Chinanews.com, Hong Kong, December 12 (Reporter Dai Xiaolu, Fan Siyi, Liu Xuanting, Luo Siyu, Chen Ziyan, Hou Yu) In August this year, the Hong Kong star football team was invited to Rongjiang County, Guizhou Province, to play a friendly match with the local "village super" football team. 5-year-old "Brother Lak" Chen Baixiang won the best player of the match. He said that it is necessary to vigorously promote the "village super" to be brought to Hong Kong.

Three months later, he finally facilitated it. At the Hong Kong Stadium in November, the "Village Super" fever blew into the Xiangjiang River, and the "Hong Kong Flavor" met on a narrow road, and the Hong Kong Star Football Team and the Guizhou Rongjiang "Village Super" team went to a friendship appointment.

This year, Guizhou's "Village Series" events are popular all over the country, why is artist Chen Baixiang interested in football? How did the 73-year-old think of leading a team to Guizhou for friendship? What kind of cross-border collision did this ball game have? Recently, Chen Baixiang was interviewed by the "Hong Kong and Macao Meeting Room" column of China News Network, answering these questions one by one.

Chen Baixiang said that the popularity of "Village Super" is the right time, place and people.

The following is an excerpt from the interview:

Chinanews: Not long ago, the Hong Kong star football team and the Guizhou "Village Super League" team played a wonderful friendly match in Hong Kong.

Chen Baixiang: I made a special trip to invite them down, and of course I feel very good. It's my dream. I've loved playing since I was 13 years old and it's my dream to be able to lead the players there. But it took me 60 years to invite the "village super" down, and after I talked to the chairman of the Hong Kong FA, Fok Kai-shan, he was very supportive, so I could get the stadium.

Because I played with them in Rongjiang on August 8th, the atmosphere was very hot at that time, but they didn't have a complete stadium, I would love to invite them to Hong Kong after that game, our stadium is also very good, the atmosphere has to be different, we have different fans. When it was broadcast live on the Internet, there were 13 million people watching it, and when we watched it later, it became 1 million, and we were so happy, we never thought that we would broadcast the Asian Cup and other large-scale football games, and we did not have this number.

Chinanews.com: You joked before that you, Luo Jiaying, and Alan Tam are equivalent to the total age of 11 members of the "Village Super" team, and many netizens also want to know, what is the secret of your sword?

Chan Pak-cheung: I played at the age of 16 at the Hong Kong Wanderers Football Club, but at that time I was a youth army. Later, he played in the Seiko Sports Club, which was the No. 1986 team in Hong Kong. The last goal, in 73, was the last goal I scored on the pitch. It seems that when I go back to my childhood, when I reach middle age, I can still score goals at the age of <>, I can still play football, I can still run, this is a gift from God.

Chen Baixiang was interviewed by Chinanews.com's "Hong Kong and Macao Meeting Room" Photo by Hou Yu

We can't run as fast as they do, but we have experience. We've been playing for so many years, and the Stars have been practicing every week, from 1986 to now. The players and I train three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Stars is Wednesday, so I play every week and we play together a lot this year.

Chinanews: In the previous game, we also noticed that the performance of your teammate Mr. Huang Rihua has been subject to some public controversy, including whether there is a situation where the opponent "concedes the ball", how do you evaluate and respond to this matter?

Chen Baixiang: Football is a very close (distance) contact sport, unlike badminton and table tennis, this collision is very common. It's not fair to them to concede the ball. Playing football, different teams must go all out, and no one knows whether they win or lose. In the first 15 minutes, I thought we didn't have to play without losing four or five goals because they were brave, fast and attacking. After an own goal, their morale sank. Of course, I've always told you that the Hong Kong star football team is not just stars, we have a lot of retired professional players, and they don't have professional players. So it's not a big surprise that we won them, it's not like we're a little older, but we're a little bit better.

I'm the team leader, coach and captain, so when we win, we have to control the football, we wait, they don't understand that, they just rush, [actually] physical limits. When we had the ball, it was very difficult for them to win, so we won both times. To be fair, if it were all Luo Jiaying, Alan Tam, me, Miao Qiaowei, and Huang Rihua, we would have lost more than 10 goals. Everybody's happy, so I'm controlling the leveling a little bit, half actors, half players, and that's how I have to play.

Chinanews: Next, I would like to talk to you about football. On the evening of November 11, the Chinese men's football team faced South Korea and lost 21:0. Did you follow this game and what would you like to say about it?

Chen Baixiang: I really have some complaints about Chinese football, how can we 14.11 billion Chinese not train 4 people with this level. At that time, Hong Kong won 0:5, 0:7 against South Korea and Japan every time, and at most 0:<>. I don't know why, decades later, South Korea and Japan have won against China every time. I think they play like Japan and South Korea, but every time, they lose in the end.

I look like I owe something. I can't tell what I owe, because this is intangible, and the Dao heart, skills, and talents must all be together, including the team leader, coach, and training methods. I'm old, and if I'm 23 now, I'll go back to the national team and train with them.

Chen Baixiang said that it is his greatest wish to see the national football team enter the World Cup again.

Chinanews.com: In fact, the situation and strength of the national football team have always been a matter of great concern to everyone, combined with Guizhou's "village super", how do you think Chinese football can get better and better in the future?

Chen Baixiang: "Village Super" is a folk and happy football. I've been wondering since I was a kid, why has it always been Brazil or Argentina? How is it not China? I know Pele very well, I also played with Maradona, in 1983 I invited Pele to come to Hong Kong to shoot commercials, it turned out that they didn't have shoes since they were young, they kicked in the street barefoot, what Ronaldo, all of them were trained in this way, not professional training as soon as they came. Today's football players have been in professional training since they were 13 or 14 years old, and they have never had the basic skills of small ball, we have been in Hong Kong since we were children, and we wear the most ordinary cricket shoes in the park every day, and we are playing small balls, and we are playing for seven or eight hours every day. Finally, we entered the professional team, and only then did we train the formation, how to play on the left and how to play on the right. We've developed our basic skills, and that's why Maradona, Pele, they're all like that, he played in the World Cup at the age of 17.

I really have to go over and be a manager to make them change, I'm old, I'm 37 now, I'm 73 and I'm still training with them. I want them to do well because there are too many people's expectations, so it can be too stressful.

Chinanews: In an interview after the game, you said that winning or losing the game is not important, but more important is to promote cultural exchanges between the two cities. Do you have any plans to go north to the mainland for filming in the future? What are the characters and themes you would most like to challenge?

Chen Baixiang: We are a friendly football for civilians, unlike competitions, if it is a competition, if you want to enter the World Cup and the European Cup, you must work hard. It's a web 3.0 era, everything is fast, it's international, it's easy. So, you can do whatever you want, and if you are brave enough to do something, you can do it.

I'm 73 years old, I've done everything, I've made more than 90 movies, I've done TV. I have been the emcee of the (TVB) Taiwan celebration in 1979, and I have done all the acting things, so I don't know what I want now. I'm 73 years old and I can still play, so I'll play football. I believe I should play until I am 83 years old, and the national football team to enter the World Cup is probably my best wish.

Chen Baixiang said he hopes to play football until he is 83 years old.

Chinanews: In recent years, promoting the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has become a consensus among all parties. Starting from your status as a well-known actor, how do you think Hong Kong's film and television industry can better integrate into the Greater Bay Area and develop in synergy with the mainland's film and television industry?

Chen Baixiang: We have our back to the motherland, and at the same time, we must have an international perspective. Our young people may have been pampered for two generations, and they no longer know how to endure hardships, so lie flat, how can you be popular when you lie flat, you don't practice hard to sing, don't practice your football, how to win. We came out very hard, we all started from the poorest, I have nothing, I don't work today, I don't have food tomorrow.

Lying flat is waiting for death, you have no fighting spirit, you can't do anything, everything depends on fighting spirit, everyone is a pair of hands and a pair of feet. What you learn is the experience of your predecessors, how to succeed depends on your own hard work, I have to win every time, how can I lie flat, how can I win by lying flat.

Chinanews: Next, let's talk to you about your own story. Mainland audiences like the role of "Zhu Zhishan" played by you very much in the movie "Tang Bohu Dots Autumn Fragrance", and call you "the most classic Zhu Zhishan", what do you think of this evaluation? Have you ever been recognized by mainland audiences on the road?

Chen Baixiang: I entered the entertainment industry halfway, and the friends next to me are like Alan Tam, they are already big stars and big singers. I started from the bottom, how am I going to chase them, I spent a year chasing them for 20 years, and I got it. You think about it, you have to do this thing, you get into this script. Stephen Chow was the most popular at the time, how do you be an opponent with him, how to study this scene, I can completely control the atmosphere of this comedy, this is my instinct. You have to put your life experience into acting, how do you control the pace of comedy. If you can't learn it, ordinary training classes may teach people like Tony Leung, Andy Lau, and Chow Yun-fat, who are academy schools. I've never learned, self-study, I use whatever I know, I use my body language to make you laugh, that's my strength. I think that's a natural fit. I never came out of the training class, I had my own reactions, I didn't have the money to go to college, I came out early to do things, I came out of social university, so I only judged by what I was exposed to.

Chinanews.com: It has been 52 years since your debut this year, and you have come through ups and downs, what life insights do you want to share with young people today?

Chen Baixiang: Be at peace with what happens, it is useless to force it, it is yours and you will always be yours. The big red and purple is given to you by God, and you must work hard yourself. You know how to work hard, you do it right, and God will give you this luck. It's hard to talk about luck, we often say that the audience is popular, and you never know when it will come, just like the football of "Village Super", you never know how a folk football can be so popular, so the big red is not something you can control, it is the right time and place. If you don't practice, you won't be able to score the ball, you have to keep training, give you the opportunity, and when the ball reaches your feet, you will be a hero. I scored a header and people said I could still top the ball at 73. Experience plus luck, luck is a little bigger, but the basic skills are there. This is the case in many industries, just like being a host, whether the guests who visit can present all the advantages and press the shortcomings is our responsibility as hosts.

Chinanews.com: In the Hong Kong entertainment industry, you are known as "Brother Lak", can you tell us about the origin of this nickname? What do you think of this title?

Chen Baixiang: When I was in TVB, I had to live broadcast live every day, I came in halfway, and they were all popular, so I wanted to make a special image, in the 70s, I was a humble gentleman, and I was the opposite, and I came, and Mandarin means showmanship. Everything has to be first, never second. Lat is my attitude, and to show off, you have to do a lot of different preparations, just like playing football. (ENDS)