Return to Hong Kong Island for a Century

Chapter 386 Good News That Stimulates Boeing
When Ma Shengli heard Li Song's words, he also felt... it felt a bit too fake.

Given current wage levels and car prices, it's very difficult for ordinary people to buy a minivan, let alone a motorcycle.

How much do workers earn?

Not to mention the rural people.

However, Ma Shengli certainly couldn't say much.

Li Song knew, of course, that many people wouldn't believe him now, but no one knew that later on, he wouldn't buy a car because he couldn't find a parking spot.

Li Song then instructed BMW about the spokesperson, and Beijing Film Studio and Shanghai Film Studio sent people to the car factory to film.

The highest car endorsement fee in mainland China is 100,000 yuan, which is far less than the 1 million yuan in Hong Kong. However, the scope of endorsements in Hong Kong is very broad, with global authorization.

It's advertised as a global license, but it's really only valid within the Chinese-speaking world.

Domestic endorsements are done domestically, involving shooting commercials, taking photos, and creating promotional posters or calendars.

In China, the endorsement fees of these celebrities are split with their respective organizations. This has become a fixed practice, as the remuneration for domestic celebrities in co-productions is also based on this standard.

Li Song had dinner at the BMW factory and then returned to Hong Kong Island the next day.

As soon as Li Song got off the plane, his bodyguard brought him a newspaper. Li Song saw the headline in the Hong Kong newspaper: Jinling Film's box office reached 1800 million, second only to Temple Run's 2700 million and National Treasure's 2200 million, and Jinling Film's box office is expected to reach 2500 million.

The ticket price was 8 yuan in 80 and 10 yuan in 81.

Temple Run's success was largely due to word-of-mouth, partly because the third leader kept causing trouble, and partly because of its continuous overseas box office revenue, which repeatedly broke Hong Kong film records.

Jinling Films achieved a box office of NT$3100 million on Wawa, breaking the record for Chinese-language films. The previous Wawa box office record in 80 was NT$3500 million for 007.

Li Song knew that WaWa's box office was so high because it was banned before. With movies, the more you forbid them from being seen, the more curious the audience becomes.

Even if a movie is just a rip-off, as long as the government doesn't allow it to be shown, there will still be a huge number of people who want to see what it's about.

Film critics from Wow! even said that this movie has the potential to break Wow!'s box office records.

The revenue of Jinling Films in other regions has not yet been fully tallied, but it has a very good reputation within the Chinese-language film industry.

Golden Harvest's "National Treasure" had a very high box office last month because it was shown in cinemas all over Hong Kong.

Jinling Cinema was mainly shown in Golden Harvest theaters. Fortunately, it was shown earlier than expected, but the film is still going strong.

The Hollywood film Jurassic Park has also grossed over ten million at the Hong Kong box office, after only half a month of release.

National Treasure has grossed over $1.5 million worldwide.

Jurassic Park grossed $6400 million in its opening weekend.

This June was a meat grinder for other films, as they were repeatedly crushed by films like National Treasure and Jurassic Park.

Then Li Song saw a news report from the Hong Kong media outlets that were at odds with him.

An Ameritoba legislator called for raising the bar for imported aircraft to protect the country’s citizens and homeland security.

The legislator stated that he would soon propose a bill on the relevant issue and then submit it to the House of Representatives for a vote.

Commentators from these media outlets, who were at odds with them, smugly declared that Baisheng's aircraft would never be sold to developed countries again, nor would they be allowed to fly globally. They also claimed that Baisheng's aircraft were proposed by Aramco's congressmen due to safety and quality issues.

Li Song didn't take this to heart at all. Hong Kong Island had been under British rule for so many years, and many people there were yellow-skinned but white-hearted, especially the educated and knowledgeable.

Some highly educated intellectuals, to put it bluntly, are typical egoists; they gravitate towards whichever side is stronger.

Others are simply blindly worshipping foreign things, believing that foreign products are good and domestic products are bad.

Just like decades later, some people praise Europe and America, some praise the third-in-command, and some praise Southeast Asian countries, but Southeast Asian countries only have one, Singapore.

Li Jiapo still has to consider Amei's feelings. Of course, there's nothing that can be done in a small place like this. They will definitely side with whoever is stronger, otherwise they will definitely have a hard time.

To put it bluntly, these small countries can't be independent and strong; they'll always be following behind the big countries.

In addition, there are some people who praise the Turks and Persians, and some who married into Persia are praised to the skies, but when a war breaks out, they quickly run back.

"I wonder how much public relations these companies like Boeing spent."

"Let's watch the show!" Li Song chuckled.

Western politicians are driven by self-interest, even though Boeing has a significant influence.

However, the politicians in Aramco's government come from various interest groups, so to put it bluntly, every proposal in Aramco's government has vested interests at play.

Boeing's push for this is simply to protect its own interests, and in doing so, it will certainly have to offer some benefits to other stakeholders.

Of course, proposals from other stakeholders should also offer benefits to others.

That is, the distribution of benefits and such.

Once these are agreed upon, it will be approved.

If things don't go well, these politicians will definitely oppose it, because if you make money, it means I lose money.

"If we wait another half month for the CA201 aircraft to make its maiden flight, Boeing will probably be even more anxious." Li Song wanted to give companies like Boeing a sense of urgency, that is, if they don't move forward quickly, their aircraft will have to apply for an airworthiness certificate.

Moreover, the more proactive they are, the more other politicians will dare to make exorbitant demands, since these politicians aren't in a hurry.

Companies like Boeing have paid a heavy price.

Then several Hong Kong newspapers that were at odds with Li Song reported the news, their meaning clear: they wanted to make a fool of Li Song.

Li Song returned to Hong Kong Island and met with Nick from the crowdfunding club that evening.

"Mr. Li, the price of those notebooks is at least 30% lower than the market price."

“Their design is pretty good.” Nick then revealed his trump card from the notebook.

"Their initial quote was 20% lower than the market price, with the price of Panda planes as a comparison, so the members were very dissatisfied after hearing this quote!"

"Actually, it's 20% lower. If it's that kind of order, we can do it here."

"The bottom line from the Japanese side right now is 30%. They won't negotiate any lower!"

“However, they spent over ten million dollars on this matter.” Nick was essentially reporting to Li Song.

Li Song knew that there was a big price difference in yachts in America, mainly due to the size!
Below 20 feet, the price ranges from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars.

30-50 feet, $5-$20.

Over 60 feet, $50 to several hundred dollars!

Iraq's old Saddam Hussein ordered an 83-meter yacht in 1980 for $2500 million!
Of course, this was built in Denmark, and it was equivalent to 0.7% of Iraq's GDP at the time.

The yachts offered by the yacht club are also available in three tiers.

The most numerous of them are fishing boats!
Li Song was also thinking about something else: fishing equipment.

Don't underestimate this industry.

If you buy a yacht and give away a fishing rod, you can open up the fishing equipment market.

Of course, a fishing rod is just one piece of fishing equipment.

"But this time they don't seem as enthusiastic as before!"

“They used to be very proactive in PR when they encountered problems.” When Li Song heard Nick say this, he thought, “PR? They just invited us to dinner.”

Nick said all this so that Li Song would know how things were going.

Because if the crowdfunding club wants to continue to expand its influence, it must accomplish this!
"Our crowdfunding club now has over 300,000 members."

“If this succeeds, it could have more than 500,000 members.” Nick never imagined that he, a former journalist, could now be one of the managers of such a large organization.

In Ami, many groups are hereditary families.

Many political families have even monopolized important positions in certain states, and their relatives are spread throughout the state's official departments.

As for unions and the like, they were originally part of mafia families.

"You talk to them first!" "Let's stall for two months!"

"I'll get the design done right away!"

“When you really can’t make the project anymore, then you should put it up for public bidding,” Li Song said, taking a sip of tea.

"Try to downplay my relationship with you!"

Nick's eyes lit up when he heard Li Song's words: "I hadn't figured out how to handle this matter yet, but I didn't expect Mr. Li to have already made a contingency plan!"

"Open bidding is a good method!"

"As long as the procedures are compliant, open, and transparent, no one can criticize them."

"Ok!"

“I can promise the general version a 40% discount from the market price.” Li Song nodded, preparing to bring out some carbon fiber technology later.

It can be used in fishing equipment and fishing boats.

Another technology is fiberglass, which is used in most fishing boats.

Of course, many fishing rods are also made with fiberglass technology.

"Of course, if I have 35%, I will anonymously donate 3% of it to the crowdfunding club."

“If it’s only 30% lower than the market price, then I will donate 6%!” Li Song’s voice was very soft.

But Nick's eyelids twitched when he heard that!
Anonymous donation!

6%!

This money was nominally donated to the crowdfunding club!

Moreover, these accounts can be made public and audited by anyone.

But once this money is spent, these people will naturally know how to run a crowdfunding club business.

It's actually similar to some government agencies conducting open bidding and public announcements.

It's all just a way to fool ordinary people.

How do routers costing hundreds of thousands of yuan pass inspection?
Do you really think some people don't know?
If you don't offer any of the signatures or approvals from any of the people who require them to sign off, how can you expect the inspection to pass?

Will you be able to get the money?
Do you really think that no one wants those faulty measuring tapes online?
It was because of these faulty measuring tapes that even when the lid was finally lifted...

That's because they were misled by these flawed tools.

Crowdfunding clubs could easily use this money to build relationships.

Moreover, this money can be used to provide benefits to members, who will then cheer for them.

"Hmm!!" Nick took a deep breath!

"Mr. Li, when you were designing..."

"Don't make small fishing boats too small, because it's not cost-effective to transport them."

"After returning to Amer International, we will discuss the yacht size issue internally!"

“After all, sea freight is such a long distance!” Nick’s meaning was clear: avoid designing items with low unit prices.

"Um!!"

"We'll prepare as many models as possible!" Li Song knew that the cheapest fishing boat cost several thousand dollars, but of course, that would be rather basic.

Li Song wants to build the kind of yacht that his family can use for fishing trips at sea, starting at least in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Nick is feeling really uneasy right now!
To make the crowdfunding club have a greater impact, besides the need for people, we also need more money!

After all, the members of the crowdfunding club come from all over America.

When it comes to doing something big, if you don't offer some benefits, why would people travel thousands of miles to cheer you on?

Like those protests by Amy and the like, aren't they all funded by someone behind the scenes?

The percentage that Li Song mentioned is a huge sum of money.

This money can do a lot of things.

This will allow the crowdfunding club to have a greater impact.

Li Song's way of thinking is the same as that of people in Europe and America today!

Because in 2080, there was almost no trust between people.

Moreover, in this age of smart technology, opportunities for face-to-face communication between people are almost nonexistent.

"Mr. Li, I've read your two latest fantasy novels!"

"It's so well written!"

"These settings really caught my eye!"

“Your novel is like a real world,” Nick said, starting a casual conversation with Li Song.

"Thank you!" Li Song raised his teacup.

"Mr. Li, do you need any help with the commercial airliner issue?" Nick asked, though he was actually quite conflicted.

Because this matter involves Boeing, GE, Pratt & Whitney, and McDonnell Douglas!

Look at how much influence these companies have in Aramco.

"No need, this plane was originally designed for the domestic market!"

"This aircraft has a complete cargo conversion plan."

“Our domestic transportation environment is not as convenient as Aramco’s.”

"The terrain is varied, and so is the altitude!"

"The demand for aviation will be huge in the future!"

"Besides, it's still a bit too early!"

“If the West introduces any restrictive policies at that time, I will take legal action!” Li Song refused Nick’s request.

Regardless of Nick's true purpose in asking this question.

Li Song couldn't possibly reveal the real reason!
Who knows if this guy is secretly working for someone else?

Because this guy used to be a journalist.

Nick nodded silently upon hearing this.

After parting ways with Leeson, Nick took a flight back to America the next day.

And Li Song reappeared outside Parkson Company!

"Mr. Li?"

"Mr. Li?"

"What do you think of Representative Amy's targeted remarks?" Li Song was stopped by the reporter.

Li Song had originally planned to be interviewed, so he got out of the car and said, "I have some good news to share with everyone: the CA201 passenger plane will make its maiden flight in the middle of this month, and we are striving to finalize its design and begin mass production within this year."

"Furthermore, our Starliner aircraft already has orders from Europe!"

"Our company is currently manufacturing a prototype of a twin-engine wide-body passenger aircraft, and we are striving for its maiden flight this year!"

Li Song received several pieces of good news in succession, because he deliberately told them to Boeing.

(End of this chapter)