Who is Huang Zhan?

Huang Zhan

An outstanding lyricist of Hong Kong pop music.

The Godfather of Hong Kong Ci

Huang Zhan, formerly known as Huang Zhansen, was born in Guangzhou in 1941. He has eight brothers and sisters, and he ranks sixth. He immigrated to Hong Kong with his parents in 1949. He attended La Salle College in his early years, and later entered the University of Hong Kong. He graduated from the Chinese Department of the University of Hong Kong in 1963. After graduation, he worked as a whip, and then moved to work in a television station. In 1965, he devoted himself to advertising creation and lyrics. In the late 1970s, his popular TV series theme songs made his name a household name. The theme songs of TV series such as "Family Change", "Frenzy", "The Strong Man", "The Tycoon", "The Choice", "The Storm", "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "Shanghai" and so on are all Huang Zhan's masterpieces. During that period, it is no exaggeration to say that every corner and everyone in Hong Kong sang songs with lyrics written by him. From then on, he reached the peak of his lyric writing career and gradually began to write lyrics and music for movies. As Hong Kong movies such as "A Better Tomorrow", "A Chinese Ghost Story", "Green Snake" and "Once Upon a Time" became popular, Huang Zhan's lyrics and music also spread throughout the world. Chinese speaking area. Huang Zhan's poetry works are the best embodiment of the combination of his chivalrous spirit and philosophy of life. When commenting on Huang Zhan, Lin Xi, a young poet in the poetry world, said: "Writing words in classical Chinese is like walking on a steel wire. If you are not careful, you will fall one-sided. Only by studying the Five Classics Only then can you appreciate it." To this day, he is still recognized as the "Godfather of Ci" in the Hong Kong music scene.

Literature: "The Collection of Bu Wen" set a Hong Kong bestseller reprint record

Huang Zhan once worked in the advertising industry for a period of time, and there is a saying that "when Remy Martin starts to work, good things will come naturally." The advertising slogan came from his handwriting. He has a brilliant literary talent and a free and easy personality. Together with Jin Yong, Ni Kuang and Cai Lan, he is known as the four great talents. He is known as the "ghost" among the four, and his ideas and creativity always make people amazed. In addition to Jin Yong, Ni Kuang, Cai Lam, and Huang Zhan are also known as the three famous mouthpieces in Hong Kong. This origin is largely due to the fact that Huang Zhan, Cai Lam, and Ni Kuang once co-hosted an adult TV program "Undefended Tonight". This program was open and frank, talking about everything, and even more so when it came to adult topics. It is a series of witty words, showing the true nature of a romantic and talented man. Huang Zhan wrote a lot of books, one of which is still the best-selling single volume in Hong Kong. This is "Collected Works of Bu Wen". This collection of sexual jokes told by Huang Zhan in his early years has been reprinted 61 times and has still not been broken.

Love: His wife, who is 17 years younger, spends time with him

Huang Zhan’s first wife was Hua Wa, a Mandarin and Cantonese singer who was active in the 1970s. The two got married and gave birth to a son and a daughter, but their relationship broke down and separated. In 1976, Huang Zhan fell in love with Lin Yanni, a talented and beautiful female writer in Hong Kong. After the two fell in love, Huang Zhan and Lin Yanni jointly founded the "Wong and Lam" advertising company, which became a legend in the Hong Kong cultural circle. However, he failed to propose to Lin Yanni many times, so he resorted to a cruel trick: he published the good news of their marriage in the newspaper, and the witness was the highly respected Jin Yong. Later, Lin Yanni also published a personal statement in the newspaper, accusing Huang. The information disclosed is just wishful thinking and has nothing to do with her. After that, the two broke up completely. After breaking up with Lin Yanni, Huang Zhan spent a period of frustrated days surrounded by enemies. The film company he invested in failed, he was heavily in debt, and he was even homeless. Once, he was so desperate that he sat at the window and stared at the ground 10 floors below. He almost wanted to jump down and die. In the late 1990s, Huang Zhan finally found a new love and married a beautiful young lady named Chen Huimin, who was 17 years younger than him. She was his former secretary. Not long after his marriage, Huang Zhan returned to study at the University of Hong Kong. He lived close to the University of Hong Kong, only a five-minute walk away, but his wife took care of the transportation every day and became his nanny driver. After learning that he had cancer, Chen Huimin was always by his side, giving him the confidence to fight the disease.

Personality: lecherous and not shy

Huang Zhan is popular, always smiling and humorous, but when he is angry, he always speaks directly. Speak without restraint. For example, in the early 1990s, he once scolded Andy Lau for filling in the lyrics as "bullshit". Later, he was moved by Andy Lau's diligent work attitude and wrote a large article to praise Andy Lau's progress. He is such a sweet-tempered person.

In 2000, when Jackie Chan responded to the scandal that caused Wu Qili to become pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, he said that he just made a mistake that many men make. Many people in Hong Kong also believe that this is a romantic thing rather than an obscene thing. However, Huang Zhan bluntly criticized Jackie Chan, saying that if you do something romantic and not obscene, it is obscene if you do it. Chu Liuxiang in Gu Long's novel is romantic, but Liuqing has never heard of Liuzi. Huang Zhan, who would never stop talking if he didn't like it, and scolded him if he didn't like it, went to teach the Catholic Bible; he, who was once a teacher, actually wrote the "Collected Works of Bu Wen". Huang Zhan is a mixture of contradictions and complexity, which is precisely where his charm lies.

Huang Zhan got his doctorate at the age of 63

Huang Zhan considers himself impatient. Now that he is older, he has to slow down and do everything, but he is not used to it. He laughed at himself, "I'm learning to be an old man." Huang Zhanyan, 64, is old but does not recognize his age. In 2003, at the age of 63, he obtained a doctorate in cultural studies from the University of Hong Kong. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1963, received a master's degree 20 years later, and took the PhD exam 20 years later. He said he went to study just because he liked reading. He said proudly: "The teachers all like me because I work harder than the current students. I understand everything they say, and I have money to treat them to dinner." He said that there are teachers younger than him, but he I don’t feel embarrassed, “The teachers are better than me, that’s why I follow them.”

Huang Zhan wrote countless masterpieces during his lifetime. One of them, “Ask Me”, is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in Hong Kong. The lyrics say: “I wish My life has come to an end, no matter how many storms I have gone through, I can still say that I am who I am..." (This interlude song in "Dancing from the Ashes" has become a classic of Cantonese pop music. In the film, Xiao Fangfang sang in front of her, which is actually from Chen Lishi (singer behind the scenes) This is exactly the portrayal of his life. He passed away yesterday, and many Hong Kong media used the lyrics of this song to commemorate him.

Music works by Huang Zhan

"Favorite Shanghai Beach" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Gu Jiahui/Theme song of Andy Lau's movie "New Shanghai Beach"

"Liu Guang" "Flying" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Huang Zhan/Theme song of Chen Shuhua's movie "Green Snake"

"Only Remember to Laugh Today" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Huang Zhan/Interlude from Brigitte Lin's movie "The Invincible East"

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"A Smile in the Sea" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Huang Zhan/Theme song of Xu Guanjie/Huang Zhan/Zhang Weiwen's movie "Swordsman"

"Butterfly Lovers" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by He Zhanhao/Sung by Chen Gang/ Theme song of Wu Qilong's movie "Butterfly Lovers"

"Men should strive for self-improvement" Lyrics/Huang Zhan's song/Old song "General's Order" Sung/Theme song of Lin Zixiang's movie "Once Upon a Time"

"A Chinese Ghost Story" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Huang Zhan/Theme song of Leslie Cheung's movie "A Chinese Ghost Story"

"Love of the Year" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Gu Jiahui/Theme song of Leslie Cheung's movie "A Better Tomorrow"

"Towards the Days to Come" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Gu Jiahui/Theme Song of Leslie Cheung's Movie "A Better Tomorrow II"

"Who is the Great Hero" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Huang Zhan/Jacky Cheung's movie "Dong Cheng" "Theme Song of Xijiu"

"My Chinese Heart" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Wang Fuling/Zhang Mingmin

"Life is Meaningful" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Gu Jiahui/Luo Wen/Zhen Theme song of the TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"

"Peach Blossoms Bloom" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Gu Jiahui/Luo Wen/Interlude of the TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"

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"A Thousand Sorrows Remembering Old Love" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Gu Jiahui/Interlude from Luo Wen's TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"

"Willing to Bear Love" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Gu Jiahui/Luo Wen Interlude of the TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"

"Happy Acting" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Hu Weili/Theme song of Huang Zhan's movie "The Legend of the Deer and the Cauldron"

"Burn the Heart with Fire" 》 Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Gu Jiahui/Chuan Huang/Theme song of Yip Sin-wen's movie "The Terracotta Warriors"

"Don't Come at Dawn" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Singing by Huang Zhan/Interlude of Yip Sin-wen's movie "A Chinese Ghost Story"

"Tao" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Sung by Huang Zhan/Interlude of Huang Zhan's movie "A Chinese Ghost Story"

"City Hunter" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Theme song of Huang Zhan's movie "City Hunter"

"Do More Extra Things" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Arrangement by Huang Zhan/Sung by Chen Yongliang/Li Lirui

"I Have a Secret" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Arrangement by Huang Zhan/Sung by Xu Riqin/Zhang Mingmin

"Beautiful Dream" Lyrics/Music by Huang Zhan/Arrangement by Huang Zhan/Sung by Ao Jinbao/Ye Dexian

"Wandering in the Rivers and Lakes" Arranged melody/Lyrics by Huang Zhan/Arrangement by Huang Zhan/Sung by Dai Lemin/ Theme song of Lin Xiangtu's movie "The Iron Chicken Fights the Centipede" (China/Cantonese)

"Love Sword" Lyrics and Music/Sung by Huang Zhan/Sung by Lei Songde/Theme Song of Pan Meichen's movie "Xinbi Blood Sword" (China/Cantonese/ Full version)

"I Love You" Music/Lyrics by G.Rossini/Arrangement by Huang Zhan/Sung by Lei Songde/Interlude from Jacky Cheung's movie "The East Comes the West"

"Brother is pretty 》Arranged/Sung by Lei Songde/Interlude from Huang Zhan's movie "The East Comes to the West"

"Being a Lovebird" Lyrics/Arranged by Leslie Cheung/Sung by Lei Songde/Leslie Cheung/Huang Zhan's movie "The East Comes to the West" Interlude

"Amitabha" lyrics/music/may be sung by Huang Zhan: theme song of Huang Zhan's movie "The Great Superstition 1993"

Works starring Huang Zhan

1. The Sensitive Zone of Love (2000)

2. Xiaoqian (1997)...Yan Chixia

3. The Thirteenth Lang of the South China Sea (1996)

4. Entrepreneurial Gamer (1996)

5. A New Hero (1994)

6. Modern Enter the Dragon (1

994)

7. Today Every Year (1994)

8. Great Salty Shit (1992)

9. Bu Wen Sao (1992)

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10. The True Face of the Private Bell (1992)

11. The Little Husband II: Spring in Ginza (1991)

12. The Tiger Is Out II (1990) ...Uncle Zhan

13. The Little Husband (1990)

14. The Brave Heroes (1989)

15. The Iron-Blooded Mounted Police (1987) )... Tony Huang

16. Thunderbolt Love (1984)

Wang Zhan's screenwriting works

1. Chinatown Kid (1977)

Life:

Huang Zhan is the sixth among eight brothers and sisters. He immigrated to Hong Kong with his parents in 1949. He attended La Salle College in his early years, and later entered the University of Hong Kong. He graduated from the Chinese Department of the University of Hong Kong in 1963. After graduation, he worked as a whip, and then moved to work in a television station. In 1965, he devoted himself to advertising creation and lyrics. In the late 1970s, his popular TV series theme songs made his name a household name. The theme songs of TV series such as "Family Change", "Frenzy", "The Strong Man", "The Tycoon", "The Choice", "The Storm", "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "Shanghai" and so on are all Huang Zhan's masterpieces. During that period, it is no exaggeration to say that every corner and everyone in Hong Kong sang songs with lyrics written by him. From then on, he reached the peak of his lyric writing career and gradually began to write lyrics and music for movies. As Hong Kong movies such as "A Better Tomorrow", "A Chinese Ghost Story", "Green Snake" and "Once Upon a Time" became popular, Huang Zhan's lyrics and music also spread throughout the world. Chinese speaking area. Huang Zhan's poetry works are the best embodiment of the combination of his chivalrous spirit and philosophy of life. When commenting on Huang Zhan, Lin Xi, a young poet in the poetry world, said: "Writing words in classical Chinese is like walking on a steel wire. If you are not careful, you will fall one-sided. Only by studying the Five Classics Only then can you appreciate it." To this day, he is still recognized as the "Godfather of Ci" in the Hong Kong music scene.

Huang Zhan is very popular, always smiling and humorous all day long. However, when he is angry, he always speaks directly and without restraint. For example, in the early 1990s, he once scolded Andy Lau for filling in the lyrics as "bullshit". Later, he was moved by Andy Lau's diligent work attitude and wrote a large article to praise Andy Lau's progress. He is such a sweet-tempered person. In 2000, when Jackie Chan responded to the scandal that caused Wu Qili to become pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, he said that he just made a mistake that many men make. Many people in Hong Kong also believe that this is a romantic thing rather than an obscene thing. However, Huang Zhan bluntly criticized Jackie Chan, saying that there is nothing obscene about being romantic, but it is obscene if you do it. Chu Liuxiang in Gu Long's novel is romantic, but Liuqing has never heard of Liuzi. Huang Zhan, who would never stop talking if he didn't like it, and scolded him if he didn't like it, went to teach the Catholic Bible; he, who was once a teacher, actually wrote the "Collected Works of Bu Wen". Huang Zhan is a mixture of contradictions and complexity, which is precisely where his charm lies.

Huang Zhan’s first wife, Hua Wa, was a Mandarin and Cantonese singer who was active in the 1970s. After they got married, they gave birth to a son and a daughter, but their relationship broke down and separated. In 1976, Huang Zhan fell in love with Lin Yanni, a talented and beautiful female writer in Hong Kong. After the two fell in love, Huang Zhan and Lin Yanni jointly founded the "Wong and Lam" advertising company, which became a legend in the Hong Kong cultural circle. However, he failed to propose to Lin Yanni many times, so he resorted to a ruthless trick: he wrote off the good news of their marriage in the newspaper, and the witness was the highly respected Jin Yong. Later, Lin Yanni also wrote off his personal statement in the newspaper, accusing Huang of what he had disclosed. The news was just wishful thinking and had nothing to do with her. After that, the two broke up completely. After breaking up with Lin Yanni, Huang Zhan spent a period of frustrated days surrounded by enemies. The film company he invested in failed, he was heavily in debt, and he was even homeless. Once, he was so desperate that he sat at the window and stared at the ground 10 floors below. He almost wanted to jump down and die. In the late 1990s, Huang Zhan finally found a new love and married a beautiful young lady named Chen Huimin, who was 17 years younger than him. She was his former secretary.

Not long after his marriage, Huang Zhan returned to study at the University of Hong Kong. He lived close to the University of Hong Kong, only a five-minute walk away, but his wife took care of the transportation every day and became his nanny driver. After learning that he had cancer, it was Chen Huimin who always accompanied him, giving him the confidence to fight the disease and finish the last part of his life.

Zhang Mingmin (singer of "My Chinese Heart")

In 1979, Taiwanese campus folk songs were very popular. Deng Bingheng, the owner of Hong Kong Eternal Records, thought that it might be a good idea to publish Mandarin records in Hong Kong choose. At that time, Hong Kong had already implemented royalties for music creation. The more popular the songs, the more royalties the creators received. With Cantonese songs becoming so popular, almost no one was willing to write Mandarin songs. At that time, all singers who sang Mandarin songs were called "national singers".

In 1980, Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher began talks. Against this background, the company boss thought this was a very good opportunity and started planning a new album for me. Deng Bingheng found Huang Zhan, who was famous for writing Cantonese songs, and asked him to write a Mandarin song.

Huang Zhan offered the same price as the Cantonese song, and Deng Bingheng agreed. Huang Zhan wrote "My Chinese Heart", which was later composed by Wang Fuling. The company decided to use this song as the title of the album.

In 1982, "My Chinese Heart" was published, but it did not become as popular as the company expected. The sales volume was not high and the social response was mediocre. Hong Kong people started calling me a "patriotic singer". In Hong Kong at that time, such a title had an ironic meaning. In 1983, China and the United Kingdom began formal talks on the Hong Kong issue. Against this political background, CCTV's Spring Festival Gala also made a bold attempt to invite Hong Kong artists to perform at the party. At that time, my boss did not allow me to sing at the CCTV party. If I sang, he would block the release of my records in Taiwan.

In 1984, I sang "My Chinese Heart" and "Long Shang Xing" at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. This performance brought me into thousands of households, and this song immediately The child turned red. There were several sacks of letters written by viewers to CCTV. When I looked at these letters, I was dumbfounded and very excited. Then the media in Hong Kong started calling me a "leftist singer" because I performed on CCTV. After I returned to Hong Kong, my situation remained unchanged.

Around 1985 to 1986, I seemed to meet Huang Zhan again at a dinner party. I told him that "My Chinese Heart" had become popular in the mainland and could be sung by hundreds of millions of Chinese people. , I thank him for writing such a good song. He didn't believe it and thought I was joking with him. He just said, "What's the use of being famous?" At that time, his economic conditions were not very good, and China had not joined the international copyright convention. "My Chinese Heart" was reproduced in the mainland. Hong, he didn’t receive a penny in royalties. Including "Shanghai Beach", which he wrote, it became popular as the TV series was broadcast in the mainland. It was repeatedly played by radio and television, and was published in newspapers and periodicals, but he did not receive any royalties. Therefore, Huang Zhan joked at that time, "Please help me get those royalties back."

Although he didn't get a penny, Huang Zhan was still very happy. Because the "Reference News" in the Mainland at that time published an article in which a Xinhua News Agency reporter visited Deng Xiaoping's family life. It said that one afternoon in Zhongnanhai, Deng Xiaoping was with his grandchildren and taught them to sing "My Chinese Heart". song. This report was later reprinted by Hong Kong newspapers.

In 1987, I officially entered the mainland market, and my solo album became a hit as soon as it was published in the mainland. Later, because I was going to release a new album, I invited Huang Zhan to dinner and asked him to write a song for me, and he agreed. After waiting for a long time, I don’t know why, but he never wrote it. After the mainland joined the international copyright convention and implemented the royalty system, he also received some royalties from "My Chinese Heart".

Mo Junhui (Artistic Director of Hong Kong Repertory Theater)

After SARS last year, in April and May, I wanted to create a musical ("Sour and Sweet Hong Kong"). Then I thought of the old partners Gu Jiahui and Huang Zhan. After all, they are the most talented people in the music field. More importantly, they have a lot of life experience, which is very important for such a localized musical. Our funds are limited, and Mr. Huang Zhan and Mr. Gu Jiahui don't care at all about the remuneration issue that worries me the most. At that time, Mr. Huang said to me, "We just like it. Musicals are art, and I'm interested."

I was in poor health at the time. I had stomach cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. The creation and discussion of "Sweet and Sour Hong Kong" were all carried out at my home. Mr. Huang also came to my home every time and watched me take medicine. He also comforted me and said, don't worry, pay attention to your body and rest. . He was very involved in the entire preparation and attended every discussion meeting on time. I learned then that as early as 20 years ago, he had written lyrics for the Chinese version of a Western musical, but he did not consider it his own work because it was an American play. Therefore, when he had the opportunity to create an original local musical, he was particularly happy.

At that time, Gu Jiahui was living in Canada. In order to complete this musical, Gu Jiahui flew back to Hong Kong from Canada three times in 6 months. When he was not in Hong Kong, the three of us would sit on the phone together at our respective homes and talk about lyrics and music. Mr. Huang is a very strict person. Sometimes he will revise a sentence three or four times. When you're not satisfied, tear it up and start over. He wrote three drafts of 10 songs. When I write about being excited and feeling good about myself, no matter how late it is, I will happily call and just hum a verse on the phone. Later, when I read his manuscript, I found that he didn't like using computers, and the lyrics and music scores he wrote were very neat and beautiful. This traditional way of working surprised me, who is familiar with computer work. I could see him almost every time during the early rehearsals of this musical.

When "Sweet and Sour Hong Kong" premiered, three Hong Kong art groups (drama troupe, dance troupe, and Chinese orchestra) collaborated. Mr. Huang watched it live and was very excited and satisfied. , but he suggested that some Western instruments should be added to the music, because after all, the musical is a real American drama and should have a modern feel. Later, we invited a Western band of six or seven people. After that, after watching the performance, he made adjustments to individual words and phrases. Moreover, the program notes for the performance in Hong Kong were handwritten by Mr. Huang himself. He wanted to leave a little souvenir to the audience in this way.

"Sweet and Sour Hong Kong" was staged 20 times in Hong Kong, with more than 1,000 viewers at each show. It was very successful. Mr. Huang was very happy and said that "Sweet and Sour Hong Kong" is a musical in the true sense of "Huang Zhan's work". Because of the pleasant cooperation, Huang Zhan also discussed with me to collaborate on another musical. At that time, he recommended "Fang Shiyu". He has always wanted to make a musical that can attract young people and is also related to Chinese cultural traditions. Fang Shiyu has performed a lot in previous movies and TV series, and has also had Cantonese operas, but has not performed in musicals, and this theme is just right It met his two requirements, so we decided on this content at that time. At that time, he was very energetic and told me that it must be better than "Sweet and Sour Hong Kong". I think that now that he is gone, this dream has become an eternal regret and cannot be realized.