The first time I listened to “You Jianwang, Jin Maoling”, I was on a green train to Qinghai. At that time, I had just graduated from college and was very confused in the face of my failure in the postgraduate entrance examination. Therefore, under the guise of commemorating my graduation, I chose a short escape – a trip to Qinghai. Accompanied by the lingering musical tunes and lazy sound lines in my earphones, I felt very comfortable in the noisy ticket carriage. I also remembered the scene of Takeshi Kaneshiro riding a bicycle with Yang Caini through the tunnel together in Wong Kar Wai’s old movie, just like the slow night train that day, driving towards the distant unknown with a box of lights.
“You Jianwang, Jin Maoling” is a single released by Serrini, a Hong Kong independent folk singer, on October 14th, 2016 in shrimp music. The slow beat of drums and the unique folk flavor of Hong Kong style girls are spoken with Serrini’s slightly hoarse voice, bringing us into the quiet and sad inner world of Hong Kong’s small cities, as well as the insignificant love bud in the dark corners of big cities.
Serrini is a girl who looks a bit careless in appearance, but her words are always meticulous but not sticky, sensitive but not sentimental, and she calmly records stories, quietly missing a parting.
When I first recommended this song to a friend, his first reaction was that the name of the song was very strange, and even he completely did not understand why there was such a mouthful song name. Perhaps it’s due to cultural differences, so what is the creative background behind such songs with strange names?
It is believed that those who have seen Wong Kar Wai’s films will naturally associate “Jin Maoling” with the little character Yang Caini has been looking for in “The Fallen Angel”. She has never appeared before, and she is defined by Yang Caini as a mean third party. She and we have witnessed the story of Yang Caini’s delay in coming out when she fell in love.
This song naturally fits into the scene of “The Fallen Angel” from the moment it was first played, so we might think that Serrini might look like a movie fan like everyone else, but she replied to her fans on Weibo that the lyrics were not written for the movie, but rather adapted the true story of a male friend of her own. Later, she thought that she could use Wong Kar wai’s style to present this song. I have to say, the idea is cool.
In Serrini’s writing, Jin Maoling is a young girl who works at the Evil K (KTV with erotic elements) venue in the Youjianmang District of Hong Kong. Like Rao Xueman’s “Li Ba La”, she may have dyed her hair and looked indecent, even smoking, drinking, and fighting tattoos. However, after contacting her, you will discover that she is a good girl.
She is very financially strapped and forced to make a living. She lives alone in a small apartment (the landlord divides the residential unit into more than two separate units for sale or rent). She likes to record her lonely and trivial thoughts on Facebook, and she wears heavy makeup every night, active in romantic places. She has no choice in life, and over time, she naturally becomes accustomed to the arrogant touch of keeping a smiling face on strange men and letting others take their hands off the water, Occasionally, one day in the dark room, he met a special man. Unlike his companions, he hugged the girl from left to right. Instead, he spoke and behaved in a reserved and polite manner. He sat quietly in a corner, not very talkative, with a white face, like a jade face scholar, and had no arrogance towards Jin Maoling. Jin Maoling sat in front of him and tried to tease his face, but he said that only the person he loved most could do so, Coming here tonight to sing is a waste of sleep.
Perhaps it was all due to the helplessness of life, or perhaps the same lonely person, Jin Maoling had a good feeling for him, but ultimately it was just a chance encounter. Goodbye, I don’t know what year and month?
She had also tried to sing in Central, so she might have a chance to meet in the vast crowd and sing her heart to him, but what was the point? The inexplicable affection and the momentary heartbeat are just lonely and strange things living in a busy city. Is this kind of love too obsessive? Jin Maoling dispelled her illusions. All she could do was take out the bill from the 711 convenience store and record tonight’s melancholy and infatuation on the back.
If “Jin Maoling” is a dark line in “The Fallen Angel”, then I think she is more like a projector. Her “appearance” reflects the foolish life of another girl who has been unable to let go of her ex, making it difficult for her to walk out of her broken love days, or is she unwilling to get married before her old love, who knows? Perhaps only those who have truly lost love will understand Yang Caini’s madness.
However, Serrini has told us a completely different story. Jin Maoling is just an ordinary woman, recording the trivial matters of love. The entire story has no great ups and downs, nor does it have a magnificent ending. What’s the matter with the autumn wind and the sad painting fan? Isn’t the best time of two people’s lives just when they met? If we stop at this point, then there will be no malice towards the unknown and no fear of separation in this acquaintance. Is this love more pure?
Faced with the daily lights and revelations, she brushed past many people every day. Is there anyone willing to stay for her? Jin Maoling is a character in the movie, a character in the lyrics, and a character in life. We all probably have such a common girl around us.
Emotions are sometimes like an old movie worth recalling repeatedly. A simple thought can bring more pain and relief, because the simpler it is, the more it can resonate with you. “We may not smoke or drink alcohol with tattoos, but we may also miss a moment’s heartbeat for a long time, frequently record our thoughts of love, or enjoy rainy days because of one person. We may post timely updates on social networking sites, and write memorable words on the back of supermarket bills.”.
The romantic and unfeeling Hong Kong style love story is a drink that every literary and artistic youth will never feel sticky in their hearts. There was MLA before, and Serrini now exists. “For the lyrics and narrative stories of the third style, Douban gave it a score of 9.1.”. When you stand on the roof of a busy city overlooking the neon at night, do you remember such a fresh and natural folk song? Behind seemingly strange names, there are ordinary and moving stories hidden. Now, do you already know the meaning of You Jianwang and Jin Maoling?
Some people say that the place where Cantonese is spoken is the south of the heart. In the dead of night, with a hint of sadness, it is also a sweet thing for us to embrace the warmth from the south together.
