1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 610 Why favor one over the other?
If you study the East-West Poverty Alleviation Cooperation and Paired Support Programs of later generations, you will find something very interesting;

The other provinces basically provide point-to-point assistance. To put it simply, a relatively developed city in the east provides counterpart assistance to one or several cities in a province in the west. The specific number of cities provided counterpart assistance depends on their own economic strength.
For example, in history, the city that provided counterpart assistance to Tongren was not Dezhou, but Suzhou. In addition to providing counterpart assistance to Tongren, Suzhou also provided counterpart assistance to nearly ten cities including LZ County (affiliated to LS), XA City, and HEGS City.

This is already an extremely awesome existence... Even though Suzhou's GDP has surpassed Hangzhou in later generations and become the No. 01 in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.

But while other cities are using the "point-to-point" counterpart assistance model, there is an alternative "point-to-face" model.

That's Shanghai.

In addition to providing counterpart assistance to Kashgar and Karamay in western Xinjiang, Shigatse and Golog in Qinghai-Tibet, and Zunyi in Guizhou, Shanghai also single-handedly provided counterpart assistance to 13 counties in 74 prefecture-level cities in southern Yunnan Province, almost covering the entire southern Yunnan Province.

As long as you know something about the work of targeted assistance, you will know that such a large scale of targeted assistance cannot be explained by simply saying "Shanghai is the city with the largest GDP in my country"... Moreover, Shanghai's targeted assistance to southern Yunnan long preceded the East-West Poverty Alleviation Cooperation and Targeted Assistance Program. In the early 90s, Shanghai's position as the top economy had not yet been solidified. Although Shenzhen could only be called a little brother at that time, Shantou and Shekou next to it were qualified to challenge this throne.

Therefore, although the statement "Shanghai would rather starve than not help southern Yunnan due to some well-known historical causes" seems very convincing, in fact, you only need to believe half of it, which is a standard sufficient but not necessary condition.

The "sufficient and necessary" condition that led Shanghai to spare no effort to help southern Yunnan is actually not complicated... It is a consideration of the country's strategic security. Before 2003, China's economic strength was still far from strong, so Shanghai, which has sufficient economic strength and certain historical origins, became the first choice city to fulfill certain responsibilities and obligations.

what?
Don’t you understand yet?

What many people don’t know is that for a relatively short period of time, the uniqueness of southern Yunnan was comparable to the above two regions.
………………

"If you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight. Whether Shanghai can get stronger support from the organization, stand out from the challenges of Tianjin, Guangzhou, and even Shekou and Shantou, and completely solidify its title as China's economic center, in addition to its own strength, it also depends on whether it can play a sufficient role in other places and whether it can truly share the country's worries."

"Although the words 'equivalent exchange' are not appropriate and not glorious, this is the fact."

"It is obvious that southern Yunnan, which was just three years after the last shot of Laoshan, is Shanghai's biggest trump card to leave other competitors behind, and it is also their only breakthrough with room for imagination... In terms of economic growth, although the GDP of Tianjin and Guangzhou last year was only about half of Shanghai's, their growth rate was amazing, and the year-on-year growth rate even exceeded that of Shanghai; in terms of policy benefits, the various policies of Shantou and Shekou, and even special economic zones such as Zhuhai and Shenzhen, are also envied by Shanghai, and the development speed of these special economic zones is far beyond imagination. If they continue to develop at the current speed, they will be qualified to challenge Shanghai's economic status in at most ten years."

After briefly explaining the overall background, Yang Mo said in a straightforward tone: "So, southern Yunnan needs Shanghai's help, but Shanghai also needs to strengthen its counterpart assistance to southern Yunnan... This is a big proposition, and it will not change due to the personal preferences and differences in ideas of local cadres."

“So, with Wang Yinuo’s local classmates and friends as the most basic entry point, even if the resources that can be leveraged at the moment are only sparks and spots, as long as you can provide a persuasive and imaginative plan, then under this major proposition of equivalent exchange, the Shanghai region will most likely not be reluctant to invest.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Yang Mo said, "So what Xiaoya said just now is very right. Whether or not the resource background is deep or not is not the only determining factor. In comparison, a suitable concrete entry point and a set of practical solutions that sound imaginative are the top priorities... After all, whether you like Shanghai or not, you have to admit that Shanghai is now a region with relatively objective and transparent operation and regulatory mechanisms in China. There are some things that you cannot measure with the thinking of those in state-owned enterprises."

Hearing his son-in-law DISSing him again, Mu Siyuan's face darkened: "I basically know what you are talking about. After going around in circles for a long time, you still haven't gotten to the point... Now I want to know how you plan to approach it!"

Yang Mo laughed: "Dad, I think everyone knows which groups the country attaches the most importance to in Western Xinjiang and Qinghai-Tibet. So what do you think...which groups do the country attach the most importance to in Southern Yunnan?"

Mu Siyuan looked at him unhappily. Since they met, he had hated his son-in-law's inductive way of talking. He snorted, "Of course it's the Dai. Although southern Yunnan is the province with the most ethnic minorities in China, with Tibetans, Yi, Bai and other ethnic minorities, and even unique ethnic minorities like the Dulong, every ethnic group needs to be valued and treated fairly. But overall, the Dai people account for the largest proportion of the population and live in a more concentrated area, so they need to be given extra attention."

Even at the beginning of the millennium, southern Yunnan was still a mysterious area for many people in the northern regions. For example, every family raised peacocks, houses were built on trees, transportation was carried by elephants, flour was sold on the streets, and there were two killing quotas every year. Most people believed these jaw-dropping rumors.
This led to the situation that for a long time, as long as you said you were from southern Yunnan, everyone would subconsciously hold their breath, and then carefully move half an inch away; even if they couldn't resist their curiosity and travel to southern Yunnan, some people would stuff a few packs of cigarettes into their backpacks in advance to avoid being caught by accident.

It must be said that although these rumors that came from nowhere are extremely ridiculous, compared to the previous rumors that sound plausible at first glance, the last two rumors that sound the most ridiculous are actually the most true... At the very least, they are based on some real events in certain areas of southern Yunnan in the 1980s.

Pingyuan Street in Wenshan, southern Yunnan is certainly well-known, but in fact, if you know some old people who are well-versed in the past of southern Yunnan, they will tell you that before the millennium, Pingyuan Street was not an isolated case. In fact, in terms of size, Pingyuan Street may not even be ranked in the top three.

Apart from anything else, in the 1980s, flour was really everywhere in areas such as Banna and Dehong. And if you have friends who have participated in poverty alleviation work in these areas before the millennium, they will definitely tell you that the special knives worn on the waists of some ethnic groups who are good at singing and dancing are definitely not just decorations.

What ethnic groups gather most in Banna and Dehong?
The most famous are naturally the Dai and Jingpo ethnic groups.

So there are some things that Mu Siyuan is not convenient to say directly, but the meaning of his words is clear, but his expression is a little disapproving: "I know Wang Yinuo used to work in Dehong and has feelings for that place, but if you plan to use Dehong or Banna as an entry point right now, the cost-effectiveness is too low and the difficulty is too great... If it is just to help build some hospitals or schools at this stage, then there is no problem, but if you launch large-scale economic cooperation and infrastructure investment, Shanghai will not agree. After all, they are not so rich that they have no place to spend their money."

Before the urbanization process was fully launched, many Dai people in southern Yunnan lived in the old forests in the mountains. Pu'er lovers who often go to southern Yunnan to collect tea know that the roads in many areas there are so difficult to travel... That was in the later era when major infrastructure had been completed. Nowadays, the problem of road traffic alone is enough to make people collapse.

The traffic problem alone is enough to make cabbage as expensive as meat. Therefore, in order to promote large-scale economic cooperation, we must first build roads. Not only will this take a long time, but before the industry matures, we will have to consciously become the scapegoat and pay for these products... No one knows how long this process will take, so Mu Siyuan's statement that the cost-effectiveness is low is already a very polite statement.

Unexpectedly, Yang Mo smiled and shook his head: "Dad, I admit that you are right. If Dehong is used as the entry point, large-scale economic cooperation is indeed more difficult, but if you say that the cost-effectiveness is low, you are wrong... At least in the comprehensive account, the calculation is wrong."

Mu Siyuan looked at him in surprise: "What do you mean?"

Yang Mo looked out the window, and when he noticed that there were no crab claw-shaped clouds in the sky, he lowered his voice and said, "Dad, after all, you have never been to southern Yunnan, so you don't know much about the situation there. But according to Lao Wang, the Dai people in southern Yunnan not only have their own writing, language and customs, but even some villages and towns that have become rich first for some reason have radio and television programs in their own language... In other words, they have their own unique cultural circle, which the locals call Lao Dai."

Mu Siyuan waved his hand impatiently: "What's the big deal? Ethnic groups all over the country have their own unique culture and customs. Does this explain the problem? Don't forget, you are also a son-in-law of the Hui ethnic group!"

Yang Mo caught the evasive look in his father-in-law's eyes and sighed softly: "But the problem is that southern Yunnan is not inland, and Dehong borders Myanmar... Not to mention the complex composition of Myanmar's population, more importantly, this area is within the radiation range of the Dai cultural circle!"

Big Dai cultural circle! ???

Mu Siyuan immediately understood that the Dai people are considered a minority in China, but their ethnic group is definitely one of the most numerous and powerful in the world.

Today's per capita economic level in China is far behind that of Europe and the United States, let alone the major countries in Southeast Asia.

No wonder Yang Mo said that if we take a comprehensive look at the accounts, there is no problem of low cost-effectiveness when using Dehong as the entry point... This is not a problem of cost-effectiveness at all, it's something we have to do even if we have to tighten our belts!
Seeing this, Yang Mo sighed: "Although I know that Shanghai will not refuse this card no matter what, otherwise it will be a positional issue, but how to leverage it step by step to maximize the interests of the three parties is very particular... If the first move is good, then the scale of cooperation will expand to an unavoidable level in a relatively short period of time; but if the first move is not good, then there will most likely be no future."

At this point, Yang Mo's mouth curled up in a strange arc: "So, Lao Wang's suggestion is that the goal of the first stage is to establish a complete primary and secondary industrial chain based on alternative planting, and to guide the market and graft it into the circulation system of Shanghai and Dezhou, and to use a series of publicity methods to achieve a sufficient demonstration effect in the shortest possible time."

Mu Siyuan was stunned: "Alternative planting?"

Yang Mo nodded. "Yes, even if we use alternative crops, Lao Wang said that the situation in Dehong seems complicated, but after peeling off the layers, more than 70% of the reasons are due to the low per capita income of the local people. It is precisely because of poverty that so many problems have gradually arisen... and using crops with higher economic value as alternative crops and primary and secondary industrial output based on them can, on the one hand, offset the costs caused by inconvenient transportation to the greatest extent, and on the other hand, it can also serve as a very good demonstration."

"As I said before, the most valuable thing in this world is hope. With hope and imagination, everything becomes natural... At least it won't be that difficult to find the competent authorities in Shanghai to seek the next step of cooperation and binding."

The words "alternative planting" were once active in the news media after 2010, especially in various cooperation projects in the Golden Triangle region and South America. This idea was first created in China and was first applied in southern Yunnan and Guangxi in the 90s. Its purpose was to change the grassroots economic ecology of these underdeveloped areas in order to use a gentle method to fundamentally change some social conditions... Of course, around the millennium, the concept of overseas planting was also derived.

As for whether this path is feasible...

Some students may not know this very well. In fact, in areas like the Golden Triangle, the annual income of farmers who grow opium is not higher than those who grow grain. The added value of this industry is mainly concentrated in the circulation link, and the upstream growers will never be the ones who get the benefits.

Moreover, unlike the out-of-context propaganda in some media, although many Dai people live a more casual life, they are not lazy. Dehong and even Lianghe, which produces Huilong tea, have their own sugar factories, and have also planted a certain scale of sugarcane in recent years... Students who have experience in rural life know that harvesting sugarcane is definitely one of the most tiring, hurtful and exhausting farm work. Since the Dai compatriots in Dehong are willing to work hard to grow sugarcane with a purchase price of only a few cents per kilogram (I don’t have the specific data at that time, this price is an estimate, which is deduced through the purchase price of first-class raw materials of 2005 yuan/KG by Lianghe Sugar Factory of Southern Yunnan Power Biological Group in 0.26. According to actual purchasing power, in the early 90s, this price was most likely between 3.5 and 5 cents), it at least shows that they are not unwilling to get rich through hard work, but there are no more ways for them to get rich at the moment... Let alone getting rich, they can’t even catch up with the average level of domestic agricultural workers in actual income.

Mu Siyuan nodded: "Alternative planting, if the current situation in Dehong is as you said, this path sounds feasible... Have you thought about which sub-sectors to focus on first?"

Yang Mo hummed, "In order to highlight the demonstration effect in the shortest possible time, Lao Wang's suggestion is to integrate the existing resources of Dezhou, Shanghai, and Dehong, and upgrade and graft relatively mature industries. Therefore, in the first phase, we plan to select brown sugar, flowers, tea, and passion fruit as four sub-sectors for related industrial investment, and launch alternative planting projects."

Ok?
Mu Siyuan was a little confused: "Why did you choose these as the entry point?"

Yang Mo laughed: "After a comprehensive evaluation, Lao Wang and I believe that it is easiest to cash out by entering these four industries first... According to the barrel principle, Dehong is the shortest piece of wood among the three parties, so we have to give priority to the difficulty of operation there!"

Mu Liya rolled her eyes at her husband, seeming to be very dissatisfied with the fact that he had been talking in circles to her father from beginning to end. She immediately took over the topic: "Dad, I will analyze it for you one by one."

"First, let's talk about brown sugar."

"In fact, due to the natural environment, the brown sugar in southern Yunnan is very famous. Although the industry prefers the brown sugar in Mile due to transportation problems, in fact, the brown sugar in other places in southern Yunnan is not inferior at all, and each has its own characteristics."

"But you also know the current domestic situation. Although the brown sugar in southern Yunnan is very famous, such as Gengma brown sugar, Qiaojia brown sugar, and Dai brown sugar in Banna, etc., are very unique, but who can blame us Chinese for not having confidence? No matter how unique they are, as long as they are domestically produced, it is difficult to sell them at a high price."

"So, Uncle Wang's suggestion is to use the merchant resources in Shanghai to introduce the production process of black sugar from Taiwan, and then rely on several sugar factories in Dehong as a foundation to form an industrial chain. Through secondary processing, local brown sugar can be upgraded to black sugar, produced, shaped and packaged on the spot, and distributed to all parts of the country and overseas through the commodity distribution lines in Shanghai and Dezhou." At this point, Mu Liya added slightly: "Dad, you may not have eaten black sugar. Uncle Wang later sent some samples. That thing is actually brown sugar, but it is a little darker and crisper. It also has a burnt chocolate aroma. It doesn't taste that sweet, but it is more fragrant. It is now very popular in Taiwan and the island country... With the overseas popular trends as a basis, this thing will definitely sell well, and it can be sold at a high price. As long as you work hard on the packaging, the profit will be at least five times that of ordinary brown sugar."

"We will package and promote them according to the market categories. Domestic brown sugar products will be fashionable, while overseas products will be mysterious as per the original route... Dehong and Banna both have the tradition of hand-written palm leaf scriptures. The material of palm leaf scriptures is very special, and coupled with the Dai script hand-engraved with an iron pen, it is beautiful and mysterious. After being embedded in the packaging, its value will increase tenfold immediately!"

Mu Siyuan nodded: "So the alternative planting of fresh flowers is to replicate the edible rose project in Texas?"

Mu Liya nodded: "Although our Dezhou is the first region in China to grow edible roses on a large scale, you must admit that in terms of quality, the edible roses in southern Yunnan are better than ours... Although the golden-edged roses in southern Yunnan are not the same variety as the Huaiyin roses we grow, you can still detect the differences in all aspects through careful tasting."

"Although only a small-scale cultivation of golden-edged roses is currently being carried out in Bajie Township, Anning City, Uncle Wang said that in fact, the entire southern Yunnan region, except for a few areas such as Nujiang, is very suitable for growing edible roses... Dehong, which has a relatively hot climate and sufficient sunlight, is naturally one of them."

"In fact, with the hot sales of flower cakes and rose jam in the past year, the production of edible roses in Dezhou has been unable to keep up with the demand. Unfortunately, Dezhou is an important grain and cotton producing area, so the scale of edible rose cultivation cannot be increased just because you want to. "

"So, in the past six months, we have been doing sales control on the one hand, and purchasing a large number of edible rose petals as raw materials from Lanling, Rizhao and other areas on the other hand, which barely ensured the market supply... Now, several areas in the province have followed suit and introduced edible rose planting projects."

"Although Dezhou, with the Mohua Food brand as its backing and the first-mover advantage, is unlikely to lose its leading position in edible rose food and various derivatives in the short term, if no changes are made, this leading advantage will be lost in five or six years... What makes us most uncomfortable is that we have opened up commercial channels with the Shanghai economic circle through the East China Aid Plan, and we also have the need and possibility for product upgrades, but we are currently facing serious capacity constraints."

"Therefore, launching an alternative planting project for edible roses in Dehong can, on the one hand, greatly alleviate our advantage of insufficient raw material production capacity; on the other hand, it can also further widen the gap between us and our industry competitors by upgrading and iterating the quality of raw materials... Dahua's food research laboratory conducted an experiment a few days ago. It is unknown how much better the quality of Pingyin roses grown in Dehong is than that of Qilu, but it is an indisputable fact that the rose jam processed from our Pingyin roses and their local golden-edged roses in a certain proportion is more fragrant and flavorful than our existing rose jam."

"In addition, in order to increase the added value and appearance of brown sugar, Yang Mo suggested trying to sprinkle a layer of freeze-dried rose petals on the surface of the brown sugar... If this approach works, the demand for edible roses will be an extremely large number;"

"Therefore, developing alternative planting of edible roses in Dehong is the project with the highest liquidity and added value among all projects... When the time comes, as long as the two-tier PPP model is introduced, Yang Mo and I are very confident that the balance in the middle and the profits fed back to the local people will surely attract everyone."

Mu Siyuan nodded with satisfaction. Pure business cooperation would cause many problems. Mixed boxing was the way to go. Obviously, his son-in-law had already considered this.

He pondered for a moment and said, "The same is probably true for tea. If Dehong tea is made into green tea, it is not well-known at home and abroad, but if it is made into Dianhong, it is a product with super high profit value. With your publicity and accumulation in the Northeast Asian market over the past year or so, you should have no trouble selling it."

"So, I'm curious... I can figure out the first three items, but what about the last one, the passionflower?"

Hearing this, Mu Liya showed a smug smile on her face: "Dad, you don't know this, actually, compared to the previous three projects, this passion fruit alternative planting and industry improvement project is the real highlight."

"The reason why we chose this is that the environment in Dehong is very suitable for growing passion fruit, and the passion fruit grown is of excellent quality;"

"But more importantly, the value and significance of passion fruit may be far beyond your imagination... The reason why we didn't realize this before is entirely because we didn't know enough about the foreign market information."

foreign?

Mu Siyuan was stunned: "Why is it related to foreign countries again?"

Mu Liya smiled and said, "Dad, you may not be very clear. Although passion fruit is mainly eaten as a fruit in China, in fact, if it is processed into concentrated juice, it is a big treasure. Not only is it expensive, but it is also in short supply worldwide... The MSG of the juice industry, I wonder if you have heard of this title?"

"In Europe and the United States, where all kinds of expensive fruit juices are popular because of their environmental health claims, Ecuador has made a lot of money in the past two years as the main supplier of passion fruit concentrate!"

"Hey, more than 1 tons per year, and the demand is expected to increase by 30% every year. Based on a 10:1 raw material output ratio, the annual offshore transaction price exceeds 3000 million US dollars. Is this market big enough? (A single passion fruit is very light)"

Passion fruit juice concentrate?
Ecuador?

Mu Siyuan was a little dumbfounded. This was obviously beyond his scope of vision. He didn't know where his daughter and son-in-law got these strange news all day long.

………………

After half an hour of detailed questioning, after confirming that Yang Mo had indeed made a thorough plan, Mu Siyuan sighed and looked at his prospective son-in-law with a complicated look.

"Xiao Mo, sometimes I think about a question."

Mu Siyuan's look was somewhat puzzling.

Yang Mo looked at him humbly: "Dad, you say."

A sneer appeared at the corner of Mu Siyuan's mouth: "I wonder if we are a family?"

Yang Mo was stunned: "Dad, where did you get this from? Could it be that... you are still angry about what happened some time ago?"

Mu Siyuan shook his head: "I'm not angry, I'm sad... The trump card Wang Yinuo gave you this time is essentially the same as the one I gave you at the beginning... This is not surprising, after all, we all know what the organization cares about most."

"So, what makes me sad is... why would you rather choose an outsider than trust your own family!?"

! ! ! !
After being reminded by Mu Siyuan, Yang Mo was shocked to realize that after peeling off the thick layers of onion skin, the resources and trump cards that Wang Yinuo had fought for him during this period were all based on the uniqueness of Guizhou and southern Yunnan. The reason for this was that this uniqueness was no different from that of Yangxin County back then... The only difference was that the influence of the southwest was a little greater.

This……

Yang Mo's mind was suddenly a little confused, and he inexplicably felt guilty.

Seeing this, Mu Siyuan sighed heavily: "I have always said that family is the most important, so no matter what you think, as a father-in-law, I still have to do what I should do and remind you of what I should remind you of."

As he spoke, he gently put down the teacup in his hand and said lightly: "Actually, you and Ya'er shouldn't have come back this time... If you had called me before you came, I would definitely not have let you come."

Yang Mo was stunned: "Why? It's your birthday."

Mu Siyuan snorted: "Because the leadership team in the department is inspecting the work at the headquarters these two days."

Understanding the implication of his father-in-law's words, Yang Mo frowned: "Dad, are you saying that someone wants to see me?"

Mu Siyuan snorted: "If you don't make a decision, you will suffer the consequences. You should have either handed over all the projects to the province, or kept them all to cooperate with Wang Yinuo;"

"Like to smooth things over?"

"Hmph, now it's good, the little thing in the crotch is exposed, right?"

"It would be strange if they didn't come looking for me through the cracks!"

Yang Mo's eyebrows were furrowed into a "川" shape. "But why would the leaders in the department look for me? And if they really wanted to look for me, a phone call or a piece of paper would be enough. Why go through so much trouble?"

Mu Siyuan sneered: "This is just a louse on the bald man's head. It's obvious. Why do we need to guess?"

Yang Mo thought of a possibility and took a breath: "Dad, you mean...?"

Mu Siyuan hummed softly, then picked up the teacup again: "The leader who led the team here for this inspection is of a very high level, so you should be careful."

Yang Mo smacked his lips with some toothache, and finally nodded slightly...

"Okay, I get it, Dad."

(End of this chapter)