1979 Golden Age

A bridge was set up on the stage.

A plump, white child wearing a red cotton-padded jacket with a red dot on his forehead walked onto the bridge from the side curtain, carrying a red lantern, chanting a nursery rhyme that was slightly different in different places but familiar to everyone:

"Little kid, don't be greedy, after Laba is the New Year..."

"Oh, this kid is so pretty!"

"Yes, plump and white, so festive, like the dolls in the New Year pictures!"

"Look at you, you look like a deflated eggplant!"

The audience was amused when they saw this kid. For Chinese people, children represent new life, joy, and auspiciousness. Even eggs boiled with boy's urine can become an intangible cultural heritage of a certain place!

"On the 25th, sweep the dust; on the 26th, stew pork; on the 27th and 28th, make the noodles rise, and on the 29th, post couplets at the door..."

This is a very beautiful scene, a plump Fuwa, a red cotton-padded jacket, and a red lantern, sending blessings to everyone.

Zhang Yi was excited. Oh, these elements are so much to my liking. If I could play "Jasmine Flower" again, I would do the thigh dance with a pipa!

The child opened his mouth and seemed to be reciting, but he was actually playing a recording. He walked to the center of the stage and said the last sentence crisply: "On New Year's Eve, families gather together and celebrate happily! A big! New Year!"

The last three words were paused and emphasized.

When the last word fell, festive music sounded at the same time, with the sound of gongs and drums and suona. Dancers ran up from both sides, dancing while blocking the child without leaving any trace, allowing him to go off the stage smoothly and seamlessly transition to the next program.

"The gongs and drums are loud to bid farewell to the old year, and the firecrackers are shaking to welcome the return of spring..."

The camera swept across, and Jiang Dawei stood up from the audience, clapping his hands and walked onto the stage, followed by Li Guyi, Zhu Mingying, Yu Shuzhen and others.

Originally, Huang Yihe found 10 people to sing this song, standing in a long line on the stage, without any arrangement.

Chen Qi deleted five people, leaving only five, and added ten dancers. He asked the five people to laugh first, sing with a smile, make famous gestures with their hands, and then interact with each other and the dancers.

Li Guyi finished singing and stepped aside, Zhu Mingying came up immediately, she also stepped aside after singing, Jiang Dawei came up again... When singing together, the five people all appeared with the dancers as a foil, and the simple movement made the stage lively instantly.

"Let's gather together to drink the Spring Festival wine, let's congratulate you on the New Year, wish you a good harvest, everyone laughs, and cheers for this New Year..."

This song is called "Congratulations on the New Year", which is very suitable for the opening.

Immediately afterwards, the six hosts came out together.

The men still wore suits and Zhongshan suits, Chen Sisi wore a purple dress, dark stockings and high heels. Gong Xue wore a red dress, which was a little more fashionable than last year, and also stockings and high heels.

The social atmosphere can be seen from the thickness and color of the stockings. The more open the atmosphere, the thinner and more colorful the stockings.

"Dear audience friends! This is the live broadcast of the 1984 Spring Festival Gala!"

"At this time of family reunion and bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, we wish a happy new year to the people of all ethnic groups in the country, our compatriots in Hong Kong and Macao, our compatriots in Taiwan, our overseas Chinese, and the Chinese people all over the world!!"

"Wow!"

The applause was overwhelming, and the audience was also happy. The feeling of last year suddenly came back. During the Chinese New Year, what everyone wants is the sound of gongs and drums, the sound of firecrackers, and the joyful atmosphere.

…………

“I can’t wait, I have to go to the bathroom!”

“Aren’t you going to watch the guest introduction?”

“Watch it after the performance!”

In the slum, the old man who was holding his urination was about to run with his pants up, but the next second, he heard: “This face should be very familiar to everyone. He is the Hong Kong actor Liang Xiaolong who played Chen Zhen in the TV series “The Great Hero Huo Yuanjia”!”

“Huo Yuanjia? Chen Zhen!”

The old man wiped himself and came back, his eyes almost glued to the TV, he loved watching Huo Yuanjia the most!

On the TV, the performers were introduced as last year - Fei Xiang was invisible all the time. Liang Xiaolong stood up, still a little nervous, speaking in a clumsy Mandarin: "Hello everyone, I am Liang Xiaolong!"

"What program are you going to perform later?"

"I don't have anything prepared, I'll just sing."

"The audience may not agree, how can Chen Zhen sing? But the decision is left to the audience, everyone can call to request the program."

Huang Ayuan's Mandarin is not good, so he was not asked to introduce. Gong Xue, Chen Sisi, Hou Yaowen, and Shi Fukuan completed this task.

After all, Chen Sisi was a famous movie star at the time, and she had seen big scenes. Hou Yaowen and Shi Fukuan also performed well. There was no need to deliberately amuse, just relax and be natural.

The folk art circle saw it quite subtle. Jiang Kun was gone, Ma Ji was alone in the Peking Opera, and Hou Yaowen was going to be promoted?

Chen Qi was too lazy to care about these trivial things. He deliberately released Liang Xiaolong to encourage the audience to request it. Similarly, Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao stood up, and the whole audience laughed, including the audience in front of the TV.

"Hey, eat noodles! Eat noodles!"

"Chen Peisi! Great, he's here again this year!"

"Singing? Nonsense, who would listen to their singing?"

The four phones were still bombarded with calls.

The operator was busy and answered the calls one after another: "Hello, where are you from? What unit? Do you want to request Liang Xiaolong's kung fu performance? OK, OK!"

"Are you from Shanghai? OK, another long-distance call! You want to watch Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao's skits, we'll try to arrange it!"

"Li Lingyu and Zhang Mingmin sing duets? Yes, I'll take note, OK!"

The written notes were placed on a plate and sent to Chen Qi one by one. In a blink of an eye, more than 30 notes were collected from people who wanted to see Liang Xiaolong perform kung fu. Huang Yihe suggested: "The audience is so enthusiastic, should we start early?"

"No, do it in order! If we satisfy their wishes too early, the show will be worthless."

"Not worthless?"

Huang Yihe tasted it and said: "So you put Chen Peisi's skit at the end?"

"Yes, but this year's language category is very popular, and there is also an old lady!"

After Chen Qi finished speaking, he called Ma Ji over: "Pay attention to the time, it's better to be shorter and don't exceed the time limit."

Ma Ji nodded.

This is a set of procedures that Chen Qi wants to establish by convention: a lively opening dance, the host's words, a small show, and then a language program to heat up the venue.

He took away one cross talk from Ma Ji and Jiang Kun, and kept "Cosmic Brand Cigarettes" as the first language category to appear.

"Hey comrade, where is your person in charge?"

"Who are you? We are at the Spring Festival Gala!"

"I want to discuss some business with him. I'm from the Universe Cigarette Factory..."

Ma Ji exchanged a few words with Shi Fukuan. He came up in a blue work suit, a hat, and a briefcase, speaking in Tangshan dialect: "We want to provide some sponsorship products for this gala, Universe brand cigarettes!"

He took out a box of cigarettes from his bag.

He then distributed cigarettes to everyone. Not only that, he would smoke openly afterwards, achieving the achievement of being the only person to smoke during the Spring Festival Gala.

The Spring Festival Gala in this era was rough and interesting, like Chen Peisi's "Pepper Noodles", he was shirtless on the stage.