National Tide 1980.

Tianjin Port is located at the western end of the Bohai Bay and the mouth of the Haihe River, giving it a very obvious geographical advantage.

It not only radiates to the inland hinterland of Northeast, North, and Northwest China, but also connects Northeast Asia with Central and West Asia.

It serves as the maritime gateway to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and is also the first cruise home port in northern China.

In 1860, during the tenth year of the Xianfeng Emperor's reign, Tianjin Port was opened to foreign trade and became a treaty port.

On October 17, 1952, Tianjin Port reopened.

In 1984, Tianjin Port was selected as the first pilot unit for port system reform in the People's Republic of China.

Although it has not yet become a 30-tonnage port like it would be in later years, it is still not comparable to the Port of Tokyo, the premier port in Asia.

But thanks to the benefits brought about by reform and opening up, this place finally began to flourish.

The past few years have seen tremendous and rapid development, full of vitality.

Here, you can feel the salty sea breeze blowing in your face and into your nostrils, a truly unique experience.

Here, it's always bustling, and you can see magnificent sights that you can't see anywhere else.

Ten-thousand-ton ships, thousand-ton ships—countless ocean-going vessels dock here every day.

Countless strange goods and people from various countries have docked here.

In particular, the port's storage yards are piled high with containers shipped from all over the world.

The colorful iron boxes, stacked together by cranes, were densely packed and parked side by side in the open space next to the dock.

The endless expanse of paint colors and metallic reflections covered almost every piece of land here, turning it into a sea of ​​containers gleaming with wealth.

Perhaps only those who have truly experienced poverty and backwardness in this era can appreciate the vitality this port exudes and the beauty of its hidden wealth.

Only those who work diligently here can truly understand the immense significance of this port's ever-increasing cargo throughput for the economic development of the northern part of the Republic.

May 11, 1990, a Friday, seemed like an ordinary day, but for Wang Hai, the person in charge of the D area of ​​the Tianjin Port cargo yard, it became an unforgettable day.

Around eight o'clock in the morning, when he, the section chief of the station management office, rode his bicycle to work, he could clearly sense from afar that something was amiss today.

For no other reason than that before he even reached the port area on his bicycle, he saw countless large trucks lined up in long queues.

Judging from the distance, he estimated that if the line stretched all the way to the gate of the freight yard, there would be at least a hundred vehicles. He had never encountered such a scene in the freight yard he was in charge of.

Are all those cars waiting to pick up their containers?
Without a doubt, yes.

Before the gates are opened to release goods, there are usually only twenty or thirty vehicles lined up at the gate when he comes to work in the morning, and most of the time there are only a dozen or so.

When have there ever been so many cars queuing up together, and queuing up for so long?

what happened?
Is it because some super-large company's imported goods have arrived and are all being shipped out today?
But if that's the case, shouldn't the superiors have given him a heads-up beforehand?

This unusual situation immediately made him nervous.

Looking at the clock again, I realized I was five minutes late.

He quickly sped up his bike, wanting to get to the office as soon as possible to see what was going on.

Needless to say, with so many cars on the road, today was another incredibly busy day.

His biggest worry right now is that the information transmission might go wrong, or that some important mission or important person might appear at the freight yard and catch him off guard.

As the saying goes, you shouldn't punish the greedy or the lazy, but rather the blind.

Don't underestimate the importance of being a few minutes late normally; if it happens on a special occasion, it could lead to serious trouble.

However, the actual situation seemed to be better than he had imagined. When he hurriedly rode his bike to his destination, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Because he observed the entrance from a great distance, he didn't see any leaders from the Public Security Bureau, Maritime Bureau, or Customs, although there were more people waiting at the entrance than usual, numbering over fifty.

But these people look normal; they seem like ordinary people.

"You must be Section Chief Wang from the Terminal Management Office. My name is Qi Yanjun, and I am the general manager of Dadao International Trading Company. I've brought people and a vehicle here today to pick up the container. I'm so sorry to have troubled you."

Just as Wang Haigang rode his bike to the door, before he could even ask what was going on, a man in a suit and tie, accompanied by two attendants, walked towards him and extended his hand to greet him.

"Oh, hello, hello. Manager Qi, don't be so polite, just call me Lao Wang."

Wang Hai quickly got out of the car and shook hands with Qi Yanjun.

It was their first meeting, but judging by appearances was inevitable.

The other person was good-looking and had a charming demeanor; his suit was clearly a designer brand, although I had never heard of the company he worked for.

But the other party actually came as a group.

He was quite suspicious of the other party's background, so he naturally didn't want to act arrogantly.

Sure enough, it's unclear whether the other party is a "second-generation" or not, but at least they know everything about picking up goods at the port.

It's important to know that picking up containers at the cargo yard involves complicated procedures. You need to prepare valid documents for picking up the goods, such as the original bill of lading or a copy of the telex release bill of lading, as well as identification documents.

Furthermore, imported goods also require customs clearance documents such as customs declarations and import licenses to ensure that the goods have been cleared.

Although the person was still being polite, saying "I dare not," his hands and feet didn't stop for a moment, and he quickly pulled out a large stack of documents from his bag.

"Section Chief Wang, all our paperwork is here. This shipment consists of 240 standard containers. We plan to ship 88 containers today, and we'll deal with the rest another day. Is that alright?"

He then turned back and gestured, continuing, "These people are all from our company's counterpart units. They're just here to pick up the goods; they won't handle the paperwork, I'll handle everything with you. Just ask me if you need anything." Wang Hai was stunned to hear that they had come as a group.

"So, everything was done together. But... you're taking away eighty-eight standard containers today? That's way too many! So all those trucks queuing up are yours? I mean, since you're taking so much cargo, why didn't you call us in advance to make an appointment?"

Qi Yanjun quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry. To be honest, we originally only planned to take away fifty standard containers today. But some things were unexpected. The two metallurgical plants that we had arranged to meet were about to shut down due to a shortage of raw materials. When they heard that our goods had arrived, they were in a hurry to take them back. Several hundred workers are waiting for this batch of raw materials. So they came ahead of schedule. Please forgive us, we will definitely pay attention next time."

Then, someone brought over a tote bag containing four cartons of Yuxi cigarettes, enough for everyone in the office.

Only then did Wang Hai give up.

However, upon reviewing the details of the materials, he was surprised and couldn't help but exclaim.

"What? Your company is a privately owned enterprise? I've never seen a private company engaged in import trade before. Are you sure all these documents are genuine? Are you sure you haven't falsified anything?"

To be honest, it wasn't that he was deliberately making things difficult for me, or that he was overreacting.

It's mainly because this era was special.

Even after so many years of reform and opening up, the country's import and export business is still almost entirely controlled by the foreign trade department.

Currently, only a very small number of companies can manage to squeeze some profits out of the foreign trade department.

Without exception, they were either joint ventures or state-owned enterprises with strong backgrounds. He had never seen a private enterprise with the qualifications to engage in import and export trade, let alone bring so many vehicles and so many so-called counterparts.

The facts were all suspicious, so how could he not worry that he had encountered a swindler?
However, nothing is absolute, and true gold will ultimately withstand the test of fire.

Qi Yanjun had brought a photocopy of the special approval documents with him, and when he saw that it was stamped with the red seal of the "First Ministry," which was in charge of foreign trade, Wang Hai was a little dumbfounded.

Moreover, the tax payment certificate, customs inspection, and clearance procedures were all complete and legal, so Wang Hai really couldn't find any fault with it.

Furthermore, the colleagues from the corresponding units were all carrying their work IDs. They took out their credentials, and surprisingly, many of them were from reputable organizations, leaving Wang Hai speechless.

In reality, at this point, even if he wanted to refuse to let them pass, he couldn't.

Because everything about Qi Yanjun reveals something strange about him, suggesting that his background is unusual.

Wang Hai was quite self-aware; he didn't stick to rigid ideas or argue about things he didn't understand.

As long as the other party's documents are genuine and they act in accordance with the rules and regulations, there is no responsibility.

After confirming the authenticity and validity of the documents, a container release order was issued, specifying the container's location, container number, and other detailed information, before the gate was opened to allow the container to pass.

In addition, to make it easier for the other party to pick up the goods, several more dispatchers and on-site managers were found for Qi Yanjun and his team to arrange on-site work.

Even so, his curiosity was hard to quell. When the accountant was calculating the relevant dock fees that Qi Yanjun needed to pay, such as storage fees and loading and unloading fees, he couldn't help but ask a few questions.

"Manager Qi, what exactly does your company do? You're importing over two hundred containers at once, which is more than many state-owned enterprises!"

Unexpectedly, Qi Yanjun said, "I'm not too sure either. It's just some secondhand goods from Japan. There's everything: daily necessities, clothing, home appliances, furniture, musical instruments, iron ingots, copper ingots, and so on. Anyway, these are all on our tax return. As for other things, I don't know if we'll deal with them in the future."

"Wow, it's so mixed up!"

Wang Hai really couldn't understand it. This place had turned into a general store. He had never seen a company doing import trade like this before.

"So what kind of cooperation do these counterpart units have with you? I see not only metallurgical plants, but also research institutes, machinery factories, electrical appliance factories, and agricultural universities. Do you think they come here just to get a few boxes of used goods from you? Besides, you need a lot of foreign exchange quota to import these things, right? You transport the goods all the way back, not to mention the customs taxes, our dock fees alone will cost you nearly 200,000 yuan. I'm just wondering, how can your company make money selling used goods to these counterpart units? Besides, are Japanese goods really that good? Why are even used items so sought after?"

He was too embarrassed to say that the other person was a junk collector.

Unexpectedly, Qi Yanjun laughed when he said that, took out a cigarette and offered it to him, while also revealing the secret to him.

"You're curious, aren't you? Actually, I was clueless when I first came to handle this matter. But once I really understood what our boss was thinking, I wasn't curious anymore, and I even admired him a little."

"What happened? Tell me about it." Wang Hai took the cigarette and lit it with Qi Yanjun's lighter.

"That's right. Our boss does business in Japan, where there are profitable businesses. So, bringing these things back doesn't affect his foreign exchange quota at all. The key is that he didn't even intend to make money from a lot of the things he brought back. For example, the metal ingots needed by metallurgical plants are pure ingots without any impurities. They're much better than the junk in China. The price is also lower than the domestic adjustment price. We're lucky if we can break even on the cost of bringing them back. Our goal is to support national construction and do our part to stabilize the raw material market."

"And look at those five containers that the agricultural university is taking away. They contain nothing but Japanese agricultural machinery. Our boss bought them at a low price, and the ones that are returned are still usable. We're giving them away for free to the agricultural university and the machinery factory, hoping they can use them and learn from the Japanese machinery to design or replicate agricultural machinery that suits our own needs."

"And then there are those well-known home appliance manufacturers. Our boss made us collect information and call them one by one to notify them. Haier, Meiling, Xiamen Hua, Lehua, Yangzi, Guqiao, Chunlan, Jinxing, Changhong, Little Swan, Baiju... Each one sent a container of appliances. They were also given away for free, the purpose of which was to help the domestic home appliance industry quickly produce home appliances comparable to those from Japan..."

"What? Wait, wait, wait, you mean it's free? You must be kidding me!"

Wang Hai was stunned; he simply couldn't believe such a thing could happen.

"If it were just one or two items, that would be manageable. But home appliances and agricultural machinery—if they were all shipped in containers, how much money would that cost?"

However, Qi Yanjun still insisted, "Hey, that's why we have to say our boss's abilities and character are truly admirable. I won't lie to you, my boss and I used to work for Pierre Cardin, but now we're basically running our own business. Don't let his busy schedule making money in Japan fool you; he's incredibly good to his own people. Anyway, I can't fool anyone about this. You can just ask those people and you'll know for sure, right? They won't lie to me..."

That was spot on, and Wang Hai was immediately speechless.

But the shock in my heart did not diminish in the slightest.

Although he couldn't believe it for a moment, he was happy to see such a person and such a thing.

And it must be admitted that everyone who came today was overjoyed, and their mood was genuine.

I have to say, if someone were to do that, they would really have guts.

What kind of person would do something like this?

Piercarton?

Are people who come from foreign companies really that capable?
It would be great if we could meet. (End of Chapter)