Sail across the sea

Chapter 526 is based on reason

Yuan Xiaoyan was once someone who was passionate about criticizing society. She felt that as a Chinese literature student, it was her duty to criticize society, just like those literary masters of 19th-century Europe, who didn't become famous for criticizing society?
Later, she met Gao Min, Gao Fan, Xia Shihui, and others. In these peers, she felt a kind of enthusiasm that she had not felt in her other classmates.

Gao Min told her about the development history of Xinglong Coatings Company, and how Chen Xingquan, a farmer, started from scratch and built such a large-scale coatings enterprise. Yuan Xiaoyan was also invited to visit Cangtang, where she met Gao Yiping and learned about the achievements of Canghai Fertilizer Plant and later Maolin Fertilizer Company.

Since these things happened to her friends, they were undoubtedly real and credible, which gave Yuan Xiaoyan a different perspective on the reality of China.

She began to realize that there are a group of people in China who work diligently and conscientiously, and that despite the many unsatisfactory aspects of society, China's progress is real and tangible.

The person who had the greatest influence on her was Gao Fan.

Gao Fan possesses a confidence that is extremely rare in this era. Sometimes Yuan Xiaoyan even feels that Gao Fan is a bit too confident, completely exceeding common sense.

However, Yuan Xiaoyan had to admit that Gao Fan had reason to be confident; his confidence was not without basis. It was just that artistic youths like Yuan Xiaoyan had never paid attention to these bases.

Canghai Chemical's Vitamin C products were able to force Lowe's to sign a humiliating treaty; Zelian's rare earths are selling for high prices on the international market, gradually eroding the market share of its Japanese and American counterparts. All of this demonstrates that Gao Fan is not a narrow-minded person; his understanding of the world surpasses that of most of his peers.

Whenever Gao Min invited Yuan Xiaoyan to dinner, if Gao Fan was also present, the conversation would often veer towards world affairs. Gao Fan was always able to draw on a wide range of sources to analyze the evolution of the global landscape.

According to Gao Fan, although China is still very poor, it has a series of advantages: abundant labor resources, a complete industrial and scientific research system, a system for concentrating resources on major tasks, a pragmatic approach, and rich experience and lessons accumulated over thousands of years of civilization.

Yuan Xiaoyan could clearly remember that many times when she enthusiastically talked about something abroad, Gao Fan could immediately find an ancient Chinese story and claim that it was just a game that the Chinese had already played.

When others talk about foreign countries, they're filled with admiration, believing they're thousands of years ahead of China. But in Gao Fan's mouth, foreign countries are nothing but barbarians. When Yuan Xiaoyan tried to argue with him, Gao Fan simply retorted:
"When Wang Bo wrote the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng, English didn't even exist yet. Are you telling me that Britain was thousands of years ahead of China?"

Yuan Xiaoyan immediately vomited blood because Gao Fan's words were so correct that she couldn't refute them at all.

Over time, Gao Fan completely changed Yuan Xiaoyan's worldview. When she heard others talking about how great foreign countries were, she would think to herself that foreign countries were nothing special. They were indeed a little ahead now, but if we worked hard, we might catch up.

"I understand what you mean. You just want to extend your brainwashing of me to a wider audience, don't you?" Yuan Xiaoyan said resentfully.

“This isn’t brainwashing, it’s establishing the right values,” Gao Fan corrected.

“But what does this have to do with your company? You’re not our president,” Yuan Xiaoyan retorted.

“It’s very relevant,” Gao Fan said. “Let me give you a simple example. You know the pressure Xinglong Coatings Company has been facing recently, right?”

"Of course I know, Sister Min has told me about it many times," Yuan Xiaoyan said. Seven years ago, Xinglong Coatings Company launched its independently developed water-based interior wall coating. With excellent public relations and promotion, as well as its genuine environmental quality, it quickly gained popularity among consumers and entered the national building decoration market.

In previous years, the consumption level of most residents in China was relatively low, and most families did not do any interior decoration. Those who could afford high-end paint were even rarer.

Of course, even if it's considered rare, multiplying even a small percentage by 12 billion people is enough for Xinglong Company to make a fortune.

In the past two years, residents' consumption levels have been quietly rising, the home renovation market has been gradually expanding, and the sales volume of paint has continued to increase. At this very moment, several foreign paint brands have also entered the Chinese market, creating competition with Xinglong Company.

Xinglong Company has conducted its own evaluation and confirmed that the performance of its "Long" brand interior wall paint is no less than that of several foreign brands, while the price is only two-thirds of theirs. Moreover, it has the reputation accumulated over the past few years, so it will not lose in the competition no matter what.

However, the reality is quite harsh. After several foreign brands entered the market, they quickly squeezed out Longpai Coatings' market share. The more developed the region, the more obvious this substitution became. Longpai Coatings is now almost subsidizing its losses in first-tier cities through sales in second- and third-tier cities. Chen Xingquan even considered simply withdrawing from the first-tier market altogether.

"Dragon Brand paint is no less high quality than Nibon or Delix, and it's even cheaper. So why can't it outsell these brands?" Gao Fan asked.

Yuan Xiaoyan subconsciously replied, "Nibang and Delixi are big foreign brands, and consumers definitely trust them more."

Why are big foreign brands more trustworthy?

"because……"

Yuan Xiaoyan was at a loss for words. Isn't it common sense that foreign brands are better than domestic brands? How was she going to explain this to Gao Fan?

Just as she thought of this, she suddenly realized something and looked at Gao Fan with surprise, asking uncertainly, "You mean that it is because of the excessive publicity about foreign brands in the media that consumers have this preconceived notion that even if domestic brands are actually no worse than foreign brands, consumers are still more willing to choose foreign brands?"

Gao Fan, with a calm and collected expression, countered with, "What do you think?"

“I think…” Yuan Xiaoyan tried hard to recall her thoughts when she was buying things, and finally nodded, saying, “That’s true. If I were buying paint myself, and there were Dragon Brand and Nibon, I would definitely think Nibon is more trustworthy.”

"In fact, I know very well about Longpai Coatings. I know that Longpai Coatings is no worse than Nibang. But this is based on rationality. Emotionally speaking, I just feel that foreign brands are better than domestic brands, without needing any reason."

"So, now you understand why I wanted someone to start a publication, right?"

(End of this chapter)