My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 706 Is it wrong to be frugal and simple?
The China Ocean Shipping Group Corporation sounds to be roughly on the same level as the State Container Transport Corporation.

One manufactures iron boxes, while the other operates ocean-going freighters; the difference in their scale is enormous.

Wei Dong guessed that the latter company was probably later the world's number one shipping group.

What shipping magnate? Compared to this behemoth, he's just a street urchin.

Of course, it was still a small sampan at this time.

When people arrived and got off the plane, they didn't even need to contact the city government. They were directly notified to be received by the system manufacturers under the Sixth Ministry of Machinery Industry, which is also the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry. That's how things were done in those days; they went along with the corresponding subordinate enterprises.

It forms its own system and establishes its own independent territory.

It facilitated operating within the plan, but also isolated us from communication with the market.

Upon arriving at the factory, seeing the brightly lit buildings and bustling living quarters, I exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this what a state-owned enterprise looks like?"

That's right. Wei Dong himself had never worked in a modern factory, nor had he ever seen what those private enterprises in the mainland looked like.

Therefore, from the very beginning of establishing the sanitary napkin factory, it was a process of moving from a workshop to a third-tier style.

Once the team leaders and workshop directors of Xishan Factory were involved in management, and the infrastructure team was brought out from the countryside, the construction of the entire massive factory area would completely follow the model of a third-line state-owned enterprise.

By this year's Spring Festival, eight dormitory buildings had been delivered, housing about 3,000 households, and several more are under construction.

The sixth-level factory building is nearing completion, occupying the entire front and one side, with a magnificent and massive scale.

Facing a row of supporting buildings including auto repair shops, tenement buildings, public bathhouses, department stores, and medical clinics, it was a perfect example of the small but complete independent social model of a third-tier factory.

In addition, it passes through a cluster of dormitory buildings in the latter half of the district, leading to the primary and secondary schools across the street.

People in this factory can spend their entire lives here.

The last temporary barracks are being demolished in preparation for the construction of dormitory buildings.

So the open space in the center of the entire factory area was finally leveled into concrete blocks, and light fixtures were installed to create a lighted basketball court.

There is also an open space next to it where there is an open-air cinema and a roller skating rink.

Around 7 or 8 pm is the busiest time, the time when the night shift changes. People who are going to work change into their work clothes and go off duty in groups, while those who are going off duty feel relieved and head to the canteen. If their wives don't scold them, they can even have a couple of drinks.

Children were running around in groups, playing and making a ruckus. Young men and women were either playing ball with great energy, or going to the movies or rollerblading. They weren't really interested in exploring the city center or the streets of Gangnam District; home was just so nice.

Just like the early days of the Third Front factories, these newly built factories had no elderly people or retired workers; they were all full of energetic young and middle-aged people.

They have an extremely strong sense of belonging.

Wei Dong was also running around on the newly built outdoor basketball court, while Dong Xueqing sat quietly on the sidelines with her son in her arms, habitually flipping through her notebook. If there were a tablet computer these days, she would definitely be working.

But she never publicly displays affection.

Even though she was unusually affectionate and gentle with Wei Dong this time, she still made sure he cared about what others thought and avoided public appearances to prevent gossip about the two sisters.

The 212 Jeep, carrying Guoyuan's chief engineer, skillfully parked in the factory's parking space, weaving through the crowd and receiving many greetings.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Hong Tiancheng on the sidelines, he raised his voice and called out to Wei Dong, "Comrades from Pingjing have arrived over here..."

Seeing the extraordinary presence of these two or three comrades from Pingjing, the people around them joined in the shouting.

Having just missed a shot and been caught off guard by a fast break, Wei Dong turned around upon hearing the commotion and quickly took the opportunity to leave the court. Naturally, someone handed him a glass of cold water and a towel. He accepted them, thanked them, and was a little surprised: "Why did you go to get them, Lao Tan?"

The director of Hongyan Machinery Factory said proudly and enthusiastically: "We make large marine diesel engines, which belong to the Sixth Ministry of Machinery Industry. When we heard that we wanted to see you, we were sure to take the lead in receiving you. This is Chief Engineer Tang. In the past two years, Weidong helped us successfully transform our elevator factory and cableway factory. He is a very, very important partner who saved the life of our Hongyan factory!"

Because of outdated technology, the machines that could be produced were based on Soviet and Lian technologies from the 1950s and 60s or even earlier, and would definitely lose their market completely after the reform and opening up.

Add to that the state-owned enterprises' egalitarian system, and with the tightening of credit in the past two years and the loss of large-scale national project orders, there's absolutely no chance of survival; there's no way to salvage the situation.

When You Qili first partnered with them on the construction elevator project, Hongyan Factory still had a bit of the arrogance of a large factory. In the past two years, orders had dried up, and the factory relied entirely on construction elevators and elevators for high-rise residential buildings across the country to sustain itself. Now, with the addition of tourist cable cars, they've managed to keep their jobs afloat. The chief engineer of Guoyuan smiled and shook hands with Rang Weidong: "You also saved Guoji's life. They originally wanted us to take over the shares that the foreign capital was withdrawing from. We were also in a difficult situation, and we hesitated for a moment before Comrade Rang Weidong took over. I heard that it immediately took on a new look; congratulations!"

Dong Xueqing directed Zhuoma to bring Wei Dong's coat over so he could put it on, and then she gestured for Lamu to take the child and follow them back at a distance.

I found an empty seat in the food street and ordered a fruit tea two tables away to continue flipping through my notebook with the kid.

Just being able to look at it like this makes me feel exceptionally at peace.

With Hongyan Shipyard handling the coordination, things went exceptionally smoothly: "We came here specifically for this large container ship."

The reason Wei Dong caused such a huge situation is simply because he knew that a large container ship would later carry tens of thousands of containers, so the situation in the mainland, which couldn't even build four thousand containers, definitely had a great opportunity.

But I know nothing else: "Well, Shanghai Shipyard really doesn't have this kind of manufacturing experience. I learned about it from Hong Kong businessmen and combined it with our experience with Singapore's hub port to encourage Hong Kong businessmen to take this step."

Chief Engineer Tang did not shy away from admitting: "Last year we lost $1.7 million. Of course, the main reason was the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War. We had three ships damaged at the relevant ports and suffered huge losses from the plunge in tanker prices. We had just placed a lot of orders before that, but the most orders were for Panamax bulk carriers."

This was a historical process that Wei Dong was unaware of, and he slowly nodded to indicate that he should continue.

"Currently, Guoyuan has nearly 600 ships, more than 60% of which are bulk carriers, with only a dozen or so container ships. Mr. Fang has been pushing for the proportion of container ships. Last year, Southern Shipyard built four 1200 TEU full container ships for us, which have become our main force. I never expected that you and Hong Kong businessmen would promote five or even ten times more container ships. What is your thinking behind this?"

Let Wei Dong know how backward the mainland is at this time; he never expected it to be this backward.

"The idea? It's very simple. It's based on the explosive growth in productivity that has emerged since the reform and opening up. The premise is that we should stop repeatedly cracking down on and suppressing the development of private enterprises and foreign trade. The production capacity for shipping to North America and Europe will increase dramatically. Previously, all your shipping was carried out according to the national plan, transporting urgently needed materials and crude oil. Next, a large number of private foreign trade companies will be scrambling to transport goods overseas. I have a computer OEM factory in the Shanghai area. What do you think is the best way to transport our computer equipment?"

It's quite obvious that Guoyuan hasn't actually made container ships its main focus yet: "But don't we still need to use bulk carriers for a lot of cargo?"

Soybeans, coal, ore, sugar, steel coils—many of the raw materials used in production are indeed transported by bulk carriers.

This made Wei Dong finally realize that the times were truly at a critical juncture.

Processing trade involving assemblies, suppliers, and suppliers existed before, but it wasn't very common. Foreign trade is a strictly regulated sector by the state, and whether private foreign trade undermines the dominance of state-owned enterprises remains a point of contention.

Therefore, there weren't many manufactured goods shipped out of the country.

His monthly shipments of four to five hundred containers of computers for export were not only manufactured by Apple in Shanghai, a major international city, but more importantly, they were likely made possible by the tens of millions of US dollars in foreign trade quota granted to him by the State Economic Commission for the import substitution of Cherokee parts.

In fact, the total FOB price of the 86 Apple computer models produced each month is no less than this amount!

Can computers be transported on bulk carriers?
Wei Dong had no choice but to use the food in front of him to explain to the chief engineer: "You are an expert, and you certainly know more about the advantages and disadvantages of container ships and bulk carriers than I do. The core of our discussion is what will dominate in the future. My conclusion is that all kinds of domestically produced export industrial products will occupy the absolute main force!"

As he spoke, he picked up a piece of fried spring roll: "All export-oriented industrial products probably need this kind of outer shell to be loaded and transported to Europe and America. Without this container wrapping, the quality of all these random things simply cannot be guaranteed!"

The chief engineer certainly understands this principle: "But where are we going to find so many export products?"

Who would have thought that in 30 or 40 years, the mainland would become the world's largest industrial nation, exporting a fraction of the world's industrial products?

This convinced Wei Dong: "Just yesterday, I returned from Shanghai. We opened two budget hotels there, a joint venture with Citibank Hotel Group. Of course, you should understand that our purpose in this joint venture is to learn from their advanced model and then quickly apply it to our industry. Well, what surprised me most yesterday was this thing..."

This time he carried a steamed bun.

The people present were a little stunned. Was it hotel food?
This time it's a metaphor: "Bedding rolls. In the past, our guesthouses all had neatly folded bedding rolls, while hotels all had them laid out neatly. That's when I learned that they even have special training on how to make bed sheets. Well, it was through this contact that I learned that European and American markets change their bed sheets five to ten times a year, replacing them with new ones and throwing them away. How long do we go?"

In the 1980s, the whole country was emphasizing hard work and frugality. Aren't bedding sets, which are displayed at weddings, family heirlooms?
Just like men's underwear, even if it's worn out and has holes, it's still bearable.

Even if a pillowcase is torn and has holes like the edge of a brush, it can still be used as a towel!

Even 30 or 40 years later, people in China can still change and reuse bed sheets for many years.

It's easy to imagine how frequent the consumption is in developed countries in Europe and America, given that Citibank has become the world's largest consumer market.

This serves as evidence of Wei Dong's forward-looking vision for the prospects of domestically produced consumer goods in foreign trade.

(End of this chapter)