A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Time flies, and it is already 1947.

After New Year’s Day.

In the morning, Chen Guangliang drove towards Central.

If he were in Hong Kong, he would go to work every day, just like any other office worker.

His convoy consisted of two Chevrolet cars, each carrying two bodyguards and two drivers. This arrangement reflected Chen Guangliang's confidence in his skills. Furthermore, he was only guarding against desperate criminals; there was no need to worry about Hong Kong gangs, as they were merely the "dogs" of the rich.

As the car entered Central, Chen Guangliang noticed some refugees sleeping on the street, clearly newcomers to the city. Starting in 1947, a large influx of people from mainland China would be pouring into Hong Kong, including many wealthy businessmen and technical personnel.

We eagerly await the arrival of these individuals, as they are crucial to Hong Kong's rise. In this lifetime, even more wealthy businessmen and technical personnel should come to Hong Kong, because they have a major 'trendsetter'.

Upon arriving at the Ping An Bank Building on Des Voeux Road, Chen Guangliang showed some relief; this was his only office building in Central. Of course, Cheung Kong Properties will consider investing in commercial buildings in the future, given that Chen Guangliang's US funds have already been repatriated to Hong Kong.

In the morning, Chen Guangliang held a meeting with senior executives of Ping An Bank, including Ye Ximing, Li Hongsheng, and Guo Deming.

Guo Deming was recently transferred from Shanghai to Hong Kong, and his family members were also arranged to come to Hong Kong. He serves as the deputy general manager of Ping An Bank (Hong Kong), mainly responsible for business liaison between Hong Kong and the mainland.

Ye Ximing reported first: "As of now, Ping An Bank (Hong Kong)'s public deposits have reached HK$3212 million, making it the second largest savings bank in Hong Kong after the Chinese-owned Bank of East Asia. Loans totaled HK$1906 million, mainly concentrated in factory operations within the industrial and commercial sector."

Among the Chinese-owned banks in Hong Kong, Bank of East Asia's deposits should be around 3500 million to 4000 million. After all, it is a long-established local bank, and under the leadership of Jian Dongpu, it also transferred funds to the United States to avoid serious damage to the bank.

Apart from these two Chinese-owned banks, it is difficult for deposits in other Chinese-owned banks to exceed HK$1000 million.

As for the Hong Kong dollars in circulation in Hong Kong, they have increased from 2.2 million after the station to more than 6 million today, so HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank still have an overwhelming lead in attracting deposits.

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "We should continue to attract deposits and expand support for factory owners. Even if the loan-to-deposit ratio is 90%, it's fine."

Ye Ximing and the others nodded in agreement. No one present was worried about the dangerous loan-to-deposit ratio.

Why did I just mention 'public deposits'?
Because neither the Chen Guangliang family's nor Ping An Bank's own funds were included in the calculation.

Next, Chen Guangliang said, "Ping An Bank no longer needs to invest in risky projects, such as gold speculation or stock speculation. It only needs to focus on developing its savings, loan, foreign exchange, and real estate businesses. This is the development I hope for. Here, we must all firmly believe that no matter how the situation in the mainland changes, Hong Kong will maintain the status quo. That's why we boldly support business owners who come to Hong Kong to set up factories and establish a network of cooperative relationships."

After the war, Ping An Bank was the biggest supporter of Hong Kong factory owners, and thanks to this relationship, it adapted to the local business environment most quickly. As these business owners grew, they naturally chose to continue cooperating with Ping An Bank, contributing to its development.

These are reciprocal!
Other banks remain wary of Hong Kong's future to varying degrees; and British-owned banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered are still quite arrogant towards the Chinese and haven't lowered their stance.

So Ping An Bank is taking advantage of this opportunity to develop its own network of relationships, since there is no risk involved.

The senior executives present finally heard a prediction about Hong Kong's future, which they firmly believed in, because their boss had always been a very insightful businessman.

Ye Ximing said happily, "This is really an opportunity for us. There are many businessmen coming to Hong Kong to build factories now, as well as some small business owners who need funds, such as those in the plastics, rubber, textile, and flashlight industries. These are our key support targets."

Everyone nodded in agreement; this was indeed an opportunity.

Although these small business owners are still small today, they will eventually grow and become loyal partners of Ping An Bank.

Furthermore, their boss's analysis suggested that Hong Kong would inevitably replace Shanghai as the pearl of the Far East, which gave them even more confidence.

How is the work of the real estate investment trust progressing?

Li Hongsheng, who was also in charge of this work, immediately reported: "All of the arrangements have been made for the reconstruction. As of now, the completed factory and warehouse area is 60 square feet. It is expected that by the end of this year, the 70 square feet of industrial land owned by Ping An Bank will be fully completed, providing the market with approximately 160 million square feet of factories and warehouses."

Too bad!
During this period, the factory buildings invested in by Ping An Bank were mostly three stories high, with only a few five stories. A factory and warehouse floor area of ​​1.6 million square feet was quite large. It's roughly equivalent to the amount of new factory floor space added annually in the 1970s—that's the entirety of Hong Kong.

Real estate trusts have become an important source of revenue for Ping An Bank.

Of course, Ping An Bank will not continue to invest more funds in the real estate industry. The real estate trusts they are developing now are simply making full use of pre-war industrial land.

At the same time, the rent from the Ping An Bank Building is also a substantial source of income.

Finally, Chen Guangliang said, "Of the funds brought back from the United States this time, apart from US$50 used for construction expenses of the real estate trust, the rest are temporarily frozen in our bank's vault, and will be distributed as dividends after the shareholders arrive in Hong Kong."

"Ok"

Everyone's hearts trembled. That was a huge fortune of US$1050 million. Even if they gave US$50 to Ping An Real Estate Trust, they would still have US$1000 million left. Although the boss owned 92.5% of the shares, 7.5% of the shares were held by Yan Zhiduo, Fang Jiaobo, Du Yuesheng, and others, with Yan Zhiduo holding the largest share at 5%.

After the meeting.

Chen Guangliang sat in his office, writing something on a piece of paper.

This time, he transferred US$1500 million in assets from the United States, including US$1050 million in Ping An Bank assets, and 11.8 taels of gold (worth US$450 million in the United States).

This greatly alleviates Hong Kong's financial pressure.

After the war, Chen Guangliang invested a total of US$800 million in Hong Kong. Of this, US$600 million was used for land purchases and construction at Cheung Kong Properties, US$200 million was used to cash out gold from the Gold and Silver Exchange, US$50 was used to purchase 'forced Hong Kong dollars', and US$150 million was invested in shipping. The total investment was just over US$1000 million, but some of these expenditures could be spread out, such as in real estate and shipping.

这个缺口200万美金，一点问题没有，首先有700万港币的‘迫签港币’在1949年可以提出使用（另外700万入股汇丰银行）；其次1945~1949年的租金收益也是不菲，最后是航运也在赚钱。

Then.

Next, we'll discuss the strategy for 'trading gold':

In the past year or so, I have cashed out about 4 taels of gold from the Hong Kong Gold and Silver Exchange (cost of 200 grams per tael, 37.5 grams per tael).

The 11.8 taels of gold (31.5 grams per tael) that were transported back from the United States this time is equivalent to 9.9 taels in Hong Kong's administrative system.

This is equivalent to Chen Guangliang personally possessing 13.9 taels of gold (Hong Kong establishment).

In the future, as long as the gold price on the gold and silver exchange rises to 600 per tael (there are many and long opportunities), he will gradually cash out these gold pieces, which is expected to amount to a huge fortune of more than 8500 million Hong Kong dollars.

On the other hand, regarding Ping An Bank's dividend distribution, he has already notified shareholders to come to Hong Kong, and Chen Guangliang will soon receive US$925 million. How to invest remains to be seen; it may not be limited to Hong Kong.

In the afternoon, Chen Guangliang held another meeting with the management of Yangtze Real Estate.

During this time, Yan Kuan reported: "According to news from the Hong Kong government, it seems that pre-war buildings will soon be allowed to raise rents, with residential rents increasing by 30% of the standard rent." Cheung Kong Properties is already the largest real estate company in Hong Kong. Although it is not listed and is relatively low-key, it is impossible for people in the industry not to know about it. In fact, it can be said that everyone knows that Chen Guangliang has become a 'major landowner' in Hong Kong.

After all, after the war, Cheung Kong Properties undertook a massive reconstruction and residential building project, which many people could see.

Upon hearing the news, Chan Kwong-leung said, "This is a good thing for us, and it is also a good thing for improving Hong Kong's housing environment."

In the aftermath of the war, Hong Kong suffered severe housing damage. According to statistics from the Hong Kong British government last year, a total of 19000 houses were damaged, of which 8700 were completely damaged and 10300 were partially damaged.

Post-war economic recovery, coupled with ongoing domestic wars, led to a large influx of people into Hong Kong, creating an urgent need to address its housing problem.

Following the war, the Hong Kong government implemented rent controls to encourage landlords to repair and build houses. Due to severe post-war damage to housing and a surge in population, rent increases and forced evictions became rampant, exacerbating the housing shortage. In 1945, the Hong Kong government enacted the Landlords and Tenants Ordinance, imposing rent controls on pre-war private buildings. The ordinance stipulated that post-war rents could not exceed pre-war levels, but these controls did not apply to large-scale post-war repairs and new construction of private residential buildings. This encouraged landlords to repair and build houses for rent. In the same year, the Rent Court began hearing rent disputes.

In other words, private residential buildings that were renovated or newly built after the war were not subject to rent control.

However, Cheung Kong Properties still has a number of well-preserved residences built before the war, which are subject to rent controls and have never been able to offer higher rents.

The Hong Kong government's current easing of restrictions is clearly influenced by the 'global asset appreciation,' and it is no longer possible to allow everyone to pay rent at the pre-war rate.

According to a case of 'asset appreciation', the 5000-ton ship that Chen Guangliang bought in 1945, which was manufactured in Canada in 1920, was worth about US$16 at the time; while today, a 5000-ton ship that is more than 20 years old would cost at least US$30, which shows that the price of ships has skyrocketed.

Lu Zuofu, a Chinese businessman, originally planned to borrow heavily to purchase ships worth 5 million US dollars from the United States and Canada, and the specific projects had already been arranged. However, the Nationalist government delayed providing "loans" and "foreign exchange" support, causing the ship price to skyrocket. The original 5 million US dollar ship had now soared to over 8 million US dollars, forcing him to abandon the project.

As for the Nationalist government, it did give Lu Zuofu some ships, but Lu Zuofu was furious and cursed them—they were all old and worn out, some even in need of major repairs. They could be considered scrap metal.

Then, Chen Guangliang said, "Now that the funds are in place, Yangtze Real Estate needs to speed up its pace and complete our tasks for this stage."

"Yes, boss"

What kind of task is it?

Naturally, the land area would reach 150 million square feet, the buildings would reach 1000 buildings with 5000 floors, and the floor area would reach approximately 500 million square feet.

Currently, approximately 20 square feet of land is still missing. As for construction, it is expected to be completed gradually by the end of 1948 or the first half of 1949.

Yan Kuan then mentioned something else: "Boss, last year a real estate businessman named Wu Duotai sold three five-story tenement buildings in phases, causing quite a stir in the market. I'm worried that if this model is rolled out, it will have a certain impact on our Yangtze River Real Estate!"

This "tiered and phased" model was once the magic weapon for Cheung Kong Property's rise.

Now, Cheung Kong Property is adopting a "rent-only, no-sale" model, which naturally opposes this approach.

Chen Guangliang smiled and said, "No need to worry. Everything depends on the market environment, and different arrangements will be made accordingly. 'Layered and phased' development will appear quite often in the future, but it will never become the mainstream real estate development model. Think about why?"

Then, everyone fell into thought.

Wu Xinhe, who is in charge of finance, said: "New real estate developers only regard Hong Kong as a temporary stop and are not interested in Hong Kong real estate; while local Hong Kong real estate developers prefer to 'rent only and not sell' in order to obtain long-term returns. Only some businessmen who lack funds will operate in this way."

Chen Guangliang nodded, agreeing that there was some truth to it.

The extremely wealthy from the mainland are unlikely to commit to Hong Kong's real estate industry; they fear the possibility of the military crossing the border one day. They prefer to invest in either industry or movable assets.

Of course, this model will definitely become the future real estate development model, but there won't be a large-scale emergence of real estate developers.

This is mainly related to the situation in Hong Kong!
However, Wu Duotai was very clever. At this point, he had accumulated some experience, and if he continued to operate in this way, he might become a big real estate developer in Hong Kong in the future.

Of course, the future is unpredictable, and not everyone has such firm beliefs.

Yan Kuan then added, "There is not much private land left on the market now, and prices have risen. In addition, people are still wary of investing in new houses, so stratified and phased development will not be widespread."

"Yes, the market still lacks confidence in investing in new homes."

After all, not everyone is like the boss, who foresaw that more people would flock to Hong Kong in the future, so their determination to invest in real estate is naturally not that great.

Soon, this matter will be over, and Cheung Kong Property will simply focus on its own business.

In the evening, Chen Guangliang attended a banquet hosted by the Po Leung Kuk in Hong Kong, where he made connections with some local "elite Chinese" and further consolidated his influence in Hong Kong.

After arriving in Hong Kong, the Chan family no longer used the "Ning On Foundation" for their charitable work, as it was no longer appropriate. Therefore, Chan Kwong-leung joined Po Leung Kuk and Tung Wah Group of Hospitals as a senior executive, providing financial support to these charitable organizations.

Based on his current contributions, he's almost certain to be named a Justice of the Peace this year; in another year or two, the British Royal Family should also confer an honor on him. As for a knighthood, five years shouldn't be a problem.

After all, Chan Kwong-leung would represent the "Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai merchants" class, which was an important force in Hong Kong. At the same time, his contributions to Hong Kong's economic development and donations to Hong Kong refugees would quickly earn him the British's favor.

Around 10 p.m., after finishing his social engagements, Chen Guangliang returned home slightly tipsy.

At this time, Jiang Meiying was still in the United States dealing with investment matters. After all, this investment was huge and would be the foundation of the family in the United States in the future, so she spent time handling it carefully.

Therefore, Jiang Meiying's three children will be temporarily cared for by Yan Renmei. This is not a big problem, as the two families have always gotten along well.

"Are the children asleep?"

Yan Renmei tidied up Chen Guangliang's room and said with a smile, "They were all clamoring to wait for Dad to come back, but I suppressed their urges and they all went to their rooms to sleep."

Chen Guangliang deliberately said, "Don't be afraid of Mei Ying's three children saying that you're a fierce old lady!"

Yan Renmei, belonging to the strict mother, said after hearing this, "I'm naturally fierce, so I'm not afraid of what they say! Besides, I treat everyone equally, so I'm not afraid at all!"

Chen Guangliang quickly offered some kind words, saying, "You are the best auntie in history, if they dare to complain to Mei Ying, she will definitely beat them up."

Yan Renmei deliberately asked, "And you?"

Chen Guangliang resolutely stated, "I'll beat them up too."

Yan Renmei was immediately satisfied. He treated all seven children equally and hoped that they would all become successful and share the burden of their father in the future.

Over the years, she had seen how hard Chen Guangliang had worked for the family, and she felt deeply sorry for her husband. (End of Chapter)