire will suddenly go out.

Xie Jin

Xie Jin is a director who is deeply loved by the audience. Many audiences I met would say: We all grew up watching Xie Jin's movies. Director Xie's movies are not only loved by Chinese audiences, but also by foreign audiences. When I was a graduate student at Shandong University, I met an international student from Waseda University in Japan. His name is Fujino Akira, and he has the same surname as Mr. Fujino Yankuro, Lu Xun's teacher. He studied journalism. After returning from studying abroad, he successively served as the director of the Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong branches of the Japanese "Yomiuri Shimbun". He once said to me: He has three major hobbies: admiring Chairman Mao's calligraphy, reading Shanghai's "Wen Wei Po", and watching Xie Jin's movies. To this day, I still remember his expression of eagerness to confide in me after watching Director Xie's new work "Furong Town" at that time, and his heart was overwhelmed.

Director Xie is a true filmmaker. He has devoted all his talents and enthusiasm to the film industry. No matter what difficulties and obstacles there are, he cannot give up. He is a national treasure-level film master in China, just like Godard in France, Bergman in Sweden, and Akira Kurosawa in Japan. I always have deep respect for this director who makes a living from movies, has high political sensitivity, sharp social critical vision, and fiery humanistic feelings. The man is gone, but the spirit lives on forever!

The 25th Shanghai International Film Festival's "Salute to the Master" unit screening of Xie Jin's film schedule

(The author of this article, Zhao Jianzhong, is a member of China Financial Writers Association and Shanghai Writers Association. Member of Shanghai Translators Association, Shanghai Literary Critics Association, Shanghai Film Association, Shanghai Musicians Association, Shanghai Poetry Society. Director of Shanghai Film Critics Society.)