Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 756 Talking about business

"Brother, I've missed you so much."

Before anyone arrives, the sound comes first.

Before the car had even come to a complete stop, Zhou Yali threw down her suitcase, opened her arms, and pounced on the car.

Chen Fan got out of the car, stretched out his arm, and pressed a finger against her forehead, successfully keeping her at bay. He then asked curiously, "Didn't you say you weren't coming until May? How come you're here today? And all by yourself?"

Zhou Yali tried to push forward, but couldn't budge it. Instantly defiant, she increased her strength, pushing forward like a bull, her teeth clenched unconsciously. "It's May today. Dad's in Guangzhou on business, the other workers went to the office, and I...I...came...here..."

Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili, who had gotten off the bus behind her, saw this and quickly ran forward, each grabbing one of her arms and pulling her back.

Jiang Lili said, "Cousin, don't argue with him. You can't win against him."

Jiang Tiantian gave Chen Fan a subtle glare, signaling him to let go quickly.

Chen Fan immediately withdrew his finger, blew on it, and glanced at someone, thinking, "You little brat, you'll ruin my plans."

Zhou Yali was being pulled along by the two of them, still quite unconvinced, "Come on, I refuse to believe I can't beat you even with a single finger."

Hey, still not convinced?

Chen Fan wanted to flick her on the forehead, but seeing the two sisters' expressions, he smiled sheepishly, took out his keys, and ran to open the door.

Pushing open the courtyard gate, Jiang Lili immediately pulled Zhou Yali inside, "Cousin, cousin, when did you arrive in Shanghai? Did you take a plane? Have you eaten yet?"

Zhou Yali struggled twice but couldn't break free, so she could only pout and say, "Yes, I just got off the plane an hour ago, entered through Hong Kong, and then flew over from Guangzhou. There are so few flights now, there might not even be one flight a week from Hong Kong, they're all on a temporary schedule, they only fly when there are enough people. I had no choice but to transfer in Guangzhou. As soon as I got off the plane, I arranged my work and came over."

As she spoke, she glanced back, about to complain, but then saw Chen Fan already in the driver's seat, slowly driving in. So she immediately raised her voice, "You're still bullying me!"

Chen Fan moved his fingers, then looked at the two sisters' gazes and grinned obediently, "What do you want to eat later? I'll make it for you."

Zhou Yali immediately held up a hand and said, "Without five impressive dishes, I can't get past this hurdle!"

Chen Fan parked the car, got out of the car, and closed the courtyard gate. He said, "A few days ago, Chaoyang Temple opened, and I created a new set of Taoist dishes. The response was quite good. How about I make you a Five Elements Feast today?"

Zhou Yali blinked, kicked off her shoes, put on the slippers Jiang Lili had tossed aside, and asked, "How much of this Taoist dish is there in total?"

Chen Fan took the suitcase from Jiang Tiantian and said irritably, "Thirty-six dishes, do you think you can finish them all in one go?"

Zhou Yali grinned and said, "No need for that. There's plenty of time. I plan to stay until September when school starts, so you can take your time making it for me."

"What? September?"

Chen Fan panicked, dropping his suitcase to the ground. He ignored it and glared at Zhou Yali, asking, "Why did it take so long?"

Zhou Yali shrugged and walked to the sofa, saying, "I have work to do. Besides, the school has approved it."

When Chen Fan saw Jiang Tiantian carrying her suitcase upstairs, he stopped paying attention. Anyway, the two sisters had been practicing martial arts with him, and even if their skills weren't particularly high, they could at least handle three or five thugs who were used to fighting. They weren't delicate little girls, and carrying a suitcase was just a small favor for them.

He walked straight over to Zhou Yali and sat down, asking in bewilderment, "Even if American universities allow students to apply for early internships and only take exams to earn credits, do you think they'll agree to let you do this much work for so long?"

Zhou Yali shrugged and smiled, "I told my teacher that I wanted to come to China to study and investigate, especially the import and export monopoly model here, and my teacher agreed immediately."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly; it turned out they had exploited the West's curiosity. But it's true, since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries this year, and especially after the old political commissar's visit to the US at the beginning of the year, a "China craze" has swept the West, with almost every industry showing interest in China.

Although it's just out of curiosity and very few people actually take action, if Zhou Yali uses this as a reason to ask for leave, the school is very likely to allow it.

He paused for a moment, then asked, "So, you came here mainly for matters concerning the telecommunications company?"

Zhou Yali nodded repeatedly. At this moment, Jiang Lili brought her a bottle of soda. She quickly took it with both hands, smiled and said thank you, before turning to Chen Fan and saying, "The telecommunications company's affairs are indeed very important, but I have almost finished my part. The follow-up matters will naturally be handled by the operations and maintenance company's manager."

The main reason for this trip to the mainland is that my father and I plan to relocate part of our factory here.

Chen Fan frowned slightly and looked at her, asking, "Shekou?"

There is no concept of special economic zones in China yet. Just last month, the former political commissar proposed to establish our own "export special zones." The first batch of special zones will not be approved until August next year, and the name will be changed from export special zones to special economic zones.

In effect, it expanded the scope of the experiment. Although it initially focused on the export economy, it also provided a legal basis for subsequent economic reforms.

Currently, the only place that might allow foreign investment in factories is the Shekou Industrial Zone.

After the industrial park was established, the first batch of companies to move in were mostly large state-owned enterprises, such as China Merchants Group, China Resources, and Bank of China.

Now Zhou Yali says she wants to move the factory to the mainland, which can only be Shekou.

As expected, Zhou Yali nodded slightly, took a sip of her drink through the straw, and then said, "My dad went to Guangzhou, partly for the installation of a program-controlled exchange."

The original plan was to install it for them in the second half of the year, but they suddenly asked to install it earlier, saying that it was to serve the Shekou Industrial Zone and facilitate communication between the mainland and the world. They also offered to pay a deposit first. Since they were so proactive, my dad agreed.

Another inquiry was about setting up operations in the Shekou Industrial Zone.

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a smile, "As far as I know, people overseas are skeptical about this industrial zone. Why are you so proactive, Uncle?" In fact, it's not just skepticism; very few people believe that China would establish any special industrial zone.

Especially with the constant hype from the other side, saying things like "bring them in to kill them," most bosses are uneasy, and no one dares to be the first to try something new.

It was only later, with the help of Hong Kong enterprises with state-owned backgrounds, that the special economic zone was gradually built up, starting with small investments.

Of course, we're talking about Shenzhen here.

Compared to Shenzhen, Shantou has taken the lead in development. The reason is simple: there are many Hong Kong businessmen from Chaoshan, and they are very powerful. In addition, Chaoshan people have a strong sense of hometown. Even if they don't go back to invest, they are willing to give their relatives in their hometown a sum of money to set up factories, so development is naturally rapid.

In fact, even before the establishment of the special economic zone, starting in the 6s and 70s, there were many speedboats traveling between Shantou and Hong Kong, conducting business with silver dollars and gold as the settlement currency.

Some of the bolder ones even set up processing plants, with raw materials coming from Hong Kong and workers being relatives from the same village. The production team provided certificates to cover their activities, and some of the products were sold back to Hong Kong, while others were sold to the mainland with the production team's certificates. This kind of informal economy existed much earlier than in Wenzhou.

However, no matter how fast the development is, it's useless. Places with strong local sentiments are generally quite xenophobic, making it difficult for outsiders to develop there.

Hearing Chen Fan's question, Zhou Yali smiled and pointed at him, "Because of you."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow slightly. "What does this have to do with me?"

Zhou Yali sighed softly and said, "If you are willing to go to the United States with us, although we will continue to invest firmly in the mainland, we will not put all our cards on the table at once, but will take it one step at a time."

But you just wouldn't leave. Although we don't know why, since you've made your decision, your dad and I can only support you.

My dad said, since you've made the decision and are determined not to live abroad, you might as well take a big gamble and relocate the relevant parts of the mainland here as soon as possible. It would also earn you a good impression with your superiors.

Chen Fan chuckled and looked at her, asking, "Aren't you afraid of losing money?"

Zhou Yali smiled and shook her head, "I'm not afraid."

She glanced at Jiang Lili sitting next to Chen Fan and continued, "Anyway, you still have a large amount of assets in the United States. At the same time, thanks to you, the Zhou family's business is doing incredibly well now, and their assets have increased by nearly half. Even if they give up the mainland portion, the Zhou family is still making a killing."

She paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Moreover, my dad said that as long as the policies remain stable and the basic line of reform and opening up is maintained, we can't possibly lose money."

She put down her drink bottle and chuckled, "We had a professional accountant calculate that, based on mainland prices and wages, even if the cost were increased tenfold, it would still save more than half compared to producing in the United States. There's no way we could lose money."

As for whether the policy will change.

She then pointed at Chen Fan, "Aren't you the most confident? If you're confident, then we're confident too. So, the ultimate reason my dad decided to set up the factory in the mainland is because of you."

Chen Fan pursed his lips and slowly nodded, scratching his head and smiling, "That's all I can say. The future is bright, but the road is winding. Although it's a bit difficult at the beginning, as long as we persevere, there's still a lot of hope."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yali was stunned. "What do you mean? You mean it's not the right time to invest in a factory yet?"

Whenever Chen Fan was discussing serious matters with someone, Jiang Lili was either absent or sitting silently. This was the case now; despite being very curious, she remained silent, simply gazing at him expectantly.

Chen Fan first shook his head, then nodded. After pausing for two seconds, he turned to look at Zhou Yali and said seriously, "A factory is not just about simple production and sales. It involves many industries and resource integration."

For example, the supply chain: are there enough raw material factories nearby to provide the various production materials needed for production?

There's also logistics. What's the local transportation environment like? How fast can freight services be delivered? What ports or cities can be reached? These are all issues that need to be considered and resolved in advance.

Undeniably, given the current social situation, the United States is undoubtedly one of the most industrialized places, and if not, there are still places like Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

"You want to set up your factory inland, which is naturally great news for the inland areas, especially the Shekou Industrial Zone. It's currently just wasteland; forget about the supply chain, even logistics is a major problem. They certainly welcome factories, but what will you gain by putting your factory there?"

He paused for a moment, then looked at Zhou Yali and asked, "By the way, what kind of factory are you planning to set up?"

Zhou Yali was pondering his words when she heard the question. She paused for a moment, then said, "It mainly involves the manufacturing of Chinese character cards and computer assembly. I plan to try producing computers under our own brand..."

Before she could finish speaking, Chen Fan shook his head and laughed, "You could say that a Chinese character card is barely acceptable, but a computer is out of the question. That's not something that's easy to make. We should wait at least a few years and see how the computer industry in the United States develops before deciding whether to make our own computers and where to set up the factory."

The personal computer truly took off after IBM opened up its technology standards; don't think about it too much now. If you really want to pursue independent research and development, Wanmu Chun Company is far from capable of doing so.

Zhou Yali frowned and looked at him, saying, "Brother, why do I feel like you don't agree with us setting up a factory in the mainland?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Lili immediately shifted her gaze from her to Chen Fan's face, wanting to hear what he had to say.

Chen Fan took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and smiled, "It's not that I disagree, it depends on what kind of factory it is. For example, didn't you want to invest in a home appliance company before? This industry is pretty good. It doesn't have too much high technology content, some raw materials can be supplied in mainland China, and workers are easy to train, as long as you can buy a production line in the United States or Japan..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Yali kept nodding and nodding, "Yes, yes, I was just about to say there are also appliance factories, but you interrupted me. There are also garment factories. I've been to Lujiawan, and their factories are too small. If we reach a cooperation agreement, their factory size simply cannot meet market demand, so it's very necessary to set up our own garment factory."

That's about it. As for others, like telecommunications, I think I'll wait until I'm more familiar with that industry before considering those. Maybe in the future we'll even produce our own program-controlled exchanges and telephones.

Chen Fan nodded. "Taking it one step at a time is the right thing to do. You can start by setting up the home appliance factory and the garment factory. We can talk about the other things later."

He then leaned forward, looked at her, and said, "Business is business. I know you're trying to express your stance, but we should still fight for what we deserve."

(End of this chapter)