Because Ping lived in a scenic area with lots of mountains and rivers, once in a while film crew would come, bringing actors and actresses in gorgeous period costumes and giving the simple hardworking local people a glance at the glamour of the film industry. These visits, of course, tended to generate a lot of local gossip, which often turned out to be somewhat exaggerated. Quite a few times, Ping had run down the mountain, hoping to get the autograph of Jet Lee or Zhang Ziyi, only to find that it was not a genuine film but an advertisement or a documentary that was being made. Ping realized that although it was hard to generalize about such matters, the people who made these films were not the same people who made the films Ping liked, the kung-fu films and history dramas which sometimes even rose to glory in international film festivals and the like.
So no one could have been more surprised than Ping when, one gloomy December day, a crew arrived form CCTV to film part of a history drama in his village. Ping realized that this was a good opportunity to grab a few autographs, and to get a glimpse of some real TV stars in the process.
As the sky was overcast, Ping was easily able to locate the film crew by the glow from their lights. They were filming a scene when Ping arrived, and a man wearing headphones made a gesture that ping should be quiet. In the scene being filmed, a gorgeous actress was trying to govern her anger and get rid of a bearded ruffian who had accosted her and was sticking to her like glue. She was dressed as a princess, and had lots of sequins on her dress, which seemed to glitter like diamonds under the glare of the lights. The scene had to be filmed over and over again, and Ping knew that he should have been home a long time ago. However, just when he had given up hope and decided to go, the director shouted, “Okay!” and gestured to the crew to take a rest. Ping cautiously made his way over to where the gorgeous actress was sitting, fanning herself and sipping tea. She smiled at him as he asked her to give him her autograph.
“Do you have an autograph book?” she asked. ping‘s face fell. “Never mind,” she said, “Look, here’s a little gift,” and she handed him a signed