Sail across the sea

Chapter 550 Introducing External Aid
On Monday morning, the small conference room of the Chemical Engineering Design Institute was filled with smoke. A group of institute leaders sat around the conference table, each with a cigarette in hand, and were having a heated discussion about a matter of life and death for the entire institute.

"In recent years, the national finances have become increasingly strained, and the budgets of various departments have been reduced. Although the budget of our design institute has not decreased, it has not increased for several years."

“I spoke with comrades from the Finance and Planning Commission, and they said the situation will only get worse in the next few years. Some local chemical engineering design institutes have already been transformed into enterprises, or are semi-enterprise/semi-public institutions. It’s hard to say whether our institute will become a corporate entity in the future. I heard that some leaders in the ministry have privately suggested that our institute should be pushed out into the market and directly become a corporate entity.”

Dean Cai Muqing addressed the crowd in a low voice.

“I’ve heard that some scholars have proposed abolishing all public institutions, not just research institutions, but also schools and hospitals, and turning them all into enterprises. There’s an expert at Renmin University named Qi Honghuang, who’s been particularly active lately, and he even said that the police should be marketized. He said he’s studied in the United States and that prisons there are contracted out to private companies to operate; that’s what they call a small government.”

A vice president named Di Sucheng revealed this information.

"That's utter nonsense!" another vice dean named Dai Shenghua scoffed. "Public security, public security, if it's turned into a market, isn't that just private security? These liberal arts students are always saying things that are outrageous, and they're the ones who are making things difficult for the country."

"Old Dai, you're being discriminatory about your major again. What's wrong with liberal arts? Look at Old Zhang, he studied liberal arts, but has he contributed less to the institute than you?" someone reminded him with a smile.

This statement is less of a reminder and more of an attempt to stir up trouble; it clearly reflects a "the more the merrier" mentality.

"Hey, hey, how did this get onto me?" The liberal arts student, known as Lao Zhang, was caught in the crossfire and couldn't help but protest.

Cai Muqing interrupted the conversation by tapping the microphone and saying, "Alright, alright, let's not discuss those social issues here. The purpose of today's meeting is to discuss how we should respond to the increasingly tight budgets allocated by the government."

"What else can we do? Those who are capable should jump ship quickly, and those who aren't should just wait to die. I think the institute shouldn't stop those who want to switch jobs. If they leave, won't it lighten the institute's burden?" Dai Shenghua said. He was always somewhat cynical and always had to have a point.

“That’s right. Everyone in this room, without exception, is a science and engineering student. They could all find a job elsewhere. I, a liberal arts student, might as well stay and live or die with the design institute.” The liberal arts student surnamed Zhang made sarcastic remarks, which was his retaliation for Dai Shenghua’s sweeping generalization earlier.

"We're all leaders of the institute, so there's no need for such irresponsible remarks," Cai Muqing said with a dark face. "The country entrusted such a large design institute to us, hoping that we could shoulder the responsibility. There are many units like ours facing difficulties now. If every unit has this kind of attitude, wouldn't our country collapse like the former Soviet Union?"

Having said all this, it's a warning to everyone. If you continue to speak recklessly, believe it or not, Cai Muqing will report these things to the ministry, and that would be enough to get you all into serious trouble.

Don't be fooled by Dai Shenghua's nonchalant attitude; if you really asked him to leave the design institute, he would definitely cry and refuse to leave.

The logic is simple: some private companies do offer higher salaries, but their job requirements are also higher. Dai Shenghua was capable of handling tough challenges in his youth; otherwise, he wouldn't have become the vice dean. His audacity in making such pronouncements at meetings stems from his perceived qualifications. But if he were to work for a private company, would they care about his experience? At his age, could he still handle the all-nighters?

Ultimately, if the design institute collapses, people like him will suffer the most, while young engineers will have a better chance of survival.

Having silenced everyone's noise, Cai Muqing simply abandoned the usual "metaphorical and allegorical" techniques and stated directly:
"Hoping for increased government funding within three to five years is hopeless; we can only save ourselves. The only way to save ourselves is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure."

"We can cut spending. Last year, we formulated several regulations to restrict public spending. The number of receptions in the hospital has decreased by 70% compared to the past, and the reception standards have also been lowered. It has indeed played a certain role."

"However, simply reducing public spending cannot solve the difficulties faced by the institute. Moreover, there are limits to reducing spending. If we continue to cut spending, we will not be able to guarantee everyone's normal working environment, which is not what we all want to see."

These words struck a chord with everyone. The purpose of serving as an official is precisely to enjoy life, right? Now, with reduced spending on official banquets and restrictions on overseas travel, even using an official car for personal errands requires secrecy and a pretext. Everyone is truly fed up with this kind of life.

"so……"

Seeing the changes in everyone's expressions, Cai Muqing knew her words had worked, and then moved on to today's main topic:
"We should focus more on revenue generation. Revenue generation is what the country strongly advocates. Our next step is to invest more energy and resources in revenue generation, and strive to achieve a complete improvement in the institute's financial situation through revenue generation."

“Old Cai, haven’t we been working on generating revenue all along? The training program our institute ran initially did quite well, and we even gave everyone a bonus with the profits. But it’s gotten worse and worse since then, and the trainees we recruited are all complaining. These trainees were all recruited through our personal connections within the system, and now we’re embarrassed to even see our old friends.”

Di Sucheng interrupted again. He was a senior vice president of the institute, and Cai Muqing had once been his subordinate, so he dared to interrupt Cai Muqing whenever he wanted.

With him taking the lead, other leaders also started complaining, basically saying that while generating revenue was a good thing, none of the revenue-generating projects so far had been without their problems. Some revenue-generating projects had caused chaos, with the institute investing a lot of resources and favors, only to end up with very little profit, making it a complete loss. Other revenue-generating projects were simply net losses, perhaps because the people in charge of the projects had embezzled funds from the institute and pocketed them.

Cai Muqing patiently listened to everyone's complaints for ten minutes before tapping the microphone again, reclaiming her right to speak, and solemnly addressed the crowd:

“Everyone is right. So, I’ve decided to change my revenue generation strategy and bring in outside help.”

(End of this chapter)