Go to Huai'an first to beat beaten eggs?, Want to enter the financial circle of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou
79 year old Sun Zhaocheng quickly threw out the last pair of "J" in his hand and shouted, "Win!" Others approached to check as if they didn't believe him, while Sun Zhaocheng had already grinned and burst into laughter. This is the winner's smile, just like his performance after winning cards over the past fifty years.
Sun Zhaocheng laughed heartily after winning the card
If no one introduces him, it is difficult to associate this old man who goes out to play cards wearing a pair of cotton slippers with the name "One of the main founders of Guandan". Because the playing place belonging to this founder is somewhat ordinary, it is located under a big tree on the roadside outside Sun Zhaocheng's house, with a small stool covered with a board, which is the card table.
Perhaps the true master is so ordinary and unremarkable. Previously, the reporter heard that Sun Zhaocheng's health was not very good. More than ten days ago, when he participated in an activity in the town, he walked trembling and needed assistance. Unexpectedly, as soon as his body improved in the past two days, he returned to the martial arts world, playing cards and engaging in lively conversations. Looking around, this state is also normal because the player sitting on Sun Zhaocheng's left side came in a wheelchair.
"I heard that Guandan is very popular in Beijing, and someone has already given me feedback." In the 1960s and 1970s, Sun Zhaocheng served as the deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee of the Nanzha People's Commune in Huai'an, Jiangsu, and still speaks the same way today. "Yes, it's popular all over the country," the reporter added. "Not nationwide, it's global!" Sun Zhaocheng corrected with pure Nanzha dialect, full of confidence.
Recently, Guandan, a card game originating from Huai'an, Jiangsu, has suddenly become a hot topic. It seems that it has jumped from a grassroots card table to a national competitive sports arena overnight, and even infiltrated the financial and social circles of major cities such as Shanghai. Since July this year, there have been several peaks in the search volume of "guandan" on the Internet. The first peak of communication this year began with the phrase "send us guandan", which was said by northeast actor Shen Teng in the sketch "Pit" of the Spring Festival Gala.
Why does this game, born in the countryside, have such strong vitality?
origin
"Guandan was created by everyone, and I just played a role in throwing bricks and attracting jade." It was said that the reporter came to inquire about the origin of Guandan. Sun Zhaocheng casually placed the card in his hand, turned the chair around, and talked incessantly.
One night in 1969, three colleagues came to play cards with Sun Zhaocheng. At first, the four of them were competing for the upper hand, but later everyone felt that one deck of cards was more monotonous, so they decided to change it to playing two decks of cards together. Someone suggested that four or more cards with the same number be called "bombs", "five cards" can explode "four cards", "six cards" can explode "five cards", and so on. After playing a few rounds, we added the "matching of hearts" to increase the success rate of combination cards, gradually forming the basic gameplay of "throwing eggs".
Looking back, these seemingly casual changes naturally absorbed the advantages of other card games. Compared to bridge, its learning threshold is not that high. It can be learned by playing a few laps, and even beginners have a chance to win; Compared to fighting against landlords, it lacks strong randomness and can form tacit cooperation among fixed teammates. It is precisely because of this characteristic that needs to be coordinated that it has extended the stronger social attributes of Guandan and laid the foundation for its widespread dissemination in the future.
Another reason for its widespread dissemination may lie in the memorable name Guandan, how did it come about? Sun Zhaocheng said that a few people were hungry at night and wanted to go to the commune cafeteria to have cabbage and pork, but at that time there was no meat in the cafeteria, only duck eggs. Someone joked that tonight it's not pork, it's eggs. "That's how the name Guandan came about." Sun Zhaocheng thought for a moment and then said, "At that time, China's first hydrogen bomb exploded successfully." It's also called Guandan to celebrate. "So, Dan is both an egg and a bomb.
Now, Sun Zhaocheng's first three players have passed away one after another, but new players have already been replaced. "What do you mean by the word 'guan'?" The card player who was still waiting to continue playing reminded him. "Oh, right! Guan, it means to throw or smash." Sun Zhaocheng explained that after harvesting wheat, people used to gather in groups of three or five around the stone rollers on the threshing ground and hit the tied wheat stalks towards the rollers, making it easy for the wheat particles to fall off the straw, known as "Guan Mai Ba". In other words, when playing cards to the critical point, people will lift the cards above their heads and smash them heavily onto the table, which does seem like a "smashing wheat" posture.
"Later on, there was a saying that 'when you go to Nanzha, not throwing eggs is equivalent to not eating'," said Sun Zhaocheng. This sentence is the prototype of the later popular saying "If you don't shake the egg before a meal, it's like not eating; if you don't shake the egg after a meal, it's like eating for free.". After the story was told, Sun Zhaocheng turned his chair and continued playing cards. At this season, neither hot nor cold, he called it the most suitable time of the year for playing cards. In these days, he has returned to the rhythm of playing for two or three hours a day.
Continuing to play cards here, a few hundred meters away, the former head of the Nanzha Town Cultural Station, Jin Jin, told reporters at home about his observations of the history of Guandan. In the mid to late 1960s, Nanzha was divided into Donglu Guandan and Xilu Guandan, with different rules. Donglu was represented by young teachers from several schools, who were middle school students participating in the series and brought back a multi card playing style. Xilu, on the other hand, was a bombing style developed by Sun Zhaocheng and other members of the commune. Later, the east-west routes merged to form the current Nanzha Guandan playing style.
By the 1980s, Guandan had become very popular in Nanzha. In 1985, Gold Mine participated in the local folk song competition and the Guandan competition organized by the Cultural Station. The old secretary of the commune personally led the award ceremony, and the prizes included a straw hat, towel, notebook, etc. That competition was very sensational at Nanzha, but the influence of Guandan was limited to that at that time. Gold Mine remembers that at this time, the bus had not yet entered the South Gate, and only by bike could one walk to the county town. Such inconvenient transportation created a blind spot for cultural exchange with foreign countries, and for many years, Guandan had been circling in the local area. He believes that the expansion and popularity of Guandan was mainly due to the fact that after the reform and opening up, people from Nanzha went out to work, allowing Guandan to gradually spread outward.
A Scenery of the Origin of Guandan
spread
Around 2000, Yang Haijun, who was working in a state-owned enterprise in Huai'an city, first heard a leader talk about "Guandan". This leader and his family went on a trip, hitting beaten eggs all the way. When they arrived at the scenic spot, the family went to visit the scenic spot. He continued to beat beaten eggs at the hotel, and then returned all the way. "It's better to stay in Huai'an and beat beaten eggs than to travel like this." The leader's exclamation left Yang Haijun with a lingering impression. After learning how to play Guandan with this leader, Yang Haijun gave up his usual "80 points" and joined the "Guandan Four Team". "If you hit Guandan, you won't score 80 anymore, everyone is like this." Yang Haijun was impressed by the charm of Guandan.
This admiration foreshadowed that later Guandan "caught the express train of the Internet". In 2005, Yang Haijun resigned and went overseas to establish "Huai'an Net". Initially, there were only two to three hundred users. How can we quickly increase the number of users? Yang Haijun thought of Guandan. In 2005, Yang Haijun began developing the online game Guandan. At that time, this game only had Huai'an dialect pronunciation and no Chinese name. Considering the packaging and promotion of the game, Yang Haijun used eggs as the basic element, and marked the membership level with idiots, villains, eggs, live beads, stuffed eggs, iron eggs, silver eggs, and golden eggs, officially naming this game "Guandan".
Previously, Yang Haijun told his colleagues that after the development of this game, it is estimated that there will be 1000 people online every day, and no one believes it. One year after the game was launched, the registered users exceeded one million and the daily online players exceeded ten thousand. Yang Haijun remembers that the highest prize in the Egg Throwing Competition held at that time was a car, which was no longer comparable to the straw hat and towel from 1985, which indirectly proved the influence of Egg Throwing at that time.
Now, Guandan has entered a new peak period of transmission. "The explosive growth and expansion speed is like a 'bomb' exploding." Lan Guowei, Executive Vice President of the Huai'an Egg Association, used a metaphor.
In a recent media interview, Lan Guowei estimated that this sport has attracted over 60 million people nationwide. But later on, some criticized him for saying that this number was conservative, some said it should be 80 million, some believed it exceeded 100 million, and some suggested it had already reached 200 million.
No one can say exactly how many people are beating beaten eggs, but the speed of their spread is evident to everyone. In the office of "Huai'an Net", Yang Haijun tracks the speed and direction of the spread of Guandan in real time. The relevant search index shows that since July this year, there have been several peaks in the search volume of "guandan" on the Internet. Beijing is the city with the largest search volume, followed by Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Yang Haijun believes that this explosion is a chain reaction caused by the entry of Guandan into these big cities. He predicts that within three to five years, the coverage of Guandan will exceed 300 million people.
In January of this year, the Huai'an Egg Association was established.
advantage
69 year old Lan Guowei once served as the Deputy Director of the Huai'an Sports Bureau and retired for 9 years, but recently his work intensity has almost exceeded his working hours. In addition to being invited for training and lectures, he also participates in organizing various egg throwing competitions.
At present, an urgent competition is the 5th National Intellectual Games to be held in late October. At this intellectual games, Guanpai is listed as a performance event, and together with traditional events such as chess, bridge, and Gomoku, it enters the finals of the National Chess and Card Network Competition. Surprisingly, other competitions of the Smart Games are held in Hefei, except for the Egg Throwing Competition held in Huai'an.
On July 12th, Lan Guowei saw an announcement on the official website of the General Administration of Sport of China, publicly soliciting the organizers of the Guanpai event. "The pie has fallen from the sky, and we in Huai'an will definitely continue." After Lan Guowei informed Bian Yu, the president of the Huai'an Egg Association, of this news, Bian Yu immediately made a decision and quickly declared. In less than half a month, Huai'an submitted the application materials and successfully obtained the qualification to undertake the project. "For Huai'an, this is an honor," said Lan Guowei.
Although this matter has been settled, looking back, it can also taste a different meaning. In government departments, "beating beaten eggs" is often mentioned as a negative case. In 2011, the leaders in Nanjing at that time harshly criticized some government officials and civil servants for being careless and frivolous during work hours. On March 15 of this year, the official official account of Xuancheng Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection of Anhui Province published an article saying that "playing cards with guandan" was included in the seven items of complaints. Even in Huai'an, many years ago, there were leaders who publicly criticized civil servants for "beating eggs" at the conference.
Neglecting one's duties, neglecting one's duties, and even potentially engaging in profit transmission, when these words are linked to guandan, undoubtedly bring gloom to its development and make it a sensitive term in some regions. Even in the recent frenzy in the financial industry, there have been rumors of "throwing eggs for fundraising", with a hidden logic of "something good at the top, something bad at the bottom". To this end, Zhang Ying, the founding management partner of Jingwei Venture Capital, posted a Weibo post, clarifying the boundary between righteousness and integrity, explaining that "throwing eggs for fundraising" is just a joke. Just enjoy it and don't take it seriously. Fundraising is a serious matter, and we need to follow the process steadily.
Faced with these troubles, Lan Guowei's attitude is "negligible". "There are many channels for delivering benefits, but there is one benefit to playing Guandan," said Lan Guowei. During the 2016 International Intelligence Sports Union Intelligence Sports Elite Tournament held in Huai'an, Lan Guowei taught World Bridge Federation President Ganarigo Ronald how to play Guandan. During a media interview, Ronald specifically said, "After coming to China this time, I am learning about the Guandan project. Through reading the competition rules and documents about Guandan, I believe it is first and foremost a sports competition, not a gambling game. This is the most important foundation for Guandan to go global."
"Ronald talked it through all at once." Lan Guowei was quite excited. Guandan already has a continuous upgrade rule, which can naturally give it a sense of honor, happiness, and satisfaction, without the need for gambling to obtain it. This is exactly the advantage of Guandan avoiding gray areas.
develop
A few months ago, Yang Haijun received a call from a friend who said that several Shandong guests wanted to come to Huai'an to see an exhibition on Guandan culture and asked if there were any places to recommend. Yang Haijun thought for a while but couldn't come up with a place.
"I feel ashamed." Yang Haijun shook his head and asked the reporter, "Huai'an is the birthplace of guandan, but you can't see the elements of guandan on the Huai'an Road, can you?" Indeed, the reporter visited various museums related to the history of Huai'an, Huaiyang Cuisine, and the Grand Canal in Huai'an, but none of these museums has anything related to guandan. Many years ago, Yang Haijun established the Guandan Cultural Center at the under construction Huai'an West Amusement Park, but it never came to an end afterwards.
Recent photo of Yang Haijun
Do you think it's impossible to make a mess of yourself? Not really. In 2015, the Huai'an Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference submitted a proposal to the Municipal Party Committee and Government on building Huai'an Guandan into a nationally renowned urban cultural brand, and wrote a research report of nearly 7000 words. Afterwards, Huai'an proposed to build the Guandan project as a cultural brand for Huai'an City. In 2016, the Guandan culture appeared in the report of the Huai'an City Party Congress, which called for "strengthening the construction of public sports service system, creating brands such as outdoor activities, intellectual sports, and Guandan sports culture, and advocating for a new fashion of national fitness." Even in the 14th Five Year Plan of Huai'an City, the relevant content of Guandan can be found: exploring the competitiveness, fun, and puzzle of Guandan, actively promoting its inclusion in the national intellectual sports performance projects, and promoting Guandan culture to go global.
The support may seem strong, but from the results, in addition to the bustling commercial marketing and mass entertainment, the Guandan culture still needs to be further studied, and the Guandan related industries are mostly small and trivial, far from the status of "Huai'an City Business Card".
A few days ago, Yang Haijun talked to business friends about the development of the Guandan culture industry. His friends asked him what his original intention was for creating Guandan culture, but Yang Haijun couldn't answer for a moment. More than a decade ago, his motivation for making Guandan was just to increase user base, but now, further questioning helps clarify the next direction of development.
"Guandan is Guandan." In the interview, Lan Guowei summarized his understanding of Guandan with this sentence. On his way home, Lan Guowei often saw in the park, by the roadside, and under the streetlights, as long as there were two pairs of poker, the "four player group" could start playing. "Having a full meal, playing cards, and having nothing to worry about is satisfying the entertainment needs of the common people," said Lan Guowei.
The main road leads to simplicity. Under the scorching surface, the vitality of Guandan may only be due to the simplicity and purity of this grounded atmosphere.
