Historical background of “The Blossoms"

A-Bao in the novel " Blossoms " is an ordinary businessman. Although he and Li Li are not first lovers, they trust each other, while Uncle Ye is a wretched person , there was no stock war... It mainly describes the lives of ordinary people in Shanghai during an unbearable era, and it is a very precious historical record.

The almost completely rewritten TV series Blossoms tells the story of a vibrant period after that. The audience can enjoy three narrative spaces: plot, music and color. Different people will view the show in different ways. Old Shanghainese will be nostalgic, those who “jumped into the business ocean” will reminisce about success or failure, reformers will lament the passing era; young ladies will guess which beauty A-Bao finally chose...

What would Munger say if he watched Blossoms? People most likely thought he would talk about stock trading.

The background of the exciting stock war in the play is Reform and Opening up. 400 years after the Dutch East India Company pioneered the concept of stocks and its market, China opened its markets. Munger and Buffett are excited. Their Berkshire Hathaway invested heavily in companies such as PetroChina. Look at Munger’s comment: “God knows, the Chinese did well enough when they were exposed to capitalist civilization!” “Suppose you have a very talented nation like the Chinese, who are very poor and backward, and you are an advanced country, you established free trade with China and it lasted for a long time."

The importance of that era was the embrace of civilization in almost all its aspects, including the advanced social sciences, what Munger calls the soft sciences, such as psychology. Western civilization revitalized this ancient land, making it bloom again and influencing a generation.

Reciprocity

Munger is not only a legendary investor, but also a psychologist. He regards psychology as one of the most indispensable wisdoms in investing and life. He will present the rich psychological vignettes of "Blossoms." For example, A-Bao's charisma may include his 有情有义, which is the principle of reciprocity in psychology. In order to repay Commander Cai for bringing him into the stock market, A-Bao risked his life to take responsibility for A-Gen's death. Payback plots also include A-Bao vs. Li Li, Reiko, Miss Wang, and Yamamoto vs. A-Bao, etc.

Envy

The most striking psychological phenomenon in the play is envy. You can't miss this example. Mei Ping reported Miss Wang, and A-Bao was puzzled: "Miss Wang did not offend you, right?" Mei Ping: "...You don't understand. Her very existence itself is hurtful to people like me."

There are many more intense examples of jealousy. The proprietresses on Huanghe Road tried to destroy Li Li by cutting off power, cutting off goods, poaching cooks, and sabotage the place. Envy can also exist between real lovers, such as A-Bao and his first love Xuezhi: "I hope you live well. I'm afraid to see you live too well, better than me." As for Mr. Qiang, because of A-Bao accidentally stole Reiko, whom he liked, and refused to cooperate with him. The two became mortal archrival in the business.

The Origin of Envy

However, the people are not equals may still show envy. The superior envies the inferior is not rare. Palace of Versailles is a result of Envy of Louis XIV for his finance minister who tried to ingratiate the king with a splendid party in Fouquet's chateau.  Next day, Fouquet was put in jail for life. Palace of Versailles was built with the inspiration of Fouquet's chateau, and better by the same designer. In the show, 小江西cut the electricity of 至真园, although she knows she is not the equal of Li Li.

However, the people are not equals may still show envy. The superior envies the inferior is not rare. Palace of Versailles is a result of Envy of Louis XIV for his finance minister who tried to ingratiate the king with a splendid party in Fouquet's chateau. Next day, Fouquet was put in jail for life. Palace of Versailles was built with the inspiration of Fouquet's chateau, and better designed by the same designer. In the show, 小江西 cut the power of Zhizhenyuan, although she knows she is not the equal of Li Li.

Antidote to Envy

Envy in our instinct is like food and sex for human. One may use or abuse it.  Kant commented: “The impulse for envy is inherent in the nature of man “.Russell took it a step further:: Envy is the basis of democracy” . Warren Buffet raised it to highest level: “It is not greed that drives the world, but envy.”

Since the French Revolution, the West has embraced freedom and equality, but these two values are in conflict: because everyone is different, including origin, talent..., freedom will definitely lead to "inequality", but it is precisely because of this "inequality" that envy arises, and motivation arises. Fortunately, many people understand that because of freedom, everyone can choose different suitable opportunities and practice Munger's: “….to be a continuous-learning machine. The same requirement exists in lower walks of life. I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent. But they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were that morning.” Cherishing freedom, striving for equality, and facinge up to and preventing the evils of human nature, enabled the West to develop rapidly.

The conflict between freedom and equality will continue. Envy will also continue to drive civilization.

Ingratitude, Jealousy, Arrogance of Power, and the Lollapalooza Effect

There is a special character in the play, who may be described as "upright and serious". But if we observe with common sense of human nature, we can see clearly the soul behind the mask. In order to help her two poor and helpless aunts, her uncle risked violating draconian laws (the law itself was a irony in that era when the rule of law was lost) and tried to sell cigarettes to raise money. Not only was she ungrateful, but she turned him to the authorities, resulted in his being imprisoned. This is exactly the psychology of ingratitude that Kant pointed out. He believed that people “ …for reasons that are obvious (unequal), deeply envy and hate the givers and, in extreme cases, live only in the hope of the latter’s destruction.” Kant believes that Hatred of benefactors may exist between individuals as well as between nations. The more a country helps another, the more likely it is to be hated.

Decades later, under Miss Wang's questioning, she admitted that she was the informant who sent her uncle to jail, but showed no regrets and showed disdain for Miss Wang's shock. Director Wong Kar-Wai cut off the story line here (Episode 5) and never came back to explain, leaving the audience to think.

his scene brings the audience back to that unbearable era: Killing relatives for justice, disowning relatives, wives reported on husbands, daughters reported on mothers, students reported on teachers, and sent them to prison, causing them to commit suicide or be tried and executed... Some are for self-protection, but most are for revolutionary ideas. People live in a society ruled by primitive animality as described in "The Lord of Flies". But what is more terrifying than the "Fly Country" is that the evil of human nature is covered up by ideology. Gustave Le Bon pointed out in his his “Crowd” indicated that “ The conscious life of the mind is of small importance in comparison with its unconscious life “ Yes, compared with those tragedies and madness, Jin-Hua may have looked like an angel, But she has developed an unconscious habit, which psychology calls system 1, analyzed by Dr. Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast & Slow) 100 years later: “The capabilities of System 1 include innate skills that we share with other animals.” Using nothing more than unconscious instinct, Jin-Hua will send anyone to prison, a labor camp, or destruction at the first opportunity without a second thought. This instinct has been internalized into her System 1.

Munger warned us: “you want to be very careful with intense ideology. It presents a big danger for the only mind you're ever going to get,…, it cabbages up one's mind

Once the mind turns into a cabbage, it is irreversible, so Jin-hua did not stop there. Decades later, when Mei Ping only hinted that Ms Wang might have taken bribes, the powerful Jin should have asked Ms Wang directly for clarification to prevent Ms Wang from being wrongly accused, save her career, preserve the friendship between the two girls, and teach Mei Ping Opportunity to deal with envy. But Jin-hua didn't. Instead, she immediately reported to the "Organization Department." This time envy (Ms Wang, who is beautiful in appearance, does a good job at work, and has an outstanding boyfriend with both talent and good appearance, to support her.) and the arrogance of power are also involved. Power has taught her that she will not be held accountable even if she makes a wrong case. Widow Jin-Hua deceives herself into thinking she is driven by justice and will not admit or even realize her envy or other dark motives. The confluence of multiple factors worked together on her cabbage to achieve Munger's Lollapalooza effect: decades after sending her uncle to Tilanqiao jail, she successfully sent her apprentice, Ms. Wang, to a labor camp and treated herself proud of the rapid revolutionary response.

Conclusion

The actor who played Mei Ping performed so well that after the show was on, she had to ask the audience: "Everyone can criticize Mei Ping, but please don't criticize me." This is also a psychological principle called "association." , or "Persian Messenger Syndrome (ancient Persia had the habit of killing messengers who brought bad news)." In fact, Mei Ping is an ordinary person with shortcomings like us.

In contrast, the actress who played the role of Jin-Hua was much luckier, because the Jin-Hua she played was one of the remaining ghosts of that era, deceived almost all viewers, and it was expected that she did not need to apologize. But I really hope that the audience will hate and be wary of Jin-Hua and the soil that produced her. At worst, the audience suffering from Persian Messenger Syndrome will force her to beg for mercy, making her say: "Please don't blame me. I just followed Director Wang's request and acted out an extremely ugly but unknowingly twisted soul. I believe that these ghosts won't wander this land forever.