Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 880 The Establishment of Deep-Sea Science and Technology University

The current surge in Hong Kong's property market has essentially reached its peak. This period presents an excellent opportunity to cash out unimportant properties and obtain substantial funds, which also happens to be the perfect time to invest in mainland China.
The restriction that prevents wholly foreign-owned enterprises from operating outside the four special economic zones is indeed not ideal. However, this restriction also makes it difficult for foreign investors to invest in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. As a result, their investments are scarce, especially for hotels, which require prime locations. At that time, mainland investors did not have a high level of understanding of the real estate industry, so joint venture hotels could acquire more land.

This is a rare opportunity. After 86, while normal hotel investments will be approved and welcomed in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, it will be much harder to do whatever you want with land.
At this point, local governments might even be happy to accept larger areas of foreign investment, provided they only incur minimal demolition costs.
At this time, the future "middle ring" of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou can be said to be available for anyone to choose from;
The specific investment matters will be negotiated by his subordinates with the mainland side. This investment is not small, but it is not a strategic investment in Yang Wendong's mind. It will also operate in accordance with mainland laws, so he doesn't need to worry too much about it.

His focus is on projects that have a fundamental impact on his career, such as the development of the automobile, domestic food, and electronics industries, as well as the universities he has invested in.
Time quickly passed to December 15th, and Yang Wendong also welcomed a guest from the mainland. The Ministry of Education sent a director surnamed Wei to Hong Kong to visit Yang Wendong.

"Director Wei, please have a seat," Yang Wendong said with a smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Yang." After Director Wei sat down, he said, "Mr. Yang, I came to Hong Kong mainly to convey the Ministry of Education's final plan. If you have any further comments, please feel free to raise them."

"Please speak," Yang Wendong said.

Director Wei said, "Mr. Yang, the university you invested in is located in Shenzhen. The Ministry of Education and the central government have both agreed to this. This will help the economic development of the special economic zone, and the central government is happy to see it happen."

However, regarding the allocation of students, we cannot agree to give all of them to your company. The final compromise is that half of the students can be given to your company, while the other half will be subject to the arrangements of the education department.

"Half?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and asked, "Then how should we divide this half?"

In any school, even Tsinghua University, there are students who perform exceptionally well and those who perform only averagely, and the difference between these two groups is enormous.

Director Wei said, "First, we will definitely respect the students' own opinions. Second, we will make recommendations based on the students' abilities, and third, we will see the arrangements made by the school."

Another point is that you must not use foreign exchange or opportunities for overseas study to attract students; we need to be fair to each other.

"That's not fair! The teaching staff are all your people!" Yang Wendong said immediately after hearing this.

As expected, those on the mainland had already guessed his intentions, because everyone knew that once foreign exchange or opportunities to go abroad were offered, the students would flock to Hong Kong without a second thought.

In this era, foreign exchange is extremely valuable, and studying abroad is the dream of countless students. Even professors from Tsinghua and Peking Universities want to go abroad, let alone students. Recently, there have been cases of people taking advantage of business trips abroad to illegally stay overseas, including top professors and athletes.

Director Wei said, "Mr. Yang, our country also needs a large number of electronics professionals right now, and I hope you can understand that."
Furthermore, we are aware that you are planning to collaborate with top universities like Tsinghua and Peking University in exchange for research patents and a small number of student placements. We agree to this, as long as you do not excessively interfere with the student placements of these universities.

Although you can only get a few students from each school, all of these schools combined are no less than half of the Deep-Sea Science and Technology University, right?

"It's not that I really want to attract students with foreign exchange, but if students join my company, they will inevitably have the opportunity to go to Hong Kong, and it's normal for a few outstanding ones to be sent to Europe and America for further studies," Yang Wendong said after thinking for a moment.

Director Wei nodded and said, "The number of such cases shouldn't be very large, right? Actually, there are similar opportunities in China as well, so relatively speaking, it's about the same."

"That's true." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Alright, let's do it halfway for now."

Half of the students, plus students from other schools, should be enough for a short period of time;
Although there are some limitations in terms of conditions, in practice, we still have more advantages, after all, we are a foreign company and have more opportunities involving foreign exchange and going abroad.

On the mainland, they may be underestimating the speed of future electronic technology development. Once Honor Electronics develops, sending its employees abroad will be a piece of cake.

For now, we'll agree to this and discuss the rest later.
Even without any deliberate effort on my end, I estimate that most of the outstanding students would be happy to join my company, and that would be enough.

Director Wei smiled and said, "That's good. Next month, the central government will issue a special approval document, and then the Deep-Sea Science and Technology University can start construction."

“Okay, I’ll prepare the funds as well, and I’ll try to complete the construction within a year and a half,” Yang Wendong said with a smile.
A school isn't a skyscraper; with enough funding and enough people, it can be built very quickly.

Coincidentally, his real estate business in Hong Kong will be significantly scaled back during this period, so some long-term employees can also find work.

Director Wei laughed and said, "Mr. Yang is really impatient, but don't worry, the central government has also invested in multiple construction teams for the construction of Shenhai City, as well as the Ministry of Railways. As long as there are enough funds, it will definitely be completed smoothly."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "That would be best."

He also hopes that the school can be built as soon as possible. In the next few years, the development speed of the electronics industry will be very fast, and the team will need enough people. In many cases, they have no choice but to recruit a large number of people in the US branch to complete various tasks.
Although newly enrolled students may not be of much use, they can at least do some simple tasks, and then we can select talented individuals from among them for further training.

This is also a relatively long-term task that needs to be done step by step.

Only by employing a multi-pronged approach, including recruiting talent overseas, developing internal talent, and recruiting talent from mainland China, can Honor Electronics ensure that it can keep up with the development of the international electronics industry in the future.

In Shenhai City, a middle-aged man around 50 years old rode a bicycle to a room that resembled a classroom. There were already quite a few people inside.

"Section Chief Qin." Inside the classroom, many people greeted him.

Section Chief Qin nodded politely, then came up to the top and said, "Everyone, I've gathered you all here because of an important matter. The Municipal Party Committee needs some people from each of your construction teams to work on a new project."

"Do we need to transfer people from each household? How many are needed in total?" one person asked. Section Chief Qin replied, "We need at least 3000 people in total, possibly more. We'll see the specifics later."

"3000 people? That's too many! Our current projects will definitely be affected." The people below immediately started chattering.

Section Chief Qin gently patted the table and said, "Quiet down, quiet down. This is not a discussion, this is a notification. The Municipal Party Committee has already made a decision."

"Which project is it? Does it require so many people?" Seeing that Section Chief Qin was somewhat serious, no one dared to be presumptuous, and another person below asked.

Section Chief Qin said, "It's the Deep-Sea Science and Technology University project. You should all know something about it, right? The central government will also send a team over, but the new team will definitely not be familiar with the situation in Deep-Sea City, and they won't be able to come until at least after the New Year. So, the preliminary foundation preparation work has to be done by you."

"Deep-Sea Science and Technology University? Is that the university that the Hong Kong tycoon wants to build?" someone below asked in surprise.

This rumor started circulating some time ago, and it is said that Shenzhen has snatched away the university that was originally invested in by Hong Kong capital from Beijing and Shanghai.
They initially thought it was fake, but it turned out to be true.

“Yes, this is a project that the central government is concerned about, and the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee is also paying close attention to it. Moreover, it involves Hong Kong, so we must act quickly.” Section Chief Qin glanced at the people below: “You should discuss among yourselves. Each team should send at least 300 people, and some equipment. Make sure to choose the best quality equipment, otherwise, if any problems arise, we will all be in deep trouble.”

A murmur of discussion immediately arose below. At this moment, someone raised their hand and asked, "Section Chief Qin, when foreign investors come to invest, they give us foreign exchange, right? So, can our team get a share of the foreign exchange?"

Upon hearing this, the expressions of everyone present changed, as if they hadn't eaten meat for a day or a month, but now they saw a whole roasted lamb in front of them.
Now every department in the country has a foreign exchange earning task, and these construction teams are no exception. So they are all vying to do work for foreign companies in order to earn some foreign exchange.
Even if there were no foreign exchange quotas, as long as one has foreign exchange in hand, one can basically buy anything in the country. For both public and private reasons, everyone wants some foreign exchange.

Section Chief Qin's expression changed, and he said, "Don't even think about it. This foreign exchange is jointly controlled by the central government and Hong Kong. Foreign exchange is only used when purchasing imported goods. Internal resources are all converted into RMB or bills through the foreign exchange settlement process."

In some smaller projects, foreign investors sometimes seek more freedom, so some construction teams can receive foreign exchange after receiving foreign projects; the government is not worried, since this foreign exchange still needs to be turned over, at least for most of them.

However, large-scale projects like the Deep-Sea Science and Technology University involve hundreds of millions of US dollars in foreign exchange, so the central government naturally needs to get involved to avoid foreign exchange losses.

"Sigh~" Many of the people below suddenly lost hope.

Section Chief Qin smiled and said, "Don't be discouraged. This time, Hong Kong will also send a professional guidance team. They are all from major Hong Kong real estate companies. You can take this opportunity to build good relationships with them."

Although university projects don't earn foreign exchange, other projects will emerge in the future. The central government can't control everything, so won't that be your own opportunity?

"That's right?" The person below immediately became interested again;

We might not earn foreign exchange this time, but we can get to know a lot of people who have foreign exchange. Once we get to know them, won't these Hong Kong capital investors still go to them when they come to invest in Shenzhen in the future?
Section Chief Qin smiled and said, "So, this is your chance. Work hard, and the University Town project will not let you down. There will also be opportunities to earn foreign exchange in the future."

In addition, the group responsible in Hong Kong is Changxing Real Estate Company. This company previously built an office building in Shenzhen, you probably know that, right?

“Yongxing Building?” someone below asked.

“Yes, it’s the Wing Hing Building.” Section Chief Qin continued, “I won’t go into details about the other aspects of the Wing Hing Building, but the workers’ meals are good, right? This is what Hong Kong requires, and I expect the entire University Town project will be the same in the future.”

"Really?" Many people immediately became excited: "Haha, then I'll send 500 people over this time."

"Me too."

The enthusiasm of those present immediately increased exponentially;
Yongxing Building is a building under construction in Shenhai City. It is not yet completed. In terms of height and area, it is among the top-tier buildings in Shenhai City.
But these data didn't matter to the workers; they had nothing to do with them. What they cared about was the food at Yongxing Building, which was top-notch.
Regardless of which side the workers are outsourced to, they all get big meat buns every morning, and plenty of meat and unlimited white rice at lunch and dinner. The only requirement is that the workers must not waste any food.

The food was the envy of workers on other projects. It was said that this was what the investors in Hong Kong demanded, and everything was done according to the food standards in Hong Kong.

Section Chief Qin said, "Alright, everyone go back and discuss it yourselves. You need to give me a result within three days. The project is urgent. The foundation needs to be laid before the New Year. Right now, there are less than two months left."

Let me make this clear from the start: anyone who takes on a project is responsible for completing it on time. If you don't, you might as well pack your bags and go back to your hometown to farm. Got it?

The project involves hundreds of millions of dollars. The central government has appointed special commissioners, and the municipal party committee has also made a solemn pledge. If there is any delay, many leaders in the city will probably be held responsible.

"Understood, Section Chief Qin, don't worry. When we built the railway, we all made solemn pledges. Building houses will be much simpler," some people confidently promised.

If they don't even have this much responsibility, then the task wouldn't be theirs to do.

Time quickly passed to January 1981;
Yang Wendong traveled to Yanjing City once again and personally signed the donation agreement for the university with leaders from the Ministry of Education.
From then on, the entire project began to take shape, and on the other side of the ocean, the next day, thousands of construction workers, along with some equipment, immediately entered the site to start work.

The Deep-Sea Science and Technology University has officially begun construction.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)