Chapter 410: First Imitation of Singapore

After thinking for a while, Yang Wendong asked, "Are there any time requirements?"

Zou Wenhuai said: "The sooner the better. Many other investors seem to be interested in these theaters."

"Shao Yi-fu?" Yang Wendong asked back.

Zou Wenhuai smiled and said, “That’s not the case. Lu Yuntao has been competing with Shao Yifu all his life. Although they are not enemies, their relationship is not very good. Mrs. Lu also disagrees with selling Lu Sheng’s assets to Shao Yifu;
It’s just that many of Lu Yuntao’s cinemas are in good locations, which is also the characteristic of cinemas. Many wealthy people in Nanyang are interested in these locations.”

"Well, okay, then I will go to Singapore soon to take a look at the local cinema chains." Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "Let's take a look at the situation of these cinema chains, and then decide what to do. You have to go with me."

Zou Wenhuai said, “Okay, I’ve been to Singapore before when I was at Shaw Brothers, and I know the locations of some of Lu Yuntao’s cinema chains.”

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to contact the plane and then notify you of the time." Yang Wendong nodded and said.

It takes a little time to rent a plane, and also to apply for routes, which you will have to wait for even if you have a private plane in the future.

A few days later, a contracted Cathay Pacific aircraft took off from Kai Tak Airport, soared into the sky, and flew south.

A few hours later, the plane arrived at Singapore's Seletar Airport. Zou Wenhuai had already made preparations, and several cars were waiting at the airport, taking the group directly to the most famous Raffles Hotel in the local area.

After settling down, the group went out early the next morning. Although Yang Wendong had been to Singapore in his previous life, the Singapore at that time must have been completely different from now, just like Hong Kong.

"Singapore now seems to be worse than Hong Kong." Yang Wendong looked at the surrounding infrastructure scenes, people, etc., and said: "I remember that from the paper data, Singapore's per capita wealth should be about the same as Hong Kong, right?"

Before coming to Singapore, Yang Wendong also roughly investigated Singapore's economic data. At this time, the World Bank has begun to conduct GDP statistics for various countries. Although the data will not be so rigorous, it is generally similar. It may differ by a few percentage points, but it will not be off by a level.

Singapore's per capita GDP data is slightly higher than Hong Kong's. Even if the World Bank is inaccurate, it should at least be at the same level.

But now it seems that this side is a little worse.

Zou Wenhuai explained: “Mr. Yang, Singapore is similar to Hong Kong in many ways, such as its small size, its ethnic Chinese population, and even its water resources, which are insufficient in themselves;

But the difference is that Hong Kong's water comes from the mainland, and although it is also charged, the price is not high. In Singapore, the prices are very high, and vegetables, meat, and rice are more expensive. So while the economies seem similar on the surface, the prices of basic living supplies are much different.

Prices are so high that the economy looks OK, but everything else is not so good.”

"That's right." Yang Wendong nodded.

The prices in Hong Kong are not expensive in many aspects in this era, unless you compare it with those regions that can produce their own food. The prices of many daily necessities, fresh water, industrial raw materials, etc. from the mainland when exported to Hong Kong are not very high. This is one of the reasons why Hong Kong's early industry was able to rise rapidly.

As for other regions that need to import everything, there is no such good thing. The relationship between Malaysia and Singapore is not very good. After Singapore's semi-independence in 59, it was good enough to sell it to you at a high price.
Zou Wenhuai added: “Moreover, Singapore’s economy is mainly controlled by some British giants. These British giants control the economic lifeline, but they do not provide much help for employment;
Hong Kong was actually the same in the early years, but later it relied on the development of a large number of factories to solve this problem. Now in Singapore, the number of factories is far less than that of Hong Kong, so there are also a large number of unemployed people. It is said that the youth unemployment rate here is as high as 14%, and this is only the data released by the government. "

"Then why has this become the largest overseas market for Hong Kong films?" Bai Yujie suddenly asked.

Zou Wenhuai said with a smile: "There are always rich people in a place. Although half of Singaporeans are still poor, the other half live a decent life. These people are the largest customer group for our Hong Kong films. Singapore is also dominated by Chinese people, which is very suitable for Hong Kong films."

"Yeah," Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, let's go check out the Lu family's cinema."

Singapore's economy is definitely not good now. There is no need to think about the specific reasons. Just know that before the British troublemaker was forcibly driven away, it would inevitably leave behind a lot of policies, potholes, etc. that will disgust latecomers.

In history, when Singapore was founded, its economy was not very good. It was only after 20 years of development and with the help of the advantages of Malacca that it developed.

The Li family is really capable in this area, and they are pretty good to external investors. At least they won't cheat people. No matter if they are sincere or not, as long as their behavior is not a problem, it's fine. Even if it's to maintain the country's image, for outsiders, as long as they can ensure the safety of their investments, that's enough.

However, larger investments should wait until Singapore is established. During this period, Britain, Malaysia, the United States, Singapore, etc. were mixed together, which was the last chaotic period. It was unnecessary to come here and make a large investment at this time.
Now, because Lujia Cinema is in a hurry, it has to come. Fortunately, there are only dozens of cinemas, and the investment scale is not large. It will not be noticed by the above national leaders. It is a fixed asset itself, so there will not be any big problems.
Soon, they arrived at a super large cinema.

Zou Wenhuai introduced: "Mr. Yang, Mrs. Yang, this is the largest cinema in Singapore, the Capital Cinemas, with 1688 seats.

At the beginning, Shao Yifu and Lu Yuntao fought to the death for this cinema chain, but in the end, the Lu family had more capital and was able to take it over. "

"1688 seats? That's not a lot, right? There must be a similar number of seats in Hong Kong, right?" Yang Wendong asked.

Movie theaters of this era are different from those after the 21st century. Generally, there are enough seats in one hall.

The first reason is that there are relatively few movies and not much choice, so one large hall is enough. The second reason is that film negatives and projection equipment are very expensive and need to be imported. Adding an extra hall requires a lot of investment, which is not economically cost-effective. Yang Wendong also did the economic calculations in the early days. The multi-hall model is not cost-effective and does not meet the market demand of the times. It does not mean that the future business model will necessarily be better.

Many cinemas in Hong Kong have more than a thousand seats, and there are even a few with around 1600. In the early days, the land in some places was not valuable and was far less valuable than the investment in equipment, so it was okay to build a bigger one and leave it empty, because many people would not sit in the edge seats.

Zou Wenhuai smiled and said, "That's because this is the number of seats that Lu Yuntao built according to a high standard model after he got it. If Shao Sheng got it, he could build two theaters with 2 seats each."

Yang Wendong asked, "You mean, this cinema is considered a high-end model?"

Zou Wenhuai said: “Yes, Lu Yuntao’s economic strength surpassed the Shaw family many years ago, but in Singapore, Lu Sheng only has 55 cinemas, while the Shaw family has 130;
The fundamental reason is that although the two are in the same industry, their directions are different. Every cinema chain that Lu Yuntao bought was intended to be a high-end cinema, equipped with European and American wide-screen monitors, the latest projectors, high-end audio equipment, air conditioners and high-end seats. At the same time, the area of each room is not small and the location is also good.

The Shao family did the opposite. They built a theater in an ordinary location with an average environment and many of the equipment were second-hand. They did have air conditioning, but it was not turned on unless absolutely necessary, and then it was only turned on to keep it from getting too hot.

"Haha, it fits with Shao Yifu's personality." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "But Lu Yuntao's previous business model is very similar to our Changxing Cinema in Hong Kong."

Changxing Cinema was a high-end cinema in Hong Kong in the early years. Although its main location was in Kowloon Peninsula, it was located in the center of the town. The equipment was not bad, and it naturally had air conditioning.
“Yes, Lu Yuntao is very similar to our business model in many aspects.” Zou Wenhuai continued, “About 10 years ago, Lu Yuntao and Shao Yifu were competing fiercely for cinemas in Nanyang. Basically, only these two capitals were desperately investing in this field;

But later on, they discovered a problem: the cinemas had invested a lot, but there were not enough movies to play, which eventually led to losses. Then, in around 55, they had to give up expansion and went to Hong Kong, hoping to invest in making movies in Hong Kong and then sell them to Southeast Asia, killing two birds with one stone.

"I see." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Hong Kong films have been getting better and better since the mid-50s. It seems that the competition between the two of them is the reason."

"There were several film companies in Hong Kong before, but none of them were very large. Later, after the Lu and Shao families invested in them, they developed rapidly." Zou Wenhuai said with emotion: "If the two of them had continued to compete, Hong Kong films might have gotten better and better. I just didn't expect Lu Sheng to encounter an accident."

"It is indeed a pity that Lu Sheng passed away, but Hong Kong films still need to develop. This responsibility will be handed over to you in the future," said Yang Wendong.

He actually had never met Lu Yuntao, because they had no intersection, but this man was able to make many good movies, which could be considered a contribution to society. Even if it was just to make people happy, he was better than those capitalists who only speculated in real estate.

"I understand. I'm actually also in contact with some people from Cathay Film Company. However, Lu Sheng's wife is still running the company, and many of them are still unwilling to leave." Zou Wenhuai said.

Yang Wendong said: "Then let's wait. I don't think Madam Lu can hold on for much longer."

Although I don't know what happened, Cathay Film Company has gradually declined in history. Many times, when the founder of a company suddenly dies, the impact can be devastating, especially for Chinese companies, which often do not train successors.
Zou Wenhuai also said: "Yes, I think so too. Lu Yuntao's assets in Hong Kong and Taiwan were left to Mrs. Lu, but he has been starting a business for so many years and has also taken a lot of money from the Lu family. Now the Nanyang cinema chain has been taken back by the Lu family. Once Cathay Pacific loses the cinema chain here, it will be difficult to move forward."

"We can't control this anymore." Yang Wendong said, "We are going to take over the Lu family's cinema chain now. This way, our own films will have a stronger future. In the future, when we expand based on the Lu family's cinema chain, we can even help the entire Hong Kong film company."

"Yes, then let's go in and take a look first, and then go meet the Lu family in the afternoon." Zou Wenhuai said quickly.

He also knew that his boss's ambition was not how much money the film company could make, but to make more Hong Kong films and export them in large quantities. Of course, these two points were not in conflict.

Soon, after a movie ended, Zou Wenhuai led a few people into the "Capital Cinema". What caught their eyes were plush seats covered with a layer of cloth.

Yang Wendong, Bai Yujie and others sat down. Bai Yujie said, "It's quite comfortable."

Zou Wenhuai said with a smile: "Lusheng is very demanding on the comfort level of its customers and always tries to do its best; but because of this, the price of movie tickets will be a bit higher."

"Of course, the wool comes from the sheep, and there is no free lunch in this world." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "If we can take over this place, we will continue to operate in this way in the future, and we will also expand to other Southeast Asian countries with this model."

"Yes, then should we watch a movie here or go out?" Zou Wenhuai asked.

Since they were able to come in, they naturally bought movie tickets. At this moment, a large number of people were gradually entering the venue, and a new movie was about to be shown.

Yang Wendong said: "Then let's watch one and feel it."

"Okay." After Zou Wenhuai finished speaking, everyone took their seats, and a dozen people surrounded Yang Wendong and Bai Yujie.

When arriving in Nanyang, security is naturally more important. There are more than a dozen bodyguards alone. As long as we don’t encounter any big local gangs, that should be enough.

Another thing is that Singapore's core business district shouldn't be that chaotic, and Yang Wendong wouldn't run around on his own. Even if he went to Europe or the United States, he would generally only go to places he thought were safe.
The movie was produced by Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong. It was pretty good, not too bad. After it ended, everyone had a meal nearby and then returned to their hotel.

Around 2 p.m., two men met Yang Wendong under the introduction of Zou Wenhuai. The leader immediately shook hands with him and said, "Hello, Mr. Yang. I have heard of you for a long time."

"Hello, Mr. Lu." Yang Wendong also shook hands and said.

The people who came here were naturally the Lu family behind Lu Yuntao. The Lu family was also a family that had been operating in Nanyang for a hundred years. No one knew how much they were worth. His father was a famous mining tycoon in Malaysia.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)

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