The day before the opening of the 36th Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Films in Wuhan, in the Min Yanqing Opera Cultural Center at the Opera Wharf in Hankou Town, the 77-year-old Min Yanqing told the story of his collection throughout his life.

In the cultural center, there are "Tan's Genealogy" written by Tan Xinpei's family, "the first male protagonist of Chinese film", "Film News" published in Wuhan in the 1930s, old projectors in the 1960s, and Wuhan Film Projection Company in the 1970s. Published film magazines, movie ticket stubs from the Liberation Cinema in the 1980s, and first-day covers signed with the names of the biggest names in the film industry at the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival held in Wuhan in 2013... Thousands of collections, each of which is classified and placed. Put it neatly.

　　Old Hankou's Cinematic Feelings

　　Min Yanqing was born in a small business family in Hankou in 1945. "Five generations of my family are old Hankou. I was born on Nanjing Road, and the girl lives on Shanghai Road. I went to primary school on Tianjin Road and went to middle school on Beijing Road. I really love the old Hankou culture.”

　　When he was a child, because his father liked Peking Opera and his mother liked Chinese Opera, he followed the adults to watch operas since he was a child, which made Min Yanqing fascinated by his ears and eyes and fell in love with literature and art. Later, because his sister became a professional film projectionist, his brother also went to work in a film company, which made him more interested in film. More love.

Watching movies and talking about movies was the greatest joy in his boyhood.

　　But when he became an adult, Min Yanqing found that these conversations of the year began to be slowly forgotten, especially when there were no items that could be used as evidence.

　　So Min Yanqing came up with an idea: to leave something behind to prove the glory of Wuhan movies to future generations, and this has also become his lifelong hobby and career.

　　It turns out that the five generations of Tanmen have all set foot on the screen

　　During the collection process, Min Yanqing learned more about Wuhan's film history, the more he felt that the city's film stories were so rich.

For example, many people know that Tan Xinpei is the first actor in Chinese film history, but few people know that among the seven generations of Tanmen in Wuhan Jiangxia, five have set foot on the screen. From the first Chinese film "Dingjun Mountain" in 1905 , to China's first sound opera film "Shilang Visits Mother" in 1935, to the popular model opera film "Shajiabang" in 1971, and "The Orphan of Zhao" in 2015, Tan Xinpei, Tan Fuying, Tan Yuanshou, Tan Xiaozeng and Tan Zhengyan, this splendid track of the Tan family, proudly established the history of Peking Opera and carried the history of film forever.

In Min Yanqing's collection, a suitcase full of items related to Tan Xinpei is packed. The most striking one is a set of seven copies of "Tan's Genealogy" in the Jinxiutang Collection in 1916.

　　Min Yanqing said that he found this set of books by chance in the antique market.

At that time, the owner of the store was unwilling to sell it, so Min Yanqing made several trips but returned without success.

　　Later, Min Yanqing learned that the shopkeeper liked porcelain very much, so he brought a vase from an official kiln handed down from the older generation to the shop and proposed to barter. , finally agreed to his request.

"Maybe some people think I'm at a loss, but I got what I like, and this can't be measured by money."

　　Seeing the development of the film, but also seeing the historical changes

　　From the photo album of Ye Qiuxin, the first female star in Wuhan, to the hand-carved wax newspapers of Xinhua Cinema, the oldest cinema in Wuhan, every piece of Min Yanqing's collection bears the deep brand of Wuhan.

"It's not a collection related to Wuhan movies. I don't accept them. Wuhan has always had a strong film culture atmosphere in history. The documents I have collected here are proof."

　　Min Yanqing kept several folders for movie ticket stubs in Central Plains Cinema, Jiefang Cinema, Dahua Cinema, Cultural Club... these cinemas.

Historically, Wuhan has always been leading the country in the number of screens per capita.

"We old Wuhan people, is it very vivid to call movies 'moving movies'? Others may just watch movies. I still understand the changes of history in these movies."

　　As for the slide projector alone, Min Yanqing has collected four different models of three-lens, single-lens, portable, and mini. Among them, the three-lens slide projector is the most rare.

"The single-lens slide projector we used before can only play one by one like pictures. The three-lens slide projector makes birds fly on the screen and water flows on the screen, which brings the audience a different feeling. It must be different. Yes, the most rare thing is that this projector is produced by a school-run factory in Jiayu, Hubei, don't you think it's amazing!"

　　As a recorder of the times, he carefully picked up every piece of light and shadow memory, providing a wealth of cultural relics and historical materials for the study of the development of Wuhan film culture.

　　Text/Reporter Xu Lu