Chapter 117

After the seminars organized by the authorities concluded, meetings suddenly seemed to multiply. First, three days after the seminar, the China Film Association also held an enlarged meeting of its council. Although Liu Zhou was not yet a council member, he was invited to attend. Following that, the China Directors Guild and the Writers Guild held successive meetings, and Liu Zhou was called out by name to attend them as well. He had been invited to join all three of these associations shortly after the release of *My Sassy Girl*. In a place like Mainland China that placed such high value on connections, unless you wanted to be an absolute eccentric, it was very difficult to bypass them. They practically controlled domestic awards and held significant advisory power over top-level policy-making. Besides, joining these associations brought Liu Zhou no harm and plenty of benefits; many of their members were of the academic school.