China News Service, March 21 (Reporter Cheng Zizhuo) "Go crazy!" The Taiwanese movie "Zhou Chu Removes Three Evils" remains very popular in mainland theaters, with a cumulative box office of more than 540 million.
The film has even become popular in Taiwan. Even New Taipei City Mayor Hou Youyi, who was the detective responsible for investigating the prototype of the film's protagonist, also said that he would find time to enjoy it.
Why has such a low-cost Taiwanese film become a dark horse in the mainland film market, and how can it resonate with audiences across the Taiwan Strait?
The movie "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils".
Photo courtesy of the film crew
In the past, mainland audiences' impressions of Taiwanese movies were often "literary and fresh", but "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" seems to have brought a "sense of contrast".
In the film, the protagonist Chen Guilin, played by Taiwanese actor Ethan Ruan, "attacks the murderer" with a "dog biting his head + unshaven beard" style, which made many viewers seem to see the "high-burning" Hong Kong-style action movies.
As Zhao Weifang, director of the Film and Television Research Institute of the China Academy of Arts, said, "eliminating the three evils" brings spiritual healing.
A recent article published by Hong Kong's "Asia Weekly" pointed out that Taiwan's actors and story background, Hong Kong's screenwriters and directors, and mainland's online film reviews and narratives make the film "Zhou Chu Eliminate Three Evils" refreshing.
In the past few decades, the development of soft power in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong has cross-penetrated and influenced each other, and they have long been integrated into one. There is me in you, and you in me, often with a flash of inspiration, creating a trinity phenomenon.
For the audience, whether it is the classic allusion "Zhou Chu eliminates three evils" from "Shishuo Xinyu" and "Book of Jin: Biography of Zhou Chu", or the lifestyle of the protagonist in the film, such as throwing a dice to Guan Gong and asking for divination, they are all Familiar scenes of folk culture on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Some Hong Kong media analysts pointed out that the storyline of the film returns to the cordial empathy between the people and shows the lingering cultural umbilical cord between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
A column in Taiwan's "Wind Media" believes that under the current situation of cross-strait relations, the popularity of "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" has made people rediscover that the two sides of the strait have more connections that transcend political barriers.
An article in Taiwan's "United Daily News" stated that in recent years, the mainland factors in Taiwanese society have been deliberately reduced or even vilified, and the film allowed the audience to overcome barriers and gain satisfaction.
In recent years, in addition to "The Three Evils", there are also many Taiwanese film and television masterpieces such as "My Girlhood" and "A Story More Sad Than Sad" that have become popular.
At the same time, many film and television works produced in the mainland, such as "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "Nirvana in Fire", "Hurry" and "Flowers", are also popular in Taiwan and have even become "dinner dramas" for Taiwanese people during the New Year and holidays.
Now, there are also civil society groups with hundreds of thousands of fans on Taiwan’s social platforms, such as “Mainland Opera Exchange” and “Mainland Opera Discussion”.
The holding of a series of activities such as the Cross-Strait Film Exhibition, the Straits Forum, and the Straits Film and Television Season are also further promoting the exchange of cross-Strait film and television cultural talents.
The two sides of the Taiwan Strait share the same heart and are of the same origin, and people-to-people exchanges are becoming increasingly lively.
In addition to film and television dramas, magical dances and divine songs such as "Subject Three", "My Surname is Shi" and "Bobo Chicken" are popular in Taiwan. Mainland delicacies such as snail noodles, konjac shreds and pickled fish have captured the taste buds of Taiwanese people. There are also Mazu and "Bobo Chicken" on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The common folk belief culture such as "Three Mountain Kings", as well as various folk activities such as Fujian wandering gods, Chaoshan Ying singing and dancing, lion and dragon dances from various places during the Spring Festival this year, all made Taiwanese netizens sigh...
"Subject Three" is popular among Taiwanese people.
Picture from Taiwanese media
Under the situation where the DPP authorities are deliberately pursuing "de-Sinicization", the cultural ties between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have become stronger, the hearts of the compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have become more in tune, and the integration and development of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are getting deeper and more solid.
As Chen Binhua, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said recently, the common cultural roots and common emotional resonance of Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait cannot be reduced and have never changed, even if time passes, even if we cross mountains and seas, and even if we are separated by man-made obstacles.
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