Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 687 Not Too Much
"Three years?"

Zhou Yali slumped on the table, still holding the little monkey, and said weakly, "Why does it have to be three years? Three years is enough to build a new house."

Now the little monkey isn't afraid of her anymore. Since it can't move because it's being hugged, it tries to search through her hair with its paws, but it can't find anything. Its eyes are full of confusion.

I remember when I was little, my mother would hold me and we could find little bugs to eat as snacks.
Chen Fan leaned back in his chair, took a sip of tea, and smiled faintly. "You like ancient architecture, right? Since the goal is to restore it to its original state, it must be restored to its original appearance. All the patterns and designs will have to be painted by hand, which is not something that can be done in a short time."

First, the haphazard additions and ditches for modern facilities need to be demolished. Then, the main building needs to be repaired. At the same time, delicate parts such as coffered ceilings, doors and windows need to be disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled. Finally, the building needs to be painted, restored, and furniture made according to the original specifications, with minor adjustments made to suit modern living standards.

This entire process takes at least three years, which is considered fast. It's not impossible for it to take another year or two longer.

Zhou Yali looked up and gasped, "Five years?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "I was just saying it's possible. Maybe they'll increase manpower and finish the project ahead of schedule in order to earn more foreign exchange."

The restoration of the Ningjun Prince's Mansion took more than three years, even with the west wing missing and the addition of advanced construction equipment and methods. Therefore, Chen Fan had no intention of completing the restoration quickly and was prepared for a protracted process.

Since we don't lack housing, let's lay a solid foundation from the start.

It would be much better if laws related to the protection of ancient buildings were introduced in the future, so that even installing an air conditioner would require an application, which would be a real hassle.

Hearing him say that, Zhou Yali resigned herself to her fate. "Forget it. Didn't you say that the big villa in Shanghai has been repaired? I'll go and see how it is there."

Chen Fan took a sip of tea and smiled, "Sure, actually I would have gone to Shanghai a long time ago if you hadn't come to Beijing for a meeting. Here's what I'll do: I'll go buy your plane tickets later and call Lili to get your rooms ready."

He put down his teacup and asked again, "Are you staying in that little villa, or the big mansion?"

Zhou Yali blinked and stared blankly at him. "You can't stay at my place?"

Chen Fan glanced at her. "It's not that you can't stay, it's just that you've already bought your own house, why would you want to stay at my place?"

Zhou Yali opened her mouth to speak, but Zhou Zhengdong came down the stairs with a notebook in his hand and said loudly, "Don't rush to move in. We can make arrangements after the office is opened."

As she spoke, she walked over and sat opposite Chen Fan, and Liu Juan immediately brought him a cup of tea.

Zhou Zhengdong smiled and said thank you, then opened his notebook and said to Chen Fan, "We negotiated some time ago and talked about some general things. I won't go into the specifics, but it was basically about trade and shipping."

In general, everyone's on the same page, and the routes are fine—mostly what you guessed last time, so there's not much to talk about. I'll just tell you about my company's arrangements.

He glanced at his notebook, then looked up again. "I've decided to open two offices in Beijing and Shanghai in the first half of next year, primarily to provide consulting and services to foreign companies intending to invest in China."

Chen Fan nodded, waiting for him to continue.

But after he took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, lit it, and exhaled a puff of smoke, before hearing anything further, he was filled with astonishment and asked, "And then?"

Zhou Zhengdong also picked up a cigarette, lit it, and smiled slightly at him, "Then it's your turn."

Chen Fan's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

Zhou Yali laughed from the side, "It means I need your help to find two office locations, the space should be spacious, and then I can show up at the right time to support my dad."

Chen Fan blinked frantically, looked at her, then at his uncle, and spread his hands, "That's it? You're not going to invest in anything, start a factory or something?"

Zhou Zhengdong grinned and chuckled, saying nothing, but simply pointed to his daughter beside him.

Zhou Yali sat up straight, hugged the two little monkeys in her arms, and chuckled, "That's my business, it has nothing to do with my dad."

Chen Fan, with a cigarette butt between his teeth, glanced over and asked, "What do you mean?"

Zhou Yali coughed lightly, putting on a professional, businesslike expression. "Brother, it's like this."

She wanted to make a gesture to increase her persuasiveness, but she couldn't bear to part with the little monkey in her arms, so she could only tighten her grip and say seriously, "First of all, the Zhou family's main businesses are real estate, international trade, and commercial retail. Other things are either icing on the cake, such as banks, or they have other purposes. For example, the publishing company that has now been divided between our two names is mainly for the Chinese community in New York State and is not for profit at all."

Of course, it's very profitable now, more profitable than all of the Zhou family's other businesses combined. But that's not the key point. The key point is that, based on the content and results of the negotiations over this period, it's very clear that real estate is not included in the scope of the open business, so it has been abandoned.

Finance is out of the question, so the banking industry can't get in either. As for international trade, domestically it's an import/export monopoly. The Zhou family can make contact as an agent, but there's no need to set up a branch office. They can just set up an office in the liaison office and assign someone to handle it.

Furthermore, let's talk about manufacturing, the most common and important module in cross-border investment, which, to put it bluntly, is factories. Unfortunately…

Zhou Yali finally let go of the little monkey and spread her hands, saying, "The specific implementation details are still under discussion, but the basic principle is very clear: wholly foreign-owned enterprises will not be accepted for the time being."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly; he did know something about the last point Zhou Yali mentioned.

Speaking of foreign companies that entered the mainland after the reform and opening up, many people know that the first joint venture was BJ Air Catering Company, and the first wholly foreign-owned enterprise was Chia Tai Kangdi Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Group in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. The company was established in 79 and registered in Shenzhen in 1981 with the number "Shenzhen Foreign Investment Certificate No. [81] 0001".

Then the first wholly foreign-owned enterprise outside the special economic zone was 3M, which was registered in Shanghai in 1984.

The Liberation Daily on March 8, 1985, also published a report on the grand opening of the company's factory.

Therefore, reform and opening up has never been about opening the door all at once, but rather about experimenting and correcting mistakes little by little before opening up and promoting it.

Special economic zones, which are not even conceived yet, are the testing grounds for reform and opening up.

There aren't even any experimental fields yet, so naturally we won't let foreign businesses in all at once.

Zhou Yali looked at Chen Fan and continued, "So, after discussing it with my dad, we both agreed that now is not a good time to invest deeply in China. However, as the world's most populous country, once it opens its doors, it will definitely become the world's largest emerging market. We absolutely cannot give up this lucrative opportunity."

So we took a compromise: instead of rushing to establish a company, we set up an office first. Our priority wasn't investment, but rather gathering information, establishing connections, and building a wider network.

She glanced at Zhou Zhengdong, then turned back and continued, "But we can't just spend money without making any. When I came back last time, you mentioned that we could consider building a home appliance factory in the mainland. I'm thinking of making this factory the first order for Dad's office. What do you think?"

She paused for a moment, then looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "This is just the conclusion my dad and I reached after discussing it. If you have a different opinion, as long as you have a suitable reason, we can accept it."

Chen Fan shrugged, flicked off his cigarette ash, and laughed, “It’s reasonable, no need to change it.” He turned to look at Zhou Zhengdong, “Since you work at the Office of the United States Trade Representative and participated in this negotiation, then making some initial moves, even if it’s just an office, is a signal. I think both sides will provide appropriate convenience for this office, which will also create conditions for opening up trade and economic exchanges between the two countries.”

If this is indeed the case after the office opens, then you might consider doing more.

Zhou Zhengdong frowned slightly, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Make a little more?"

Chen Fan nodded. "Yes. Doing more means offering more feasible suggestions."

He paused for a moment, then suddenly lowered his voice, "For example, Leghorn Freeport."

The Free Port of Leghorn, established in Genoa, Italy in 1547, was designed to attract international trade and investment through tax-free policies and is recognized as the world's first special economic zone.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhengdong hadn't quite grasped the situation... After all, his major was law, not economics, especially international trade.

But Zhou Yali already understood Chen Fan's meaning and whispered, "To establish China's 'free port'?!"

Looking at his daughter, Zhou Zhengdong finally understood Chen Fan's meaning, and his eyes lit up. "This is a good idea!"

Chen Fan smiled and continued, "I was just giving an example. Other suggestions are also welcome. For instance, Yali just mentioned that we are not accepting wholly foreign-owned enterprises for the time being. So, could we consider a joint venture? A joint venture doesn't necessarily require capital investment; technology, equipment, human resources, and even land are all elements that can be chosen."

Zhou Zhengdong held a pen and scribbled notes in his notebook, nodding occasionally, clearly taking his nephew's advice to heart.

After her father finished taking notes, Zhou Yali smiled and said, "Little brother, let me give you an update. Our tech company is doing very well now."

Chen Fan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked at her with a smile, "How is it good?"

Zhou Yali: "It's a Chinese character card. We've already partnered with Apple, and they'll be supplying computer products with Chinese software to the market. They mainly source these modules from us."

In addition, we produced 10 Chinese character cards through OEM manufacturing. The first batch has already been launched on the market and is very popular in Chinese-speaking areas, with fast payment collection…

Hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but ask, "What's the price?"

Zhou Yali gestured and said with a grin, "Nothing more, just $999!"

"puff……"

Chen Fan spat out a mouthful of tea onto the ground. He wiped his mouth, looked up, and asked in astonishment, "How much?"

Zhou Yali blinked. "999 US dollars."

Chen Fan stared wide-eyed. "Why is it so expensive?"

An Apple computer costs only $1500, but a Chinese character card costs $999? How can that even sell?

Zhou Yali said innocently, "The latest memory chip costs $299. Including processing fees, logistics, and channel fees, the cost is about $450."

Electronic products are inherently high-profit, high-tech products, and our retail price of only $999 is already very reasonable.

Chen Fan blinked, somewhat speechless.

He had previously told Professor Huang from Jiangda University that this thing wasn't expensive, only a few hundred dollars.

So, the hardware purchase alone costs three hundred dollars?
Uh, 999 is still a few hundred, so it shouldn't be considered a scam, right?
But then I remembered that Professor Huang hadn't contacted me since, and I felt inexplicably guilty.

Chen Fan took a couple of breaths, silently took out a cigarette and lit it. "Well, you can continue."

Zhou Yali: "Oh."

She tilted her head and thought for a moment before saying, "Originally, the technology company was just starting out and didn't have any money. But the publishing house made a lot of money, so I used the publishing house as a guarantor to borrow ten million US dollars from Zhouji Bank as start-up capital and started distributing Chinese character cards."

The target market for the Chinese character cards is mainly Chinese communities in Western countries, and also Taiwan and Hong Kong. Sales are currently quite good, especially in Taiwan, where the first batch of 1 sets sold out in just one week…

At this point, her expression turned somewhat strange. "Brother, do you know what the most popular feature of the Chinese character card is?"

Chen Fan curled his lip, "It's just a Chinese character input method."

Zhou Yali nodded. "It is indeed a Chinese character input method, but not the Pinyin input method you came up with. It is the Cangjie input method."

Chen Fan glanced over.

What does that mean? Does it mean I'm unreliable and that I lost to someone else?

Seeing his expression, Zhou Yali chuckled dryly twice, then her face changed and she said seriously, "Of course, I'm not saying your pinyin input method is no good. Blame those people for being ignorant. They don't even know pinyin and refuse to learn it. They'd rather memorize the shapes of characters than learn pinyin. That's so wrong!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhengdong silently closed his notebook, took out a cigarette, and put it in his mouth.

If he hadn't been certain that his daughter had no ulterior motives, he might have thought that the girl had changed her personality and was actually considering her cousin's feelings.

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, and he coughed lightly, "It's not necessary to say that. Pinyin is indeed not popular overseas. However, once the Chinese character card is introduced to China, the Pinyin input method should be adopted very quickly."

Zhou Yali asked curiously, "Brother, how many personal computers are there in China right now?"

Chen Fan kept a sullen face and didn't want to talk to her.

my country's personal computer industry developed very quickly. How quickly? There were none in 80, but the following year we imported tens of thousands of units, and the growth rate has been in the tens of thousands ever since.

What needs to be clarified is that although personal computers are also called microcomputers, the two are not the same thing. Microcomputers were researched in my country very early on, and many units were equipped with them in the 70s, but they were mainly used for scientific research and data calculation, rather than for ordinary document processing or even entertainment.

However, if we include microcomputers, there are many more computers in China now. In future calculations of the number of personal computers in China, these machines will sometimes be included, and the number of computers in China will suddenly increase.

(End of this chapter)