Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 952 The Joint Statement and the Beginning of Economic Recovery

"Okay, thank you all for your support," Yang Wendong said with a smile.

Director Zhao quickly replied, "Mr. Yang, you're too kind. We are also very grateful to Mr. Yang for his support of our country's reform and opening up over the years."

The person in front of us not only made large investments in China during the reform and opening-up period, but also arranged for his multiple factories and trading companies in Hong Kong to purchase large quantities of domestic goods from China.
Although there are no precise calculations, Yang Wendong alone accounts for at least several percentage points of China's export trade.

Don't underestimate a few percentage points; in the foreign trade market, a few percentage points can determine dozens of percentage points of profit. China is currently facing a severe shortage of foreign exchange reserves, so it needs to rely on people like this.
At the same time, he has also created hundreds of thousands or even millions of jobs in China, which is one of the main reasons why the country values ​​him.

Building supermarkets in China involves legal issues and may require special approval from the central government; it is unlikely that there will be a result in the short term.

Therefore, after informing the person in charge in Yanjing, Yang Wendong and others temporarily stopped asking questions. There were too many similar cases; he would just start a discussion and eventually get a result.

On October 10, Yang Wendong, along with his son and a group of people, participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway. This expressway, which was planned in the early stages, finally had its route designed after nearly a year. Meanwhile, the necessary demolitions were carried out.

"Mr. Yang, this is the route of the Tianjin-Beijing Expressway, along with various related information."

After the groundbreaking ceremony, Wang Zhicheng, the person in charge of the project in mainland China for Changxing Real Estate Company, pointed to a huge map in front of him and said: "The total length is 147km, and the total cost is about US$4.3 million. Our side and the mainland side will each pay half, but the mainland side will calculate the cost based on land and labor."

“Yes, I know, I’ve seen all of these.” Yang Wendong asked, “When do you estimate it will be completed?”

He will still carefully review these projects that involve significant investments, and there will also be cross-audits from headquarters and third-party institutions.

Wang Zhicheng said, "It will take about two years, even though we have sufficient funds. We plan to divide the highway into seven sections, build them simultaneously, and then connect them to complete the project."

"Two years is quite a long time." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Alright, this is the first time we've built such a large-scale infrastructure project in China, so we must pay close attention to quality and safety."

Wang Zhicheng replied, "Yes, Mr. Yang, we will definitely be careful."

Yang Wendong then asked, "This construction project is a two-way four-lane road, but the land acquisition will result in an eight-lane road, right?"

Wang Zhicheng said, "Yes, we acquired the land according to the eight-lane standard, which cost us about 100 million RMB more."

"It's alright, it'll be worth it," Yang Wendong said.
If the highway is built and traffic congestion occurs later, and expansion is desired, the land acquisition costs will be extremely high. There may even be holdouts who demand exorbitant prices, which will not only waste money but also time.
Unfortunately, for highways that have already been built, expansion cannot be done by rerouting them like unfinished roads. As a last resort, we may really have no choice but to accept it.

After the introduction was completed, Yang Wendong said to Yang Zhiwen, "After you go back this time, take a good look at the planning of domestic expressways and some basic information. In the future, we will still invest heavily in expressways and build bridges in China."

“Yes, Daddy.” Yang Zhiwen asked, “But isn’t this kind of project too risky and very capital-intensive?”

"You don't need to worry about funding; it's all from banks. Who uses their own money?" Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "However, many overseas banks still lack confidence in China's expressways."

Once the Tianjin-Beijing Expressway and the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway are completed and profitable after loan repayments, various banks and investors will be eager to invest.

Yang Zhiwen asked, "Is Daddy so confident that these two highways will be profitable? There aren't many cars in the country, are there?"

“There aren’t many now, but it’s hard to say what will happen in the future,” Yang Wendong said. “Besides, even if the number of vehicles is small, the country will find ways to make highways profitable, or at least not unprofitable, because that’s not what the government cares about. They need a lot of capital flowing into the infrastructure market.”

It's normal for banks to be concerned about risk. Even the mainland authorities themselves aren't sure if these highways in mainland China will be able to recoup their costs in the future.

However, what the mainland is concerned about is not how much money the highway can make, but the radiating effect on the surrounding economy after the highway is built.

However, if the highway itself cannot be profitable, it will definitely damage investor confidence.

Therefore, even if Yang Wendong wasn't a time traveler, if he had a little more understanding of the political landscape, he would firmly believe that the mainland government would not allow domestic highways to operate at a loss, otherwise no one would invest, and the mainland's highway planning would run into serious trouble.

“That’s true. What a country cares about is not the road itself, but the economic impact it can generate,” Yang Zhiwen nodded and said.
"Alright, that's all settled." Yang Wendong continued, "Let's spend one last half-day in Yanjing this afternoon and evening, and then we'll head back to Hong Kong tomorrow morning."
You've seen quite a bit in mainland China lately, so write me a summary report so I can see your true thoughts.

"Daddy, I've graduated, but I still have to write a thesis?" Yang Zhiwen immediately looked pitiful.

Yang Wendong laughed and said, "You have graduated, but your studies have only just begun. Who told you that you can only study at school?"

Society as a whole is a bigger school. Do you think those illiterate, self-made entrepreneurs in Hong Kong didn't learn? They just didn't study in school when they were young, but once they entered society, they learned better than anyone else.
That's precisely why you can succeed; your daddy used to be the same way.

Although he had the advantage of being a time traveler who knew the future in the early stages, he still continued to learn in society.
English, basic laws of various countries, rules of business dealings, negotiation with governments, handling customer and supplier relationships, etc., are all things that any Hong Kong entrepreneur needs to learn.

"Yes, Daddy, I will definitely study hard," Yang Zhiwen replied.
The next day, Yang Zhiwen and others took a plane back to Hong Kong;

However, as usual, he and his son were separated by two planes.
After arriving in Hong Kong, Yang Wendong rested at home for a few days and also fell in love with fishing, so he often went fishing in a small river next to his house.

However, there were quite a few times when the air force was on duty, and a lot of feed was dumped, which was used to feed the fish in the river.
Time flew by and it was almost the end of October;

On this day, Yang Wendong was reading a novel in his office;
After Jin Yong and Gu Long retired, Yang Wendong established an organization dedicated to supporting novels, providing substantial financial support to promising novelists. He also encouraged TVB and Chang Hing Film Company to adapt some of his novels to increase the income of novelists. As a result, many excellent novels continued to emerge in Hong Kong's novel market even after the gap left by Jin Yong and Gu Long.
But what's amazing is that these novels also began to develop in the direction of fantasy and martial arts, as if people were no longer satisfied. The low-level martial arts descriptions of the traditional Jin Yong era, and even novels about reincarnation in ancient times to rewrite history, have appeared.

This is somewhat similar to online novels from my previous life;
This made Yang Wendong quite happy, as he was able to read some more entertaining novels, and these novels could earn him a little money in the future, although that was no longer important.

"Knock knock knock~" The sound of knocking on the door rang out, and Yang Wendong put down the novel he was holding;
The visitors were Fang Xianming from Changxing Financial and Zheng Zhijie from Changxing Real Estate. After they arrived, they said, "Mr. Yang."

"Sit down," Yang Wendong gestured, then asked, "What brings you two here together?"

Fang Xianming said, "Mr. Yang, the privatization of Jardine Matheson is complete. We have successfully acquired 90.2% of the shares and have applied to the court for enforcement of the remaining shares."

"Well, that's good. It puts one less thing on my mind," Yang Wendong nodded and said.

The privatization of listed companies or the demolition of a certain area were clearly stipulated in Hong Kong British law. If 90% of the people agreed, the remaining 10% would be subject to enforcement.

Yang Wendong thought this was quite good. Although it is said that freedom should be respected, if too much freedom is given, then various infrastructure projects will be impossible to carry out, and there will always be people who want to raise prices.

In later generations in mainland China, there were no laws in this regard, but the attitude was similar. If a holdout was encountered, it was better to spend more money to reroute the project and go around it. The goal was to prevent such practices of taking advantage of the situation to demand higher prices from residents.

Fang Xianming continued, "Hong Kong Telephone Company is now operating independently. Some of the shares held by British shareholders have been transferred to a group of Chinese conglomerates. At the same time, an agreement has been reached with Bell Telephone Company of the United States to introduce wireless communication equipment. It is estimated that by the end of next year, Hong Kong will have wireless communication."

"Haha, this is great news!" Yang Wendong laughed. "This will make communication within our group much easier in the future."

Having traveled to this world for 26 years, he can finally use a mobile phone in Hong Kong;
Although it was still a brick-sized mobile phone, it was better than nothing.

Fang Xianming smiled and said, "Yes, at that time, the entire Hong Kong economy should be positively affected."

"Yes, I inquired about the Sino-British negotiations when I was in Yanjing, and they're basically settled," Yang Wendong said. "This economic crisis, which has lasted for more than two years, is finally coming to an end."

Starting with Thatcher's wrestling match in September 1982, Hong Kong's economy experienced a precipitous decline and remained sluggish, during which time it also went through the Hong Kong dollar crisis.

However, he also benefited a lot from this process. Buying at the bottom was child's play for him. The main thing was that he successfully acquired and privatized Hongkong Land.

"That's good. Then we can start our various real estate businesses now," Zheng Zhijie asked.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay. Also, there's one more thing. Let's find a way to gradually convert many of the industrial land we previously held in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kwun Tong and other places into commercial land."

Around the 60s, the industrial sector under Changxing Group developed rapidly, with factories and warehouses being built in multiple towns and cities.
At that time, Kowloon Town was almost like a village. The location chosen by Cheung Hing Group was naturally close to the residential area. Over the next ten years, these places also became good commercial locations.
In the 80s, Changxing Group began to shift its industries to the mainland and Southeast Asia, leaving these areas vacant.

However, the land is still designated for industrial use, and can only be used to build industrial buildings, not commercial ones. This necessitates a "conversion from industrial to commercial" process.

Zheng Zhijie said, "The Hong Kong government might not agree to such a large-scale conversion of industrial to commercial properties."

Although "industrial-to-commercial" conversions will still involve normal fees, the government will also exercise control over them. Otherwise, if everyone were to convert their properties to commercial use, there would be very few people willing to bid for the land plots offered by the Hong Kong government.
Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said: "Currently, the willingness to start real estate construction in Hong Kong is extremely low. Even if the Sino-British negotiations end, this may not change immediately."
You can promise the Hong Kong government that after the industrial land is converted to commercial use, the land will be developed immediately, boosting employment and real estate growth. The Hong Kong government also urgently needs economic recovery, so they might agree.

Historically, around this time, Li Ka-shing successfully converted Hutchison Whampoa Port from an industrial to a commercial enterprise, and the prices were exceptionally low.

Now, that piece of land was already developed in the 70s, and Li Ka-shing doesn't have any such land now. So, this opportunity may still be left for him.

Of course, now that the governor has changed, it's hard to say whether the governing strategies of different governors will be the same, but there's no harm in giving it a try. From the perspective of Hong Kong's economy today, there is still a great chance of success.

“Okay, I’ll head over to the Lands Department right away.” Zheng Zhijie then asked, “What about the commercial land under our own ownership?”

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "Let's not develop those areas for now. Developing too many at once is not a good thing for the real estate market."

This applies to any commodity: when supply exceeds demand, its value will inevitably decrease.

"Yes, Mr. Yang, I understand what to do," Zheng Zhijie replied.

Yang Wendong said, "Okay, then let's just wait for news from Yanjing. We don't need to do anything else."

Everything that needed to be done has been done; now we just need to wait for the economic recovery.

December arrived quickly, around the same time in history. After 22 rounds of negotiations, the mainland and Britain finally reached an agreement on many issues.
Furthermore, the Sino-British Joint Declaration concerning the future of Hong Kong was formally signed in Yanjing.

1997年7月1日，香港将会回归祖国，在目前至1997年7月1日的过渡期内，港英政府继续管理香港；
At the same time, both sides will abide by many agreements in the Joint Declaration. After the handover, the policy of "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" will be maintained, and the future leaders of Hong Kong will continue to be Hong Kong people, which will remain unchanged for 50 years.

The Hong Kong stock market also rose in response, and the economy began to recover.

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(End of this chapter)