"It's really big. This should belong to a high-ranking official of the Qing Dynasty in the past, right?" Chen Tianshou said with a smile: "In my image, there are only a few previous palaces that were bigger than this, but those places have been transformed into various departments. Office space.”
"I don't want to buy that kind of place. They are all historical relics." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "It's great to be able to buy something like this. I will continue to buy it in the future. If there is a suitable one someday, uncle You can find a place to stay."
"Forget it, I'm not suitable. My current environment is very good." Chen Tianshou refused.
"Okay, whatever you want." Chen Zhiwen doesn't care. In fact, he also knows that his uncle must be more concerned about his future development prospects in the officialdom. Wherever he lives, as long as it's not bad, that's fine.
Besides, with the various agricultural cooperation plans I have prepared for him, he may be able to continue to be promoted in a few years. When he reaches a certain level, he will naturally have a special residence, and maybe even guards.
The next morning, under the guidance of a government car, Chen Zhiwen and a group of Midea people came to an office building of the Fourth Machinery Department (the future Ministry of Electronics Industry). It was said to be an office building, but the floor was only on the 6th floor. It is a courtyard-like structure with a large area on each floor. In today's country where there is no real estate economy, this structure is the lowest cost.
Relevant leaders of the Fourth Machinery Department also attached great importance to Chen Zhiwen's arrival, and explained in detail to Chen Zhiwen the current planning and layout of the electronics industry in Yanjing City, as well as the situation of Midea Group and domestic joint venture factories.
In order to cooperate with this large-scale joint venture plan, the Fourth Machinery Department led the demolition of 5 villages with a total of more than 1,700 people in the southeastern suburbs of Yanjing City. The new factory covers an area of 500 acres and is divided into four factory areas to produce fans, Refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, and various small household appliances are mainly exported, supplemented by domestic sales. In order to facilitate future transportation, two roads were specially built, one leading to a nearby main avenue, and the other directly leading to The Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Expressway, which is being built, will be transported to the port through the expressway in the future, and then to all coastal areas by sea. This way the transportation cost is the lowest.
In fact, Chen Zhiwen has seen the things introduced at the meeting before. For large-scale investments in China, he will basically receive a detailed document every two or three months, recording everything that happened, and occasionally he will bring some photo.
If you want to know more about it, you need to go to the site. After the meeting, the group set off together to the factory in the southeast of Yanjing.
However, an embarrassing thing happened on the road. Chen Zhiwen was riding in a Mercedes-Benz SUV. The roads in Yanjing City were not bad. He drove very fast with just a tap of the accelerator. The four-engine domestic Shanghai brand car could not catch up with the Mercedes-Benz. When the driver in Hong Kong found out, he slowed down. But maybe he was stimulated. The driver of the fourth engine department still stepped on the accelerator with all his strength. As a result, the engine stalled halfway and could not be started again.
Lin Juntao was a little embarrassed and said, "Sorry, Mr. Chen, there is something wrong with our car."
"It's okay, just take our car." Chen Zhiwen looked at the smoking engine front compartment and invited people from the Fourth Engine Department to join his fleet. As early as last year, Midea decided to invest in Yanjing City and purchased ten vehicles from overseas. Several cars, this time the boss came, and a few followed him.
"Isn't this car enough?" Lin Juntao asked.
"It's okay, some of my people will stay. They will find a phone nearby to contact other people, and a car will come to pick them up." Chen Zhiwen said, fortunately, it is still within the limits of Yanjing City, and there are some small shops nearby with telephone numbers. Yes, otherwise it would be troublesome in the wilderness and in the era without mobile phones.
"That's so embarrassing." Lin Juntao said quickly.
Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, let's go visit the factory early."
"Well, thank you for your hard work, everyone." Lin Juntao said to those who were forced to stay. The people on his side were fine, but many senior executives of Midea in Hong Kong were also forced to stay. You know, being able to accompany Those who follow Chen Zhiwen are all mid- to high-level leaders, and a single sentence may determine the direction of millions of dollars of funds.
After getting on the car, Chen Zhiwen asked: "Director Lin, are domestic cars often prone to such problems?"
"Frequently is not the word, but problems may occasionally occur, especially in places with bad roads. It is easy to lose power or stall. But it is not common to be unable to start after stalling like today." Director Lin said with an awkward smile: "Many domestic brands of cars are like this, but the cars imported from abroad are much better. Basically there will be no problems. However, they are too expensive and require foreign exchange. There are not many in Yanjing City."
"How about the quality of the BJ212 car?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
"212? Jeep? I have seen this car in Yanjing City, but I have never ridden in it. I heard that it has relatively high fuel consumption and is mostly used by the military. Our government departments generally do not use it as a public vehicle." Lin Juntao replied.
"Okay, thank you." Chen Zhiwen nodded. Jeep can refer to an American brand, which is Chen Zhiwen's industry, but it can also refer to a square off-road vehicle. Jeep was originally used by the military. Later, other countries saw it. They also develop similar cars based on the appearance of the Jeep. These cars are also called Jeeps locally. Legally speaking, these are fakes, and the American AMC ones are genuine.
Soon, the group arrived at their destination. A huge factory stood in front of them.
"This speed is really fast." Chen Zhiwen said with emotion as he looked at the factory workshop in front of him. This project was verbally agreed upon with the Fourth National Machinery Department when he came to Yanjing in April last year.
There are still negotiations, location determination, demolition, factory construction, etc., but I didn't expect it to be completed in less than a year. This efficiency is much faster than that in Hong Kong.
He Guoyuan, who was following behind, said: "Sheng Chen, it only took us a month to reach an agreement last year with China. Then we selected the site, and once it was confirmed, we started the demolition. After that, we stopped work 24 hours a day." The land was kept busy and the factory was built. As for the equipment, some of it was moved from Hong Kong, and some were ordered from Japan in advance."
"It is indeed efficient." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. In China, due to poor technology, the output value may be lower from the results, but when it comes to non-high-tech fields, it is definitely the first in the world, and it will only last 7 days in the next emergency period. It would take 70 days to build a hospital in other countries.
"Now our fans have started to be produced, but because it is still winter, they are all stored in a large warehouse nearby. Other electrical appliances, such as refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines, are basically ready for shipment after they are made. The goods are in stock, but it is not supplied to Europe and the United States, but Southeast Asia is given priority." He Guoyuan added.
"Well, Lao Lei's idea? It's not bad. It can avoid quality risks." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
With the development in the past few years, Midea Group is no longer completely dependent on the European and American markets. Southeast Asia has also made great developments. One is the rapid expansion of RT-Mart and PARKnSHOP supermarkets under Hutchison Whampoa in Southeast Asia. The second is the strength of Galaxy Trading itself. The cost-effectiveness is enough to enter local supermarkets in Southeast Asia. The third is Midea's own efforts, and it has also begun to find general distributors in Southeast Asia.
Although overall, the market share is still not as good as that of the United States, the total turnover has reached the level of tens of millions of dollars. When various new products were launched in the past, they basically went to Southeast Asia or the Middle East market to test the waters first. Then go to the European and American markets. This is also to avoid risks.
"Yes, if there are no major problems, we can export to Europe and the United States on a large scale next year." He Guoyuan said.
"What about the domestic market?" Chen Zhiwen asked again. One of the main purposes of coming to Yanjing to invest heavily is to enter the domestic market.
"This is the responsibility of the people here in the mainland. In terms of channels, the products are shipped through the domestic department store market. The number of shipments per month is also the prescribed quantity." He Guoyuan said.
"Well, OK, the quality for domestic products must be the same as that for foreign countries. What I value is the big market in the future, not how much money I can make now." Chen Zhiwen said.
"Understood." He Guoyuan said.
A group of people went from the fan factory to the washing machine manufacturing factory. Here is a very long assembly line. The washing machine moves slowly on the line. On both sides of the line are various workers. Everyone only needs to do one thing. Basically The above are all very simple tasks.
The same goes for subsequent refrigerator and air-conditioning factories, which are all based on assembly lines.
At noon, Chen Zhiwen and his party had a light meal in the factory. Just like the employees, they had one meat and two vegetables.
"This kind of food doesn't meet Hong Kong's regulations, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked. According to the regulations in Hong Kong, employee meals are two meat and two vegetarian meals, but in fact it is a little better. Occasionally there will be some dairy products or fruits. This is an order issued by the headquarters to all factories. For one factory, other provinces can negotiate. , but the food is not good. It doesn’t need to be too good, but at least it can’t be too bad.
Lin Juntao said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, this food is already considered top-notch in the country. Even locals in Yanjing generally have difficulty ensuring that they can eat meat every day. The food in our department is actually the same as this." It’s almost the same, at most it’s just that the chef may be more refined because he doesn’t cook much.”
"Sheng Chen, this is mainly to consider the needs of employees' families. We originally followed Hong Kong standards, but many employees refused to eat and took them home. Later, in order to avoid this situation, we decided to lower the food standards , and then a portion of benefits will be given to all employees every month, which is basically a few kilograms of bacon or salted chicken and duck." He Guoyuan explained.
"That's okay." Chen Zhiwen nodded. Domestic meat is very precious now, especially with the current economic situation. It is estimated that children in some families will not be able to eat meat for a long time. This distribution is okay, otherwise As a parent, everyone will save money for their children. This will affect the factory, and the gain outweighs the loss. It is good for their family to distribute some bacon that can be stored for a long time every month.
It is a pity that there are still too many families in China who may not be able to eat meat several times a year. However, Chen Zhiwen is powerless in this matter. He can only try his best to cooperate with the country and then help There are hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in several industry chains.
In the afternoon, the group visited some of the company's meetings and then left the factory.
Chen Zhiwen doesn't understand the internal operations of the factory. This time, he can only take a look at his first large-scale project invested in Yanjing City. This is just the beginning. As long as he opens up the European and American home appliance markets in the future, , then such a factory can be opened in many places.
On the third day, at the invitation of the Ministry of Transport, Chen Zhiwen also went to a construction site in southern Yanjing. The Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Expressway was officially ready to be built. Compared with a small factory, this is a large-scale project.
However, it is still just the beginning. There is only a large nameplate and a bunch of engineering equipment. Chen Zhiwen is very interested in highways and took many photos here. After all, it is the first highway in China. In the future, there will be a lot of opportunities. historical meaning.
As Hutchison Whampoa Group's first large-scale infrastructure project in China, Zhou Jiayang is also here.
"Sheng Chen, according to our plan with the country, it is estimated that this expressway will be opened to traffic in 1986." Zhou Jiayang said with a smile.
"Five years is quite fast." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said after listening, the construction of expressways is very time-consuming, usually taking several years.
"Yes, the main road will pass through some places where the soil is not very good and needs to be reinforced, which is quite time-consuming. There are also some bridges and caves, otherwise the speed will be faster." Zhou Jiayang said.
"What about the demolition issue? For such a large project, the number of demolitions should be quite large, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
"Yes, preliminary estimates may involve tens of thousands of families, but there is already a solution. The mainland government will provide a piece of land nearby. We will pay for the cost of building new houses, and we will increase the area for each family. 20% as compensation, and conditions such as digging water wells and building some roads will also be provided to ensure the normal life of the demolished people. However, the farmland is a little more troublesome. All the land nearby is owned, and the mainland government only There is no way to give them new farmland, so we can only discount this piece of land at a higher price to compensate them, and we will also give them some food in the next few years." Zhou Jiayang replied.
"It doesn't matter. There are still many people in China who value land. It's a bit difficult to get them to give up land." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. For agricultural countries, land is life. This is completely different from the understanding decades later. It is different, and the cost of demolition now is much smaller than that of later generations. The most important thing is to complete this highway as soon as possible. It is not only a matter of returns, but also the construction of the highway will have a great impact on the entire economy of this large area. It will be of great help, and I will also make large-scale investments or purchases in Yanjing in the future, and I can also rely on this expressway to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
"One more thing, this is the first time a highway has been built in China. We didn't expect it at first, but later we discovered that a large amount of earthwork is required. Transporting it from other places is too costly and takes a long time, so the mainland came up with an idea. That is to dig two large artificial lakes in Yanjing City or TJ City. In this way, the earthwork will be available, the transportation cost will be low, and water can be stored on a large scale to avoid drought problems." Zhou Jiayang said.
"Isn't this good? What's the problem?" Chen Zhiwen asked curiously.
"The problem is that Yanjing City and TJ City do not have the budget for this, so they have to use the funds of our joint venture company. The mainland side is probably worried that spending the joint venture money to dig a large artificial lake will cause dissatisfaction on our side, so they came here specially They are asking for our opinions, but this artificial lake is a public project and there will be no revenue, so they want to ask us what we think?" Zhou Jiayang asked.
"Artificial lake?" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said, "In this case, the artificial lake can be dug and the joint venture will provide the funds. However, how about we take a piece of land near the artificial lake and develop a lake view hotel or some tourism projects? "
"Then how much land do we need?" Zhou Jiayang asked.
"It's up to you to talk. You can take as much as you can." Chen Zhiwen shrugged.
If you can find a place to dig an artificial lake now, it will definitely not be a place with any economic value, but it is hard to say in the future. Now I am paying for the country to dig artificial lakes to fight drought, and then develop some tourism projects to stimulate the economy, and maybe I can make some money. Foreign exchange can achieve multiple benefits with one stone.
Not to mention the value of the land, as long as the mainland's economy develops well in a few years, just a tourism project will be very popular.
"Okay, I will discuss this matter with the mainland in a few days. There should be no problem with such a request." Zhou Yang said with a smile. He had been staying in China during this period, and he was familiar with some domestic situations.
"One more thing. We are not responsible for the construction of this project, we are only involved in the supervision. But one thing you have to pay attention to is that the food for all workers must not be bad. At least there must be meat every day. They can eat whatever they want, and occasionally give out some bacon or something. Yes, these don’t cost much. And the salary can’t be delayed,” Chen Zhiwen said again.
"No problem, I will send someone to watch." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said.
(End of chapter)
