Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 830 Basic Negotiations Reached
Picking green vegetables is a custom during the Chinese New Year. In some places, it is also called "stealing green vegetables." In the local dialect, "green" is a homophone for "gold" and "vegetables" is a homophone for "wealth," which means that wealth will flow in throughout the year.

Later, it was extended to opening ceremonies and even became the most exciting part of lion dance culture.

There's even a saying: "Pick green vegetables, pick green vegetables, good luck lasts forever; pick vegetables, pick vegetables, congratulations on getting rich."

After picking the vegetables, the red lion performed a few tricks before swaying and approaching Zhou Yali. Immediately, someone brought over a tray, and the red lion "spit" the vegetables into the tray.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Jianguo lit the firecrackers he had prepared, creating a lively and exciting scene.

First, the lions dot the eyes of the animals, then they perform a lion dance and pick the green leaves, and finally, the ribbon is

After a series of ceremonies, the opening ceremony reached its final step: the ribbon-cutting.

Today's ribbon-cutting ceremony used the "three-cut method." Under Fang Xiaoying's direction, Zhou Yali and several leaders stepped forward and stood in a row. The etiquette ladies held ribbons decorated with red silk flowers and interspersed among them. Each of them picked up scissors tied with red flowers and cut the ribbons.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony in later generations was just a formality; it ended there.

However, according to the "three-cut method," the red silk is only the first cut, which cuts the "pathway."

Then another group of people came up with trays, this time with gold ribbons cut into the shape of "good fortune".

Finally, they changed to colorful ribbons and cut out the characters for "gathering wealth".

These ribbons were bought from Hong Kong; gold and rainbow-colored ribbons are not yet available in mainland China.

At this point, the opening ceremony was finally over.

Zhou Yali put down the scissors and, accompanied by Ye Yufeng, invited several leaders to visit the park.

Chen Fan returned to his chairman's office on the 9th floor, where he leisurely smoked and sipped tea, enjoying the unparalleled sea view of Shenzhen Bay.

A moment later, Mr. Yuan knocked on the open door and walked straight in. "I didn't see you downstairs, so I guessed you were here."

Chen Fan walked over and sat down, placed a teacup in front of him, poured him a glass of water, and said with a smile, "Why didn't you stay with the leader?"

Mr. Yuan picked up his teacup, blew on it, shook his head, and said, "What's the point of keeping you company? We're all old acquaintances who have dealt with each other many times. There's no need for such formalities. I've visited your company's industrial park many times, so there's no need for me to join in the fun."

He put down his teacup, turned to look at Chen Fan, thought for a moment, and said, "I have reported your plan to invest in a five-star hotel to the higher-ups. The province and the city are very interested, so the leaders who came to the ribbon-cutting ceremony today are also responsible for negotiating with you on this matter."

Regarding this matter, if you have any thoughts or requests, you can tell me first. Our two families are in the same boat; whether certain conditions are suitable or not, we can discuss them. However, there are some things that are inconvenient to say in front of them, or rather, saying them would carry consequences.

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "I'm not Zhou Yali. Do you think I don't understand the situation in China?"

Mr. Yuan pursed his lips and nodded slightly, then laughed and said, "I had almost forgotten about that."

He turned to look at Chen Fan and sighed, "With your relationship with Miss Zhou, it's like you're family. You must be the one making all the strategic decisions for this company. Sometimes I really think you're the boss."

Chen Fan snorted twice, "Don't say that outside, or you'll get me in trouble."

Mr. Yuan quickly waved his hand, "No, no, I just said it offhand, it was just a casual remark."

Chen Fan took out two cigarettes and handed them over, saying, "As you know, my cousin won't graduate from university for another year or so. She's been spoiled since she was a child and has never faced any setbacks. This company is just for her father to practice with. He said it's an investment of one hundred million US dollars, but the start-up capital is only ten million. She'll have to earn the rest herself."

As for investing in the mainland, that was my suggestion.

That's why my uncle entrusted my cousin to me, asking me to look after her. Little did I expect it would lead to this trouble.

He leaned back and lit a cigarette, saying, "Otherwise, I should be on vacation at home right now, instead of being here accompanying them in negotiations."

His complaints did not elicit any sympathy from President Yuan. Instead, President Yuan stared at him in disbelief. "Only ten million US dollars upfront, with no follow-up funding? And you still want to invest in a five-star hotel?"

Chen Fan turned to look at him and smiled, "What are you saying? Which company invests entirely with its own money? Even the Jianguo Hotel in Beijing, wasn't the 20 million US dollars invested by the Chinese side a loan provided by a foreign bank?"

Given Wanmuchun Company's sales performance worldwide, what difficulty would there be in building a hotel, let alone the tens of millions of dollars needed? Even hundreds of millions of dollars would be easily achievable.

Mr. Yuan blinked, then immediately realized, "That's true."

Then, looking at him, she asked, "So, what are your thoughts on this five-star hotel?"

Chen Fan flicked his cigarette ash, stood up, walked to the window, pointed to a spot to the east, and said, "Yali wants to put the hotel address there."

Mr. Yuan followed him over, looked at the place he was pointing to, then turned his head back, "Houhai Bay?"

This Houhai is not the Houhai in Beijing, but the Houhai in the bay between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Long ago, Hong Kong named this bay "Hou Hai Wan" (meaning "behind Qian Hai Wan"), and Hou Hai Wan is the place where most people swim across.

This Houhai Bay is the famous "Shenzhen Bay" of later generations.

However, it wasn't until 1984 that it was renamed; for now, it's still called "Houhai Bay".

Chen Fan made a gesture and said with a smile, "This place is very close to the Shekou Industrial Zone. Even if Shenzhen is designated as an export special zone in the future, this area will definitely be included in the special zone. So we must choose this place, and we can only choose this place."

Upon hearing his words, President Yuan was speechless. After several seconds, he finally said, "So, by investing in building this hotel, you're actually betting on the future of the export special zone?"

Chen Fan spread his hands and chuckled, "Are you betting on the future of your Shekou Industrial Zone? No matter how prosperous the industrial zone is, it's still just a tiny piece of land, not enough to support a five-star hotel."

But once Shenzhen was designated as a special export zone, the situation changed drastically.

He pointed to the vast land outside, saying, "I dare not speak of other places, but from here to the Luohu Port, most of them will be within the scope of the Special Economic Zone."

As a pioneer of the special economic zone, the area surrounding Shekou Industrial Zone is bound to become the first choice for the special economic zone to build industrial parks.

As more and more foreign investors come to invest here, the five-star hotels built in this prime location will surely thrive.

He turned to face Mr. Yuan and smiled, "The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone is the foundation of our confidence in investing in and building a five-star hotel. Otherwise, we could have learned from Mr. Huo and located the hotel in Guangzhou. With the Canton Fair as a base, the hotel's business would be guaranteed to be good." Hearing this, Mr. Yuan remained silent for several minutes before walking back to the coffee table, throwing his cigarette butt into the ashtray, turning to look at him, and saying, "Now I finally understand why Mr. Zhou entrusted Ms. Zhou to you. Your strategic vision is something even I, as the initiator of the Shekou Industrial Zone, don't possess as much confidence in the Special Economic Zone as you do."

Before Chen Fan could speak, he turned around, walked to the sofa, and sat down, saying, "Speak, what are your conditions?"

Chen Fan also went over and sat down, looking at him and saying, "It's very simple. Compare our conditions to those of the White Swan Hotel."

Mr. Yuan raised an eyebrow and smiled, “The White Swan Hotel has three investors: one from the mainland and the other two are Hong Kong businessmen, Mr. Huo and Peng Guozhen. The main funding is provided by the Hong Kong businessmen, but the operating rights are shared by the three shareholders. Mr. Huo has decision-making power, but he needs the consent of the hotel manager. Without the consent of the hotel manager, he cannot make decisions on his own.”

Can you agree to these conditions?

Chen Fan smiled and said, "I agree."

Without hesitation, Mr. Yuan continued, "Referring to the White Swan Hotel, the total investment is US$50 million, with 520 luxury rooms and suites, nearly a thousand beds, and seven restaurants of different styles for guests from all over the world."

If you want to invest, you will need to bear this cost independently, give up at least 30% of the shares to the company, and be subject to the company's control over the operation.

After he finished speaking, Chen Fan smiled, handed him another cigarette, and said with a smile, "Compared to the Jianguo Hotel, this is quite a good deal."

Seeing that Chen Fan had no objections to these conditions, General Manager Yuan took a cigarette, lit it, exhaled a long breath, and looked at Chen Fan with a complicated expression. "The higher-ups are not yet in agreement on the construction of the export special zone. The main reason is not anything else, but they are worried about the prospects of the special zone and are afraid that the investment will go down the drain."

Why do you seem particularly confident about the future of the Special Administrative Region?

Chen Fan remained expressionless, flicked off the ash from his cigarette, took a couple of puffs, and then said softly, "President Yuan, have you ever been to particularly poor places?"

Mr. Yuan was slightly taken aback, pondered for two seconds, and said, "It's been a while since I've been there."

Chen Fan smiled and turned to look at him. "I've never been there."

Mr. Yuan was slightly taken aback. "If you haven't been there, what's the point of talking about it?"

Chen Fan smoked a cigarette and continued, "My hometown is in Yunhu area of ​​Jiangnan Province. It is a land of fish and rice. After the flood control, the whole area has had a bumper harvest almost every year, and the people have no worries about food and clothing."

Even in years of famine, with the coordination of higher authorities, people can weather the storms thanks to relief supplies.

After pausing for two seconds, he turned to look at President Yuan and said softly, "But having enough to eat and wear doesn't mean life is good. In places like Lujiawan where I live, people used to wear clothes patched one after another, and could only eat meat a few days a year during the Spring Festival."

Later, when the regulations were less strict, they learned that the higher authorities had issued a document encouraging rural areas to develop sideline businesses, so they started a breeding business, and then used the poultry and livestock they raised, such as chickens, ducks and geese, to set up a food processing plant.

After the meeting two years ago, and with the consent of the commune leaders, they set up the Lujiawan Industrial Park and moved factories such as food factories, garment factories, pottery factories, and wool washing factories into it.

Today in Lujiawan, every household lives in a two-story house with electricity and running water.

He looked at President Yuan, who was listening intently, and smiled, "I'm telling you this to tell you never to underestimate the creativity of ordinary people. As long as the higher-ups dare to loosen restrictions, the people below will dare to do it."

Good days are earned through hard work. As one of the first special export zones, you still have the two documents that were forwarded by your superiors last July, so you can imagine how little freedom you have.

Although the development of the special economic zone will face many difficulties, all difficulties are paper tigers in the face of the people's yearning for a better life.

Unless the authorities tighten restrictions again, returning to the situation of a few years ago when the winds were strong, no one can stop the development of the Special Economic Zone.

However, this assumption is impossible because on the core issue of economic development, the opinions at the top are consistent; the only point of contention is how to develop the economy.

This is the fundamental reason why I dared to suggest that my uncle and cousin invest and develop in mainland China, and specifically invest in five-star hotels.

After listening to his long speech, President Yuan let out a long breath, took two deep drags on his cigarette, threw away the butt, and said seriously, "Since you have this confidence, then I will accompany you to the end and make this project a success."

Chen Fan smiled at him. "Address?"

Mr. Yuan slapped his thigh and said, "Let's choose Houhai Bay."

Chen Fan grinned, "Shareholding percentage?"

Mr. Yuan said, "If it exceeds 50%, then we'll start negotiations with 70% as the benchmark. I will persuade the provincial leaders to make concessions."

Without waiting for Chen Fan to ask further questions, he said, "There is no problem with the management rights. As investors, you can take the lead together with the public."

As for the ten-year holding period for foreign shares in the Jianguo Hotel, that won't apply to you. Also, the promise by Mr. Huo and Mr. Peng to donate all profits is their personal matter and not a requirement placed on you.

Hearing his words, Chen Fan understood.

On the surface, it seemed that General Manager Yuan came to talk to him to communicate with him before discussing matters with the provincial leaders. But in reality, he had already agreed on the basic terms with the leaders and was now coming to negotiate with him ahead of time.

If there are disagreements on some points, they can be discussed in advance to prevent the negotiations from falling apart at once.

However, he did not expect that Chen Fan could foresee history and had more confidence in the special zone than he himself, so he dared to agree to these conditions.

Whether these conditions represent the bottom line is hard to say.

At this moment, President Yuan suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Everything else is fine. Now there's just one last question: if the final decision is that a gun emplacement must be built on the roof, can you accept that?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "I'll say it again: take the White Swan Hotel as an example. If they can build it, we can build it too; if they don't build it, we won't build it either."

President Yuan sat up straight, looked up and laughed, "Okay, it's a deal then."

Whether it can be built or not is still uncertain; it depends on what Mr. Huo can achieve.

However, with Chen Fan's words, all obstacles to the hotel project will disappear.

This is the advantage of having precedents. If Chen Fan or someone else were to pave the way, it wouldn't be something that the two of them could decide by sitting here and having a few words. It might even alarm the provincial authorities or higher up.

Just as Mr. Yuan was feeling relieved that his mission was accomplished, Chen Fan picked up the teapot, poured him a cup of tea, and said with a smile, "Mr. Yuan, with such a good project, wouldn't China Merchants Group invest in a few?"

(End of this chapter)