My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 442 Since you've said that...
Even setting aside this computer "product," Wei Dong's current "exploration" of real estate construction is a major part of the current domestic economic reform.

Nobody asked him about the transfer of two million US dollars in foreign exchange funds.

He went straight to the point: "What are your most important views on the progress of housing reform in Jiangzhou and Shangzhou?"

All the formalities and cumbersome procedures have been completely discarded.

They simply treated Wei Dong as a vanguard returning from a campaign.

Wei Dong, somewhat caught off guard, quickly thought for a moment: "There will definitely be differences in different places. Based on what I just learned from our conversation at the car factory, let me share some of my thoughts..."

Wu Xi always stayed far away at times like this, and he didn't even care what they were talking about.

Because the four or five people surrounding Wei Dong were listening very attentively: "When I came in, my first thought was that if this factory had been relocated to the suburbs or even placed in a nearby city when it was being built, it could have greatly changed the development of this area. But now we can only continue to add to it in an already crowded, narrow and backward area. I think this is a missed opportunity for the development of this area."

These people wouldn't joke about how Mr. Jing didn't want to go to the suburbs; instead, they listened attentively and strolled slowly.

I won't comment on what you know about the specific situation in Heijing.

Let's just consider these as different opinions and listen to them first.

Wei Dong then gestured along the spacious but not very clean and bright factory and production line: "Secondly, the core issue for this car production line right now is not foreign exchange, but the proportion of domestic production. The sooner we complete the production of domestic parts, the sooner we can break the vicious cycle of the more we produce, the more foreign exchange we consume. How do we solve this? The best way is to release production capacity to private supporting manufacturers."

When asked about housing reform, he replied that he was involved in automobile production.

It's quite a mismatch.

But no one interrupted, even though localization was the very purpose of introducing this production line—wasn't that obvious?

However, Wei Dong had just "led" the establishment of the computer production line, especially focusing on production efficiency and cost reduction, which were of utmost concern to him.

Very experienced: "Following the arrangements of the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry, we took over the resources of some third-line computer research institutes in Sichuan. This is how we established a technology research and development department. Through them, we divided all the components of the computer into five levels: those that could only be imported, those that were partially imported, those that were produced by domestic manufacturers, those that were produced in Sichuan, and those that were produced locally in Jiangzhou. Then we purchased and assembled them according to these levels. From the very beginning, our computer localization rate exceeded 85%. The answer is whether we established a research and development team that was fully committed to the localization rate."

The Heijing factory definitely has it.

But as for efficiency...

A classic example of this is that in the 1980s and 90s, China imported a fighter jet from Russia. For nearly 30 years afterward, the state-owned aircraft research institute was simply making the same old thing: copying, reverse engineering, and improving it.

On the contrary, another research institute that didn't get to make a living from this field developed a series of groundbreaking new fighter jets in order to survive.

This has allowed China's aerospace combat capabilities to stand tall and proud.

This became almost a household name in online discussions three or four decades later.

Wei Dong was already being very tactful in criticizing the factory's technological improvement capabilities.

But he wasn't there to challenge the system: "In order to make this research team more effective, we launched an electronic research community apartment building. It provides technical personnel with a channel to raise funds to build houses at a price of about 500 yuan per square meter. The Jiangzhou Construction Bank provides 80% of the cost and a 20-year mortgage. In order to ensure that researchers and their families have the financial means to make a down payment of about 10,000 yuan, in addition to ensuring that family members can also work and earn income in other companies, the research unit guarantees a minimum monthly salary of about 500 yuan, and there are also housing subsidies and interest-free loans."

Only then did everyone make out the outline.

After going through all this trouble, they still ended up addressing the housing reform issue.

The person who asked the question understood: "You mean this isn't an isolated problem, but rather requires a holistic approach to solving it?"

Rang Weidong hadn't really thought that much about it, and just tried to explain it from his own understanding: "Pretty much, because as mentioned in the previous exchange, the foreign side wanted to raise the salary of the Chinese management to a minimum of 500 yuan, but our management felt that it was too far behind the workers and demanded that it be kept at around 200 yuan. At first glance, it sounds like they are noble and do not pursue material needs, but in reality, it is denying the incentive mechanism of more work more pay, and it is also relying on the mentality that all living benefits can be guaranteed by the state-owned unit. None of these links have played a positive role in promoting progress."

Without creating a wage gap, there is no way to escape the situation of living off the same old system.
Without a high income, one cannot afford to buy a house; without the ability to buy a house, one cannot promote the reform of the welfare housing allocation system.
Without the motivation to actively improve, every day the localization rate is delayed, and every car sold consumes precious foreign exchange.

It's basically a vicious cycle.

In this situation, attempting to address housing reform alone, or to resolve the joint venture's production efficiency and financial difficulties, would be counterproductive and merely treat the symptoms rather than the root cause.

The root of the problem lies in these so-called joint ventures, which are essentially still state-owned factories.

If the mentality of expecting the state to bear everything hasn't changed, then any reforms to this factory will be nothing but a mirage.

With these patriarchal workers, nothing can be done well—not enterprise reform, not housing reform, not industrial manufacturing upgrading.

Why would anyone build a factory right here in the heart of Beijing, within the Third Ring Road of the capital?

It's unreasonable to expect things to be planned from the outset.

As he spoke, Wei Dong even took him to the restroom: "This is one of the details of our conversation earlier. From the very beginning of building the production line, the foreign investors required an investment of 200,000 yuan to renovate the toilets, of course, dozens of toilets. Everyone didn't understand at first, but wow, it's really beautiful..."

At that time in China, most toilets were still dry toilets, and even in Beijing and large state-owned factories, they were latrines.

It's already quite good if we can build a half-height wall with bricks to separate everyone; in many places, we are all open and honest with each other, and we get along very well.

Here, it transforms into a cubicle thirty years in the future, with walls covered in neatly grouted tiles, a spacious sink, hand dryer, large mirror, and a separate urinal. It's a qualitative leap.

However, there are indeed considerable signs of damage, which are shocking.

This is definitely a scene you won't see when you come to inspect it before, it's quite surprising.

Wei Dong elaborated on his analogy of organizing his internal affairs, along with the seemingly absurd but actually reasonable situation of production line slack.

"So I'd like to discuss the Apple computer manufacturing plant we're currently building in the Shanghai Electronics Industrial Park..."

He was just thinking about why his joint venture factory in Shanghai hadn't turned out like this.

"First of all, the property rights are simple. It is a case of cooperation between our private company and foreign-funded enterprises. We don't need to apply for and report everything. I heard that this factory spent four years just preparing and negotiating. We only made two phone calls to finalize this matter."

In Heijing, everything is of great significance, so this matter is of utmost importance and must be treated with utmost care and caution.

Furthermore, the inherently inefficient model of state-owned enterprises was amplified in Beijing to the point that even a single factory could directly contact ministries.

Even a sanitary napkin factory has reached the point where it can have inscriptions.

That would make it even easier to ask for instructions and report on everything.

Actually, this wasn't the first joint venture factory between Beijing and Tianjin after the reform and opening up.

But a large number of high-level officials were involved in finalizing the decision.

So the level is really high.

However, the efficiency is really far behind: "The project was finalized in July, and the construction of the factory was started immediately. We plan to start trial production before the end of the year and strive to supply the flat panel display with patent advantages to Europe and the United States next year. After assembling and producing with the parts provided by North America, we will sell to Japan, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. In addition, the computer keyboards and mice produced in Jiangzhou will be sold for export. The entire joint venture factory will not only not consume foreign exchange, but can also earn a lot of foreign exchange."

Secondly, there are the employees: "Huhai does indeed have the best skilled workers. We have also adopted a similar approach to Jiangzhou, using reform to drive the construction of new factories, building brand-new residential communities, and relocating excellent industrial workers to the electronics industrial park in the southern suburbs of Huhai. If there are also employees in the city center who are unwilling to go to the suburbs, then we will recruit the best skilled workers from East China and Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions to become new Huhai employees!"

Before the 1980s, the policy of strictly preventing rural residents from changing their registered residence to urban residents was strictly enforced. For example, if a rural person wandered around the city looking for work, they would be arrested as a migrant worker and taken back to the city.

Two years ago, Rang Weidong was still trying to avoid becoming a drifter, but now he has actually driven changes that have affected this situation.

Some people will be horrified to hear this, as it is a matter of principle.

But when you actually reach that level, you realize it's not a big deal.

Preventing the conversion of rural residents to urban residents is to avoid a large influx of farmers into cities, which could lead to unemployment and affect social stability.

However, this approach of expanding production and creating job opportunities to attract skilled workers is the correct way to utilize the demographic dividend.

The person in charge of this vehicle parts deal even applauded.

But Wei Dong's focus is not on Shanghai: "Compared to other regions, the technical workers that can be exported from the third-tier factories in Jiangzhou and Sichuan are more cost-effective. The electronic computer industry block we are building in Jiangzhou Economic Development Zone is intended to use the computer industry to drive the real estate market, which in turn will promote the overall prosperity of computer research and development and production. We hope to help the domestic semiconductor industry catch up with the international advanced level."

Even if he didn't participate in today's electronic computer review meeting with the participation of various ministries, he is not an expert in electronics or industry.

Everyone understands the significance of computers in the future society: "Can we catch up?"

Rang Weidong didn't make any definitive statements: "It all depends on human effort. Today, we have signed a comprehensive integration agreement with the Ministry of Machinery Industry's China Learning Machine to jointly promote the entry of computers into thousands of households at a lower price and faster. This is the first step. Relying on our advantages of low-cost production and large population, we will build up a talent pool in popularizing computer use and programming."

My attention was naturally drawn to it: "And then?"

Wei Dong gestured: "The second step, of course, is to convert profits into research funding to catch up with the chip manufacturing level of developed countries as much as possible. This is catching up in terms of hardware. Ultimately, the combination of hardware and software is the realization of our series of goals and dreams regarding the computer industry, domestic software, and independent computer systems. I believe we will not miss the era of the computer revolution this time."

Just like the clash in Shanghai, what ultimately led to Wei Dong's victory was not Wu Xi's protection, but the huge foreign investment brought by the Apple factory and Wei Dong's clear industrial development steps, which made Shanghai choose him.

Left with no other choice, Fang went to Wu Xi to mediate.

The same principle applies now. What truly prevents you from being taken advantage of is not someone pleading for you, but demonstrating your value.

But these people aren't like Wu Xi, who just observes based on intentions rather than actions; they're here to resolve specific issues.

No matter how much Wei Dong talks and paints such a grand picture, the current issue of the car production line still needs to be addressed practically.

There was no mention whatsoever of the parts being stockpiled at North American ports.

The leader in charge of resolving the matter offered a solution that Wei Dong had never considered: "In this way, the two million US dollars in foreign exchange will not be borrowed for nothing. Based on the value of the joint venture at 5000 million US dollars, we will give you 4% of the shares. This will be considered as introducing private capital to participate in the entire project process, and it is also a step in exploration."

Wei Dong was stunned. Could someone become a shareholder without even investing in stocks?
The key question is, why would I want this hot potato?

(End of this chapter)