1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 489 Characteristics of the Times
Even as night falls in Shenzhen, the crowds continue to gather.

The sky was dotted with stars.

Several tall buildings cast neon lights, and pedicabs and cars raced side by side on the street, indicating that the city was beginning to show signs of prosperity.

8:15
Accompanied by several leaders, Zhai Yuan and his entourage walked to the front of a hotel.

Zhuyuan Hotel.

"Putting everything else aside, they did a pretty good job in terms of hospitality." Hong Huang walked up the steps side by side with Zhai Yuan and chuckled in a low voice, "Knowing that you came from Hong Kong, they specially chose a Hong Kong-funded hotel."

Zhai Yuan smiled and nodded: "Thank you for your thoughtfulness."

Zhai Yuan had heard of the hotel's name before, and the investor also had some connection with him.

As the first three-star joint venture hotel in Shenzhen, Zhuyuan's owner, Liu Tianjiu, was once the chairman of the "Tiantian Daily". Later, the newspaper was transferred to Zhai Yuan, which led to the "September 1st Daily" we know today.

Today, the "September 1st Daily" firmly holds a place among the top three newspapers in Hong Kong, and has also spread to Taiwan and Singapore. Its paparazzi even travel overseas to gather material, and its sales far exceed those of the "Tian Tian Daily" of yesteryear. If Liu Tian knew that Zhai Yuan had come to his territory tonight, one wonders what he would think.

On the other hand, at the beginning of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the labor system of unified allocation was still deeply rooted in people's hearts. Having a job was equivalent to having an iron rice bowl. Zhuyuan Hotel was also the first enterprise in Shenzhen to break the "iron rice bowl". Employees who were absent from work, slacking off, not clocking in, or verbally abusing customers were resolutely dismissed. This once subverted the public's concept. In the end, even the Organization Department of Yanjing City was alarmed and specially sent a person to learn about the experience of system reform.

This is why, during this period, the female waitresses at the Zhuyuan Hotel, who wore lace stockings, were able to greet Zhai Yuan and his entourage with friendly smiles and lead them to their reserved private rooms, completely unlike the indifferent attitude of employees in state-owned hotels in Beijing.

On their way to the second floor of the hotel, a waiter opened the door to a private room and invited Zhai Yuan and his party inside.

"Distinguished guests, please come in."

The private room had a nameplate that read "Meizhuzhai".

Upon entering, one is greeted by a faint scent of sandalwood. The private room is small but elegant. A scroll painting of bamboo and rocks hangs on one side of the window, while on the right side, a shelf displays celadon, Xuande incense burners, and a Hetian white jade Guanyin statue of unknown authenticity.

The round table in the center was already set with a light Cantonese appetizer.

"Come, come, Deputy Director Zhou, and all leaders, please take a seat."

As the middleman, Hong Huang took the initiative to pull out chairs for the leaders who were recruiting investment, saying repeatedly, "Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules tonight. I'll toast you a few more times later."

The unfamiliar leaders smiled and nodded, exchanging a few polite words.

Deputy Director Zhou laughed and said, "We're not tired at all. Mr. Zhai came from afar, bringing great opportunities for the development of Pengcheng. He was dragged here to eat as soon as he got off the bus. He didn't even have time to rest. He's the one who's tired!"

Everyone laughed.

Hong Huang raised her glass to liven up the atmosphere: "My younger brother is young, and young people should endure more hardship, otherwise how can he make progress? Anyway, he's here now, and he'll inevitably get help from the leaders in the future, so as his older sister, I'll toast him first."

The glasses clinked crisply, followed by polite small talk.

Zhai Yuan and Guan Weiming both had a few drinks, and even Li Zhi, who was with them, couldn't escape it. After two cups of Moutai, her face turned red and hot.

After one round of drinks was finished, they finally started eating.

The conversation then returned to the topic of all sorts of things.

From Li Zhi's perspective, she saw a leader surnamed Lu, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, light a cigarette. Similar to the unspoken rules, Deputy Director Zhou and the others stopped what they were doing, as if they were well-trained. Secretary Li was stunned.

"Everyone, please eat and drink as you please. I'll just say a few words." With a cigarette between his fingers, Inspector Lu said in a steady voice, "Mr. Zhai is involved in both film and DVD production. He's daring and enterprising, and at such a young age, he's already a well-known figure in Hong Kong. We will naturally give him our full support as he comes to Shenzhen to invest and promote economic development."

The other leaders around responded in unison.

Zhai Yuan smiled and said thank you.

Inspector Lu added, "We have reviewed the materials submitted by your company. They are very complete and detailed, especially the part about VCD motherboards and master disc pressing technology, which no company in Pengcheng has mastered yet. We welcome high-quality companies like Kuaibo and are willing to provide maximum cooperation in terms of taxation, land, and employment."

His tone remained gentle, but even Toshie could tell that it was all irrelevant information.

How am I supposed to record the meeting proceedings? Toshie bit the cap of her pen, frowning in distress.

Inspector Lu paused for a moment, then looked at Deputy Director Zhou: "Old Zhou, could you please provide the details?"

"Okay, boss."

Deputy Director Zhou smiled, stood up, took out a hand-drawn map from his briefcase, and spread it out in front of Zhai Yuan and the others.

"Mr. Zhai, look, according to our plan, this area is located just west of Yantian Port. The container terminal is only three kilometers away. The port operates around the clock, making import and export convenient, and loading ships overnight is not a problem."

"To the north is a reserved industrial zone for municipal use. Power lines, sewage channels, and communication facilities are all being laid. In the future, this will be the electronic corridor of Pengcheng."

"The highway to the south leads directly to Shenyan Highway, and the train station is less than 20 minutes away, ensuring smooth flow of both freight and passengers..."

Zhai Yuan lowered his eyes and looked at the slightly rough hand-drawn drawing.

Several red circles were drawn on the kraft paper, and the words 'P section two' were marked in blue pen next to it.
In the corner was a clearly visible "Special Economic Zone Office" stamp.

Zhai Yuan glanced around and noticed a small note next to the plot: "Former Special Steel Plant Reserve".

Seeing how readily the other party agreed, Hong Huang winked smugly at Zhai Yuan.

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "This place is really nice. I heard that the planning here was tight, but I didn't expect the leaders to be so considerate."

"Of course!" Deputy Director Zhou laughed. "Kuaibo is one of our key investment projects. After our investment promotion department held a meeting, we practically snatched this land from the city."

As he spoke, he pulled out several more attached diagrams, which were preliminary design drawings of the future factory from an aerial view, including the factory, main building, administration building, parking lot, reserved open space, and employee dormitories...

Just moments ago, Toshie didn't know how to record things, but now her pen flew across the paper.

A series of key pieces of information quickly appeared on the notebook.

Power supply by dedicated power line from the power bureau; 3 kilometers west of Yantian Port and the wharf; specially approved land with five years of tax exemption; 6000 square meters for mold and motherboard pressing workshop; 10000 square meters for CD duplication and printing line; 3000 square meters for packaging and quality control center; 8000 square meters for finished product warehouse and logistics area; 5000 square meters for administrative offices and R&D building; 12000 square meters for staff dormitories and living facilities; 35000 square meters of tentatively reserved vacant land…

Deputy Director Zhou said with a smile, "Roughly calculated, this land is about 120 acres. Last year, United Microelectronics Corporation from Taiwan set up a videotape factory in Kunshan, Nanjing, covering an area of ​​about 60 acres, and claimed to be the largest factory in the country. As long as our Kuaibo is built, we can take off its title of the largest in no time!"

Amazing, so incredibly generous!
Even with these conditions, Zhai Yuan felt they were somewhat unrealistic.

How much effort did I put into acquiring those plots of land in Ha Wan Village, Yuen Long? I even killed my own uncle and brothers!
Guan Weiming, standing to the side, couldn't suppress his excitement. If he hadn't known his status was too low, he would have stood up and had a drink with the leaders.

Zhai Yuan pursed his lips, his gaze falling once again on the attached images.

The drawings were neatly drawn with a pen, the annotations were exquisite, and the official seals were complete. This was by no means a perfunctory piece put together at the last minute, but rather something that had been carefully prepared and may have even been submitted for review and approval by higher-ups.

Zhai Yuan looked up at the leaders, and they all had their eyes on him.

He said with a smile, "If this is the kind of treatment we get, Kuaibo can move here tomorrow."

A burst of laughter erupted around them.

"Move! We can move anytime!" the head of the unit, Officer Lu, said with a smile. He paused, then asked, "Of course, we still need to confirm the approximate amount of Mr. Zhai's investment in Kuaibo this time?"

With Shenzhen offering such favorable conditions, the investment efforts will naturally be more effective.

Zhai Yuan looked at Guan Weiming beside him, and the latter nodded slightly.

Guan Weiming smiled and said, "The Hong Kong Kuaibo site covers 70,000 square meters, which is about 100 acres. However, more than half of the reserved land has been used and not fully utilized. For reference, considering the costs of materials, equipment and transportation, as well as the later working capital and administrative expenses, Kuaibo will invest 15 million US dollars in Shenzhen in installments, which is a little over 110 million Hong Kong dollars."

After these words were spoken, the entire private room fell silent for a moment. At that time, investment projects in Pengcheng were divided into three special approval levels: small, medium, and large.

Companies like Kuaibo, which have investments exceeding ten million US dollars, are internally referred to as ultra-large-scale, specially approved projects.

"Alright." After a long pause, Inspector Lu finally uttered a single word, a smile spreading across his face: "Truly, heroes emerge from among the young."

After speaking, Inspector Lu turned to look at the several unfamiliar leaders around him.

Zhai Yuan noticed that the atmosphere in the private room became somewhat awkward when Guan Weiming mentioned the investment of over ten million US dollars in Kuaibo.

Instead of being excited, the leaders next to Lu Sir frowned and exchanged glances.

A moment of silence.

Hong Huang clearly noticed this subtle change as well. She laughed and took the initiative to tease and probe, "Why is everyone so quiet? Do the leaders think a project worth fifteen million US dollars is too little? It's okay, we can discuss and solve any problems."

Inspector Lu glanced at the leaders around him, then turned and smiled: "How could it be small? In all the years since the Special Economic Zone was established, investments exceeding ten million US dollars can be counted on two hands... Deputy Director Zhou, why don't you explain the situation?"

Deputy Director Zhou responded, took a deep breath, and forced a smile: "Mr. Zhai, investment is investment, but there's a principle. Last year, the higher-ups conducted a survey of state-owned enterprises in Pengcheng. To be honest, the business environment for these state-owned enterprises is declining. Therefore, the leaders discussed and came up with a plan to optimize and integrate enterprise resources, encouraging foreign-invested enterprises to carry out multi-level and wide-ranging cooperation with local backbone enterprises to form an organic complementarity in talent, equipment, and production capacity."

Zhai Yuan narrowed his eyes, his mind clear, but he pretended not to understand and asked, "What does Deputy Director Zhou mean?"

"To put it simply, we hope that Mr. Zhai can cooperate with local key enterprises to jointly promote collaboration in the electronics industry chain, which can also avoid waste of resources and duplication of construction."

Deputy Director Zhou turned to look at the unfamiliar leaders beside Inspector Lu and said, "Let me reintroduce you. This is Director Zhao from Dafeng Electronics Factory, Director Qian from Shennan Industrial Plant No. 1, Director Sun from Nantou Mold Factory, and Director Li from Yongguang Precision Plastic Parts Factory..."

After he finished his introduction, several factory managers stood up to greet Zhai Yuan.

I'd also like to mention my desire for collaboration.

Factory Director Zhao: "Mr. Zhai, Dafeng has always been making radar power amplifier modules. We have ready-made metal casing stamping lines, packaging and drying rooms, and electromagnetic compatibility laboratories. Kuaibo wants to make motherboards and packaging. We can directly connect with each other!"

Factory Director Qian: "Our Shennan Plant No. 1 used to make car cassette player housings for Toyota, but then the orders stopped, and we had a cash flow problem. We also owed our workers several months' wages. My point is, since Kuaibo needs manpower on both sides, why not give priority to our factory's several hundred workers?"

Factory Director Sun: "The most critical problem for state-owned enterprises right now is still technological backwardness, both in the south and the north. I heard that Kuaibo has introduced a fully automated master disc production line from Toshiba. Do you think we could do a trial production at our factory and help each other out?"

Factory Manager Li: "Yongguang specializes in precision plastic parts and has over ten years of experience. Although our machines are a bit old now, our workers are all experienced masters. Once we give you the drawings, we can start making the mold in three days. Kuaibo needs casings for its players and packaging equipment, so why not let us handle that part? We guarantee a one-stop service from mold making to injection molding..."

"..."

Hong Huang, Guan Weiming, and Li Zhi looked at each other in bewilderment.

Zhai Yuan listened to the factory managers' requests with a smile throughout, his expression unchanged.

What is this called?
There is actually a technical term for it.

A characteristic of this era is that attracting investment often involves subcontracting tasks.

“Inspector Lu, this isn’t right, is it?” Hong Huang’s smile froze slightly as he spoke first to break the ice: “My brother is here to invest, so we’ll have to talk about efficiency and profitability… Besides, this isn’t how we agreed to it before.”

These words conveyed a sense of dissatisfaction and served as a way of distancing oneself from the situation.

Hong Huang was helpless. Even she hadn't expected Inspector Lu to pull this stunt. If she were to step in now to smooth things over and act as a peacemaker, then the connection with Zhai Yuan would be completely severed.

"Oh dear, Miss Hong, you've gone too far with your words." Inspector Lu looked helplessly at Zhai Yuan and said, "Mr. Zhai, Kuaibo's business in Pengcheng is a long-term plan, not a one-off deal. The factory managers here are all pragmatists. We can learn more about them and get to know them better, right?"

Zhai Yuan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and smiled at Inspector Lu, saying, "Of course, of course we can explore cooperation. I'm not against cooperation; as long as the other party is qualified, everything is negotiable."

The smile on Inspector Lu's face faltered slightly, and the other factory managers exchanged glances, unsure of how to respond.

Are you qualified to partner with Kuaibo?

If they were qualified, they wouldn't have ended up needing foreign investment to help them.

Mr. Lu tapped the edge of the table and laughed again: "That's why we say it's resource integration, not assigning tasks. Mr. Zhai should go and do some research first, look at the factory, the production line, and the talent. If we get along, we'll cooperate; if not, we won't force it."

Then, he changed the subject and added, "But this land in Yantian Port was originally approved as a special project for a comprehensive development. We initially gave it more support in terms of policy and land price because we saw that Kuaibo had an industrial spillover effect..."

Hong Huang sat to the side, feeling that he had been tricked, and the smile on his face gradually faded.

Zhai Yuan chuckled softly, "I understand, I completely understand."

As he spoke, Zhai Yuan stood up and raised his glass: "Then I'll trouble Lu sir to go back and come up with a new plan, to see what kind of support this land should receive if we don't consider the spillover effects of Kuaibo's business. But we need to be quick, as I don't plan to stay in Pengcheng for too long. Come on, leaders and factory managers, let's have a drink first, and we can discuss the cooperation later..."

…………

"My brother-in-law is back?"

A Nissan Bluebird slowly pulled up in the staff quarters of Shennan Industrial Plant No. 1.

Factory Director Qian got out of the car.

Several "factory heirs" were laughing and joking around an open-air billiard table next to a small shop, under the light of the street lamps.

When Feng Jianhua saw Factory Director Qian, he casually tossed the pole to his companion and swaggered over to him, asking, "So, brother-in-law, did you meet that Hong Kong boss at the Zhuyuan Hotel today?"

"What time is it? Why aren't you home yet? Get out!"

Factory Director Qian glanced at the factory's second-generation rich kids under the streetlights, his face grim as he ordered the crowd to disperse. Then he glared at Feng Jianhua with annoyance: "That Mr. Zhai from Hong Kong is only twenty-four years old and already worth hundreds of millions. Look at you, idling around all day. You'll be shot sooner or later!"

Feng Jianhua curled his lip in disdain, scoffing and muttering, "So what if you're worth hundreds of millions? You still have to pay my respects and obediently hand over your money."

If the satellite were here, it would recognize that Feng Jianhua in front of him is none other than Tu Dinghua, the crew-cut man who stopped Zhai Yuan's convoy during the day.

Upon hearing this, Factory Director Qian's face darkened, and he kicked Feng Jianhua in the leg: "You still dare to talk! It's one thing to scare outsiders, but you even dare to rob investors from Hong Kong. If this gets out of hand, I, the factory director, won't be able to protect you!"

"It's because I don't have any money to spend. The factory doesn't pay wages, so I have to find my own way."

Feng Jianhua rubbed his thigh with a grin and leaned forward again: "I heard that Mr. Zhai is the boss of Kuaibo Company. My brother-in-law has revealed some information. Will he build a factory here?"

Factory Director Qian looked helplessly at his shameless brother-in-law, sighed, and slowly recounted everything that had happened at the Zhuyuan Hotel that evening.

"Wow! Fifteen million US dollars?" Feng Jianhua's eyes lit up: "There isn't a factory with such a large investment in the entire city of Shenzhen. Let him inject money into our Shennan, or we'll cut off his water and electricity!"

"Damn it! You think they're begging to come here?" Factory Director Qian kicked his brother-in-law hard again: "Now it's the leaders of the investment promotion department begging him to invest. All four factories, including our Shennan, are asking him for help."

After saying that, she looked helplessly at Feng Jianhua and said, "Your sister has been telling me to find you a new job. If this Boss Zhai is willing to take in the workers from our factory, once Kuaibo is established, I will arrange for you to get a job there. Once you have a proper job, don't associate with those shady friends anymore and don't cause me any more trouble, understand?"

Feng Jianhua scoffed, "You just said that the boss of Kuaibo would rather cut preferential policies than take over the mess of a state-owned factory, so how are you going to arrange for me to go in!"

Factory Manager Qian squinted and said, "Inspector Lu means that the 15 million US dollars must stay in Pengcheng no matter what, but we can give this young man some time to test him. If he can't hold his temper, we can continue the talks."

Feng Jianhua asked, "Why are they keeping their composure?"

"Well, there's nothing we can do then. Are we just going to watch such a large investment slip away? Of course, we'll have to punish ourselves with three drinks, let the higher-ups scold Inspector Lu, and then politely keep him on. That's how they always operate."

Factory Director Qian sighed, then patted Feng Jianhua on the shoulder and said, "But don't worry, I've been in Pengcheng for so many years, people will give me some face. He won't take 500 workers from the factory, but he can't refuse 50 or 30, right? I can still arrange for you to get in."

Feng Jianhua stroked his chin and grinned, "Great, thanks brother-in-law... Oh, right, you just said that Boss Zhai brought a secretary? What do you think? Aren't Hong Kong women beautiful? Maybe after I get into the factory, I could..."

(End of this chapter)