A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 472 Cultural IP
This Spring Festival, Chen Guangliang instructed his second, third, and fourth wives not to go to Hong Kong for the holiday, as things had not yet completely calmed down.

As for the members of the first wife's family, they had already returned to Hong Kong from Singapore last December.

Chen Wensheng, the youngest son of the first wife, has just become a father; and the third generation of the Chen family's first wife has reached eight members—six sons and two daughters. The eldest grandson, Chen Zerui, is already ten years old.

In a short time, the Chen family had grown very large.

At Villa No. 79 in Deep Water Bay, all members of the eldest branch of the family gathered together. Because this is the Chen family's ancestral home, they would choose this villa for any gatherings.

Chen Guangliang no longer has the same patience for raising his children as he did for the third generation of his family, but he still maintains a noble and dignified image in their eyes. Of course, this image is probably half due to the education they received from their parents.

The soul and founder of the Chen family will always be Chen Guangliang. The foundation he laid has benefited the Chen family for ten generations.

Grandpa, I wish you good health and eternal youth!

During New Year's greetings, you can always hear grandchildren saying things like, "Grandma, I wish you eternal youth and ever-increasing beauty!"

Chen Guangliang and Yan Renmei took out red envelopes and handed them to their grandchildren.

In fact, Chen Guangliang has tried his best to look older. He is 58 years old this year, but looks like he is in his early forties. Of course, when he takes off his disguise, he is as fit as a young man in his thirties.

As for Yan Renmei, she is 53 years old this year. She doesn't like to "pretend to be older," after all, women love beauty; moreover, Yan Renmei looks like she is in her thirties, so it's understandable that she looks 20 years younger.

Such situations are not uncommon in reality, but they are obviously just superficial phenomena. Whether it is the direct visual impression or the on-screen image, once there is no 'disguise', the age difference should not appear to be more than 15 years.

However, regardless of whether Yan Renmei is faking it or not, her physical condition is that of someone in their early thirties, and she could have a child right away.

"Good, good. You little ones should grow up healthy and study hard so that you can make contributions in various industries in the future!" Chen Guangliang said with satisfaction.

These words also sent a signal to the four sons—that the third generation of the Chen family could choose to join the family business or work in other industries, such as politics or academia, which was a more flexible approach.

Of course, it's hard to avoid entering the business world if you're born into such a family!
Later, Chen Guangliang said to his four daughters-in-law, "Each of you has completed a basic task, which is to have a son. But your mother-in-law and I hope that each of you can have 3 to 4 children, 4 would be even better. In our family, 'unity' is the most important thing, and your husbands will inherit the huge family business in the future, so having more children is not wrong. Of course, more than four is not good either, as it is harmful to a woman's health. I originally wanted your mother-in-law to have four children, but she wanted a daughter, so Mengyi came along!"

The four daughters-in-law all said, "Don't worry, parents-in-law, we will definitely do our best!"

Once everyone enters the family, they naturally understand that having children is very important in such a large family. Moreover, after marrying into the family, they also become members of the Chen family and can feel a sense of family honor, so having children is also a responsibility.

Having four children isn't considered many, but there was a wealthy man in Hong Kong named Law Ying-shek who married one woman and she bore him ten. What's more, his wife later lived to be a hundred years old, which is nothing short of a miracle.

In the evenings, the children can choose to watch TV. TVB started broadcasting last year, and with ATV, Hong Kong has two television stations. The four daughters-in-law can play mahjong with their grandmother, Yang Hui, who is the family's "treasure." The key is that Yang Hui is not a troublesome old woman and has always been kind to her daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law.

In the study, Chen Guangliang held his daughter Chen Mengyi's hand and, in front of her four older brothers, said, "Mengyi, you're 16 years old this year. Have you decided what major you want to study in college?"

As the youngest daughter of the first wife, Chen Mengyi naturally received princess-like treatment from a young age. In fact, the daughters of the fourth wife were all very popular. After all, Chen Guangliang had 15 children, but only four were daughters, with one daughter from each wife. They were truly the center of attention.

Chen Mengyi glanced at her brothers and noticed they were all smiling at her. She immediately said knowingly, "Does Dad have something planned?"

Chen Guangliang immediately shook his head and said, "Mengyi can study whatever major she wants. I will absolutely respect your ideals!"

The four sons thought to themselves, "That's not what you told us back then. What university they went to and what major they studied were all decided by their father himself, without ever asking for their opinions."

Although Chen Mengyi was very happy to receive such an answer from her father, she still said, "No, I want you to choose for me. Of course, if I'm not happy, I can choose to refuse!"

Chen Guangliang immediately smiled and said, "How about journalism and communication? And minor in drama or something? Of course, business administration is also an option."

He didn't dare to make the selection box too rigid, lest he put his daughter in a difficult position!

Chen Wenjie and his brothers immediately understood that their father probably wanted their sister to join Times Pictures after graduation. After all, the Chen family still held 60% of the shares in Times Pictures and could take back management control at any time. The key was whether there was a suitable family member to take over.

Little did people know that Chan Kwong-leung valued not only the film industry, but also media such as television stations. He hoped to start creating a 'Hong Kong culture' that belonged to Hong Kong in the 1980s.

South Korea in the past is the best example. When Chinese people go abroad, they are always asked if they are Korean. This is the promotional advantage of the Korean Wave. In countries like Russia and Vietnam, the Korean Wave has greatly increased South Korea's popularity. If Hong Kong had such a brand, it would benefit immensely in the future.

"Okay, I choose to study in the United States, majoring in journalism and communication, and minoring in drama."

Chen Guangliang said with satisfaction, "As expected of our family's precious daughter, she is in no way inferior to your four older brothers!"

Chen Mengyi pouted and said, "I don't want to compete with my brothers."

"Ha ha"

Although daughters eventually get married, for someone like Chen Guangliang, he already considers his daughter as a son.

After his eldest daughter, Chen Leyi, married Tang Wensheng, he suggested that Amgen Pharmaceuticals be established in the United States.

Chen Guangliang hopes that his second daughter, Chen Mengyi, will become a media tycoon in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a history of "media powerhouses," including Hu Xian of Sing Tao Daily, Zhou Liangshuyi of Asia Television, and even Sir Run Run Shaw's second wife, Mona Fong.

Once Chen Mengyi graduates from university in 1974, she can work diligently at Era Films, and then acquire RTV in the 80s—that would be perfect. A magnificent industrial building in Hung Hom, though only twelve stories high, is shaped like the Chinese character "口" (kou). This is the headquarters and production building of "Wah Tai Toys," with a total area of ​​36 square feet.

Huatai Toys, formerly known as Huatai Company, originally had businesses in plastic flowers and wigs in addition to toys; however, both of these businesses have now been converted into 'agents' and no longer produce them themselves, so 'Huatai Company' has been directly renamed 'Huatai Toys'.

Huatai Toys not only manufactures toys for European and American toy brands, such as Mattel's Barbie doll series, but also develops its own toys, including building blocks, track toys, Rubik's Cubes, claw machines, etc. Finally, Huatai Toys also owns its own retail brand, Kidswant, which not only sells toys but also distributes products such as milk powder and diapers.

By the way, Huatai Toys also owns a little-known publishing house called Manke World.

Chen Guangliang and Chen Wenkai arrived at the Huatai Toys Building together, where Su Dongsheng, the president of Huatai Toys, was already waiting for them.

"Let's talk in the office."

"Ok"

I arrived at the general manager's office shortly afterward.

Chen Guangliang asked, "Manager Su, how is the comic book business at Manke World doing?"

Su Dongsheng immediately said, "Since Huatai Toys established this publishing house, it has been strongly supported, recruiting a comic training class of 20-30 people every year. After years of training, and by absorbing the characteristics of American and Japanese comics, I think Comic World can represent Hong Kong comics. From the mid-1960s, as Hong Kong's economy developed to a certain level, Japanese comics also entered Hong Kong. It was our Comic World's works that resisted the threat from Japan and achieved parity with Japanese comics in Hong Kong. But we developed a little later, so Japanese comics have room to survive. Given time, we will definitely drive Japanese comics out of Hong Kong."

Chen Guangliang nodded and said, "I've read the works of Comic World and Japanese comics in Hong Kong. There's still a slight gap, but it's not a big problem. After all, we're investing real money in their training."

With the financial resources of Wah Tai Toys, even a small investment could improve the overall quality of Hong Kong comics.

Su Dongsheng nodded and said, "I've been to Europe and America for research, especially Mattel. I learned about IP development from Barbie. I've also looked into Marvel and DC Comics and think that Hong Kong really needs to develop this kind of culture, and related products have great potential."

In fact, his idea mainly stemmed from the boss's emphasis on it and the fact that the boss had personally stated the importance of IP development.

Chen Guangliang said with satisfaction, "A qualified manager must have a keen eye for future development. The reason why Barbie is becoming more and more successful is because the management has been developing her IP value."

At this moment, Chen Wenkai took out a stack of documents and handed them to Su Dongsheng.

"Manager Su, this is a friend with a great imagination who sold me a manga manuscript called 'Fist of the North Star.' I feel that Hong Kong has never had a representative long-running manga, so I hope this work can be a key project. Of course, this is just a draft; a team is still needed to create the final product."

In reality, even with his exceptionally developed brain and ability to recall some memories from his past life after so many years of time travel, Chen Guangliang was still beginning to forget some things. So, since 1945, he simply wrote down some manuscripts. He had been writing "Fist of the North Star" for twenty years and had kept it in a safe.

Of course, some things can still come in handy if you 'review' them regularly. Chen Guangliang believes that the story of Fist of the North Star is better than the two representative comic works from the 1970s in his previous life, "Little Rascal (Dragon Tiger Gate)" and "Bruce Lee".

Today, the world of comics has talented people who can create works that are no worse than "Fist of the North Star" from the previous era.

Su Dongsheng curiously took the manuscript and turned to the first page—"In 2087 AD, nuclear war destroyed human civilization, the earth's surface was covered by desert, the strong plundered resources, and the weak struggled to survive..."

The lines of text instantly captured his attention. He became more and more engrossed in reading, and before he knew it, half an hour had passed. He finally looked up, his eyes filled with excitement: "This work is amazing! The post-apocalyptic setting is grand, the protagonist's character is vivid, and it has more depth than many comics on the market right now. If it could be made into a comic book, it would definitely attract a large number of readers!"

Chen Wenkai smiled and said, "Then it's up to you. I hope it will be serialized in the 'Comic World' weekly magazine as soon as possible. I'll be following it!"

Su Dongsheng said, "Don't worry, Mr. Chen, we've been nurturing the comic book industry!"

Later, Su Dongsheng took Chen Guangliang to visit the toy samples in the exhibition hall. Every piece was quite good, but none of them truly showcased the intellectual property (IP).

Of course, Chen Guangliang also knew that he couldn't rush things.

After leaving Huatai Toys, Chen Guangliang said to Chen Wenkai, "Don't you think our father is making a mountain out of a molehill?"

Chen Wenkai honestly said, "My father always plans for the long term. I think the comic industry may explode in the future and create a huge market."

Chen Guangliang laughed and said, "You only know one side of the story, not the other. Just look at Barbie. You'll see that cultivating an intellectual property is very important. Let's assume that in 40 or 50 years, Barbie won't disappear. Instead, she'll become a major IP with sales exceeding one billion worldwide. It might even be made into animated films, live-action films, themed exhibitions, and printed on T-shirts and other merchandise. Her IP value might be 1 billion US dollars, or even higher, higher than you can imagine!"

Chen Wenkai was shocked, then a sense of powerlessness washed over him, and he said, "Doesn't that mean that making comics is more promising than making industry!"

Chen Guangliang did not blame Chen Wenkai, after all, he trusted his father too much and was now being impacted.

He then added, "Industry will also have a future, expanding tens or hundreds of times. What I'm saying is that we need to slowly accumulate intellectual property, and in the future, Huatai Toys will become the world's largest toy company."

"It's just that Westerners find it hard to accept our culture!"

Chen Guangliang said, "You're wrong. Cultural invasion is a long-term process, like an infectious disease. As long as you cultivate it, the world will be united. Therefore, the comic book industry and Huatai Toys are one. Toys of the future cannot be soulless; they should have intellectual property!"

He has many personal experiences. In his previous life, he was addicted to Korean pop culture and Japanese anime. He even experienced both at some point. After becoming a father, he realized that Disneyland has a soul – the pursuit of the lead and the pirate ship in the Caribbean. While domestic amusement parks can have very good equipment, they always feel like they lack a soul. Even children choose Disneyland.

Therefore, in this lifetime, Japanese anime and Korean pop culture will belong to Hong Kong culture.

In the future, Hong Kong's industry may decline, Hong Kong's finance may decline, and Hong Kong's entrepot trade may decline, but Hong Kong's culture will surely have a profound influence on Asia and even the world.

(End of this chapter)