Literary Master 1983

Chapter 395 Black Monday
On October 20th, Yu Qie went to Europe.

A major event occurred yesterday: the US stock market experienced a crash, wiping out $500 billion in a single day—that's $500 billion from 1987! That's equivalent to one-eighth of the US GDP!

As a result, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, and other markets also experienced sharp declines. The stock market in Madrid also plummeted, and wealthy Spaniards, in an attempt to mitigate losses by buying stocks on the neighboring London market, also suffered heavy losses.

This is the first global stock market crash since World War II. The last one was the Great Depression in the United States in 1929, almost sixty years ago.

As soon as they got off the plane, the group saw two newspapers of different sizes at a newsstand near the airport.

One was the center-left newspaper El País, which wrote: "Countless millionaires have become poor overnight, thousands have suffered mental breakdowns and committed suicide. Spain should not have a stock market."

Another article was published by the conservative newspaper ABC: "The collapse of the U.S. stock market does not mean that the Spanish stock market is failing."

Leaving the airport and arriving at the hotel where the Royal Palace of Madrid was located, Yu Qie saw another newspaper, *La Vanguardia*, a middle-class newspaper catering to the wealthy, which expressed the sentiments of Spain's rich:

"The British are persecuting the Spanish, and the government should intervene."

It turned out that wealthy people in Catalonia, Spain, preferred to trade in the Frankfurt and London markets and did not trust the Spanish "big A" market. Unexpectedly, even the British market lost a quarter of its value.

By the time Yu arrived, stock markets in Europe and the United States were still falling. Once-recognized "blue-chip" stocks like General Electric, Westinghouse, and Coca-Cola all plummeted, with some losing as much as half their value.

This cast a shadow over Yu Qie's visit.

When Yu Qie received the Order of Alfonso X at the National Concert Hall in Madrid, the high-society patrons in the hall looked as if they had lost their parents, and even the late King Carlos looked displeased, only managing a forced smile during the few minutes of the award ceremony:
"Now, you Chinese have escaped a disaster! Because you have almost no stocks."

Yu Qie replied, "This is indeed our temporary good fortune."

Yu Qie himself is an economics professor, so he is naturally very familiar with the academic thought of this period. In Marxist economics of the 1980s, the definition of stocks in mainland textbooks was "a tool used by the bourgeoisie to exploit the blood and sweat of the working people"—which seems to have some merit.

It's 1987 now, and there's still a lot of controversy surrounding stocks in mainland China. Now that "Black Monday" is here worldwide, there's bound to be another upheaval in China.

Qian Zhongshu had never seen anything like this in his life. He said, "I haven't been to Europe for ten years. Have all these people bought stocks?"

“I bought them all!” Yu Qie said.

Qian Zhongshu shook his head, utterly perplexed: "Stocks are a scam! You bought them with your eyes closed, while others sold them with their eyes wide open! If it were truly profitable, how could it be your turn?"

"It's all written in Mao Dun's 'Midnight'. In order to get 'insider information' about stocks and government bonds, Feng Yunqing didn't hesitate to send his daughter to a comprador! But his daughter was a good-for-nothing, only interested in having fun and didn't inquire about any inside information. When she came back, she told Feng Yunqing, 'Only poor people sell stocks, rich people only buy them.'"

"And then what happened?" Yu Qie became the straight man.

"As a result, Feng Yunqing fell for it. He used all his money to buy stocks, and then the Japanese invaded Shanghai, causing the stock market to crash. He lost everything he had ever owned! I never imagined that the West would be so ruthless. They hadn't even started a war yet, and their economy was growing year after year. They even said they would defeat the Soviet Union? How could they let their people become destitute?!"

Yu Qie burst into laughter.

This "Black Monday" brought Yokichi unexpected fame. In 85, he predicted the "bursting of the bubble" in Japan, which was always regarded as sensational nonsense! Among Japanese writers, there are many gamblers and stock market speculators who often talk about Yokichi's "joke".

Yu Qie is certainly qualified as a novelist. But as an economist... we'll have to see.

Unexpectedly, the Japanese stock market also experienced a panic sell-off, plummeting by nearly 4,000 points in peacetime, which is simply unprecedented!

It seems that Yu Qie did have some foresight.

This "Black Monday" was quite a blunder. Because stock trading was still done by telephone at the time, the trading time was 20 minutes later than the actual decision. The larger the order, the greater the lag.

On the afternoon of the 19th, because most people in the market were selling, with the latest lag time being 75 minutes, the market had become one-sided with sellers, but it was still able to hold on, with some slight buying power... At this time, another terrible piece of news came: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was going to close the exchange. This finally caused a complete collapse, with institutions and retail investors alike selling off their shares, resulting in a stampede.

Of the world's major markets, only the mainland and the Soviet Union were largely unaffected.

Hong Kong stocks fell 45% in just a few days, Japan stocks fell more than 30%, and New Zealand stocks were the worst off, falling 60% from their peak!
Yu Qie spent two weeks traveling in Europe, during which he was interviewed by numerous Japanese media outlets. Matsunaga Jihei, now a department head at the Asahi Shimbun, learned that Yu Qie was in Europe and flew all the way to Japan to arrange an exclusive interview with him.

"Mr. Yu, do you remember me?"

"Of course I remember you. We had a wonderful time together in Tokyo."

Matsunaga Jihei was exceptionally humble upon arriving in Spain. During our conversation, he learned that the apartment in Barcelona was not purchased by Yu Qie himself, but was a gift from his European agent, Carmen.

He looked at Yuqie's seaside mansion and forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart.

A few years ago, NHK female anchors were proud to give Yu Qie an expensive trench coat; a patriotic Chinese poet in the delegation almost went missing while trying to buy a Japanese washing machine... Who would have thought that Yu Qie would completely step out of Asia and become a world-class writer.

Although his novels are serious works, they also include popular masterpieces that have become popular worldwide, such as "Metro" and "American Psycho".

I'm afraid his royalties would be far less than Kawabata Yasunari's after he won the Nobel Prize!
Do you still remember your previous prophecy?

"Of course I remember."

This conversation also brought Yu Qie's memories back to a few years ago.

The "Black Monday" in October was a prelude to Japan's economic collapse, but the Japanese people at the time failed to realize this. In retrospect, history has warned the Japanese many times before.

Yu Qie was by no means the only prophet.

Matsunaga Jihei asked, "Do you still hold your opinion? That Japan will collapse soon? What kind of collapse?"

Yu Qiedao: "I'm not playing word games here. It's the collapse you're thinking of. A large number of middle-class people go bankrupt, a generation wastes their youth, countless people lose their jobs... The wealth accumulated over decades, or rather the expansion debts incurred, will all have to be repaid by future generations."

Matsunaga Jihei said with a serious expression, "If we really do collapse, what advice do you have for your readers?"

Yu Qie shook his head and said, "You are already bankrupt, you just can't see it. Everyone has an enormous debt on their books, which will have to be repaid by your children and grandchildren."

“Okay, we’re bankrupt.” Matsunaga nodded.

Yu Qie added, "This is not my advice, but my message."

“That must be a message!” Matsunaga Jihei saw that Yu Qie suddenly became slow and deliberate. He talked about real estate, industrial structure, commodities… Finally, after thinking for a while, Yu Qie only said one sentence:

"Stop spending!"

Matsunaga pondered these words carefully, but detected a peculiar meaning in them: "What about investment?"

Yu Qie laughed loudly: "Of course you shouldn't invest either. If you insist on doing it this way, then invest your money in China."

Matsunaga brought a voice recorder with him. This is the latest product manufactured by Panasonic. It has not yet been officially launched, and only a small number of products have been released for use in high-end interviews and business meetings.

This pen is small and exquisite, yet it works better than an entire tape recorder from the past.

"Snapped!"

With just a simple press, sound can be recorded. As far as Matsunaga knew, while Philips in Europe also produced commercial voice recorders, their tape technology was inferior to Japan's, and their products were much more expensive. Several large Japanese companies joined forces, meticulously creating a monopolistic alliance where only Japanese standards existed.

Whether it's Chinese, Europeans, or even the most powerful Americans, they all need to use Japanese technology.

Why is Mr. Yu looking at me like I'm dead?

Could it be that Japan's craftsmanship spirit couldn't avert the difficulties that followed?
"Stop spending!"

"Invest your money in China!"

Late at night, Matsunaga Jihei kept repeating his conversation with Yokiri, and finally decided to write it down in the Asahi Shimbun.
-
The American financial crisis also salvaged the reputation of Cold Spring Harbor's top lecturer. Reporters, temporarily preoccupied with his Black discrimination issues, turned their attention to the inside story of the stock market crash.

The American actor-president established an investigation committee to specifically investigate the causes of this stock market crash. Many once internationally renowned investors stumbled in the crash, including the future investment guru Warren Buffett—all the blue-chip stocks he bought plummeted, and he didn't even know why.

By the end of October, the situation had improved slightly, but it still could not break through the previous high point.

According to statistics, among nearly two thousand major stocks in the United States, only 52 rose, while the rest all fell. The New York Times listed these 52 stocks, among which two stood out:
They are Pfizer and Wang Laboratories, and they have one thing in common: they are both about to make or have already made significant investments in China.

Watson was thus exonerated, and the media could no longer recklessly attack the professor's conscience.

He helped many Americans avoid the loss of their assets, which is more important than God in America.

Like Gabriel García Márquez when he came to China, Yu Qie met with many European and American writers who wanted to befriend him. He felt that he was becoming a "Che Guevara," and some writers came for Yu Qie's fame, deliberately trying to impress him or publicly opposing him—in reality, to make themselves famous.

After becoming acquainted with Yuche, King Juan Carlos of Spain increasingly revealed his true nature, a man with the glorious Spanish tradition of promiscuity.

But Carlos was not just promiscuous; Yu Qie vaguely remembered that Carlos had dated more than 1,600 women.

When Carlos met Yu Qie, he was always accompanied by one woman or another.

Carlos often asked him, "Do you want to have a relationship with a Spanish woman?"

Yu politely declined, saying, "I don't have that kind of fetish."

“You’re just afraid of getting into trouble, but these people are your admirers, they won’t betray you! And I am the king, you know, I have ways to suppress any comments that are unfavorable to you or me.”

"That's not certain!"

Carlos tried to persuade him repeatedly, but seeing that Yu really wouldn't agree, he could only say, "I really like your work, but I just don't know how to thank you for all that you've done for our Spanish-speaking world!"

"I don't know how to thank you for giving me awards so many times. I wish you a good ending in the future."

“Of course!” Carlos said confidently.

When Yuqie answered Carlos, he was standing in the main hall of the palace, and the two were actually whispering to each other. Fearing that lip-reading experts would decipher their conversation, they both covered half their faces.

The reporters at the scene initially thought Carlos was discussing literature with Yu Qie, and they all showed smiles of satisfaction.

This king is so wonderful!
Carlos then crowned Yuche, saying, "He blended satire, science, and dream, nightmare, fantasy, and surreal plots into one, and by the autumn of 1986, the statues on the streets of Bogotá (numb ordinary citizens) had all come to life. He heard the cries of anguish under the airport and responded to the calls of tens of thousands of people... That story ended there, but the voice still echoes for a long time."

Yu Qie, wearing the same shorts and suit he wore when he went to Colombia years ago, bowed slightly to accept the honor.

This is the scene of the "Formentor Award" being presented.

In November, Yu Qie went to the UK to participate in an interview program. The British television station hoped that he could talk more about "Sino-British friendship" and the British people's humanitarian contributions.

Yu Qie asked the BBC to advertise on its own television station to see if there were any relevant true stories to write about.

Last time, the BBC truthfully recorded the "Wanxian Massacre," which briefly brought Yuqie's hometown into the mainstream media, and he was already very satisfied.

It is not easy to get Westerners of this period to face their mistakes.

During his visit, Qian Zhongshu gave a speech at Cambridge University, in which he said, "When I graduated from Tsinghua University in China, the professors in the Department of Foreign Languages ​​all advised me to study English literature, but I refused."

"On the one hand, it's because there's no one in all of China who can teach me English literature, no one can be my mentor."

"On the other hand, it's because studying English literature is a dead end. Your country won't allow Easterners to know Shakespeare and Dickens better than you, and it won't allow foreigners with higher knowledge and character. Am I right?"

When Qian Zhongshu said this, the entire room fell into an eerie silence for a moment, followed by applause.

Yu Qie noticed that many of the people applauding were locals, who probably knew their own flaw: arrogance.

It was during this speech that a middle-aged woman named Denise Winnie approached Yu Qie. She had seen the advertisement on the BBC and knew a story of Sino-British friendship that perhaps no one in the world knew.

"This is a humanitarian story! It involves both of us!" the BBC reporter exclaimed excitedly.

"I bet this is another major event that has come to light again!"

(End of this chapter)