National Tide 1980.

A successful businessman, in addition to having a unique vision and a smart mind, must also have the courage to seize opportunities, otherwise he will not be able to succeed.

Ning Weimin is obviously such a person, and he has more financial resources than most businessmen.

It was precisely because of his financial resources that he had the courage to do what he wanted, so the buying spree that occurred in Beijing in August 1988 became his playground for reckless behavior.

On the one hand, he dumped as much of his own clothing, alcohol, stamps and other things into the market as possible, earning huge profits by selling them at high prices.

On the other hand, he was eyeing those treasures with great appreciation potential and buying them at the bottom during the chaos.

On the eve of the market price liberalization, a clearance sale was launched specifically for these things.

For this reason, he even felt that Yin Yue, Zhang Shihui and Luo Guangliang were selling things too slowly and could not keep up.

Therefore, a sum of 10 billion yen was specially transferred from Japan for use.

It takes several days for the money to be transferred from the account of Mist Studio to the Matsumoto office branch in Beijing, China.

But Ning Weimin can first withdraw a portion of the money from Pierre Caton, which can be considered a corporate loan.

And even though this amount of money is just a drop in the bucket compared to Ning Weimin's overseas wealth, it is already an astronomical figure when converted into RMB - 30 million!

This is still the official price. If you are not in a hurry, you can exchange it privately for 60 million RMB.

In this republic of this era, whoever possesses such a huge wealth will have purchasing power that is equivalent to being directly magnified dozens of times overseas.

Needless to say, Ning Weimin, who had a lot of money, could squander it however he wanted.

So he not only accompanied Jiang Nianyun to the Beijing Jade Factory to do a lot of shopping, he also widely targeted other special art factories in the Beijing arts and crafts industry that also had a large inventory of treasures.

You should know that the Beijing craftsmen used to live in the cultural district of the south city, so the handicraft factories established by the state were also mainly concentrated here.

In fact, in addition to the jade factory, ivory factories, palace lantern factories, badge factories, bone carving factories, wood carving factories, material factories, lacquerware factories, filigree inlay factories, precious arts filigree factories... and so on are also located in the cultural district.

The situations in these factories are roughly the same, and there are still piles of fun stuff.

Especially since we have been living in hard times for too long and now the prices of raw materials are skyrocketing, we are eager to sell some of the goods in stock to solve practical difficulties and improve the living conditions of the employees.

Moreover, there are many factories here that have had good cooperation with Ning Weimin. Some factories have even established long-term cooperative relations with Ning Weimin, so the level of trust is naturally very high.

When they saw him coming to buy things, all the factories treated him as the Bodhisattva Guanyin who saves people from suffering.

No one suspected at all that he was here to take advantage of the situation, or that he was just a mercenary who came to pick up something for free.

The manufacturers are all very welcoming and grateful, so they have to give discounts.

A 10% discount is not enough, it’s not good enough, it should be at least 20% off.

As for the quality of the goods?

Needless to say.

The craftsmanship of the capital city began with the Imperial Household Department, which recruited outstanding craftsmen from all over the country during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the arts and crafts industry began to receive support and assistance from the government and continued to optimize and integrate talents and skills.

So almost all the factories in the arts and crafts industry in Beijing eventually became state-owned factories that could earn foreign exchange for the country. Every factory had once been glorious, and naturally they produced many good things.

Moreover, each factory has its own famous teachers and unique skills. Many factories have brought honor to the country because of their political tasks, and they were the main source of export earnings in those years.

For example, this ivory carving factory once had a well-known craftsman named Cui Huaxuan, who was famous for his exquisite hollowing techniques.

His representative work is the ivory ball.

Its hollow carving, layered rotation and other techniques were once regarded by foreigners as the pinnacle of Chinese carving skills. As early as the Republic of China period, it had attracted widespread attention and praise from foreigners.

The exquisiteness of the ivory ball lies in the unimaginable carving. It has thirteen layers, each of which is engraved with delicate flowers and plants, and all are round and can rotate freely.

The meticulousness of his thoughts and the ingenuity of his carvings are simply incredible.

There are also works of ladies' figures, which are also the most representative products of ivory carving in Beijing.

The outstanding features are a wide range of subjects, vivid modeling, detailed image portrayal, gorgeous costumes, elegant folds in clothes, and varied flipping and folding of dance belts.

There was once a famous ivory carving craftsman named Wang Bin in the capital, who was particularly good at this.

His remaining works include "The Heavenly Girl Scattering Flowers", "Chang'e Flying to the Moon", "Mulan Joins the Army", "A Dream of Red Mansions", "The West Chamber", etc.

It may appear as a single character or as a group of characters, contrasting with ancient buildings and furnishings in the house.

Become a three-dimensional painting with background and plot.

There is another particularly unique subject matter in Beijing’s ivory carvings that is not found anywhere else – the elderly.

This work gets its name from the fact that most of the characters in it have beards.

Like the subject of ladies, the subject of elderly people often uses "scenery" to express a complete story.

For example, there are "Gathering of Scholars in the Western Garden", "Qingxi Festival at the Orchid Pavilion" and "Eighteen Scholars" which describe gatherings of scholars; and "Collecting Herbs in the Mountains" and "Playing the Lute Under the Pine Trees" which describe hermits.

"The Four Loves", also written by Wang Bin, expresses the elegance and grace of ancient literati through Wang Xizhi's love for geese, Tao Yuanming's love for chrysanthemums, Su Dongpo's love for inkstones, and Wang Maoshu's love for lotus.

For a work like this, even without considering the added bonus of a famous artist’s craftsmanship, the cost of materials alone is not cheap.

Even in modern society where ivory trading is banned, the official legal repurchase price of raw ivory alone is US$2,100 per kilogram.

So from this perspective, it is not expensive at all for an ivory figure carved by an ivory carving factory to cost five or six thousand yuan.

A large ivory carving, made of almost a whole tusk, costs 38,000 yuan. What else can you say?

It's so cheap, so I must thank the other party for their friendship and giving me face.

You have to treat us, right?

And this is just the stuff from the ivory carving factory.

In terms of precious raw materials and superb craftsmanship, the filigree inlay factory is no less than the capital's unique goldsmith skills. Like this filigree inlay factory, there was once a famous craftsman named Zhang Juwu who was praised by his peers as the "filigree king".

He became famous during the early Qing Dynasty.

In addition to his filigree inlaid "Basket of Treasure Flowers" and "Seven Treasures Revolving Pot" which were exhibited at the Paris International Exposition and received rave reviews, he also became famous for making jewelry for the empress in the palace before the wedding ceremony of Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty.

Only a few of his works remain in the filigree and inlay factory.

The most amazing one among them is called "Golden Jade Nine Dragon Wall", which is the most valuable item in the factory.

The work is 809 cm long, 120 cm wide and 235.5 cm high. It is a scaled-down imitation of the glazed Nine-Dragon Wall in Beihai Park.

There are 1 groups of brackets chiseled on the main ridge about 86 cm on the top of the wall, with a total of 7588 faces, all of which were made by hand-filing and splicing.

Each of the 3 tiles, with a diameter of about 252 mm, is intricately carved with swimming dragons.

The entire work uses 15.3 kilograms of gold, 2.6 kilograms of silver, and 1382 jewels, emeralds and diamonds.

In addition, there is a silver filigree inlaid ornament - "Temple of Heaven Prayer Hall".

The work is based on the ancient building Temple of Heaven, reduced in size at a ratio of 1:20, and consumes 31.5 grams of silver.

Moreover, it took Zhang Juwu more than six months to complete this work, which was extremely laborious.

Because Ning Weimin was eager to buy the two masterpieces, the filigree and inlay factory finally agreed to sell them to him as a package for a full price of four million yuan.

It was Ning Weimin who had spent three million RMB earlier to give the filigree and inlay factory a big job to customize a pure gold "Taixu Fantasy Land"? Just that one job revitalized the entire factory's financial situation.

The factory manager is just returning the favor to Jing'er.

Sure enough, Ning Weimin also understood the factory director’s thoughts. After buying these two treasures that he liked, he was overjoyed and did not hesitate.

Immediately, he placed a large order with the gold wire inlay factory in the name of "Dragon Cultural Development Company" - that was to create a golden hoop about two meters long for the Monkey King Sun Wukong.

This is the company he just registered, which he plans to use as a vehicle to operate the Dragon Palace project.

It was Ning Weimin who came up with this idea after cooperating with Longtan Lake Park.

He always felt that the golden cudgel in the TV series "Journey to the West" was not majestic enough and too simple.

I really want to reshape the golden hoop according to my ideal appearance and embody the beauty of shape and texture. I don't want the public to be limited in their thinking by stereotyped routines.

The manufacturer was also very interested in this very special spot. They felt that if this thing was made and displayed together with the props in the play and shown to the public, it would not only not conflict but would be very interesting.

However, according to Ning Weimin's request to use gold, the factory estimates that it will use about 20 kilograms of gold, and the cost is still likely to be high.

Fortunately, Ning Weimin is afraid of everything except the price.

So there was another price, and the two parties finally decided on a project for cooperation again for 2.44 million yuan, and decided to work together to reproduce the first magic weapon for the mythical IP "Journey to the West".

In short, Ning Weimin spent money lavishly. He bought whatever he saw was good and whatever he saw was expensive. He was not afraid of the high prices at all. He also signed several big orders with some factories.

After this incident, he had copied all the best things in the arts and crafts industry in the capital.

In the future, even exhibits of the same type in national museums may not be as valuable as those in his hands.

So much so that Kang Shude and Jiang Nianyun couldn't help feeling a little confused when they saw him buying things like this.

One of them asked him, "Wei Min, didn't you buy too many of these things? Even though our Yun Garden is big enough to accommodate all these things, you can't make Yun Garden look like the Afang Palace, right? If you put all these good things here, people will hate you. Too much is as bad as too little, you better think carefully and don't bring yourself trouble."

Another said, "That's right. Jade and stone are fine, and I won't say anything about ivory and rhino horns. But you brought back so many large gold and silver items. That's a bit too much. Well, you don't care about the millions of dollars. You bought one, two, and you even ordered a third time, a pure gold hoop. No matter how rich you are, you can't show off like this. What do you think?"

However, Ning Weimin said, "Fourth aunt, Master, I understand your concerns. But I am not motivated by pure selfishness. I just can't bear to see these things piled up in the warehouses of various factories for years. That is a crime. It's a pity that these good things are buried. Since I bought them, I want to put them to practical use."

"Where do you think these treasures should be displayed? In fact, they should be displayed where the public can see them, where people working in the arts and crafts industry can see them. So when I thought about it, I had an idea. I plan to display some of the things I bought in the Pierre Cardon Building to open the eyes of foreign guests and let them know that China has interesting things. Some things cannot be created by Westerners."

"As for the treasures made of gold and silver, they are the easiest for foreigners to respect us. Foreigners are urbanites. It is rumored that there are many such things in the Lisboa Hotel in Macau. So why does the gambling king display them? It's not just to show off, the key is to dispel the arrogance of certain guests so that you can make money from them."

"In addition, I also plan to contact two art schools in Beijing. I will lend them some of the things I bought and some of the calligraphy and paintings I have, so as to enhance our art teachers and students' understanding of traditional skills and aesthetic tastes. So that they can stand on the shoulders of their predecessors and create better things."

"Finally, I still have to choose a location to open a new restaurant. My personal opinion is that the bigger the place, the better. I really want a courtyard house with three entrances and four courtyards. But of course the house can't be left empty. I bought these things for the actual needs of the restaurant in the future, just like the famous wines I stockpiled. This is to be prepared. If I don't buy some in advance, when the house is ready, I won't have anywhere to go temporarily."

"And let me tell you this, buying the warehouses of these factories is not enough. This time I want to buy out all the porcelain in the Dunhuazhai and Hongguang Pavilion in Beijing, and all the hardwood furniture in the Beijing Trust Store. By the same token, I will need them when I open a restaurant. Don't underestimate the number of things. Once they are scattered in several places, they won't seem too much."

Well, let’s not talk about it. It’s not that Ning Weimin’s ideas are completely wrong.

If Kang Shude and Jiang Nianyun considered things from his perspective, they would find that he did have practical needs.

Moreover, if these things fell into his hands and were really put to good use, it would be just the right thing to do.

So after thinking it over, I finally just gave him a few words of advice, telling him not to make too much noise and not to attract too much attention.

But then again, even so, Ning Weimin still feels regretful about some things.

Because as soon as he saw the pure silver Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, he couldn't help but imagine what it would be like if his relationship with the Temple of Heaven was still as good as before.

Needless to say, the silver Temple of Heaven Prayer Hall weighing several hundred kilograms must be placed in the North Kitchen.

If that happens, it will definitely be the first focal point that both guests and tourists will praise.

It must have shocked the guests.

It will not only enhance the elegance of the Tan Palace Restaurant, but also increase the reputation of the Temple of Heaven Park. It is truly a win-win for us all.

It’s a pity that now the two sides have parted ways, and it is naturally impossible for such a situation to benefit both parties.

So Ning Weimin can only put this treasure into his private collection, and it will not be available to the public for the time being.

It's not that he is unlucky, it seems that the Temple of Heaven is not so lucky. (End of this chapter)