The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 635 The tentacles of "Liu's Overseas" can be seen everywhere!!!

In the face of great times, everyone is just a handful of grains of sand, extremely insignificant.

A seemingly inadvertent choice may lead to missing out on a great era.

When he graduated from the University of Hong Kong, Uncle Bao was lucky enough to jump into the financial torrent and became a member of the Asia Pacific Bank, the largest H-funded bank in Hong Kong.

From then on, he began his most glorious "Central life".

"Asia Pacific Bank" was the first financial enterprise invested and established by "Liu's Overseas Investment" when it settled in Hong Kong. It was formed by the merger of more than a dozen small banks at that time.

Today, "Asia Pacific Bank" has 35 branches in Hong Kong alone, and 278 branches in Hong Kong, Haojiang, T City, Lijiaopo, Jilongpo, Bangkok, Seoul, Dong... and other regions, and its business covers almost the entire developed region of Southeast Asia.

"Asia Pacific Bank" is currently one of the leading financial groups in Asia and one of the highest rated banks in Asia, with current assets of HK$1500 billion.

The bank offers a range of professional financial services to meet customer needs, including personal banking, corporate banking, investment banking, private banking and transaction banking, global treasury services, asset management and stockbroking.

"Asia Pacific Bank" is one of the top ten most respected companies in Southeast Asia and ranked first in financial reputation according to the Asian Wall Street Journal.

It was selected as one of the world's 1995 safest banks by the international financial magazine Global Finance in 50.

It also won The Asset Triple A Award for Best Cash Management Solution for Small and Medium Enterprises...

In this outstanding multinational "Asia Pacific Bank", Uncle Bao's English talent came in handy, and what's more amazing is that he knows how to deal with foreigners very well.

Sometimes Ma Zhong would ask him if this was the business gene of the Bao family.

However, Uncle Bao does not like others to mention the Bao family in front of him. He only admires his father's business talents and has nothing to do with the Bao family.

In fact, it was no accident that Uncle Bao chose finance.

Uncle Bao once told Ma Zhong that when they were kicked out of the Bao family and first arrived in Temple Street during the most difficult times, he "naively" promised his mother that he would work hard to get back everything they had lost.

This feeling of hatred has always been rooted deep in Uncle Bao's heart. When he graduated, he realized that only by working in finance could he fulfill his promise to his mother.

Fortunately, Uncle Bao caught up with the great era of Hong Kong's finance. From the moment he joined the company, the entire Hong Kong financial industry took off along with real estate, port shipping, and manufacturing.

Uncle Bao holds himself to the standards of a foreign professional. He is busy processing loans, visiting clients, attending meetings, and looking up information every day, and has no time to rest.

Despite his busy work schedule, he still traveled back and forth to the mainland many times during this period.

Uncle Bao came to the mainland mainly to satisfy his curiosity for many years - what does this place look like, and whether his mother's hometown Yanjing is still the same as she imagined.

Unlike tiny Hong Kong, the mainland has vast territory and rich natural scenery, which surprised Uncle Bao greatly.

After traveling to famous mountains and rivers in the mainland, he became obsessed with geological exploration.

Later, Uncle Bao actually became an outstanding geological exploration enthusiast.

He had written articles in English many times and sent them to National Geographic Magazine, introducing the geological features of Xia State.

Ma Zhong didn’t know whether Uncle Bao was the first Chinese to do this after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

After working for two years, Uncle Bao has been promoted to a small supervisor in the credit department of "Asia Pacific Bank", becoming a veritable financial rich and handsome man.

It can be said that the status of Hong Kong people in foreign banks was established by Uncle Bao’s generation.

The qualities and standards of Hong Kong's professional managers were also established by this generation.

At this time, the country was vigorously carrying out reform and opening up, and the first special economic zone was built on the north side of the Hong Kong River - the Baoxian Special Zone.

Uncle Bao was extremely excited when he heard the news in the office.

That night, he called up a few colleagues and found a Western restaurant on Wellington Street, an uphill path not far from the company. While drinking foreign wine, he told them about his experiences in the mainland, and "his colleagues all listened attentively."

This means that you may be unfamiliar with this place.

A few years later, Uncle Bao's former subordinate, a foreigner named Allan Zeman, opened several bars on this narrow uphill path after leaving the company.

In those days, the "yuppies" in Central liked to have a drink and chat here after get off work, and gradually this place became the "happy hour" during work.

Later, Hong Kong people gave this place a nice name - Lan Kwai Fong.

Unexpectedly, Lan Kwai Fong's business became prosperous from then on, and Allan Zeman wanted to expand the scale of his business here.

Therefore, he approached his former department boss Uncle Bao and asked for help in getting a loan.

Later, with the help of Uncle Bao, "Asia Pacific Bank" invested 3000 million Hong Kong dollars and acquired 45% of the shares of "Lan Kwai Fong".

With the support of financial giants, "Lan Kwai Fong" has since entered the fast lane, becoming more and more famous and soon becoming one of Hong Kong's business cards.

Even Japan, the Three Kingdoms of Korea, Southeast Asia, and some European and American countries have heard of this place's fame. It is a must-visit place when traveling to Hong Kong.

This investment made Asia Pacific Bank very profitable, and Uncle Bao was rewarded heavily by the company.

"Asia Pacific Bank" is the largest financial enterprise controlled by "Liu Overseas Investment".

As the helmsman of this multinational consortium, Liu Shudong adjusted his schedule to meet Bao Xiancheng in person as a reward after hearing about his outstanding performance as an employee of a subsidiary company.

In the meeting room, Bao Xiancheng stood up excitedly, shook the hand handed over by the chairman with both hands and said: "Thank you for your cultivation! I, Bao Xiancheng, will work harder and will never let you down."

Liu Shudong patted his shoulder affectionately, with an admiring look in his eyes: "Good, very good! Xiao Bao, after all, we are half-Yanjing fellows.

As long as you keep working at this pace, I guarantee that you will have more room for development in the group than others."

His words were by no means empty promises.

Liu Shudong indeed had high hopes for this young man - not only because of Bao Xiancheng's outstanding business ability, but also because of the rare friendship between them as fellow townsmen.

In front of the bright floor-to-ceiling windows, the two had a great conversation, talking about everything from work to the customs and practices of their hometowns.

In this era that emphasizes personal connections, local attachment often becomes an invisible driving force for career advancement.

Liu Shudong is well aware of this. He believes that friendship among people with the same roots can make the company more cohesive, and fellow villagers like Bao Xiancheng who are both capable and knowledgeable are naturally more worthy of key training.

With a giant like "Liu's Overseas" standing behind it, the development of "Lan Kwai Fong" can be imagined, and it will be booming.

In this way, Allan Zeman first created Lan Kwai Fong and then built Ocean Park Hong Kong.

The former creates adult joy, while the latter creates childhood joy, so Allan Zeman is described as the "happiness maker".

Mainlanders like to go to Hong Kong Disneyland, while Hong Kong people prefer Ocean Park, perhaps it is more in line with the flavor of this ocean city.

However, Uncle Bao stubbornly believes that Lan Kwai Fong was "drinking out" by them. Without them getting drunk every night in Lan Kwai Fong, there would be no Cyain Choi and Linda Chung (who was spotted by a scout from Asia Pacific Film and Television in Lan Kwai Fong).

Uncle Bao can be said to be one of the earliest generation of drinking buddies in Lan Kwai Fong. He has seen many celebrities "debut" here.

Even today, many celebrities come here to have fun or try their luck late at night.

Uncle Bao likes to emphasize that the tipping habit in Hong Kong was started by their generation and is popular in Lan Kwai Fong.

From an economic perspective, tips are differentiated pricing formed by buyers and help maximize welfare.

But in reality, tipping originates from Western culture and is more rooted in economic strength.

Uncle Bao's generation created huge wealth for the city, and tipping was popular for a time.

In the mid-1000s, Uncle Bao's performance at the Asia Pacific Bank was getting better and better. Faced with the fierce rise in housing prices, he decisively bought a 93-square-foot (about square meters) "luxury house" developed by Wanda Real Estate in Kwai Chung.

"Wanda" Real Estate is also a real estate development company established by "Liu's Overseas Investment" Holdings.

Employees of major companies affiliated with "Liu's Overseas Investment" can enjoy internal discounts when purchasing houses developed by "Wanda".

In this new home, Uncle Bao married his junior high school classmate from the University of Hong Kong and gave birth to a son.

Uncle Bao lived a standard middle-class life as a family of three.

Kwai Chung was thriving at that time. It was close to the pier, with convenient logistics and transportation. A large number of industrial factories and warehouses were built, and Hong Kong's manufacturing industry rose rapidly.

Later, Ms. Gong Ruyuxin built the famous Tsuen Wan Seaview Hotel not far from Uncle Bao's residence. Today, the hotel stands on the bank of the beautiful bay. Originally, there were many manufacturing factories here, but now they have long disappeared.

Many factories here have been converted into offices for rent, and the prices are slightly higher than CBDs in other parts of Hong Kong.

In the late 1980s, Uncle Bao was promoted to head of the credit department of the Asia Pacific Bank.

Since becoming a senior bank executive, he has been extremely busy. In addition to coming to the mainland, he often travels to Tokyo, New York and London on business.

Among them, Tokyo at that time was particularly unforgettable to him.

Uncle Bao once recalled that he once believed, like the Japanese, that Japan would surpass the United States and that Tokyo was irreplaceable.

Uncle Bao often said that Japan, T City, Hong Kong and Lijiaopo were the pride of Asians and the yellow race.

They proved that if Westerners could do banking, manufacturing, shipping, and democratic politics, Asians could do it too.

At that time, Japan was on the verge of surpassing America, which made him very excited.

However, as a senior executive of the Asia Pacific Bank, he learned of another opposite conclusion drawn by the group's think tank.

Just two years later, Japan's bubble economy collapsed completely.

The analysis of the think tank at the "Liu Overseas Investment" headquarters was correct, so "Liu Overseas" made a fortune from the economic crisis in Japan.

Fortunately, the Japanese bubble crisis did not affect Hong Kong.

Uncle Bao also understood a truth from then on, that is, the prosperity of a country like Japan is just the accumulation of bubbles in a closed market, which is fundamentally different from the open Hong Kong and New York.

One night of that year, his godfather came to Uncle Bao's house with a document and forcefully asked him to apply for a huge illegal loan.

The Asia Pacific Bank had been very kind to him, and Uncle Bao didn't want to be a traitor, so he flatly rejected his godfather's unreasonable request.

Before this, his godfather had been rejected by Uncle Bao three times.

This time his godfather was very angry and the two quarreled fiercely. Finally, the godfather tore up the documents and ran out.

At this point, the relationship between Uncle Bao and his godfather has become increasingly distant. Although the affection they once had is still there, there has been a crack in their relationship.

In Uncle Bao's opinion, the era of godfathers is over.

During the argument, Uncle Bao repeatedly said the same thing to his godfather: "Hong Kong is already a society ruled by law, do you know that?"

At this time, the spirit of the rule of law and the spirit of contract are still the core of the Hong Kong spirit.

For Uncle Bao, the days of Temple Street gangsterism are long gone. To gain a foothold in Central, he no longer relies on fighting, unspoken rules and clever tricks, but on the rule of law, contracts and the Lion Rock Spirit.

Uncle Bao knows everything, but his godfather doesn't.

That night, Uncle Bao turned on Hong Kong ATV to kill time. The show that was being broadcasted was the most popular show of the year, "Tonight Without Defense".

This program is co-hosted by three of Hong Kong's four great talents: Huang Zhan, Ni Kuang and Cai Lan. The program guests include Zhang Guorong, Zhou Yunfa, Xu Guanwen, Luo Dayou, Cheng Long, Guan Zhilin, Lin Qingxia, Wang Zuxian, Huang Qianming and other popular stars of the "Asia Pacific Film and Television Company".

Uncle Bao and Ma Zhong are very familiar with these celebrities who are popular in Southeast Asia, and they even have personal contact information for many of them.

Because they are all members of the "Liu Overseas" consortium.

"Liu's Overseas" holds a large-scale entertainment party every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, National Day and Spring Festival when the whole country celebrates.

At the internal celebration party of "Liu's Overseas", those celebrities who usually appear glamorous and beautiful in public are just ordinary people and are equally approachable.

To this day, Uncle Bao still feels unsatisfied after watching this episode of "Unguarded Tonight".

This program is open to speech and covers everything, often touching on topics such as sex. The three talented people often drink, smoke, swear, and tell jokes on the show. Their talent is overflowing and they speak eloquently, making the audience laugh.

In Uncle Bao’s opinion, “Unguarded Tonight” is a label of Hong Kong’s best era.

It represents the talent, freedom, openness, passion, humor and abundance of Hong Kong, a civic city.

Indeed, Hong Kong at that time was a gathering place of the best and brightest in the world, all of whom were full of passion, talent and enthusiasm for hard work.

Ni Kuang once worked at Ming Pao in Jinyong. He wrote furiously, typing 8,000 traditional Chinese characters per hour. He was proficient in all kinds of novels, essays, miscellaneous articles, and scripts. His lifetime output reached more than 200 works. He also serialized "The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" on behalf of Jinyong. He also had his own representative work "The Six-Fingered Demon of the Lute".

Huang Zhan is the official lyricist of Asia Pacific Film and Television Company. He wrote lyrics to create a "jianghu".

Any of the lyrics from "Like The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "Swordsman", "A Chinese Ghost Story" or "The Bund" is enough to make people kneel down and listen to it.

Cai Lan is also one of the literati of "Asia Pacific Film and Television". She truly interprets the "romantic talent". She is proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, sex, money, literature and film, and has achieved remarkable results.

Among these four talents, Uncle Bao admires Jin Yong and Cai Lan the most, one is rigorous and obsessed, and the other is unrestrained and free.

Ma Zhong has always been extremely envious of Uncle Bao for being born in that era of great talent.

However, as a person born after 65, Ma Zhong has caught the tail end of this trend.

Today, the works of Jin Yong, Gu Long, Li Xiaolong, Zhang Guorong, Mei Yanfang, Zhou Yunfa, Zhang Xueyou, Liu Dehua, Zhou Xingchi, Wang Zuxian, Zhou Huimin, Li Jiaxin and Zhu Yin are unable to be released and have to be accepted as they are.

Entering the 1991s, housing prices in Hong Kong began to rise rapidly, with a 36.4% increase in 1992 and a further 39.4% increase in 39.5. This wave of growth has continued until this year, with an even % increase this year.

A few years ago, Wu Junru made his first fortune by playing the role of a clown at the Asia Pacific Film and Television Company, and then spent 300 million Hong Kong dollars to buy an 80-square-meter house in Hou Tian Temple in Yau Ma Tei.

Just three years later, in 1992, she spent another HK$800 million to buy a 200-square-meter house in Dakeng, three kilometers away.

At that time, the Asia Pacific Bank where Uncle Bao and Ma Zhong worked was headquartered in Central.

Central and the small Hong Kong Island have become large construction sites, with high-rise buildings springing up over the years.

In the 1980s, Wanda, a subsidiary of Liu's Overseas Investment, had become one of the five tigers of Hong Kong real estate.

In 1987, Wanda acquired a piece of land in Wan Chai at a sky-high price of HK$33.5 billion.

Five years later, in 1992, Central Plaza, Asia’s tallest building, stood on this land in Victoria Harbour.

Prior to this, the architecturally significant new headquarters of the Asia Pacific Bank was completed here in 89.

In the same year, construction of the multi-faceted blade-shaped Bank of China Building began next to this building. Four years later, it stood majestically in Central.

At the same time, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center built by Wanda Group on reclaimed land in Wan Chai has also been completed.

Following Central Plaza, Central Center, which is designed to have more than 80 floors, is also under intensive construction.

Just this year, Li Jiacheng also chose to build the new Cheung Kong Holdings headquarters between the Asia Pacific Bank Building and the Bank of China Building.

Once, Ma Zhong and Uncle Bao took a walk in Victoria Harbour after get off work.

Uncle Bao pointed to the Hong Kong Island across the street and said that the building complex in Central had been completed in less than ten years. He went on to say that the real change was that the previous English advertisements and traditional Chinese characters on the billboards on the podium buildings in Central were gradually being replaced by simplified Chinese characters.

Uncle Bao pointed to another relatively old dome-shaped high-rise building and told Ma Zhong that in the past, the revolving restaurant on this building was very popular and he often invited clients to "drink tea" there.

The building that Uncle Bao was referring to is called Hopewell Centre, located on Queen's Road East, Wan Chai. It is a classic work of Hopewell Holdings Chairman and architect Wu Yingxiang.

Hopewell Centre was completed in 1980 with 66 floors, and was the tallest building in Asia at that time.

Today, this building has become an asset of "Anju Property Group".

"An Ju Property" is also a subsidiary of "Liu's Overseas Investment", mainly focusing on acquiring rental properties.

That year, Luohu planned to build the China World Trade Center with the goal of constructing a landmark building to inspire reform morale.

In the end, the designers learned from and referred to the Hopewell Center. Not only did they build the China World Trade Center into the country's first tallest building, they also designed a revolving restaurant on the top floor of the building that was similar to the one in the Hopewell Center.

The China World Trade Center was built on Renmin South Road in Luohu at the "Baoxian speed" of building a floor every three days, causing a sensation across the country and becoming all the rage.

Uncle Bao said that after the completion of the China World Trade Center, he and his colleagues specially entered the country from Luohu and went to the China World Trade Center revolving restaurant to experience it.

At that time, they also gave a lot of difficult suggestions to the restaurant manager here according to the service standards of Hopewell Center.

(End of this chapter)