Chapter 790: Initial Cooperation with Shanghai and the Protection of South China Tigers

Chapter 790: Initial Cooperation with Shanghai and the Protection of South China Tigers

Chapter 790: Initial Cooperation with Shanghai and the Protection of South China Tigers
"I don't know if it was a tiger, but when I saw a yellow shadow flash by, it looked a bit like a tiger," replied the assistant holding the telescope.

Yang Wendong reached out and picked up his telescope: "Let me see, which direction?"

"there."

Yang Wendong followed the direction of the assistant's finger, but after looking for a long time, he didn't see anything unusual;
Wang Haozhi, a mainland official who accompanied Yang Wendong to Shanghai, said: "Mr. Yang, it is unlikely that there are tigers. In the 60s, because there were many cases of tigers injuring people, tiger hunting teams were organized in various places, and tigers in the south were basically gone;

But in recent years, the authorities have been interested in protecting some animals and not allowing them to be slaughtered at will. Plus, there have been no injuries to people for a long time, so the matter has been left unresolved.”

"Hmm," Yang Wendong thought, and then asked, "Can this tiger, or some rare animals, be introduced to Hong Kong?"

"Introduced to Hong Kong?" Wang Haozhi asked in confusion, "Do people in Hong Kong want to eat these wild game?"

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "No, there is no large zoo in Hong Kong, and many people have never seen a tiger, so I think we can introduce rare animals such as tigers, rhinos, and pandas from the mainland and release them to Hong Kong. There will definitely be many Hong Kong people willing to pay to watch them."

Doing this kind of zoo business is a small matter, protecting rare species such as the South China tiger is more important;
Even during World War II, the South China tiger population lived well, but in the 1950s and 1960s, the population exploded and farmland began to expand on a large scale, which led to the invasion of many wild animal habitats;
Take tigers for example. This animal needs a lot of land to support itself. Humans continue to exploit forests for farming and firewood, leaving them without food. So they come down from the mountains to attack oxen and even people. There was even a rare incident where hundreds of tigers surrounded a village.

In the days when people were still very poor, they naturally did not consider protecting rare animals, so they organized a large-scale manpower to go up the mountain to kill tigers and other carnivores. The terrifying upright apes plus various hunting rifles and weapons killed countless species in just over a decade, and the South China tiger was on the verge of extinction.
In the 90s, the country began to breed South China tigers, but it was too late. In the end, there were only 6 tigers. All subsequent tiger cubs were bred from these 6 tigers. However, inbreeding caused great problems for the tigers' bodies. Their genetic diversity was extremely low, and breeding was difficult. It was even difficult to release them into the wild. They are more precious than pandas.

This year is 1977. Many South China tigers should be extinct in the wild, but there may still be a few hundred. As long as we find some of them and send them to Hong Kong or other places to open zoos, we can preserve the normal genes of South China tigers, and they can reproduce normally in the future, and preserve the tigers that belong to the Chinese nation.

There are some other animals, such as white-headed stork, white-fin dolphin and so on.

Wang Haozhi said, "Zoo? We have one in Shanghai. This involves the export of animals, which is not something I can decide, but I think it should be fine. You need to negotiate with the relevant domestic departments."

"Well, OK." Yang Wendong nodded, and then said to his assistant: "Remember this. After arriving in Shanghai, let Zheng Zhijie choose a location and build a large zoo. Then negotiate with China Resources to see if we can introduce some domestic animals."

Hong Kong has a population of about 450 million, and many people there are quite wealthy. They are willing to spend money to see the animals, which is a sustainable business strategy in itself.

"Yes, Mr. Yang." The assistant agreed quickly.

Relying on zoos to earn ticket sales is a small matter. Preserving some rare animals is more meaningful. If the Hong Kong Zoo in the future has a large number of animals that have become extinct in the mainland, and can then help the mainland restore wild populations, that would be a good thing.
In the next few decades, the country needs to get rid of poverty and develop industry. At this time, it will be difficult to protect the living environment of wild animals at the same time. All we can do is preserve the genes of some wild animals.

After a journey of two days and one night, the train arrived in Shanghai in the evening of the next day.

The Shanghu City also attached great importance to Yang Wendong's arrival. In the evening, relevant personnel came to the train station to greet him and then took him to the Six Nations Hotel in Puxi, Shanghu. This was built decades ago and is now the tallest building and the most luxurious hotel in Shanghu.
The next day, Yang Wendong came to the city government, met with the municipal party committee and held a small welcome meeting. After the meeting, a director Song accompanied Yang Wendong to travel around Shanghai, which was like a semi-tourism.

When Director Song heard that Yang Wendong wanted to go to the Huangpu River estuary, his face immediately changed. Yang Wendong asked curiously, "Director Song, is it inconvenient?"

Director Song said helplessly: "It's not inconvenient, but the local environment is probably not as good as you think."

"It's okay, I'm just going to take a look." Yang Wendong said nonchalantly.

He didn't care whether there was any beautiful scenery along the Huangpu River, he just wanted to go and see it.

Director Song could only agree: "Okay, I'll prepare something, Mr. Yang will know in a moment."

Traffic in Shanghu is quite congested nowadays. Although there are not many cars, there are still many bicycles and pedestrians. Cars move very slowly and there is no air conditioning. Fortunately, Shanghu is not very hot in May, and with a little wind, it can be dealt with.

Along the way, Yang Wendong also saw today's buildings in Shanghai, many of which were rather dilapidated. In this era, even in Shanghai, which had the richest per capita population, many people's living conditions were very poor, even worse than some towns in the New Territories of Hong Kong.

In the houses between the alleys, there are different bamboo poles with various clothes on them. The sanitation on the ground is also relatively poor, with a lot of garbage and occasionally some dirty water.
But there are some places that look okay, and you can see some traces from the ground road;
An hour later at noon, the car arrived at the mouth of the Huangpu River. As soon as Yang Wendong got out of the car, he smelled an unpleasant odor.

Director Song quickly handed over a mask and said, "Mr. Yang, the water in the Huangpu River doesn't smell good in the summer. It's probably because the water is more lacking in oxygen in the summer. You should wear a mask."

"Now I understand." Yang Wendong took the mask and asked, "Is the industrial wastewater in Shanghai discharged directly into the Yangtze River?"

During the Republic of China period, Shanghu was said to have half of the domestic industry. Although it was abandoned due to the war, its foundation was still there, and with a large population and concentrated wealth, it was naturally easier to develop industry.
But the huge problem brought by industry is pollution. Even the former London could not escape this. The name of "Fog City" is no joke.

Director Song said: "In fact, we discovered this problem a long time ago, but it is not easy to solve. The factories upstream extend all the way to Suzhou. Many of these factories discharge sewage at night, making the tap water in Shanghai undrinkable sometimes.

But there is no other way. Industry must develop. As for water, we can only try to deal with it as much as possible and let the water plant spend more money to filter the sewage. " "This method only treats the symptoms and not the root cause." Yang Wendong asked.

Director Song nodded: "We know, but this is the only way. Has there been such a thing in Hong Kong in the past? How was it resolved at the time?"

"Pollution in Hong Kong is actually very serious, but the water system in Hong Kong is messy and many factories are located on the seashore." Yang Wendong replied: "But Shanghai is different. The factories here are close to the Yangtze River or the Yangtze River system. The sewage is eventually discharged into the Yangtze River system and flows to Shanghai, which is difficult to deal with."

Hong Kong is surrounded by the sea. Although it lacks water, it has many rivers, and many heavily polluting factories are built directly on the seashore. With Hong Kong's non-heavy industrial model, the ocean is still capable of self-cleaning some of the sewage.

But it is different in Shanghai. Too many factories are located deep inland, and no matter how the sewage is discharged, it will eventually enter the Yangtze River system.

The inevitable cost of developing industry is the environment, but in this era, many people do not have enough to eat, so it is impossible not to develop industry. It was not until around 2000 in the past that everyone was able to have enough food, and that was also due to industrialization.

Director Song sighed and said, "Yes, the geographical environment is different, so there is no reference. In recent years, water supply in Shanghai has indeed become a problem."

"In the short term, it seems there is really no other solution." Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "We can only rely on the water plant."

Director Song added: "Yes, but the city has limited funds and not much investment in this area, so we also hope to reach more cooperation agreements with Mr. Yang, so that there will be more budget to solve people's livelihood issues."

“Insufficient funds?” Yang Wendong thought for a while and said, “Director Song, even if I cooperate with you to increase the funds, it will still take a long time to significantly increase the fiscal revenue;

So I suggest you consider taking out a loan from a bank in Hong Kong, use the money to solve your immediate needs first, and then use the profits from other business cooperation to slowly repay it. In this way, people's livelihood issues can be resolved sooner."

"Loan? Borrow money?" This was the first time Director Song had heard of this method. "But if this is the case, there should be a lot of interest, right?"

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "The interest rate is normal. Banks in Hong Kong also need to make money, but they can give you the funds you need urgently first. Sometimes, many people will borrow money to open a factory first, and then make money to pay it back. Many people in Hong Kong make their fortunes this way.

You can use this money to solve the water problem first, restore people's livelihood, and then work hard to develop industry, earn more foreign exchange and repay the money, isn't it killing three birds with one stone?"

Director Song hesitated and said, "Mr. Yang, I can't make the decision on this matter. I can only discuss some business cooperation matters."

"Okay, I will discuss this with your city's municipal party committee later. There's nothing to see here, so let's go to the next factory." Yang Wendong also lost interest;
It was really the smell here that was a bit intoxicating, and the poison of industrial pollution still made him very cautious;
He could leave, but other locals couldn't, especially families that needed water. He still remembered the water shortage in Hong Kong back then. Shanghu didn't lack water, but it lacked clean water, so he was happy to help;
On the other hand, Hang Seng Bank has reached its limit in Hong Kong and its expansion in Southeast Asia is difficult, so developing the mainland market is an opportunity.
Although the reform and opening-up have not yet taken place, some cities in the mainland have actually cooperated with overseas banks. For example, Shanxi used Japanese funds to build railways, transported coal, earned foreign exchange, and then repaid the money.
The situation in Shanghai is similar. By using Hong Kong's funds to solve urgent livelihood issues, we can also establish good relations with Shanghai. In the next few decades, Shanghai will be the fastest-growing city. Hang Seng Bank can seize this opportunity and be the first to try it. Judging from the future practices of the mainland, it will not treat unfairly overseas friends who helped the mainland in the early days of reform and opening up.

Director Song said: "Okay, Mr. Yang, let's get in the car."

So, the group drove to the city again. The lack of air conditioning in the car really made Yang Wendong uncomfortable, so he asked: "Director Song, are there few cars in China with air conditioning?"

"Air conditioning?" Director Song asked in confusion, "I know there is air conditioning in the house, but is there also air conditioning in this car?"

"Hmm" Yang Wendong was speechless for a while. Many of the early industries in China relied on polar bears, and the same was true for automobiles.
Due to the geographical location of the polar bears, the problem of hot weather is not considered when building cars, so there is naturally no air conditioning in the cars. However, in the inland areas, especially in the areas south of the Yangtze River, the summer is still very hot.
But for mainlanders, they have long been accustomed to it and can withstand it no matter how hot it is;
Fortunately, today's factories are all located on the banks of the Yangtze River, not too far away, and we soon arrived at the Shanghu No. 1 Machinery Factory.

Led by Director Song, Yang Wendong visited the factory which had thousands of different machine tools and a large number of technicians. Each of these technicians had a very happy smile on their faces.
How can they not be happy? In this era and even in the 80s, factory workers were better off than civil servants. Many people would rather be workers than leaders.
After walking around, Director Song asked cautiously, "Mr. Yang, what do you think?"

Yang Wendong said: "It's a big scale, we should be able to cooperate with Hong Kong. My company Honor Electronics also needs a lot of machined parts."

Honor Electronics only does R&D and distribution. In terms of production, if it were not for testing, it would not participate in assembly. It can only be said that there is no OEM company like Foxconn in this era.

Although home appliances, game consoles and the like mainly use plastic, their structural parts still need to be made of metal. Therefore, there is a great demand for machining. In Hong Kong, there are many machining factories that survive on glory.

"That's good. Our First Machinery Factory is also willing to cooperate with Hong Kong businessmen." Director Song knew that Yang Wendong was a big customer. Once they cooperated, it would be a steady stream of foreign exchange.

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Okay."

In the next few days, Yang Wendong visited several factories in Shanghu City. Although the technology of the factories in Shanghu City was not very strong in many aspects, they could still meet the needs of Changxing Group. Yang Wendong also openly agreed to cooperate;

There will be no problems in this regard, because there will be strict audits by the Hong Kong team later, and even after delivery, there will be strict incoming material inspections, etc.
For this cooperation, he just wanted to establish good relations with the senior officials of the Shanghai Stock Exchange first, so as to prepare for greater cooperation after the reform and opening up next year.

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(End of this chapter)