When Wang An saw Li Xuan's appearance, he was also a little surprised. He did not expect Michael Jackson to be so important to him. Wang An thought that only people of their age would be so infatuated with Mike.
At this time in 2007, Michael Jackson was really not very well-known in the hearts of the Chinese people born in the 1990s and 1900s. The time when Michael's popularity really skyrocketed was in 2009. To be precise, it was June 25th, 2009.
"Little Xuan, do you know Blackie?" Wang An asked Li Xuan. The one from Seth Company?" When Li Xuan heard this, he frowned and said,"Are you talking about the person and organizer who planned Michael Jackson's concert in Beijing?”
Wang An nodded. Back then, Michael Jackson held a world tour, a dangerous journey. There were a total of 69 performances, but the original plan was to have more than 100 performances. There were two batches, but only the first batch was completed. The second batch was canceled before the tour ended. The Beijing concert was in the second batch.
However, due to various reasons at that time, China was the first to reject Michael Jackson's arrival. Later on, the entire concert was canceled. He even asked Michael Jackson to hold his concert in Taiwan.
Wang An said to Li Xuan," I still remember it very clearly. It was 1993. Seth's haters went to the United States to negotiate with Michael Jackson and asked him if he was interested in coming to China to hold a concert. Because I graduated from the Foreign Language Institute, I was a translation intern at that time.”
Through Wang An's introduction, Li Xuan finally knew everything.
It turned out that in 1991, when the 33-year-old Jackson released his album " Danger," he set a sales record of 31 million yuan. He struck while the iron was hot and launched the " Dangerous Journey " world tour, but Beijing was not one of the stops.
In 1993, China's reform and opening up had entered its 13th year. Western pop culture had long been crammed by the young people of China, and Jackson, who was at his peak, had a large number of Chinese fans.
Jackson's world tour didn't have a Celestial Station, which made the boss of Seth Culture Development Company (Seth), Hei Zi, feel that it was a pity. Hei Zi was also a fan of Jackson. Wang An said,""At that time, no one in the world could surpass his shock, especially if he could come to China. I think there was nothing better than promoting China at that time.”
In 1993, Seth officially invited Jackson to hold a concert in Beijing, and soon received an enthusiastic response from Jackson's team.
There were less than 20 people in Seth. From the chauffeur to the logistician to the copywriter, all of them were fans of Jackson. "Inviting your favorite singer to your favorite city is actually to fulfill the dreams of our generation.”Wang An said.
In the 1980s, Wang An, who was still in university in Beijing, fell in love with Jackson. Many of his classmates were children of the foreign education department, and his parents often sent back some Jackson videos from abroad. "Once school is over, I'll go to my classmate's house to watch it. Anyone who could imitate Jackson's dance steps would be as popular as an artist in school.”Wang An recalled.
The once unreachable celebrity was now right in front of him. Wang An still remembered the excitement he felt." Usually, you climb the Fragrant Hills. Suddenly, one day, you find yourself standing at the foot of Mount Everest, and all the conditions tell you that you can continue climbing.”
In the spring of 1993, on Wang An's first day at Seth, everyone in the company was busy preparing for Jackson's Beijing concert. At that time, his colleagues called Jackson "Michael." The first job Wang An received was to translate the 160-page concert cooperation proposal from the US into Chinese.
He invited his classmates and friends who were proficient in English to perform the surgery, but his friends who were also obsessed with Jackson seemed to see a heavenly book. The logistics were so detailed that even the nails and other auxiliary materials needed for the stage construction had strict specifications. The most unforgettable detail for Wang An was that at the entrance of the dressing room, Evian mineral water with a constant temperature of 25 degrees Celsius should be placed. The chef would constantly make fresh orange juice at a constant temperature of 25 degrees Celsius for Jackson to drink at any time. If Beijing didn't have any, they would be shipped by air from the United States.
At that time, there was no such French luxury brand mineral water on the Chinese market. Wang An did not know how to translate " Evian " at all. At that time, Hei Zi had mobilized the entire company to look it up, only to find out that it was a French word.
Without a computer, for seven days and seven nights, Wang An translated the "Bible" that he still enjoyed. Unfortunately, after more than ten years, that top-notch standard still could not be used.
"Back then, the Chinese market still couldn't accept such a large-scale performance.”Wang An said regretfully.
green light all the way
From the very beginning, Blackie knew that this was destined to be a huge gamble.
Not to mention whether the cost of 15 million US dollars could be recovered, the most worrying thing was that before Jackson, no foreign artist had performed in China. Would the Ministry of Chinese Affairs be able to give approval for the performance?
With the mentality of taking things one step at a time, Blackie began a six-month-long negotiation with the Jackson Entertainment Affairs Group. The first request made by the United States put Blackie in a difficult position--to hold it at a venue that was symbolic of China, such as the Beijing Gate Square.
In Jackson's world tour, it was normal to choose the square as the venue for the performance. He had left his footprints in Moscow's Red Square and New York's Maiden Square Garden. However, in China, no one thought of holding a commercial concert in the Chinese capital. Hei Zi explained to the Americans," The Chinese capital square is a political activity center in China, not a cultural activity venue.”
Blackie gave four alternative venues: Meridian Gate Square, Imperial Ancestral Temple, Temple of Heaven, and the Worker's Stadium. The other party finally chose the most luxurious and largest Worker's Stadium in China at that time, but it was not easy to convince the manager of the Worker's Stadium.
The workers 'stadium at that time was comparable to the Bird's Nest that was currently under construction. Three years ago, the Asian Games were successfully held here, but there had never been any experience of holding a concert. The manager was worried that the lawn would be destroyed and hoped that Seth would pay a deposit of one million yuan in advance.
The American staff told them not to worry. They could rent some plastic beer boxes and put them on the lawn. The lawn would be able to breathe and not wither.
"When they found out that the main character of the concert was Jackson, they suddenly said that they could consider waiving the deposit and immediately reported it to the authorities.”Wang An said.
The second request of the UA side was more successful than the first.
Jackson's concert equipment required at least three C-130 large transport planes, and he hoped that China would open up a special flight route called 'Michael Jackson's Beijing Journey.' Wang An did not expect that under the coordination of the relevant national air traffic control departments, the competent authorities would actually agree to Seth's application.
"Now that I think about it, it's normal. It's just a private plane route, but it was really unbelievable at the time.!”Wang An said.
The impossible happened to the Beijing Olympic bid committee. Since it wasn't for money, both parties hoped to set the concert on a special day to maximize the effect of promoting China. On September 23, 1993, the Olympic bid committee competed for the right to host the 2000 Olympic Games in Monte-Carlo, Morocco, and they were determined to win.
Seth thought of this special date. The two sides agreed to set the date on the eve of the Olympic bid. At the concert venue, Jackson would appeal to his global fans to support Beijing's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics through more than 330 television stations participating in the live broadcast.
The Chinese Olympic bid committee gave great support to Seth's idea, but they did not stand on the front stage.
"That would become a government action, and Jackson would face even more pressure in the United States because he chose Beijing. At that time, the West did not want China to have a chance to show itself.”Wang An said dejectedly.
The progress was faster than expected. In May 1993, at the World Music Awards in Spain, Jackson announced that he would be holding a concert in Beijing in September.”，In the following two months, he continued to show goodwill to Beijing: donating the 15 million US dollars sponsored by Pepsi to the Beijing concert to five Chinese charity organizations, including the China Youth Development Foundation and the China Foundation for the Poor; Ten Oscar-winning directors, including Spielberg, would be invited to shoot a short film to promote Beijing. The production costs would be borne by him...
From Zhang Yang's perspective, Jackson's passion for China was a little like sympathy under the pressure of prejudice.
"In Jackson's subconscious mind, he believed that China should not be the China shown on BBC and BBC. He wanted to see the most populated country in the world for himself. He firmly believed that the world's prejudice could be changed.”Wang An said that at that time, Jackson's expectations for Beijing were far greater than Beijing's expectations for him.
The Chinese side would grant any request from the Americans, and the Americans were very cooperative with their concerns. The UA promised that China would only need to ensure that every step was carried out and that the approval was obtained. There was no need to pay Jackson any fees. Because the revenue from the broadcast was owned by Jackson's company, this fee alone was enough to cover all the expenses of the concert. The Americans even agreed that if the audience was not enough, the Chinese side could organize their own audience.
At this concert, Jackson would also make a shocking decision: to make the " Beijing Tour " his finale, end his more than a year long global tour, and announce his retirement from the entertainment industry in Beijing. This meant that Jackson had to give up his trip to Taiwan in early September, which was one of the stops on his original "dangerous trip." Jackson's company promised that if he received the performance permit, Jackson would first go to Hong Kong, then to Beijing, and not to Taiwan.
If he didn't get permission to perform before September 1, Jackson would fly directly from the United States to Taiwan.
Beijing or Taibei?
At the end of July, the negotiations between the two sides were all over, and they were just waiting for the official approval of the Chinese government.
"The Ministry of Chinese Affairs, which is in charge of the approval procedures, can't actually make the decision. They said that they would send it to the higher-ups and wait for a reply from the higher-ups.”Wang An and Seth's colleagues did not know which level to send him to, so they could only wait.
For the next month, everyone stayed in the company, hoping that a miracle would knock on the door one day. "At that time, as soon as the phone rang, everyone rushed to the phone like a madman.”Wang An said excitedly.
The phone was filled with all kinds of questions. The reporters asked if there was a chance. The staff of the Olympic bid committee asked," What's the progress? They're going to go to Monte-Carlo soon." Hei Zi, Wang An, and their colleagues, who were already anxious, had to pretend to be calm and patiently reply one by one," Trust us. Please continue to wait."”
The Americans had no choice but to wait with the Chinese. Sometimes, they would call with concern and kindly remind the Chinese side what they needed to do. "It's useless no matter what you do. Give us more time.”Wang An's tone was full of helplessness at that time.
When he got impatient, Seth would ask his friends to ask the people in the Wenhua Department what they had been busy with recently. Suddenly, one day, a staff member from the Chinese Literature Department called and said that he wanted to see Jackson's video.
This was good news. Seth's people immediately collected Jackson's concerts, MTV, Grammys, and Billboard award-winning clips and sent them to them.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]