Chapter 788: Trip to the Mainland

Chapter 788: Trip to the Mainland

Chapter 788: Trip to the Mainland
"So that's how it is." Huo Yingdong smiled and said, "President Liang actually once approached me and wanted me to introduce some wealthy people in Hong Kong to them, and I agreed.

But you are already close to them, so you don’t need me to introduce you.”

Yang Wendong asked: "Does the mainland want to invite a group of wealthy people to the mainland?"

"That's not the case. We'll invite as many as we can." Huo Yingdong shook his head.

Yang Wendong asked again: "Then do you know what the purpose is?"

Huo Yingdong said: "I don't know the details, and they won't tell me everything, but I roughly know that it is related to the economy. You should have known about the mainland's economy some time ago. It was ranked fourth from the bottom internationally."

"Yeah, it's really low enough." Yang Wendong nodded;
Last year, the International Financial Cooperation Organization (IFC) conducted an economic ranking of all countries in the world. The mainland's economic size ranked ninth in the world, but its per capita GDP ranked fourth from the bottom. Even many African countries are better than the mainland.
Of course, this is also due to a combination of factors such as the good natural environment in many African regions, small populations, and incomplete statistics;

But no matter what, the domestic economy is still very grim.

Huo Yingdong continued, "In fact, the mainland has also asked me these questions, but I don't really understand them. I can only say that I will try my best to do business with the mainland, or recommend people like Mr. Yang to do business with the mainland. There is nothing else I can do."

Yang Wendong said: "Personally speaking, even if our wealth increases tenfold, it will still be of limited help to the mainland's economy. If we want to develop, we can only rely on ourselves."

Given the population base of the mainland, even if the entire Hong Kong were added, the average increase would not be much, which is also very helpless;
The success of reform and opening up in the mainland in the past can be said to be a miracle among miracles. Even in the early days of reform and opening up, no one could have imagined such an achievement.

Huo Yingdong smiled and said, "We can do as much as we can. At least now we Chinese don't have to bear the pain of war. We can stand up straight and live our lives as human beings. Even if we are an agricultural country, it is much better than wandering around."

"Well, the country actually lacks industrialization, which is a step that every country needs to go through." Yang Wendong paused and said, "Hong Kong has been able to develop to its current level. Although it mainly relies on real estate and the stock market, it also has the opportunity to develop because of industry."

Industry is the core of all economies. Without industry, fertilizers cannot be produced, and agriculture will also fail. Even though the tertiary industries such as real estate make money faster than industry, their foundation is still industry.

In the past, many developed countries experienced deindustrialization after economic development, which was the beginning of their decline. Hong Kong has been able to continue to exist because of its geographical location, otherwise a city would have collapsed long ago.

Huo Yingdong added: "Mr. Yang, don't think too much about it. Just think of it as a domestic trip."

"Haha, yes, I also want to go to the Yangtze River to take a look." Yang Wendong said with a smile.

Huo Yingdong said: "It should be no problem to go to Changjiang. After you leave the Canton Fair, you can go directly to Shanghai. The mainland should be able to meet this requirement."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded.

Forget about the Great Wall. Going to Beijing would be too much work. At this point, if the mainland invites him, he will go. If not, he will not go.

Anyway, the reform and opening up will only be around a year and a half away, so you can go anywhere by then.

It was soon mid-April and the weather in Hong Kong was getting a bit hot;

Yang Wendong followed the Huarun convoy to the Luohu Port in the New Territories. After some inspection, he successfully entered the country, which is the future territory of Shenhai City. However, it is still Baoan County now and has almost no presence.

After entering the mainland, you need to change cars immediately because the domestic car is left-hand drive and Hong Kong is right-hand drive. This actually doesn’t matter. There are not many cars in the mainland nowadays and the roads are generally not divided so finely, but drivers still have to change cars.

In this era, Hong Kong drivers have opposite habits to mainland drivers, and there are very few people who can drive both ways.
Fortunately, Yang Wendong's driver in Hong Kong was also a bodyguard, so he would not be useless after entering the mainland;
Yang Wendong looked at the cars in front and said with a smile: "Director Liang, these cars are pretty good."

Liang Weilin said awkwardly, "Mr. Yang, you are joking. We can't afford these. They were given to Yuezhou City by Mr. Huo. He said that in the future, wealthy people from Hong Kong can ride in these cars when they enter the mainland."

"So that's how it is." Yang Wendong nodded;
For Huo Yingdong, sending a few cars is a small matter, as he himself may need to ride in them;
As the czar of Hong Kong, the Fok family controlled the supply of sand for all buildings in Hong Kong. It can be said that they are rich enough to rival a country. Because of this, the Hong Kong government dare not target them too harshly. Otherwise, if Hong Kong society is without sand, the entire real estate economy will immediately collapse.

After a while, everyone got on the bus and the bus slowly headed northwest. Yuezhou was not far from Hong Kong, only about 140km away. This distance could be reached in a little over an hour on the highway in the previous life.

But now, after driving for three hours, we were only halfway there because the road was muddy after it rained two days ago.
No matter how good foreign cars are, they are built for flat roads. With the road so broken, it is naturally very difficult for the cars to move. Yang Wendong almost felt carsick.

I thought I could just hold out like that, but a car got stuck, and someone asked people from nearby villages to come and push the car.
Seeing that Yang Wendong looked unhappy, Liang Weilin said quickly, "Mr. Yang, I'm sorry. The road is a little bad. I'm sorry."

The wealthy people in Hong Kong are of such a high level that they are treated like emperors when they go to the United States and Europe. But today they have become like this.

Yang Wendong said helplessly: "Director Liang, I know there are no cement roads in the mainland, but these dirt roads, shouldn't we pave some stones? At least it won't be so bad on rainy days, right?"

At this time, a middle-aged man in a white shirt said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Yang, our road used to have stones, but after a long time, they are gone."

"Was it taken away by the villagers?" Yang Wendong asked back.

The middle-aged man in white shirt said awkwardly: "That's possible."

Yang Wendong did not ask any more questions. In that era, people were too poor. Stones could be good things. They could be used to build houses or to lay them on the floor. Many people's floors were made of uneven dirt. Once it rained and the roof leaked, the floor would be a mess.
I looked around again and felt that there were not many trees on the mountain. I guess a lot of them had been cut down. Among the necessities of life, firewood ranks first, which shows its importance. Fortunately, this is in the south, where the winter is not very cold. If it were in the north, without coal, the mountain might be sagging.

After a while, some villagers were called over and worked together to push the car out. Many people fell and were covered in mud, but they were very happy. It was obvious that they had received some benefits.
Yang Wendong didn't ask too much, so the convoy continued on its journey. When it was almost dark, they finally arrived in Yuezhou City and checked into a local hotel.

To be precise, it should not be called a hotel, but a guesthouse. When Yang Wendong saw the familiar yet unfamiliar dark yellow squat toilet, he fell silent for a moment.
It has been a long time since I have lived in such an environment. Of course, these are much better than the huts he lived in back then, but it has been a long time since I have had such an experience.
An auntie came in without knocking, holding a large bucket of hot water in her hand, and said, "Mr. Yang, right? I'm here to bring you hot water. Please take a bath while it's hot."

"Okay, but isn't it a bit too dangerous for you to hold the boiling water like this?" Yang Wendong reminded.

The auntie smiled and said, "It's okay. I was shouting as I walked. There are usually no children here, and adults usually pay attention."

"Okay, thank you." After Yang Wendong finished speaking, he was still thinking about whether to give a tip. But he was not sure about the customs here. If he was considered as a bribe, it would be a misunderstanding.
However, the aunt did not give him time to think. After putting the bucket away, she reminded him of the time again and walked out.

Yang Wendong had no choice but to do it himself. Fortunately, there was still running water. He checked the temperature, wiped his body, and prepared to go to bed.

Although the bed was a bit hard, the location of this guesthouse was still very quiet, and it was still the same after I fell asleep.

The next morning, after Yang Wendong went out, he saw his assistant Aying, who had dark circles under her eyes, so he jokingly asked, "Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Ah Ying nodded awkwardly: "I'm a little uncomfortable. I didn't fall asleep until two or three in the morning."

"Well, the conditions here in the mainland are a bit worse. Just get used to it and you'll go back in a few days." Yang Wendong smiled.
Those who can serve as his assistants are all graduates of top universities in the world. Such people had good family conditions when they were young and had never suffered any hardship. It is indeed a little difficult for them to adapt to this new environment.

The relevant leaders of Yuezhou City had also arrived at the guesthouse early in the morning to meet with Yang Wendong and others;
Although Yang Wendong is a businessman, Yuezhou is relatively close to Hong Kong, and there has been a lot of economic and trade exchanges in the past two years, so the people on the scene still know about Yang Wendong's situation in Hong Kong and are very polite;
After the greetings were over, the group set off for the Canton Fair venue: Liuhua Road Pavilion;

This exhibition hall was built in 1974 and is currently the largest indoor exhibition hall in the mainland. It is mainly used for service trade to avoid rain or strong sun during open-air exhibitions.

Many officials accompanied Yang Wendong around the exhibition hall. The entire Canton Fair was filled with commodities, including precision machinery, light industrial products, textiles, daily necessities, hardware and minerals, basic chemical products, etc.
After Yang Wendong looked around, Director Shen from the Foreign Trade Bureau asked, "Mr. Yang, what do you think?"

"Very good. The mainland is indeed vast and rich in resources, with all kinds of goods available." Yang Wendong praised.

Director Shen said quickly: "Then Mr. Yang's trading company in Hong Kong can also purchase a lot of our mainland products and then sell them abroad."

"Well, it should be possible." Yang Wendong didn't expect this to be said so directly, so he said: "As long as there is something suitable, I can purchase it, especially light industrial products, textiles, daily necessities and the like."

Changxing Trading Company is good at providing daily necessities to supermarkets in Europe, America and Asia. It is not good at other aspects and has no plans to expand into other areas, because it is not cost-effective to spend energy in other people's mature fields. As long as it can gain a firm foothold in the supermarket field, it will definitely be a top global trading company.

Director Shen immediately smiled and said, "We will definitely fully cooperate with the requirements of overseas customers."

"Then Ah Ying, remember this and contact me later." Yang Wendong said to Ah Ying;
It seems that the country has already attached great importance to foreign exchange. Although the reform and opening up has not yet taken place, the trade between the mainland and overseas has increased since the 70s. Europe and the United States began to restrict exports to the mainland, resulting in a surge in domestic purchasing desire and a sharp decline in foreign exchange reserves.

In the following two days, Yang Wendong and others continued to stroll around the Canton Fair, looking around and occasionally buying souvenirs.

On the fourth day of coming to Yuezhou, a car mysteriously arrived at Yang Wendong's guesthouse. Yang Wendong was shocked when he saw the visitor. He never thought that he could actually meet this great leader.

"Yang Wendong, I have only heard of your name in Yanjing. You grew up in poverty, but later you started your own business from scratch and brought glory to the country." The big leader smiled and said, "If you were born 50 years ago, you might have worked with us."

"I wanted to, too, but I was born 50 years later." Yang Wendong smiled;

He was born in 1941, 50 or 40 years earlier, which would have meant that he would have lived through another great era.

"Haha, come on, let's go in and talk. You are from Hong Kong and understand international trade. I have something I want to ask you for advice." The leader continued.

Yang Wendong said quickly: "You are too polite. If you have any questions, just ask."

The two walked into the guesthouse together and came to a private room on the second floor. Through the window, they could directly see a small lake outside and many willow trees. It was full of spring, just like the country.
Some common delicacies were served. They were not very expensive, just ordinary vegetables, tofu, common meats, etc., but they tasted very good and were in line with the taste of Hong Kong people. It seemed that they had been prepared in advance.

The two of them also discussed some international affairs. Yang Wendong did not say much about this. It was not very suitable for him to express his views on international affairs. He had no experience in this area and his views on issues were easily influenced by the media. What he believed might not be correct.
On the economic side, when discussing the issue of domestic foreign exchange, Yang Wendong suggested: "In fact, I have a way to make the mainland earn a lot of foreign exchange."

"What method?" the leader asked.

Yang Wendong said: "When Hong Kong's industry started in the early years, there was a processing model, that is, customers provided raw materials, and then the factory processed and sold the finished products to customers, earning a little difference in price;

Although the cost is not high, as long as there are no problems with the technology and quality, there is almost no risk. As long as the scale is large, the profit earned will be considerable. "

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)