Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 866 Heading to the Deep Sea
Mainland China, Shenzhen:

"What? An investment that can create 10,000 jobs?" When Wang Weiguo, director of the Shenzhen Investment Promotion Bureau, heard the news, he almost bit his tongue.

“Yes, it’s news from Xinhua News Agency,” a middle-aged man said with a smile.

After thinking for a moment, Wang Weiguo said, "Old Du, do you want to take over this project?"

Old Du said, "You don't want to? We were just changed to a special economic zone by the central government, which is essentially to facilitate investment attraction. Investment is a result. This is such a big project, with an investment of tens of millions of US dollars, and the annual exports in the future will also be tens of millions of US dollars. Aren't you tempted?"

Wang Weiguo frowned and said, "Of course I'm interested, but I'm more worried that with our size, we can't handle such a big project. Our Shenhai City only has a population of 33."

“What’s there to be afraid of? I talked to Xinhua News Agency, and they said that when Changxing Group invested in Kwun Tong in Hong Kong, the population of Kwun Tong was only two or three hundred thousand. Now, there are already twenty or thirty thousand people working for Changxing Group there.” Old Du quickly said, “Our Shenhai City has a larger population than a town in Hong Kong.”
Besides, even if we really are short-staffed, there are plenty of farmers in the surrounding counties.

Wang Weiguo shook his head and said, "It's not as simple as you think. If that were the case, I wouldn't be worried. Do you know that our neighboring Shekou Industrial Zone has long been invested in by Hong Kong Changxing Group? The workers there have to have at least a junior high school education."

"What? Workers need to have a junior high school education?" Old Du was immediately shocked: "A junior high school graduate is considered a talent in China. They're not skilled workers, just ordinary workers?"

Wang Weiguo said, "Yes, they are just ordinary workers, but the salaries offered by Hong Kong-funded enterprises are high, even much higher than those of many state-owned enterprises."
"Where in our Shenhai City can we find tens of thousands of junior high school students? Our educational foundation is still lacking."

Old Du said, "But as long as their factory is established, we can always recruit in Yuezhou City. If that doesn't work, we definitely have people outside of Guangdong Province."

“You’re putting the cart before the horse. You expect others to set up factories first and then you can start preparing? What are you dreaming of?” Wang Weiguo shook his head and said, “Xinhua News Agency couldn’t have only notified us, could they? They must have notified Xiamen, Shantou, and Zhuhai as well. Compared to those three, we don’t have any advantage, do we?”

“But we’re close to Hong Kong, aren’t we?” Old Du said after careful consideration.

Wang Weiguo laughed and said, "Yes, that's a great advantage. However, we also need to prepare for all possible problems. We need to list out all the advantages of the other three special economic zones and our own domestic advantages, including talent, water and electricity, and transportation."
"I need to convene an internal meeting as soon as possible. After we've discussed and resolved these issues, we'll see which ones we can handle ourselves, which ones require assistance from higher management, and which ones we need to know in advance even if we can't resolve them. Then, I'll personally go to Hong Kong and, through Xinhua News Agency, see if I can meet with the senior management of Changxing Industrial to discuss things with them."

"Good, Director Wang is very thoughtful," Old Du said with a smile.

Wang Weiguo said solemnly, "Let's not talk about these things. We must be well prepared. The opportunity to meet with the senior management of Changxing Group is very rare. Otherwise, it would be a pity to waste all our efforts."

Old Du quickly replied, "Understood, I will definitely collect all the necessary information."

At the same time, similar things were happening in the other three special economic zones. Even Beijing and Shanghai knew about it. Although they did not have the policy of sole investment, they were thinking of trying to win it over. So each city started internal meetings to try to bring such a project into their city.

September arrived quickly, and as Yang Wendong had predicted, business teams from Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore visited Changxing Industrial in Hong Kong.
On the mainland, several cities have also come, and even the central government has expressed its hope to cooperate with Hong Kong businesses. However, the central government is not concerned about which city it is in and respects the local negotiations.
Yang Wendong did not participate in the initial business meetings. Wei Zetao and a few people from headquarters received the foreign parties together. Even if he, as the big boss, participated, he would be the one to make the final decision.
Furthermore, business negotiations are often subject to change, and if the boss gets involved too early and makes promises, it's not good to change them later. But employees can, because they can push the responsibility to the end.

Wei Zetao has been extremely busy with this matter recently, constantly meeting with various representatives.

Finally, after half a month, he had collected almost all the information and went to Yang Wendong's office again. Zhou Haoran, Wang Zhiqun, and He Guoyuan were also there.

Yang Wendong laughed and said, "Come on, Lao Wei, sit down. Let's discuss this together. Watsons and Glory will also follow this path in the future, so it's good to learn some experience now."

"Haha, Lao Wei, you've worked hard these past few days," Wang Zhiqun said with a smile.

As the core of the Changxing Group's top management, they naturally knew that the boss intended to gradually relocate Hong Kong's industries to the mainland. After all, such things required advance preparation and could not be kept from them.

However, these factories employ tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong, and how to relocate them without causing significant economic fluctuations in Hong Kong is a challenge.

After Wei Zetao sat down, he said, "Mr. Yang, everyone, let me first talk about the wage cost difference between Hong Kong and the mainland. Currently, the average wage in Hong Kong is around HK$1200, while the average wage in Shanghai is only around RMB 70. According to the official exchange rate, it is about HK$200. The wages in the four special administrative regions are even lower, around RMB 50."
But that's the official exchange rate; we all know the real situation.

"Knowing the truth is useless. Since we're going to invest, we have to abide by their rules. A hundred or two Hong Kong dollars isn't much; it's just the level of Hong Kong when I first started my business," Yang Wendong said, shaking his head.

While there is a significant difference between the official exchange rate and the black market exchange rate, since the purpose is to invest, the rules must be followed. Of course, if you earn RMB, the official exchange rate will also apply when you leave the country.
This is why domestic factories maintain foreign exchange reserves; without this restriction, the country's foreign exchange reserves would be depleted very quickly.

“Yang Sheng is right,” Wei Zetao continued, “but there is another problem. For example, in Shanghai, even if the salary is only 70 yuan, it is actually just a figure on paper.”
In reality, many factories have long been operating at a loss, accumulating substantial debts, and many are even unable to pay wages.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "This is none of our business. However, from this perspective, the mainland economy does indeed urgently need foreign investment with stable businesses like ours."

“Yes.” Wei Zetao then took out several documents and handed them to his boss, saying, “Mr. Yang, these are the basic information submitted by the four special economic zones, as well as their development plans after introducing our project.”

"Not bad, you've learned to do all this on the mainland? That's some progress," Yang Wendong said after looking at the documents for a while.
Wei Zetao said, "They must have had guidance from Xinhua News Agency and China Resources, or perhaps those who can serve as officials in the four special economic zones all have some understanding of overseas business, so it's much better than other inland cities. It's much easier to talk to them." "That's good. If the administrative system is convenient, we can invest with peace of mind," Yang Wendong nodded and said.
Shenzhen should be the best in this regard, after all, it is physically close to Hong Kong and can learn more and faster.

It's important to understand that Shenzhen was originally just a small county town, far inferior to big cities like Shantou, Zhuhai, and Xiamen, but it is poised to become one of the major cities in China, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

Yang Wendong drank tea while looking at the documents. After finishing one document, he gave the documents to Wang Zhiqun and others so that they could also take a look.
After a while, having finished reading, he asked, "Which city do you think would be better for investment?"

Wei Zetao said, "Of the four special economic zones, I would prioritize Shenzhen and Xiamen. The former is closer to us, and the latter has the most complete industrial system."

"Okay, let's go take a look together," Yang Wendong said.

Wei Zetao asked in surprise, "Are all of us going?"

Yang Wendong said, "Yes, let's go and learn about it first. Old Wang and Old Zhou also need to learn about the special economic zone city. We're not investing now, but we should be prepared to familiarize ourselves with it. Let's treat it as a trip for sightseeing."

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Great! I couldn't be happier. I've been to Beijing and Shanghai, but I haven't seen some of the smaller cities in the interior yet."

“I have some other things to do tomorrow, so let’s go together the day after tomorrow morning. We’ll go to the deep sea first,” Yang Wendong nodded and said.

"Yes, Mr. Yang." The others naturally didn't have the privilege of discussing time; any other matters had to be postponed.

On the third day, Yang Wendong led his group into the mainland through the Luohu Port;

The people of Shenzhen were also well prepared and waited on the other side of the Luohu Port. This is their advantage, as they are close to Hong Kong. People from Hong Kong who come to the mainland without taking a plane basically have to go through them.

"Mr. Yang, Mr. Wei, Mr. Zhou, Mr. Wang, hello everyone." Wang Weiguo introduced himself, "I am Wang Weiguo, Director of the Investment Promotion Bureau of Shenzhen City, and this is..."

We introduced ourselves one by one, shook hands with each other, and got to know each other. We'll probably need to get to know each other again in the next few days.

Soon, everyone got into the cars. Changxing Group had already prepared a fleet of more than a dozen Mercedes-Benz cars on the other side of Luohu Port. However, the leaders of Shenzhen City still rode in their own cars with Shanghai license plates first, while the Hong Kong side followed slowly behind.
The speed was so slow that even Yang Wendong was getting bored. Although he didn't like racing, he used to drive at least 60 or 70 miles per hour in Hong Kong, but now it was only 30 or 40 miles per hour.
"Ah Yun, cars in the mainland are too slow. After this investment in the mainland is over, go to Yanjing and see how the negotiations for Mini are going," Yang Wendong said to his assistant.

Assistant Ayun said, "Okay, Mr. Yang."

It's slow, there's nothing we can do about it now. Fortunately, Luohu Port isn't too far from Shenzhen city center, and we arrived after a while.

Subsequently, Yang Wendong met with municipal leaders, and Shenzhen City expressed its strong welcome to Hong Kong capital investment.
Then there were some site requirements. Yang Wendong also visited the existing factories in Shenhai City. Because they were close by and each factory was not very big, he visited several factories in one morning.

We had a simple lunch at a guesthouse, and then in the afternoon we got down to business.

Inside a Chinese-style conference room, the windows were open and an electric fan was blowing loudly; there was no air conditioning.
“Director Wang, we’ve reviewed the documents submitted by Shenhai City and found two issues,” Wei Zetao said. “First, Shenhai City doesn’t have enough people. Although there’s a considerable labor force, our company needs people who can at least read industrial cards, preferably with a junior high school education. How can you meet this requirement?”

When Changxing Industrial was first established, many of its employees were not very literate. However, at that time, Changxing Industrial was not large in scale, so everyone was not picky, and the company also had a well-established training system for long-term development.

But now Changxing Group is one of the top companies in Asia. Wherever they invest, the local governments cooperate with them. It's impossible to ask them to start training workers all over again. Problems with craftsmanship, technology, and quality are easy to solve, but literacy is a different story.

Wang Weiguo said, "Please rest assured, Mr. Wei, I have informed the central government that if Shenzhen City is short of talent, the central government will directly transfer enough young students over. They are all very high-quality potential workers."

"Really? Is there any official document?" Wei Zetao asked back. He had been there before and knew that many government officials would make empty promises. He had been scammed before in Southeast Asian countries.

Wang Weiguo said, "No, this kind of thing can't be documented in official documents. But rest assured, it's absolutely true. The central government has mobilized construction teams from all over the country to develop the deep-sea special zone, and some of them have already arrived in Deep-Sea City. You can easily verify this."

“I know about this. In that case, it seems we have enough workers.” Yang Wendong nodded and then asked, “What about electricity? The power generation in Shenhai City is not enough to meet our requirements.”

The plastics industry is very energy-intensive, although not as much as steel refining, but the demand is still considerable.
Furthermore, Deepsea City may become a hub for his heavy industries in the future, so improving Deepsea City's power system as soon as possible would be of great significance to him.

Wang Weiguo said, "Please rest assured on this point. We will do our utmost to ensure industrial power supply. Even if residential power is cut off, we will absolutely not allow your company to experience any power shortages."

"Civilian use cut off?" The people in Hong Kong were taken aback; this was quite different from the usual practice they were familiar with.

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(End of this chapter)