In the north neighborhood of Liuli Bridge in Fengtai, there stood a compound covering 392.1 mu — the Bayi Studio.
It was twice the size of the Beiying Studio.
Bayi Studio had excellent relations with Beiying; Wang Yang had even taken part in Bayi’s establishment, and directors and actors from Beiying often came over to shoot at Bayi.
Later, because of a clash over a film called Xu Mao and His Daughters, both studios insisted on making it and neither would give way.
Out of that sprang an unprecedented movie oddity: two films with the same title, the same content, released simultaneously.
Beiying’s version was the better of the two.
“Beep beep!”
When the van drove in, Chen Qi took in this unfamiliar place.
His first impression was neatness — everything, the buildings, the roads, the landscaping, was laid out like a barracks: square and orderly.
Many people came and went; most wore military uniforms and carried themselves erect.
Bayi belonged to the General Political Department and had produced so many classics.