"Mr. Qiu, I never expected you to come in person!"
The man who had reached out to Zhou Ziheng was considered a major figure in the film circles of Hong Kong and Taiwan. He was Qiu Fusheng, one of the eight major film tycoons in Taiwan who dominated the industry during the 1990s. Known in Taiwan as a "media tycoon," he had been a pioneer influencing the development of Taiwanese media since the 1980s. He was famous for his keen sense of trends; while his peers were focused on what would happen in the next two months, he was already looking two years ahead, which often led to innovative moves that put him at the forefront of the industry.
What he was best known for, especially among Mainlanders like Zhou Ziheng, occurred in January 1990, when he initiated the founding of the prestigious "Cross-Strait Film and Television Association" and served as its first chairman. This was the first cross-strait exchange group established in the Taiwanese film industry, taking the lead in cultural exchange. Furthermore, he established Era International in Hong Kong and, with remarkable speed, signed a two-film contract with Zhang Yimou under the name "Hong Kong Era" (an unprecedented move, as Taiwan at the time prohibited direct film cooperation between the two sides). Leveraging his international network, he introduced Zhang Yimou—who had previously belonged solely to China—to the world stage.
Chapter 196