A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

A New Year Comes (1955).

At the beginning of the year, a lengthy news article in the English edition of Plastics magazine spread throughout the plastics world: a Hong Kong company has developed plastic flowers made from plastic raw materials and is about to put them into mass production and launch them to the global market.

Upon seeing this news, Li Ka-shing of Victoria Harbour Properties was overjoyed, like a lost traveler in the night seeing a light.

He believes that in European and American homes, both indoor and outdoor spaces are decorated with flowers. These plants and flowers require frequent watering, fertilizing, pruning, and weeding. With the increasingly fast pace of modern life, many housewives have become working women, leaving these families with little leisure time to tend to flowers. Furthermore, the limited blooming period of plants and flowers, requiring the replacement of varieties every season, is quite troublesome.

Plastic flowers perfectly fill these gaps. Modern people take pride in keeping up with fashion, and the introduction of plastic flowers will trigger a revolution in the plastics market, with extremely optimistic prospects.

He quickly sought out his generals Sheng Songsheng and Zhou Qianhe to discuss the matter.

"We also want to make this product; it will be a product that changes the fate of our company!"

After reading the news in the "Plastics" magazine, Sheng Songsheng hesitated and said, "But this plastic flower has already been registered as a patent. It seems that Huatai Plastics may not want to share it."

Li Jiacheng said, "I heard that Rebecca Wigs, a subsidiary of Cheung Kong Industrial Group, after achieving success, is not resistant to colleagues in Hong Kong who want to make wigs; they accept all apprentices who come, and even generously share information about the procurement of raw materials and the channels for machinery and equipment. Clearly, Mr. Chen Guangliang is of noble character. Although this plastic flower is patented, they may not be very strict about it. In other words, we must do everything we can to find out the specific process as soon as possible, and be one step ahead of other factories in Hong Kong."

"Yes, as long as we are one step ahead of other factories, we can gain some small advantages."

Afterwards, Li Jiacheng made some arrangements and decided to personally inquire about the information.

the other side.

In a three-story industrial building in Kwun Tong, Wah Tai Plastics Factory is arranging a tight production schedule.

General Manager Su Dongsheng was giving a work report to Chen Guangliang: "Currently, we have recruited and trained 500 workers to mass-produce various plastic flowers. Relying on Lane Crawford, advertising, and the previously established European and American agents (wigs), our products can be sold to Europe and America as soon as possible."

Looking at the production site, Chen Guangliang asked, "Are we prepared for the consequences of numerous counterfeit factories in Hong Kong imitating our designs?"

Su Dongsheng nodded and said, "Yes. First, our current equipment and scale allow us to seize the market as soon as possible, especially to win over large distributors in Europe and America; second, we require that the technology not be leaked for at least three months, and we will consider relaxing our restrictions after we have seized the market."

Market competition is also a competition of time; whoever wins time wins the market.

After a moment's thought, Chen Guangliang said, "Alright! Three months is enough time for us to capture a large market; after three months, we will no longer set up barriers, but we will give priority to opening up our technology to our Ningbo and Shanghai businessmen."

"it is good"

Subsequently, Chen Guangliang inspected the production workshop.

The entire third floor is a 'plastic flower' production base, covering more than 30,000 square feet, but now it doesn't even fill one floor.

Huatai Plastics Factory has already purchased a considerable amount of plastic machinery and can set up a factory with over a thousand employees at any time.

In every respect, it is incomparable to those counterfeit factories in Hong Kong.

As a result, when European and American distributors come to Hong Kong for inspection, they basically choose Huatai Plastics as their partner.

Huatai Plastics' plastic flowers have been distributed in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America in just two weeks.

However, at this time, some new products from Hong Kong could only enter the European and American markets through local trading companies. These companies had branches in Europe and America, had stable customers, and had established a long-standing credit relationship with the companies, such as Lane Crawford, a department store under the Cheung Kong Holdings Group.

Chen Guangliang, Su Dongsheng, and others were not satisfied with this trading method, as everything lacked transparency—to which country and place were the plastic flowers sold? Who were the agents? What were the CIF price, wholesale price, and retail price? How were the sales? What feedback did consumers give?
Overseas wholesalers also hope to bypass the Hong Kong trading companies as intermediaries and do business directly with Hong Kong manufacturers, which would be beneficial to both parties.

Therefore, Huatai Toy Factory advertised in international magazines such as "Plastics" to attract overseas wholesalers to join them.

A European wholesaler named Brown saw the business opportunity and immediately booked a flight to Hong Kong to investigate.

Huatai Plastics Factory arranged for a car to pick up Browns directly from the airport and bring him to the factory, then used its strength to conquer him.

"Wow, it's hard to believe this is a factory in Hong Kong!"

Su Dongsheng wanted to say that there are differences between Hong Kong factories. All factories under the Cheung Kong Industrial Group pursue 4S management and are different from counterfeit factories. Their equipment is always 'advanced' and 'new'.

Their boss was very disgusted with the practice of 'exploiting labor to make profits'. As management, they all knew an 'insider secret'—although Cheung Kong Industrial Group was the pinnacle of factories in Hong Kong, its profit margin was only average in Hong Kong because the boss demanded that workers receive 'superior' benefits and treatment, better than those of other factories.

If it weren't their products, and they had always been considered premium goods in Hong Kong, or were the first to market, Cheung Kong Industrial Group might not have been able to continue production in Hong Kong.

Of course, the relationship between the two is complementary. When they improve employee benefits, the quality of their employees will be higher; when they purchase new machines and develop new technologies, they will make greater profits; when they pursue quality, their factories can build a long-term reputation.

Su Dongsheng explained to Browns, "This is thanks to the fact that we are a large group that is willing to invest in equipment and technology. In addition, plastic flowers are a patented product developed by us. Furthermore, our factory implements the 4S management system."

This suddenly changed the impression that Europeans and Americans had of Hong Kong's counterfeit factories.

Needless to say, European and American agents who see Huatai Plastics' factory all praise it and immediately start cooperating directly with them, no longer going through local Hong Kong trading companies.

After the Lunar New Year, the Hong Kong government issued a new Building Ordinance, which allows the height of buildings to be increased, no longer restricted by the five-story limit on ordinary residential buildings implemented since 1903.

The new regulations allow buildings to be 1.41 times the width of the street, and the height of each floor has been reduced from 3.66 meters to 2.74 meters.

The Hong Kong government enacted this ordinance to encourage new buildings to extend upwards, thereby alleviating the housing shortage. Previously, any construction project exceeding five stories required approval from the Governor and the Executive Council.

Hong Kong has finally ushered in a spring for its real estate industry.

At this time, the 'stratified and phased' model had been implemented in Hong Kong for ten years (since the post-war period), but due to various reasons, Hong Kong's real estate development was still slow.

From the late 1940s onwards, a large influx of mainland residents flooded into Hong Kong, causing a severe housing shortage. For a time, makeshift wooden shacks sprang up all over Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Due to the proliferation of these shacks, fires broke out frequently.

For example, in November 1951, a fire broke out in Tung Tau Village, Kowloon, which destroyed more than 5000 wooden houses and affected more than 11 people.
In late 1953, a fire in Shek Kip Mei destroyed 7000 wooden houses and killed more than 6 people.
In July 1954, another fire broke out in the Tai Hang Tung wooden shantytown, destroying more than 2000 houses and leaving more than 24,000 people homeless...

Due to frequent fires in the wooden shantytowns, the Hong Kong government implemented a resettlement policy, constructing multi-story resettlement buildings throughout Hong Kong Island and Kowloon to house disaster victims. Poor living conditions and a severe housing shortage became one of the most pressing problems facing Hong Kong society at that time. (Cheung Kong Holdings Limited)

Upon learning of the Hong Kong government's amendment to the Building Ordinance, Chen Guangliang immediately convened a management meeting, which was attended by senior executives including Yan Kuan, Wu Xinhe, Lu Yuantai, and Lin Hongying.

"The planning scheme for the site from Public Square Street to Tung Tung Street in Banyan Tree Head, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon needs to be completed immediately. This is our first step in building Cheung Kong Property's reputation!"

The site is 12.3 square feet. They had done preliminary planning beforehand, but because they did not know the specific details of the building regulations, they did not create a complete plan.

The overall plan is to build six residential towers with a total of 1200 residential units, arranged in a '口' shape, with recreational facilities in the middle. This already falls into the category of a 'large housing estate' or 'community'.

However, Cheung Kong Holdings had already mastered these kinds of plans in Shanghai as early as the 1930s.

Yan Kuan nodded and said, "The design drawings will be ready in a month. However, the Hong Kong government hasn't specified a date for 'selling pre-sale apartments.' Should we start selling pre-sale apartments in the first half of the year, or wait for a suitable plan?"

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "There's no rush to sell off-plan properties; Cheung Kong Holdings has plenty of funds. At the same time, we need to acquire new land and build more residential and commercial buildings in this wave of real estate development, so as to generate profits as quickly as possible through 'selling off-plan properties.'"

"Yes, boss!"

The management team immediately understood that Cheung Kong Holdings' "abundance of funds" was due to the strong support from Ping An Bank.

In fact, from 1949 to the end of 1954, Cheung Kong Holdings collected a total of over HK$2600 million in rent. However, Cheung Kong Holdings spent the same amount on land and property purchases in Singapore and Japan alone. In Hong Kong, Cheung Kong Holdings invested US$400 million in the Shangri-La Hotel, and also spent over HK$600 million to acquire the Moon Garden in North Point, as well as over HK$1800 million to acquire Lane Crawford Department Store and the site of the Hong Kong Hotel. Cheung Kong Holdings' debt had reached as high as HK$4000 million.

Therefore, Cheung Kong Property needs to earn substantial profits in this wave of the real estate boom in order to alleviate its high debt problem.

However, according to the boss, he hopes to wait for the property price to rise a bit before selling it, since the interest rate of Yangtze Real Estate is only 4%.

After the meeting, Cheung Kong Holdings (CKH) got busy. The company's assets actually exceed those of Hongkong Land by a significant margin. Its commercial holdings alone include the Shangri-La Hotel, the Hong Kong Hotel site, and the Lane Crawford headquarters building.

Starting in 1954, land prices in Hong Kong's prime commercial areas began to soar, with some even more than doubling in a single year.

For example, commercial land in Tsim Sha Tsui has now risen to HK$150 per square foot; while commercial land in Central has generally risen to over HK$300 per square foot.

By 1955, land prices continued to rise, with an estimated annual increase of 40-50%.

Under these circumstances, property companies of all sizes began to emerge in Hong Kong, and many of them were called property companies at that time.

This day.

Chen Guangliang arrived at No. 9-10 Wing Kuk Street, Central. Next to him was his cousin Yang Xiaohu, no, he has now changed his name to Yang Yifan.

My cousin has been listed as a "banned person" by the U.S. Department of Commerce because of his business of transporting goods to the mainland. He is not allowed to dock at U.S. ports, use the dollar for transactions, or do business with U.S. companies.

However, in the short term, Yang Xiaohu's career has not been greatly affected.

Last year, Yang Xiaohu bought No. 9 and No. 10 Yongji Street and started investing in the real estate sector.

"Brother, what do you think? Can we build an office building on this land so my family can collect rent for a long time?" Yang Xiaohu asked humbly.

Over the years, he has accumulated substantial capital, owning not only three ocean-going vessels (total tonnage 1 tons), but also several properties in Hong Kong, including three expensive properties: 9-10 Wing Kuk Street, 8 MacDonnell Street (family residence), and 9 Chiu Lung Street.

“Not bad! Including your No. 9 Zhaolong Street, these two commercial office buildings are enough to ensure your family’s continued wealth. However, there’s no need to rush the reconstruction; waiting a few years is fine.”

"Yes, that's what I was thinking too. But now that you've said that, I'm really relieved. The main thing is that I'm planning to expand in Southeast Asia, and I need to invest some valuable assets in Hong Kong as a backup."

Chen Guangliang turned around, looked at his cousin who had grown up, and said, "Go to Southeast Asia to develop your career?"

Isn't this going against the grain?

Yang Xiaohu quickly replied, "It's about getting into shipping, not investing in anything else. As you know, I'm currently under a ban by the U.S. Department of Commerce, so I can't make any progress. There might be some opportunities in shipping in Southeast Asia later."

Chen Guangliang did not try to dissuade him, but said, "It's good to go and try. In the 1960s, you can go to the United States and try to get the ban lifted. It shouldn't be difficult."

"Ok"

The Yang family's future is bright; becoming a major shipowner is no problem. With their Hong Kong property investments, they are sure to be billionaires, and perhaps even multi-billionaires.

Yang Xiaohu has his own advantages: he is bold yet meticulous, and a daring individual. With Chen Guangliang's early support, his assets are now in the tens of millions.

In fact, developing real estate in Hong Kong might have been a better choice for him.

However, since Chen Guangliang had already supported him to this extent, he naturally wouldn't teach him step by step anymore.

Huatai's plastic flower products have captured Europe, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong in just six weeks, and even North America has started placing orders with them in Hong Kong.

In fact, in order to open up the European and North American markets, Huatai Plastics directly contacted local distributors, not only placing advertisements in foreign newspapers and magazines, but also sending printed brochures and samples to some large distributors.

Soon enough, feedback came. Company S, a large North American trading company, was quite satisfied with the plastic flower pattern samples and quotations sent by Huatai Plastics after receiving the catalog. It decided to send its purchasing manager to Hong Kong to "select samples, inspect the factory, and negotiate the purchase".

Upon receiving the letter, Su Dongsheng immediately contacted the American side via a live overseas phone call, expressing his welcome to "send personnel from your company to Hong Kong."

This company is the largest consumer goods trading company in North America, with a sales network covering the United States and Canada.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Because we hold patents and our own strength can withstand scrutiny, Su Dongsheng accompanied you on your factory inspection.

The result was, of course, very positive: plastic flowers began to flood the North American market. (End of Chapter)