Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 181 McDonnell Douglas? Their technology is at least ten years behind ours!
The East, the capital.

"Gentlemen, the aviation market of any mature country is dominated by short- and medium-haul regional jets. For the East, the demand for regional jets with a range of less than 5,000 kilometers is the greatest. Your early Trident aircraft, and even some Soviet-made aircraft, have entered a period of replacement. Therefore, you should solve this major problem first!"

Inside the meeting room, everyone nodded frequently.

"That's right. Among the routes of our civil aviation sector, there are very few international routes, and domestic routes are still the main ones."

"We lack advanced regional jets! Mr. Zhang, would you be willing to provide us with the most advanced regional jets?"

“Of course!” Zhang Zhenzhong nodded. “As an American of Chinese descent, I have always had the mainland in my heart. This time, I brought the most advanced McDonnell Douglas MD-80 passenger plane with me. Now, let our engineer give you a detailed introduction, Harris!”

Harris stood up: "The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 has an empty weight of 35 tons and a maximum takeoff weight of 63 tons..."

Seeing everyone nodding repeatedly, Old Cheng smiled, but his heart sank deeper and deeper. Although he had become the head of civil aviation, he was still essentially a figurehead. The attitude of his subordinates had already explained the problem; they were not of one mind with him!
"As long as you need it, we are ready to license this state-of-the-art regional jet to you at any time, with your company, Dongfang, handling the production and assembly," General Manager Zhang explained with a smile. "This will allow the mainland's civil aviation standards to leapfrog to world-class levels!"

"Hmm, that sounds very good." Even Leader Duan was tempted, turning to Old Cheng: "Old Cheng, what do you think?"

Old Cheng gritted his teeth: "Leader Duan, the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 sounds very good, but we in the East have already established a civil aviation industry, and we can completely produce it ourselves..."

“That’s right, we want the East to produce them themselves! Right here in your Shanghai aircraft factory!” General Manager Zhang said, “If you can produce the Y-10, you can produce the MD-80. You don’t need to change anything. Just free up the Y-10 factory space, and you can assemble four MD-80s at the same time! To be honest, your Y-10 is just a copy of the Boeing 707, using technology from thirty years ago. It’s too outdated…”

"Who said the Y-10 is a copy of the Boeing 707?" Just then, a voice rang out from outside: "Boeing's president has publicly declared that the Y-10 is not a copy of the Boeing 707. Whose words are more authoritative than those of Boeing's president?"

Old Cheng was overjoyed. They're back! Qin Liang and the others are finally back!
Old Cheng turned his head and looked at the door. Sure enough, Qin Liang appeared at the door, and Old Ma was standing next to him.

As soon as Qin Liang got off the plane, he heard that McDonnell Douglas's people had arrived. Without delay, he took a car straight here. Fortunately, the return flight landed in the capital. If it had gone directly back to Chang'an, he would have been unable to intervene.

Having returned with the cooperation with Boeing, Qin Liang certainly had the right to attend this meeting. Moreover, Elder Ma was a veteran in the aviation system, so by using Elder Ma's connections to get in, it was Qin Liang's turn to slap others in the face!

Mr. Zhang's expression changed. His experience at the Paris Air Show told him that Qin Liang was a very difficult person to deal with!

"Old Ma, Qin Liang, when did you get back? How was your trip to the United States?" Leader Duan said with a smile, "Come, come, sit here."

"This trip to the United States was very fruitful," Qin Liang said. "I have some newspapers here, all of which are Western media's evaluations of our Y-10."

Qin Liang did not sit down directly, but instead distributed the newspapers he had brought back to everyone.

Of course, we subscribe to foreign newspapers domestically, but... some people, for various reasons, deliberately hide them! And our superiors don't understand English. Leader Duan picked up a newspaper; the front page featured a picture of the Y-10 transport aircraft.

"This is a report from the New York Times, detailing a visit to our Y-10 passenger plane. At the end, it praises our Y-10 for reaching the mainstream Western level of the 1970s."

"This article is from the Washington Post, reporting that the president of Boeing visited our Y-10 transport aircraft and praised it as a great achievement of our East."

"This one is..."

At this moment, Mr. Zhang had become an outsider. His expression was extremely complicated. It seemed that this time he would have to return empty-handed!
“That’s right, the Y-10 is a good aircraft, but… your side still needs our advanced McDonnell Douglas passenger planes. We will not only authorize production, but also allow the installation of your modified Spey aircraft…” Seeing that Director Duan had put down his newspaper, General Manager Zhang finally seized the opportunity and spoke up.

The engine installed in the McDonnell Douglas 80 has a thrust of seven or eight tons, while the Spey modified by Dongfang has increased its thrust to ten tons, which is more than enough! Throwing out such a lure should surely entice the Dongfang people, right?
"Really? That's really good news."

"That's right, we must seize this hard-won opportunity!"

Qin Liang looked at the people who spoke. These guys must have been paid, right? It's a pity we didn't catch them in the act, but... that doesn't matter anymore.

"Licensed production? We don't need outdated McDonnell Douglas aircraft," Qin Liang said. "We've already reached a cooperation agreement with Boeing, and we will jointly develop the world's most advanced passenger aircraft!"

Mr. Zhang's face darkened. They were the first Western company to obtain production licenses from the East; this was their biggest trump card. Now, Boeing actually wanted to jointly develop with the East? Boeing, you arrogant tech guys, when did you start groveling to the East?
Those who had originally spoken up for McDonnell Douglas fell silent. If they had to choose, Boeing would definitely be more suitable than McDonnell Douglas. After all, Boeing was the undisputed leader in the commercial aircraft industry, and the Boeing 707 in commercial aviation had absolutely top-notch performance!
"Impossible, impossible! What technology do you have that Boeing would be interested in?" General Manager Zhang said, "You must be lying!"

"Sigh, of course we have advanced technology. The winglets on the Y-10 alone can save five percent of fuel consumption. Boeing has decided to fully import our technology. From now on, all Boeing passenger planes will have winglets. McDonnell Douglas, you also need to hurry up! Import our advanced technology from the East as soon as possible, otherwise... you will fall behind!"

"Backward? How could McDonnell Douglas be backward? We would never introduce your technology."

"Then just wait and see. Your DC-9 Super 80 will be completely outdated before it even hits the market. Without introducing our Eastern technology, McDonnell Douglas will decline!"

Old Ma chimed in, "Qin Liang, what is a DC-9 Super 80?"

"It's the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 passenger plane. This aircraft was an improved version of the earlier DC-9 passenger plane, which is based on 1960s technology and is at least ten years behind our Y-10! McDonnell Douglas thought the name didn't sound good, so they simply renamed it the McDonnell Douglas MD-80."

Snapped!
General Manager Zhang slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "Gentlemen, isn't today's meeting supposed to be about discussing the introduction of our McDonnell Douglas aircraft project? We've come all this way, and this is how you treat your guests?"

"We welcome friends with fine wine, but we also meet wolves with shotguns. Your McDonnell Douglas company has ill intentions and is only trying to sabotage our Y-10 passenger jet project through underhanded means! Don't think we'll fall for it! Leader Duan, let them leave. Next, I'll report on the most advanced Boeing cooperation project. We can't let the McDonnell Douglas people hear about it!"

(End of this chapter)