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

Chen Dong's grandfather was involved in many industries, including investing in and building a 48-story apartment building in San Francisco. Even in the smallest apartments, there was a bathroom for the residents.

There's no need for a kitchen in the apartment. After all, Americans don't like hot food like the Chinese do. They prefer hamburgers, fries, cola, and other sweets.

The two places have different consumption concepts. When Chinese people hear any bad "news", the first thing they think of is hoarding rice, oil and salt, while Americans think of hoarding toilet paper, and they hoard it like crazy.

"Dongzi, is it really necessary to have a bathroom in every room?"

After Chen Zaiguang finished speaking, Dai Weiguo, the director of the Urban Construction Bureau, looked at Chen Dong with a puzzled expression. Chen Dong nodded, "Yes, it's necessary!"

Chen Zaiguang was speechless, and could only say, "Then, Director Dai, shall we follow Zai Dong's suggestion and have the designers in the bureau redesign it?"

Chen Dong hurriedly said, "Don't rush, I haven't finished yet. The first floor of this dormitory should be designed as a supermarket, and I plan to build a laundry room next to it for the collective use of the dormitory staff."

"I can understand supermarkets, but what's the purpose of a laundry room?" Dai Weiguo was completely baffled.

"It's a place specifically for placing washing machines," Chen Dong said with a smile. "It's right next to the supermarket, with rows of identical front-loading washing machines lining both sides. You just insert coins and you can use it."

Dai Weiguo was full of questions. Coins, washing machine, how come there are now charges? Do you, a wealthy American company, want to charge your employees for laundry?

"Is there a charge?"

"Yes, definitely!"

"Each employee needs to use laundry tokens, and these are all borne by the employees themselves. This is to prevent some employees from wasting and taking up other people's time. These will all be written into the factory dormitory regulations in the future," Chen Dong said without feeling embarrassed at all.

Dai Weiguo felt that Chen Dong in front of him was somewhat unfathomable. You could say he was stingy, but he insisted that every room must have a bathroom reserved for it.

You might say he's generous, but he sets up a laundry room and charges his employees for laundry services. Although he says it's to prevent some employees from wasting time and deliberately taking up other people's washing machines, it still feels a bit like awkwardly embroidering a fat duck on a perfectly good piece of silk.

"As for the couple's room, it should be twice the size of the single room. If the single room is 25 square meters, then the couple's room should be 50 square meters. Don't make it too big, otherwise some people will complain and everyone will want the couple's room, and then there won't be enough room."

"My requirement is that there must be no open flames in any of the rooms in the dormitory building, and every room must have a bathroom," Chen Dong concluded.

"Okay, Mr. Chen, I'll go back and have the designers at the bureau revise it as you said. I'll make sure you're satisfied," Dai Weiguo rolled up the dormitory building drawings and tucked them under his arm, preparing to have them redesigned when he got back to the bureau.

Chen Dong then looked at the factory blueprints. He couldn't find too many faults in them. After suggesting a few minor modifications, the blueprints were approved.

"Director Dai, the landfill work will probably take one or two weeks. When will the steel bars and cement that your Urban Construction Bureau promised be delivered?"

Upon hearing Chen Dong mention this, Director Dai's face fell. "Mr. Chen, the amount of construction work you've proposed is truly enormous. Just the steel reinforcement for the factory site and dormitory building construction in Lianzhai alone will require over four hundred tons!"

"We need at least 700 tons of cement. Other materials like sand and gravel can be supplied later during road construction and excavation, so we won't count those. Cement is easy to deal with; our Tuocheng has its own cement plant and can supply enough. But our Tuocheng produces too little steel bars, so we have to purchase them from other cities."

Tuocheng is not a heavy industrial city. It is located on the coast and is connected to the outside world by only one railway. Unlike other provinces in the north, there are few cities in Guangdong Province with one or two heavy industrial cities, such as steel, heavy machinery production and processing, and chemical industry.

Guangdong Province seems to be known for its light industry, which is actually influenced by its geographical environment. The surrounding areas of Guangdong lack the resources necessary for the formation of heavy industrial cities. Coal and iron ore, which are the traditional heavy industries on which Guangdong relies, are scarce in the surrounding areas.

After the reform and opening up, the central government's policy for Guangdong Province was flexible and adaptable, mainly based on "processing with supplied materials, processing with supplied samples, assembling with supplied parts" and compensation trade.

Make full use of Guangdong Province's long coastline and excellent ports to absorb imported overseas resources and technologies, process and digest them, and then resell them domestically or export them to earn foreign exchange.

China has set a market-oriented development model for Guangdong, unlike the resource-oriented provinces in the north. It is precisely the equipment produced by the various mature heavy industries in the north that has been fed back to Guangdong, enabling it to become a major steel consumer and a trendsetter during the reform era.

However, China had only recently begun its reform and opening-up policy, and the steel industry in southern Guangdong was in dire need of supplies. It still heavily relied on industrial cities in the north, especially Tuocheng, where steel production was severely insufficient. With Chen Dong's massive project, the steel industry would be in dire need of supplies first.

Chen Dong was considering purchasing steel bars directly from the WTO system when Dai Weiguo spoke up, "But Mr. Chen, you don't need to worry. I've already reported it to the Municipal Construction Bureau, and I believe they've already sent telegrams to steel mills in the surrounding cities."

"The economy hasn't been doing well these past few years. Many steel mills are operating below capacity, and some workers have to rely on selling roasted sweet potatoes to supplement their income. Mr. Chen, the quantity you requested is so large that once the order is placed, the surrounding steel mills will fight tooth and nail to get it!"

It's no exaggeration to say that the steel plants in China were not doing well at that time. The main problem was that the equipment in these plants was outdated and backward, mostly from the 1950s and 60s. This equipment was not only energy-intensive and inefficient, but also caused serious pollution.

Moreover, most of them can only produce ordinary construction steel. For high-quality, high-value-added steel, China still needs to rely on imports.

Some steel mills relied entirely on government subsidies for production, and the drawbacks of the planned economy began to emerge. Some steel mills were operating at a loss, resulting in increasing losses the more they produced.

Local governments in China were forced to shut down some steel mills, resulting in insufficient working hours for many industrial workers and even a large number of layoffs later on.

Many people laugh at Section Chief Ma, but many steelworkers wish their factories had someone like him.

Because being laid off can be incredibly difficult, especially for middle-aged people!