The unparalleled talent of the country started from Harbin Institute of Technology

In mid-January 1989, Harbin was hit by another heavy snowfall.

This heavy snow has lasted for three days and has hardly stopped.

As the winter break ended, students who were preparing to return home were forced to remain on campus.

Upon learning of this, Liu Deben issued a special note instructing the security department and relevant leaders from various departments to borrow several hundred buses from nearby businesses, such as Want Want Group, to help transport the students safely to the train station.

The airport has been closed for a long time and has not reopened yet.

In blizzard conditions, planes can neither take off nor land.

The train station wasn't a big problem, and we were able to depart smoothly, although delays were the norm.

This year, the Spring Festival falls on February 5th, so the winter vacation started in mid-January.

If we could predict blizzards in advance, we could prepare accordingly; it's a pity now.

After learning about this, Wang Duoyu wanted to use the mathematical tools related to the strong solution of the Navier-Stokes equations, along with the Fluent software, to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts.

However, satellites seem insufficient, and there are simply too many variables related to weather. More and more accurate monitors are needed to capture more variables and make more precise judgments about weather conditions.

He only spent an hour on it, and then he put it aside.

For him, weather forecasts are not a big deal.

Besides, it's not something that can be perfected in a short time. Even if he's in a hurry, it's useless. It's better to put it aside for now.

At 9:30 a.m. on the 16th, the annual year-end summary meeting officially began in the conference room of Want Want Group headquarters.

After a day of rest, Zheng Baoyin and his colleagues arrived at the meeting feeling refreshed and energetic.

This year's summary meeting saw an increase in attendees.

The people in the office were all senior managers of Want Want Group, and all trusted comrades-in-arms.

However, some people were just listening in, while others were able to speak.

The first speaker was Xue Lisheng, the head of the domestic department, who was in charge of the Brabus watch factory. The domestic sales performance reached 650 million RMB.

Steady growth is a very good performance increase, quite impressive.

In 1987 it was 620 million RMB, and in 1988 it was 650 million RMB. It seems like an increase of only 30 million RMB, which doesn't seem like much.

However, it's important to understand that this is the domestic market, not the international market.

Domestic demand hasn't picked up yet; just maintaining it without a decline would be quite an achievement, let alone achieving growth.

Secondly, there's export earnings. Compared to less than $20 million in revenue last year, this year's revenue broke records, with total overseas revenue reaching $38 million.

"The market with the most dramatic revenue growth is Japan, especially the two major cities of Tokyo and Osaka, which contributed significantly to the performance."

Wang Duoyu listened to Xue Lisheng's words and nodded silently.

The others gasped in surprise upon hearing this.

The $38 million in revenue was actually nothing special.

But you have to understand, this is the Brabus watch factory, not some other product.

clap clap clap!
Next is Wen Shixuan, who is now in charge of the Red Star Group, which has two subsidiaries: a steel plant and a chemical plant. This is quite different from before.

However, as everyone knows, Wang Duoyu actually values ​​Hongxing Group more than other branches.

Even Maple Leaf Holdings, which is the most profitable company, probably doesn't hold a place in Wang Duoyu's heart as high as Red Star Group.

In 1988, Red Star Group did not have many patents, only twelve, and it also began to gradually shift its focus to other fields.

Technological patents in the field of steel smelting seem to have reached a bottleneck, making it extremely difficult to achieve breakthroughs.

Therefore, during the report, Wen Shixuan also took the initiative to apply to Wang Duoyu to start research and development work on other metal materials.

Wang Duoyu heard this and pondered for a moment before saying:
"No problem. Your Red Star Group can collaborate with our two large laboratories, focusing on the technological research and development of various metallic materials, especially special metallic materials, including amorphous metals, shape memory alloys, and superconducting materials."

"During your research and development process, you should focus on mechanical strength, electrical and thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, etc. You can compare it with other metals, and you can also cooperate with Harbin Institute of Technology."

"In addition to that, you can also develop non-metallic materials, composite materials, etc."

"Recently, Baoyin and their group have been trying to acquire high-speed rail technology. Do you know if there's a type of ceramic material needed for high-speed rail? This ceramic can be used in many fields. Once it's developed, your Hongxing Group's revenue might just skyrocket."

"Although I have repeatedly emphasized that the focus of your Red Star Group should be on patented technologies and developing more application technologies that are useful to us, rather than focusing solely on making money."

"But if you really master this technology, then you won't have to worry about making money at all, understand?"

Upon hearing this, Wen Shixuan nodded repeatedly and clapped his hands excitedly.

The others in the office also applauded thoughtfully.

Besides steel mills, there are chemical plants.

This chemical plant's revenue in 1988 was 230 million RMB, which was neither very good nor the worst.

Currently, the chemical plant doesn't produce many products, mainly focusing on gasoline, kerosene, asphalt, and other similar items. It also produces gas, but these are all directly supplied to local gas companies in Harbin, so the revenue is not substantial.

Last month, another large oil field with a production capacity of over 100 million barrels of crude oil was discovered in Daqing Oilfield, leading to a decline in domestic oil prices.

However, crude oil prices are still very low on the international market, currently at $19.80 per barrel.

Compared to the price of $30 per barrel of crude oil before 1986, the current price of crude oil is indeed very low.

Such low crude oil prices are naturally not good news for oil companies like ExxonMobil.

However, for chemical companies, cheaper raw material prices mean higher profits.

Therefore, Wen Shixuan's idea for the chemical plant was to store as much crude oil as possible.

Want Want Group itself has a lot of crude oil reserves overseas, which have either been sold or shipped back to China.

Based on current international market trends, rising crude oil prices seem to be a settled trend.

Wang Duoyu didn't rush to speak, but listened in silence.

Wen Shixuan's brief report ended there, and that was about it.

Without receiving instructions from Wang Duoyu, Wen Shixuan naturally understood that the former must have other considerations.

Anyway, since everyone is sitting together for a meeting today, Wang Duoyu certainly won't miss any of the topics that need to be discussed.

Next, it was Qiao Hanliang, the person in charge of the Motong Toys factory, who spoke.

This toy factory made a lot of money in 1988, especially in the Japanese market. After acquiring the copyright to Transformers, it was released directly in Japan.

And then it got out of control!
Akihabara is a hub for Japanese manga enthusiasts, and Transformers also has a place here.

After the Transformers toys were released, they swept the entire Japanese market and became the top-selling comic book toy in Japan.

This even boosted sales of other toys, especially high-end toys, which saw sales soar.

It is well known that high-end toys not only have high prices, but also exorbitant profit margins.

The ultimate result was that the Magic Toys factory broke records in 1988 with a total overseas revenue of US$319 million.

It's almost $200 million more than last year's $100 million, which is simply unbeatable.

In the Chinese domestic market, the total revenue of the Motong Toy Factory did not see much growth, reaching only 282 million RMB.

clap clap clap!
After hearing this, everyone applauded, saying that this was a very good income.

Even Alan Costa, head of the Velociraptor Fund, didn't dare to underestimate it, after all, the income was indeed not much, but in fact, manufacturing is the eternal hegemon.

While finance is important, in many critical moments, in terms of political standing, the financial industry is actually inferior to the manufacturing industry.

Especially in countries like the United States.

Before Wang Duoyu traveled through time, he wanted to bring manufacturing back to the United States.

At the University of Alabama commencement ceremony, the then-president addressed the business school students, telling them not to just engage in financial speculation, but to go to factories, workshops, and steel mills to hone their skills, pour concrete with their own hands, and build a strong America.

That's quite ironic.

Inside the Want Want Group's conference room, Wang Duoyu also placed great importance on the manufacturing industry, which made Allen Costa and his colleagues take it very seriously as well.

Lee Evra, O'Brien, Allen Costa, and others all need to rely on Wang Duoyu, so naturally they wouldn't openly contradict him.

They wouldn't even do that in private.

Since it doesn't benefit them at all, why bother making things difficult for themselves?

After the applause, it was Liang Shengzhi, Qu Haiping, and Wei Ruolai's turn.

Let's start with Muscle Shark, the sports brand that Liang Shengzhi is in charge of. This brand is truly rock solid.

Total revenue was $61.2 million, which wasn't a huge increase, but this steady growth was truly remarkable.

Secondly, there's Xibeier Women's Wear. Compared to only 272 stores last year, in 1988, thanks to Qu Haiping's efforts, the number of stores increased to 368, an increase of nearly 100 stores.

Revenue was also quite substantial, reaching $305 million, which was a record-breaking figure.

Finally, there's the sports brand, Yuebu.

Following the stock market crash of 1987, the US economy also recovered, and the revenue of the sportswear brand Leap also saw rapid growth.

Total revenue for the year reached US$1.385 billion.

When Wei Ruolai uttered this data, thunderous applause erupted in the conference room.

That's $1.385 billion! That's truly astonishing.

"Not bad, this growth rate is quite astonishing. Well done, Lao Wei."

Wang Duoyu couldn't help but praise him, but Wei Ruolai remained remarkably modest:

"Professor, actually this is all thanks to the growth rate in Japan; the growth rates in the United States and Europe are not that high."

"Based on your assessment of the Japanese economy, Professor, I'm afraid that in just a few years, once the Japanese economy declines, it will inevitably affect the sales of our Yuebu sports brand."

"So I'm quite worried too."

This statement was unanimously agreed upon, and many people discussed it. However, Wang Duoyu frowned and reached out to press his hand down.

After everyone fell silent and the meeting room quieted down, Wang Duoyu finally spoke:
"Don't think so far ahead. Things will work themselves out. There's no need to worry about things that haven't happened yet."

Actually, these words were more meant for Zheng Baoyin and his colleagues than for Zheng Baoyin himself.

He had previously been worried about the sanctions imposed in the middle of the year, which even caused Liu Xiaoli concern.

That's a matter for the future; there's no need to worry about it now.

Prepare in advance and take it in stride.

"The Japanese economy will reach its peak this year; this is inevitable, and I'm sure everyone is already aware of that."

"We need to plan ahead to deal with the challenges ahead. There's no need to worry too much. If one door closes, another opens. There's always a way out. We just need to work hard."

Wang Duoyu looked at everyone and then said:

"Whose turn is it to report next?"

Tong Zhigang immediately said it was his turn.

Facebook's pages now receive over two million daily pageviews, and the growth rate is quite fast.

Even though the Paramecium virus last year caused a temporary drop in network traffic, it subsequently rebounded rapidly.

Especially after the launch of the cybersecurity guard software, the number of internet users increased rapidly.

It seems everyone knows that once you install the network security software, no network virus can infect your computer.

Just as the number of internet users was rapidly expanding and was about to reach three million daily traffic, the rapid growth phase came to an abrupt end.

After this period of rapid traffic growth ended, Facebook began bidding for advertising, which immediately generated $80 million in revenue.

It seems that overnight, ads could be seen on every single page of Facebook.

However, netizens did not feel unhappy about this; on the contrary, they thought the advertisements were quite good.

Because once people click through, they'll see these ad pages, which seem really nice.

Curiosity overcame aversion to these advertisements.

Moreover, most netizens in this era are quite sincere, and scammers are still rare.

Upon learning that Facebook had achieved $80 million in revenue, everyone in the conference room was astonished and burst into loud applause.

Silicon Valley capital firms like Sequoia Capital have repeatedly tried to acquire shares in Facebook by throwing money at the company.

Facebook's valuation had already exceeded $500 million, and later even exceeded $1 billion. At the time, people didn't quite understand why Wang Duoyu was unwilling to share the investments from Sequoia Capital and others, and instead kept them all for himself.

It was only then that everyone realized how incredibly powerful Facebook truly is.

The fact that Facebook generated $80 million in revenue with its first advertising tender is very important.

If a company can find a way to make money and increase revenue, then it can survive.

In the future, once the company grows bigger and stronger, its revenue in all aspects will definitely increase, and it will become a huge enterprise.

After Tong Zhigang finished his report, it was Zheng Baoyin's turn.

Yuma Apparel achieved a record high in overseas revenue in 1988, reaching US$873 million.

Detailed data shows that the Japanese market contributed the most, with Europe and the United States also making significant contributions. Of course, the consumption growth in Southeast Asia should not be underestimated either.

However, given the massive growth of the Japanese economy, the growth rate of the Southeast Asian market is negligible.

In the domestic market, Yuma Apparel's revenue remained relatively stable, steadily increasing to 680 million RMB, 60 million RMB more than last year.

clap clap!

Inside the meeting room, everyone applauded.

Want Want Group has many manufacturing companies, but only a few are the most profitable, including Yuma Apparel.

"It's finally my turn. Good morning, everyone."

Wang Jianchao began his work report, cutting to the chase and stating his conclusions:
"In 1988, Pandora's total global revenue was $1.425 billion, which was only tens of millions of dollars more than Leapmotor."

Wei Ruolai, who was called out, was speechless, but on the surface he smiled and clapped, showing no sign of anything unusual.

Leapmotor's revenue was $1.385 billion, while Pandora's reached $1.425 billion.

And you know what? Among so many branches, Pandora does indeed rank second.

As for the company ranked number one, there's no doubt it's Walsin Technology.

Subsequently, Wang Jianchao also focused on analyzing the relevant data.

The strange thing is that the growth rate of luxury goods consumption in Japan and Europe is actually the same.

It's strange data, but that's the truth.

These detailed figures are not from a Nielsen business research firm report, but rather from Pandora's most authentic sales data reports from its stores worldwide; they cannot be faked. The growth rate of luxury goods consumption in the United States is moderate, lagging behind Japan and Europe, but ranking behind, and significantly higher than other regions such as Southeast Asia and South America.

clap clap!

As Wang Jianchao finished his report, applause rang out again in the meeting room. Everyone had forgotten how many times they had clapped; in any situation like this, everyone would clap, even if their hands hurt.

After all, I'm happy!
Finally, Yu Kexue, the head of Walsin Technology Company, will give a report. This company can be said to be the lifeblood of Want Want Group.

Although Walsin Technology sells the Alienware computer, which is far removed from the concept of a "lifeline," it is still high-tech, and most companies simply cannot produce such a product.

Alienware computers were launched in mid-1987 and quickly became mainstream in the low-end market, thus initiating competition in the low-end computer market.

The second-generation product was launched last year, and the price is still $499 per unit.

After the new version was released, the old Alienware computer immediately dropped in price, selling for $439, and experienced a second spring, even causing a strong market situation where supply could not meet demand.

This counter-trend performance left competitors like Apple speechless.

Even many of the management within Zhuoyue Technology hoped that Harbin Institute of Technology could establish other computer brands to compete with Walsin Technology in the low-end market.

This shows just how profitable the low-end computer market is.

Alienware's total revenue in 1987 was $8.746 billion. With two best-selling computers this year, plus the older models that bucked the trend and saw increased sales, total revenue in 1988 exceeded $10 billion, reaching $13.25 billion.

clap clap clap!
Upon hearing this, the meeting room erupted in thunderous applause, the most enthusiastic applause of the day so far.

Everyone's eyes were filled with shock; this revenue was truly astounding!

Wang Duoyu was also slightly surprised, and nodded in realization.

He finally understood why Liu Deben and the others had mentioned to him that an executive at Zhuoyue Technology wanted to launch a low-priced computer.

The world is driven by profit; who wouldn't want such a huge profit?

Harbin Institute of Technology is indeed a national defense university, but even in such a large school, there are always people who have greedy thoughts.

Besides, in this world, everyone is after fame and fortune.

After the applause subsided, the most jaw-dropping moment of every year-end summary meeting arrived.

The work reports from Maple Leaf Holdings' subsidiaries seem to consist of nothing more than a string of numbers, which is astonishing.

However, 1988 was completely different from 1987.

The Louvre Agreement in February 1987 was followed by a stock market crash in October, but 1988 was a calm year with little turmoil.

Of course, companies such as Maple Tree Capital, Summit Global, Horizon Capital, Atlantic Investment Company, Sun Capital, and Quantum Technology also achieved an average profit of more than $200 million each.

There are a total of 52 financial companies, and together they generate over 10 billion in profits.

It doesn't compare to last year's $35.7 billion profit, but it's still absolutely amazing.

Besides that, there's also the company, Velociraptors Fund.

Using a quantitative trading system, coupled with the $3 billion invested in June 1988, they reaped $1.365 billion in just over a month in July and August, which is simply unreasonable.

In just six months, they have made a profit of over five billion US dollars, reaching 5.52 billion US dollars.

Horror!
Previously, companies like Walsin Technology would only report revenue, but their profits varied considerably.

This is because the profit margin in the manufacturing industry is generally between 5% and 35%, and rarely exceeds 35%.

However, the profit margins of financial companies are terrifying. For example, the Raptor Fund invested less than four billion US dollars, but earned back 5.52 billion US dollars in just six months.

The profit margin is a staggering 139 percent.

It's simply unbeatable.

After Allen Costa finished speaking, the meeting room erupted in enthusiastic applause, and everyone was thrilled.

This is the true essence and charm of the Want Want Group.

If Want Want Group didn't have such a formidable ability to generate profits as a financial enterprise, it wouldn't have developed so rapidly.

Just as the name of the Raptor Fund suggests, Want Want Group's future will be even brighter.

Before the applause had even subsided, Wang Duoyu had already begun to speak:
"Everyone!"

With just two words, the applause quickly subsided, and everyone looked at Wang Duoyu with great excitement and fervent gaze.

No matter what achievements the senior executives reported, they all owed their success to Wang Duoyu's strategic planning behind the scenes.

If Zheng Baoyin, Wang Jianchao, and others' execution capabilities accounted for 50% of Want Want Group's success today, then Wang Duoyu's guidance accounted for the remaining 50%. In fact, Wang Duoyu was the true helmsman of this giant ship, Want Want Group.

Therefore, Lee Evra, O'Brien, Fuller Carson, and others greatly respected Wang Duoyu and admired him from the bottom of their hearts.

"Our Want Want Group is getting better and better, just like our group's name suggests, always thriving, forever maintaining the vitality of our company."

"We made a lot of money in the past 88 years, although not as much as in 1987 in terms of finance, but that's okay. We now have a quantitative trading system, and the Raptor Fund is a ready example."

"From now on, our Want Want Group will only get better and better. Let's give a round of applause to everyone here. It is your loyalty and hard work, and your strong execution, that have made Want Want Group what it is today. Congratulations to all of you!"

As soon as Wang Duoyu finished speaking, everyone applauded again.

This time the applause was even more enthusiastic.

There is nothing more exciting than gaining Wang Duoyu's approval.

This was especially true for Allen Costa, who was attending the year-end summary meeting for the first time.

"Alright, everyone, please be quiet." Wang Duoyu reached out his hand again, and everyone stopped clapping, and the conference room fell silent.

"The results of 1988 are in, and I've heard everyone's summaries. In short, everyone did a great job."

"In the new year, I will make the following arrangements for everyone's work. Please take note of them."

Swish!
Everyone immediately picked up paper and pens and began to take notes.

The international context of 1989 needs no further explanation.

It's common knowledge that Japan's economy is growing rapidly, so it's expected to continue its upward trend throughout the year.

Even the restrictive measures introduced by Kiichi Miyazawa and his team may not be effective.

Without strong policies, Japan's rapid economic growth could not be contained.

"First, everyone needs to be mentally prepared. There is a high probability that some unexpected events will occur internationally in June or July this year, and we need to be prepared accordingly."

"There will likely be significant volatility in the financial sector, and financial institutions like Xunmenglong Fund will need to closely monitor this information."

To ensure that financial institutions can make big money, they must keep a close eye on this information in Eastern Europe.

Of course, you can't just stare at one place.

We also need to have a broad perspective and pay close attention to any global developments.

"Starting this month, the quantitative trading system will not only be used by Raptor Fund, but also by several other firms such as Maple Tree Capital, Summit Global, and Sun Capital, who will be drawing personnel to conduct pilot programs."

"We'll discuss the detailed work arrangements in more detail tomorrow."

"Secondly, starting at the end of October, we will begin to gradually sell off our assets in Japan. We must sell them all off by December 31st."

"Third, companies like Atlantic Investment began shorting the Japanese stock market in December."

Swish!
Everyone was stunned upon hearing this.

Japan's economy is booming, so why would Wang Duoyu issue such an order at this time? Is he really serious?
Zheng Baoyin spoke immediately:
"Uncle, are we really going to sell our Japanese assets and stocks by the end of October this year?"

Wang Duoyu glared at the other person and said:
"I'm not wrong, and you didn't mishear me. Starting at the end of October this year, which is 1989, we will be selling off Japanese assets and stocks. I know that the Japanese economy will not truly reach its peak until late December this year."

"The Nikkei index will rise to its most alarming level."

"But you must know one thing: investing involves risk, and you should be cautious when entering the market!"

"When everyone is greedy, we must learn to be fearful and know when to retreat gracefully, because after the peak, the road often goes downhill."

Inside the meeting room, you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone stared in disbelief at Wang Duoyu. Everyone was eagerly anticipating the continued rise of the Japanese economy, even hoping it would surpass that of the United States. Yet, Wang Duoyu was predicting the downfall of the Japanese economy at this very moment.

This is unreasonable from any perspective.

Yet, such an illogical thing came out of Wang Duoyu's mouth.

This demonstrates that Wang Duoyu was not out of his mind.

After all, even if everyone present were tied together, they wouldn't be as clever as Wang Duoyu.

But why?

Wang Jianchao couldn't help but interject, "Uncle Jiu, I understand your work arrangements, but I don't understand how Japan's economy, which is currently booming, could possibly be declining?"

Before the 1987 stock market crash, would you have believed that the United States would experience a stock market crash?

Upon hearing Wang Duoyu's question, everyone fell silent.

At that time, the US bull market had lasted for half a century, and even if there were downturns in between, those were normal market economic fluctuations.

However, the stock market crash of 1987 wiped out more than $500 billion in a single day, directly setting back the US economy by more than ten or twenty years.

It can only be said to be so terrifying!
At the time, few people could see that the US economy was bloated, so only a few companies escaped the stock market crash and even made a considerable profit.

Back then, the renowned Rothschild investment bank on Wall Street, a large enterprise that had existed for over a century, collapsed and disappeared into the annals of history.

It is easy to imagine how terrible the stock market crash of 1987 was.

O'Brien and the others were unwilling to recall what had happened before. Even though they had made a lot of profits following Wang Duoyu, it was still a stock market crash. They had seen many people queuing up on skyscrapers on Wall Street, waiting to die.

“I know you’re all thinking that the Japanese economy can’t possibly decline, but what if people like Kiichi Miyazawa insist on forcing the Japanese economy to decline?” Wang Duoyu said seriously.

What?
Everyone was immediately shocked. How could this be?
Japan's economy is bloated and inflated, a bubble economy, much like the US economy before 1987.

The only difference is that the United States has been bloated for half a century, while Japan has become bloated in just a few years.

There are differences between the two, but the results are the same.

Next, Wang Duoyu gave everyone a brief analysis of the situation, and they gradually came to understand.

"Let's talk about housing prices first. Currently, a 30-square-meter apartment in downtown Tokyo costs a staggering $5.5 million, which is equivalent to $183,000 per square meter, and this price will continue to rise."

"The average annual salary in the Tokyo metropolitan area is seven million yen, equivalent to about thirty thousand US dollars, while the average annual salary in the United States is only about twenty thousand US dollars."

All of this data is easy to find, especially since Wang Meili, Wang Meihe, and O'Brien have lived in Tokyo for many years and have a deep understanding of local housing prices and commodity prices in Japan.

Therefore, no one could refute the information Wang Duoyu presented.

But that's not why Miyazawa Kiichi and his group wanted to actively burst the housing bubble. Couldn't they have used other measures to salvage the situation?

Lee Efra, Zheng Baoyin, Fuller Carson, and others agree that Japan had a bubble economy, so why not bail it out instead of letting the Japanese economy decline?

Isn't this going against the tide? Are people like Miyazawa Kiichi all stupid?
"High housing prices, high wages, and naturally high prices for goods and services—you all agree, right?"

Wang Meili immediately echoed her ninth brother's words:
“Brother, you’re right. Prices in Tokyo are indeed very high. Take taxis for example. Last month, my sister and I went shopping in Ginza, Tokyo. The starting fare for a taxi home was 10,000 yen, which is equivalent to 80 US dollars.”

In those days, Tokyo taxis didn't use meters; the starting fare was $80, with different fares for different distances.

But even the starting price is astonishing.

"Japan's already high price levels, coupled with high housing prices, have led to high inflation, further fueling a runaway price increase that is difficult to control."

Everyone listened quietly to Wang Duoyu's words, trying to keep their breathing barely audible, afraid of missing a word.

"On the other hand, hasn't Japan's household leverage ratio reached 65%? That's not a low level, is it?"

"The household debt ratio has reached 114%, which means that the entire population is in debt."

"The higher the household leverage ratio, the more serious the overspending phenomenon."

In present-day Japan, there is no such thing as purchase or resale restrictions. Residents who want to buy houses even hire university students to queue up overnight to buy them.

Even a slow increase in loan interest rates could not extinguish the enthusiasm for real estate speculation. So, it wasn't that Miyazawa Kiichi and his colleagues didn't try to salvage the situation; they did take action, but with almost no effect.

With both household leverage and debt ratios increasing, the appreciation of the yen has led to a gradual decline in the competitiveness of Japanese exports in the international market.

Japanese companies such as Toyota, Sony, and Panasonic are fleeing overseas because the appreciation of the yen has made it more expensive and required more capital for investments within Japan.

With so many high-cost products, who will Japan sell them to? They can't just sell them to Japanese domestic residents, can they?

Most Japanese residents have already taken on debt to speculate on real estate, so where would they get the money to buy appliances and other products?

Everyone dreams of being a landlord or landlady, saving every penny to buy more houses, not cars, appliances, computers, etc.

Even if I were to buy something, I'd buy imported products. After all, many foreign products, such as MP3 players, computers, and mobile phones, are indeed not expensive in Japan these days.

Therefore, the dilemma facing Kiichi Miyazawa and his colleagues is that the manufacturing industry continues to decline, with manufacturing investment accounting for 19 percent of the domestic GDP.

On the other hand, stock and real estate investment accounted for as much as 28 percent of GDP, and the housing market and housing prices continued to rise, causing the bubble to grow larger and larger.

"The current size of Japan's real estate market has reached 20 trillion US dollars, twice the total number of stock market investors worldwide and five times that of the United States. It is said that Japan could easily buy up the United States."

"Japan's GDP in 1988 hasn't been released yet, but it's highly likely to be around 3.13 trillion US dollars, not too far off."

When they heard that Wang Duoyu had actually predicted Japan's GDP, everyone's eyes widened, and their expressions were as if they had seen a ghost.

Japan hasn't even released their data yet, but Wang Duoyu has already calculated it.

If the data differs significantly, that's fine.

But if Japan's GDP really is as Wang Duoyu predicted, that would be quite terrifying.

How is it possible that Wang Duoyu was able to calculate Japan's GDP?
Facebook executive Tong Zhigang couldn't help but think of last year's Paramecium virus, as well as hackers like Kevin and Ghost. Perhaps Wang Duoyu used hacking skills to obtain relevant data on the Japanese economy.

Then, after conducting statistical analysis, the figure of 3.13 trillion US dollars was obtained.

If that's really the case, then Wang Duoyu is too terrifying, isn't he?
"Currently, the market value of Japanese real estate is 6.38 times Japan's GDP, approaching the total value of the world's real economy (23.3 trillion US dollars). Therefore, the current state of the Japanese real estate market has indeed shocked the world; it's simply outrageous."

Wang Duoyu's expression grew even more serious:
"After the real estate market absorbed too much capital, manufacturing and consumption were significantly compressed. The world's second-largest economy, built up over many years through investment in infrastructure, was ruthlessly absorbed by the real estate market."

"Furthermore, the attempt to curb the housing bubble through the continuous appreciation of the yen has instead led to a further inflow of capital into the housing market or outflow overseas, resulting in a very serious hollowing out of industry in Japan."

"Now Kiichi Miyazawa and his team are faced with two choices: one is to 'protect the real economy,' and the other is to 'continue to inflate the bubble.'"

"At this crossroads, what choices do you think Kiichi Miyazawa and his team will make?"

Lee Efra, Wang Jianchao, Zheng Baoyin, O'Brien, Fuller Carson, and others felt a chill run down their spines, but dared not express their opinions casually.

Although Wang Duoyu had already stated that Want Want Group's next work arrangements were made in response to the decline of the Japanese economy.

The answer was obvious, but they dared not speak.

If the answer is to continue pushing up the bubble, then the Japanese economic bubble will continue to expand, and when it bursts, the Japanese economy will probably be even worse off than the US after the 1987 stock market crash.

Conversely, if the answer is to protect the entity, which means agreeing with Wang Duoyu's opinion, isn't that just flattery?

Does Wang Duoyu need people who flatter him? (End of Chapter)