On July 5th, the day before the official release of Wang Baoqiang’s second directorial work "The Octagonal Cage", he took the actors to Chengdu Road Show, which was the most crucial stop for him. This is where the story takes place. On that day, Enbo, the prototype of his role in the film, also came to the scene in a wheelchair (Enbo had a sudden heart attack in March this year and had not fully recovered after being rescued by ICU).
Unlike Dear, a film based on a true story, The Octagonal Cage did not show the pictures or videos of the prototype characters to the audience at the end of the film, but only thanked Enbo Fighting Club in the credits.
Enbo and Wang Baoqiang
In the movie, Xiang Tenghui trained orphans as fighters, because the video of two children fighting in cages was exposed by the media, and it was a real story that the children were taken back to their hometown by their parents. This incident caused controversy in the society in July 2017, and also changed the fate of Enbo and many children.
What are the similarities and differences between the movie plot and the real events? What happened to the "Daliangshan Fighting Orphans" incident that caused controversy on the Internet in 2017? In this paper, a number of media reports are synthesized for simple reduction and comparison.
01. Enbo, a poor child also from the mountainous area.
The story begins with Enbo, the founder of Enbo Fighting Club. Like fighting orphans, he was born as a poor child. Born in Heishui County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province in 1962, he lost his father at the age of 8 and began to practice Sanda at the age of 18. In 1980, Enbo Armed Police Aba Prefecture detachment won the double champion of "single parallel bars and grappling".
In the movie, Xiang Tenghui is also a Sanda athlete. Because the coach forced him to take stimulants and angered the coach, he was fired and worked as a boss in the sand field. In reality, Enbo served in the Armed Police and began to engage in construction engineering after retiring in 1997. Whether he beat the coach because of doping, Enbo has not confirmed it to the media. Let’s just think that this is the drama exaggeration of the creator.
According to the report of Huaxi Dushi Bao on January 27, 2015, Enbo once gave military guidance at the grassroots level. He always saw some children wandering in the mountains and streets. At that time, he was puzzled. Now is the time to go to school. Why are these children not going to school?
After the inquiry, it was found that these children were too poor at home, or left-behind children had no family to take care of them, and there were some orphans.
He also remembered that when he was a special police officer, he had seen many similar examples. Many children, even teenagers, eventually embarked on the road of stealing, fighting and even breaking the law because no one was in charge.
There is a signboard of "Aba Sanda Team" behind it.
In 2001, Enbo rented a house near the West First Ring Road in Chengdu and set up a privately funded "Aba Wushu Sanda Team", which is affiliated to Aba Sports Bureau and is the first Wushu Sanda Team in Aba.
Later, with more and more children studying, Enbo changed venues three times and moved into a 4,000-square-meter indoor training ground in Tuanjie Town, Pixian County, Chengdu (now Pidu District).
According to Enbo’s interview with the media in 2017, the Sanda team itself will introduce some young children, which is similar to the sports schools in many places looking for swimming, track and field and basketball seedlings. It can be regarded as an athlete training base within the system.
According to the report of Huaxi Dushi Bao, most of the children trained in "Enbo Fighting" are the military bones of the armed police and special police teams, and some are police officers. Talent has become a professional Sanda athlete, and the club has won many national Sanda champions.
By 2015, the club had sponsored more than 400 children before and after, and now there are more than 70 students, more than 30 minors and more than 10 orphans. All the students live in boarding houses, equipped with more than 40 dormitories, which are equipped with air-conditioned fans, special canteens and living facilities.
How did the orphans of "Enbo Fighting" club come from?
In the movie, Wang Baoqiang trains children in the sand field.
In the movie, Wang Baoqiang plays Xiang Tenghui as a street child who is robbed around the sand field, and helps investors sell health care products and temporarily pulls these children to pretend to be fighting clubs. After that, Xiang Tenghui went to Mahua and Sumu’s hometown to see his family surrounded by walls, and his conscience discovered that he had set up a fighting club.
In reality, it is Enbo’s intention to recruit poor children and even orphans to train fighting, so that these children can "learn the rules and have a skill." In Enbo’s view, these hazi are bound to learn badly if they are not disciplined. If you learn fighting, you can at least be a security guard, and if you learn well, you can join the army as a special police.
Enbo and Children in News Reports in 2015
Sanda team treats orphans and children from poor families with free teaching, accommodation, cultural study and medical treatment, and the first batch recruited nearly 30 children. In 2015, Enbo told Huaxi Dushi Bao that orphans were sent by relatives or family members, hoping to learn a skill here. "These babies are poor children!"
Some orphans in the video of "Fighting Orphans" in July 2017 came from Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture (hereinafter referred to as "Daliangshan"). How did they come to the "Enbo" fighting club? There are two statements in this regard.
Enbo and the students at the Chengdu premiere
According to the report of China Business News in August, 2017, Enbo Fighting Club recruited students in Daliangshan in the name of Wushu School in 2015. The enrollment brochure was published in the work exchange group of Yuexi County Civil Affairs Department, and the enrollment information stated that the enrollment target was middle school students aged 11 to 14. I received compulsory education in junior high school and studied martial arts. I also had a physical examination of the enrolled students in Xichang.
As the school is located in Chengdu, in the eyes of parents, education in Chengdu will be superior to that in Liangshan, which is why many parents send their children to Enbo Fighting Club.
After the video caused controversy in 2017, Enbo said in a video interview that Enbo Fighting Club has become a minor celebrity in Sichuan Province, and many government civil affairs departments will take the initiative to find him. The civil affairs staff in Yuexi County, Liangshan Prefecture took the initiative to recommend him. Many orphans.
In the video of orphan fighting, Enbo told the camera that the procedures for the club to recruit orphans must be confirmed, agreed and stamped by the local civil affairs department before the club will accept them. However, the relevant departments believe that Enbo Fighting Club promised to sign an agreement, but it did not sign with the civil affairs department. The civil affairs department has not approved, agreed or sealed it. "
Tang Luo, general manager of Enbo Fighting Club, also admitted: "The first batch of students signed an agreement from time to time, and later students were sent by their parents voluntarily, and there were no documents such as legal agreements."
The biggest controversy caused by the video in 2017 is that children’s compulsory education cannot be guaranteed. Enbo said in a video interview that just as many children in sports schools can’t keep up with the level of ordinary schools, so can the children in Enbo Fighting Club. Children’s cultural classes are mainly held in the evening, and teachers are part-time teachers from surrounding primary schools.
In the film, the principal of a private school is played by director Li Yang.
In the movie, Xiang Tenghui, played by Wang Baoqiang, wanted her children to go to private schools to study culture systematically, not only with the support of regular teachers, but also to get a student status. However, the headmaster of a private school asked to donate millions to Teng Hui in exchange, but he could only give up. Interestingly, the principal who plays the inhuman role in the film is the director Li Yang. It was Wang Baoqiang who starred in Li Yang’s filming "Blind Well" that changed his fate.
In reality, Enbo once told the media that because many of the club’s children are not locals in Chengdu, they have to study in Chengdu, apply for temporary residence permits and residence permits, and each student needs tens of thousands of interpretation fees, which the club can’t afford.
Is the video of orphans fighting in cages too cruel?
In July 2017, before the fight between "fighting orphans" in the cage was exposed by "pear video", Enbo Fighting Club was almost regarded as a positive model in publicity and reporting. But it was this video that made the club controversial and forced many orphans to return to their hometown.
The description of this core contradiction, The Octagonal Cage, has been adapted. Xiang Tenghui, played by Wang Baoqiang, made it clear to the children that the fighting in the bar was a "fake fight", creating an atmosphere to attract the attention of the audience. Besides, he could not afford the medical expenses for the children who were really injured.
Screenshot of cage fighting video exposed in 2017
In reality, Zhu Guanghui, the operation director of the club in 2017, explained to the media that the content in the video was edited, and the children were invited to participate in the project promotion performance of mixed martial arts, just for the children to make demonstrations, and only adults were eligible to participate in various competitions.
Looking back at the controversial incident in July 2017, Enbo repeatedly stressed to the media that the club did not violate the law, did not abuse, did not kidnap, and did not force children. He once said that this incident was partly caused by the public’s misunderstanding of mixed martial arts. If the children were demonstrating table tennis or even football and basketball, there would certainly be no such controversy.
In an interview with the media, the club revealed that the children’s expenses are four or five million a year. The club can only make ends meet by organizing competitions to attract some sponsorship and relying on its own business.
When children grow up and play adult competitions, they will win bonuses. The appearance fee is 5,000, 6,000, and at most 15,000. He never takes a penny, and it belongs to the children.
But after three years, if the children play at a higher level, he will get a commission. Because they have been trained, the club has to pay a little for the minimum water and electricity and rent.
Fighting orphans were taken back to Daliangshan (trailer screenshot)
In the end, after a series of investigations by various departments, 25 children from Daliangshan were taken back one after another (there is a saying that there are 16). When the child was sent back, tears flowed and he was very reluctant, but he was still taken away by the guardian. At this point, the film "The Octagonal Cage" was restored.
In reality, some children don’t want to go back to Daliangshan. On the one hand, they like fighting, and more importantly, they are too sad after going back. In an interview with pear video, Xiaowu told reporters that there are beef and eggs in Enbo Club, and you can only eat potato when you go back. Moreover, when I return to my hometown, I can only do hard work and work.
According to Caixin Media, incomplete statistics show that Daliangshan has lost more than 25,000 children raised by their parents. For a long time, drugs and AIDS have plagued Daliangshan, and the AIDS-infected people in Daliangshan account for 50% of the whole Sichuan Province.
Most of the children interviewed in the video have died because of drug abuse and other reasons, and live with their grandparents. Many children have already dropped out of school before entering the club.
Xiang Tenghui responded to questions from the outside world in this scene.
In the summer of 2017, Enbo, the founder of the club, was subjected to abuse and cyber violence. In the movie "In the Octagonal Cage", when Xiang Tenghui was interviewed by a TV program, he was asked if he had lied to these orphans since he was a child.
Xiang Tenghui’s answer is: "I tricked them out of that ravine, I tricked them into practicing fighting, and you call me a liar, then I am a liar."
Where are the fighting orphans of the past?
It has been six years since the controversy broke out in 2017 and the film was released. Both the children who returned to Daliangshan and the children who stayed in the club have different fates.
The child in the video is Ajie.
One of the protagonists in the video is Ajie. His father went out to work and was killed by a train. His mother remarried to other villages. There are a sister, a sister and a grandfather at home.
Grandpa doesn’t agree with him to stay in Enbo Club, but Ajie thinks that staying here is "more promising". He hopes that in the future, he can only make tens of thousands of appearances like the fighting stars who have come out here, rebuild the mud house at home on the second and third floors, and fund the club of "michel platini" Enbo.
However, under the constant urging of the staff of the civil affairs department, he was forced by his grandfather to press his handprint, and Ajie was taken back to Daliangshan.
Ajie in Red Star News Interview in 2020
According to the report of Red Star News in 2020, after returning to Daliangshan, Ajie and four companions were arranged in Shuanghe Primary School in Mianning County, Liangzhou, and then went straight to Lugu Middle School. Ajie gave up fighting and studied boxing. In the Sichuan Youth Boxing Championship held in August 2020, Ajie won the men’s 52kg class championship and won the title of "national first-class athlete".
Ajie’s next dream is to get into a good sports university and enter the national team. Interestingly, the sloppy role played by Chen Yongsheng in The Octagonal Cage happened to be curly hair, just like Ajie’s hairstyle when he entered middle school.
Chen Yongsheng’s carelessness in the octagonal cage
Another protagonist in the video is Xiaowu, whose mother died of drug abuse. He watched her drug addiction attack since childhood and begged him to give her the hidden drugs. The last thing his mother said to him before she died was: "Don’t take drugs like her."
Xiaowu
After the storm, it is said that Xiaowu (Li Zicongwu) stayed in the club for training. According to the video report of "Migu Fighting" on July 6 this year, in March this year, at the age of 20, he was shortlisted for the UFC Shanghai Elite Training Center, facing the stage prospect of UFC fighting competition. Xiaowu also participated in the roadshow of "Octagonal Cage" in Chengdu.
Xiaowu was shortlisted for UFC Shanghai Elite Training Center this year.
With the efforts of all parties, Enbo Fighting Club also cooperated with Aba Sports Bureau in November 2017, becoming a branch of Aba Sports School and gaining a more formal status as a sports training institution.
Many teachers also came to the club to carry out cultural teaching, and the contents of the professors basically covered all subjects of compulsory education in primary and junior high schools.
The most important thing is that these children can not only receive fighting training, but also obtain nationally recognized academic qualifications after graduation.
What is even more surprising is that in 2017, club captain Sumudar boarded the UFC stadium in November 2018 and became the first Tibetan player in the competition. She is also the most promising one among the children in 2017.
Sumu Dalquie and Sumu in the movie.
Sumu Dalquie is the prototype of Sumu played by Shi Pengyuan in the film. At present, he is a flyweight and junior heavyweight player in the UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship, with a record of 3 wins and 1 loss in UFC. As of July 11th, 2022, it ranked 12th in the flyweight class.
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On July 5, at the Chengdu roadshow of "The Octagonal Cage", the founder Enbo said with deep feelings: "The children and directors in the film are all born at the bottom and grassroots like me. However, without "The Octagonal Cage" and the dedication of director Bao Qiang, the world would not know this story, nor would it know our 22-year fighting life. I sincerely thank the crew, and your efforts have made the world and people outside the fighting field know this story. "
"octagonal cage" Chengdu roadshow, see watermark for the image source.
Wang Baoqiang, the director, said: "Without Enbo, there would be no octagonal cage. Enbo has given these children in the mountains a way out of life and a future, which is very touching. Such a powerful real event, I think it should be made into a movie, so it took me six years to put this story on the big screen and convey this positive energy through movies. "
Noun explanation:
The UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship is an American mixed fighting event, which originated in 1993. The competition is based on heterogeneous indiscriminate actual combat, and the rules of the competition are very few. The competition venue is an octagonal cage.
There is one referee, each game lasts for 5 minutes, and there are 3 games (5 games in the championship). If there is no winner after 3 games, the winner will be decided by three off-court referees (judges).
The same side gives up, loses consciousness or the referee stops the game.
MMA Mixed Martial Arts, also known as combined fighting skills, unrestricted fighting and mixed fighting, is a fighting sport that allows the use of many different martial arts. It is not a formal martial art, but a combination of various fighting skills.