Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 940 Jianlibao

Director Zheng glanced at the medium-sized truck behind him and quickly said, "Thank you, Mr. Yang. In the past two years, Mr. Yang has provided a lot of help to our sports department in the mainland. The meals of many athletes have been greatly improved. Thank you very much."

"You're welcome." Yang Wendong smiled. "I'm honored to be able to contribute to the country's sports cause."

He helps athletes partly as a sponsorship, and partly to build good relationships so that when the mainland enters a modern business environment, he can cooperate with these top athletes to expand the domestic market for his company's products.
Originally, he only intended to donate money, but his subordinates later discovered that the money had been used for other purposes, such as building a stadium.
Although this was a good thing, it went against Yang Wendong's intentions, so it was changed to giving away meat coupons, grain coupons, or even sending some meat directly to ensure the athletes' food rations.
Not only top athletes, but all athletes, even those at the provincial level, can benefit from improved meals;
In this era, too many people suffer from malnutrition or insufficient calorie intake, which limits their performance and daily training.

Looking at the number of Olympic gold medals, in the 80s there were only a few or a dozen, but after 00 there were dozens or even the most. The population of the entire mainland has not changed much in these 20 years. One important factor that has changed is food.

"Please come in, Mr. Yang," Director Zheng continued.

Yang Wendong said, "Okay, I'd like to go in and take a look too."

The group followed Director Zheng on a tour of the athletes' accommodations. Yang Zhiwen looked around and asked curiously, "Daddy, are all these appliances from the Glory Group sponsored by us?"

“Yes, not only here, but also in other countries, we sponsor home appliances.” Yang Wendong nodded and said, “I have also negotiated with News Corporation and CCTV in mainland China. They will take the opportunity to film our brand labels more often to increase our commercial exposure.”

For other investors, sponsoring so many appliances would be extremely costly, but for Best Buy and Honor, it's child's play.
The appliances are my own, the warehouse is my own, the truck is my own, the installation and maintenance team is my own, and there's a Best Buy nearby, so I can just bring them over.
Moreover, these appliances can be sold as 8% new second-hand equipment after use, with a slight discount. I believe many customers would still be willing to buy them, which results in the actual loss being very low.

What you can gain is a limited amount of exposure at the Olympic Games. You have to understand that there is not much other entertainment in this era. People watch the Olympics not only for the games, but also for the various interviews outside of the games. This is an additional advertising opportunity.

Yang Zhiwen said, "Daddy is really well prepared. Even News Corporation will cooperate with us."

“Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation will be a formidable figure in the future. I’ll introduce you to him after the Olympics.” Yang Wendong paused and said, “However, you don’t need to communicate with him alone in the future. Just be ordinary business friends with his subordinates or his son.”

Murdoch may not be very wealthy in the future, and he is not very high on the Forbes list, but his News Corporation has a very strong influence worldwide.

This was not changed until the advent of the internet and even the mobile internet era; but even then, News Corporation still had considerable influence.

Because of his own butterfly effect, the future of the internet and mobile internet will inevitably change a lot. In addition, he will be quite old by then, and may not be able to accurately invest in these companies anymore.

Therefore, it is still necessary to maintain a good relationship with News Corporation, even if it is not very good, it is important to avoid conflicts.

“Yes, Daddy,” Yang Zhiwen said.

At this moment, Director Zheng said with a smile, "Many of our athletes are also sleeping in air-conditioned rooms and having food stored in refrigerators for the first time."

Yang Wendong said, "My products are already being sold in China, and people in mainland China will be able to buy them in the future."

"Haha, we can't afford it. This air conditioner costs several thousand yuan. Our salaries are not enough." Director Zheng laughed. "Besides, an electric fan is enough for summer. We didn't even have a fan before."

Yang Wendong didn't say much, but smiled and said, "Okay, refrigerators and TVs are also worth considering."

Air conditioning was indeed a luxury in mainland China at that time. Not to mention ordinary families, even government compounds and hospitals might not have air conditioning.

In addition, summers in the 80s were not as hot as they would be forty or fifty years later, which can also be seen from the degree of freezing in winter.

Of course, habit is also a factor. If you've never used air conditioning, you won't feel it, but once you've used it, it's hard to go back.

"Haha, if we win a lot of gold medals at the Olympics, maybe we'll get some rewards when we get back, enough to buy some appliances," Director Zheng laughed.
Yang Wendong casually asked, "What are the rewards for gold medal athletes in China?"

Director Zheng said, "This hasn't been clarified yet, but there should be a reward of several thousand yuan, priority housing allocation policy, preferential policies for children's education, and some honorary medals, etc."

"That's not bad either." Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "Could I give you a separate reward?"

In the 80s, people with urban household registration in mainland China had an average annual income of only 1000 yuan, while athletes received several thousand yuan in awards, which seemed like a considerable sum.

However, this still doesn't fully recognize the commercial value of gold medal athletes. In Europe and America, their direct income could be dozens of times higher.

“A separate reward? That might not be a good idea?” Director Zheng hesitated.

Yang Wendong said, "Director Zheng should know about commercial endorsements, right? I can hire them to endorse products and give them some commercial fees. That's perfectly normal, isn't it?"

Director Zheng thought for a moment and said, "I am aware of overseas commercial endorsements, but in China, they are still managed by the State Administration of Radio and Television. Even if there are endorsements, the expenses in this regard are borne by the State Administration of Radio and Television."

"Alright, we'll talk about it later. I've brought some food and daily necessities." Yang Wendong continued, "It's not just for athletes, but also enough for reporters, medical staff, and the like. Don't be shy."

In this era, many sectors in mainland China are still non-commercial. For example, in the cooperation between TVB and CCTV, TVB actors are paid for their work, while CCTV actors are paid a fixed salary, with at most some extra subsidies.

Other departments are in a similar situation, and it is estimated that changes will not occur until the late 80s or early 90s.

Given Yang Wendong's status, he might be able to break the deadlock if he insisted, but this was a minor matter, and he had no need to break the existing rules in mainland China. "Haha, good," Director Zheng said happily.
Just then, a young man passed by and nodded and smiled at Director Zheng. Director Zheng quickly pulled him aside and said to Yang Wendong, "Mr. Yang, this is Comrade Li Ning. He is a gymnast with very strong skills and is a potential gold medalist for us in this Olympics."

"Director Zheng, you flatter me," Li Ning said quickly, glancing at Yang Wendong, whom he didn't recognize. But for Director Zheng to treat him like this, he must be an important person.

Director Zheng quickly said, "Comrade Li Ning, this is Comrade Yang Wendong from Hong Kong. He has been supplying us with our high-end meals all these years."

"Mr. Yang? Hello." Upon hearing this, Li Ning immediately perked up and bowed.

"Li Ning? What a good name. I hope you can achieve great success and win a gold medal for our country." Yang Wendong was also meeting Li Ning for the first time.
In his previous life, he naturally knew the name Li Ning and was familiar with the Li Ning brand of clothing. Although it seemed to have declined in popularity over the decades, it was still considered one of the giants in the domestic clothing industry.

However, he couldn't remember what Li Ning looked like. He might have seen his picture online in his previous life, but he didn't pay attention to it. Now that he had been in this world for more than 20 years, how could he remember?

Li Ning said, "Thank you for your praise, Mr. Yang. I will definitely work hard to win the gold medal."

"Okay." Yang Wendong didn't say anything more.
His status is still quite extraordinary, while Li Ning is just a potential Olympic gold medalist, and there's not much to say about him at the moment.

If he wins several gold medals like in previous history, his status will be elevated. We'll see then.

In the following time, Director Zheng also introduced Yang Wendong to some other domestic athletes who were considered to have the potential to win gold medals. However, Yang Wendong did not know any of them and could only have a brief meeting with them.

As for media reporters, CCTV also gave Yang Wendong several shots, so that he can appear on CCTV in the future and maybe even be recorded in history.

After all, this is the first time China has participated in the Olympics since the reform and opening up, which carries some weight in the history of China.

For Yang Wendong now, money is just a number. On the contrary, he is very interested in being recorded in history. He has no regrets in this life, so he would like to leave a name in history.
After he finished looking through the bottles, a waiter handed him a few cans of beverage. Yang Wendong's expression changed slightly when he saw them: "Jianlibao?"

"Mr. Yang, do you know this beverage?" Director Zheng asked curiously. "It's a domestic beverage brand. They were clamoring to sponsor our Olympics. I didn't want to pay attention to them at first, but they produced a certificate from Yuezhou University that could replenish electrolytes for athletes, so the bureau agreed."

"I've heard of it, but I haven't tried it yet." Yang Wendong smiled, then opened the can, took a sip, and said, "Hmm, not bad. The taste, although not very sweet, is still quite good."

In his previous life, he had drunk Jianlibao when he was a child, but Jianlibao disappeared for some reason after he grew up. In addition, he had been in this life for more than 20 years, so he naturally did not remember the taste.

But hearing this name also reminded him of his youth.

Director Zheng quickly replied, "If Mr. Yang likes them, I'll send you some here. When I return to China, I'll arrange for some to be sent to you from there."

The opportunity to connect with a Hong Kong tycoon is rare, and he values ​​it highly.
It's important to understand that there's a severe shortage of foreign exchange in China right now. Even internal departments like theirs have foreign exchange earnings targets, which often gives their senior management a huge headache.
The man in front of us is said to have no shortage of foreign exchange, as he has invested in the Yanjing Trade Center, as well as many bridges and highways across the country.

If they just leak a little bit to the General Administration of Sport, their department's foreign exchange quota will be fulfilled.

"Just give me some here. I'll buy it myself back home if I need it," Yang Wendong replied.

Director Zheng said, "Okay."

After leaving, Yang Wendong said to his secretary, "Call Hong Kong tonight and ask them to buy some Jianlibao drinks and have them delivered to my office."

Since last year, Yang Wendong has arranged for many people in China to collect information on various companies in an attempt to activate the deep-seated memories in his mind.
Several of them succeeded, and Yang Wendong then arranged for people to go and negotiate investments.

But the mainland is too big, and there are countless companies. Even if his subordinates can collect information on all the companies, it is difficult for him to read through them all.
This does not include Jianlibao, probably because Jianlibao was newly established and very small in scale, so it was not included in the records.

In its previous life, Jianlibao was very successful. At its peak, in the early 90s, it even surpassed Coca-Cola and Pepsi to become a national beverage.

It's a pity that, despite having no problems with its own operations, it declined due to internal power struggles, which can be considered a regret in the history of mainland Chinese businesses.

Yang Zhiwen asked tentatively, "Daddy, do you like this drink that much?"

"I like it a little, but I think the person behind this drink is quite clever, actually thinking of using the Olympics as an opportunity to develop themselves." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "With someone like that behind them, their potential is bound to be limitless in the future."

Yang Zhiwen asked, "So you want to invest in this company?"

“Yes, let’s wait until after the Olympics. You can come with me to the mainland. You’ve never been before, so I’ll take you there first,” Yang Wendong said with a smile.
He also plans to take his son to visit the three major bases of his own companies in Europe, the United States and mainland China, at least to get a basic understanding of them first.
As for Southeast Asia and South America, there's no need to make a special trip there; we can talk about them another time.

“Okay, Daddy,” Yang Zhiwen replied.

On July 28, the Olympic Games officially began, and Yang Wendong completely abandoned his identity as a businessman, watching various competitions with his family from the perspective of an ordinary person.
Of course, in order to achieve a sense of immersion, the main focus is on watching matches from mainland China.

From July 28 to August 12, in 15 days, Chinese athletes won a total of 18 gold medals, including 6 from Li Ning, who was dubbed the "Prince of Gymnastics" from Asia by American media.

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