Returning wealthy individuals develop their hometowns and become rich in the 1980s

Chen Zaisheng put down his chopsticks and looked at Chen Dong, saying, "Dong, I know you have connections in the Chaozhou-Tuozhou Chamber of Commerce, but favors are fleeting. We can't let them feel like you're exploiting their kindness!"

Chen Dong laughed, "Second Brother, I'm not exploiting the favors they owe me, but rather helping them continue to make money. The favors they owe our Chen family will only grow stronger."

"These overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, do they want to return to China to invest? Actually, they do, but firstly, they don't have the means, and secondly, they are afraid of losing their investments. The offshore financial trading center that I, Chen Zaidong, have created can provide them with a legitimate investment platform backed by the Chinese government."

Chen Dong also put down his chopsticks and bowl, looked around at his other cousins, and said, "The offshore financial trading center I'm building this time is not only to attract investment to Tuocheng, but also to set rules for attracting investment to our country!"

"I want the central government to see that only by taking control of the financial sector and establishing a transparent, compliant, and efficient modern financial system can we truly retain the hearts of these overseas Chinese."

"We also want to let overseas Chinese businesspeople in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world know that we will use systems to protect every investment they make, and we will not allow local malpractices to harm them. This is the proper investment promotion process for China in the future!"

"Once this center is built, all businesses, whether Chinese in Southeast Asia or foreign-invested in Europe and America, will have to operate under our rules!"

"Anyone who dares to engage in extortion or plunder on Tuocheng's territory in China will be blacklisted by our financial regulatory system and laws and regulations, without even needing reports from the public!"

Chen Dong paused for a moment, then asked Chen Zaisheng with a smile, "Second Brother, do you think they owe me a favor since I brought them into China legally and compliantly to make money, guaranteed their returns, and shielded them from investment risks?"

Chen Zaisheng nodded helplessly with a laugh, while Chen Zaixing chuckled and said, "Adong, those Chinese businessmen put up real money, and then they still owe you favors. Sometimes I feel like I haven't learned enough from following you around."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Chen Xiangui glared at Chen Zaixing in annoyance. "Adong is very capable. He brought those overseas Chinese back to invest and make money. They benefited from it and owe Adong a favor. Without Adong leading them, do you think they would have been eaten alive by the local officials and villages of Tuocheng?"

It can only be said that the local elders know better about the local business environment. Even Chen Dong, when he was building the Nanzhao Highway, caused the same incident in Hongping Village.

If Chen Dong hadn't been so firm and refused to back down, preventing the people of Hongping Village from succeeding, the other communes and brigades would have joined forces to slaughter him like a fat sheep.

Many Chinese businessmen have been forced to withdraw their investments due to various forms of extortion and plunder. Some have even been unable to withdraw their investments altogether. Before the factory was established, the officials and villagers were all smiles and friendly, but once the factory equipment was installed, the officials and villagers would immediately change their tune.

If you want to withdraw your investment and leave, fine!

You want to withdraw your investment and take away the machinery and equipment? No way!

Chen Dong's goal is to reverse this situation, expand investment, and unite all Southeast Asian businesses, and even all Chinese businessmen, into one force. He wants to get the Chinese government involved in governance, so that once the state intervenes, these local troublemakers will not dare to cause trouble.

Do you still want to engage in smuggling along the coast of Tuocheng in the future?

nonexistent!

Do you really think that Tuogang, which Chen Dong invested in, is just a sitting duck? With such a huge cargo throughput, the meager amount you make from smuggling in is like a tiny wave in the face of such massive cargo volume. You could be wiped out with a single hand.

Moreover, Chen Dong was an experienced person. From the day he participated in the investment and construction of Tuogang, he repeatedly asked Tuocheng Customs to strengthen its efforts to combat smuggling. Chen Dong even suggested that he pay for more than a dozen anti-smuggling boats to crack down on smuggling without letting up.

Moreover, the reason why Tuocheng had such rampant smuggling activities in the original timeline was that Tuocheng's light industry was too backward at the time. Tuocheng, as a special economic zone, was not close to Hong Kong, so it could be said that it lacked everything. The people wanted to use better home appliances, which gave rise to those rampant smuggling gangs.

But things are different now. Lotus TVs, washing machines, and even air conditioners produced by Xingsheng Electronics Factory, a subsidiary of Huaxingsheng Group, are now available at affordable prices on the shelves of Huaxingsheng Supermarkets. There are no limits on quantity and the supply is plentiful, so customers can choose whatever they want.

Those home appliances that were painstakingly smuggled in were not much cheaper than those sold in Huaxingsheng Supermarket, and more importantly, their functions were not as good as those produced by Xingsheng Electronics Factory.

The production lines that Chen Dong set up for Chen Zaixing were the most advanced production lines currently available, purchased from the WTO system. They were a whole generation ahead of all other home appliances of this era.

You say your price is the same as the brand new TV sold at Huaxingsheng Supermarket, but when I turn it on, hey! It's a black and white model, while Huaxingsheng Supermarket sells color TVs. The key point is that their TVs have more speakers and the sound is louder than yours.

Moreover, Huaxingsheng Supermarket took the lead in proposing the "three guarantees" policy. If your smuggled TV breaks down, I'll have to pay for someone to repair it myself. Isn't that just making me a complete sucker?

When these smuggled home appliances have no market, they will only end up stuck in the hands of the sellers. Without a market, the rampant smuggling can be curbed at its source.

After leaving the dinner table, everyone continued to sit around the coffee table, drinking tea and chatting about some local "policies" in Tuocheng. For capitalists like Chen Dong, chaotic order would only worsen the business environment and further increase investment risks, so Tuocheng needed to be made more "formalized".

Some might say that the local clans in Tuocheng are too powerful and will pose a great obstacle, but for Chen Dong, it's actually easy to solve—just disperse them.

The neighboring village is getting demolished, and they're not only getting subsidies but also resettlement housing. Does your village want that?

don't want?

Fine, I, the developer, will bypass your village and build around it, surrounded by apartment complexes, leaving your mud-brick houses in the middle. Let's see if the young men in the village can't find wives and then they'll cause trouble for you old fogies.

Yes!

That makes it even simpler. The exact location of the resettlement housing is not up to you; the developer will "choose" it for you based on the available resettlement housing units.

You think people from the same clan can live in the same community and be closely connected? That's impossible. One household might live in one building, another in another, and yet another might live in a resettlement community three or four kilometers away.

Even after I've scattered you all like this, if you can still unite and cause trouble, all I can say is, you guys are truly amazing!