A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 206 Involvement
This day.

Chen Guangliang and Yan Renmei came to Kong Xiangxi's residence on Sinan Road.

It is said that Kong Xiangxi owns a lot of real estate in Shanghai and is always purchasing more. It seems to be true.

As she stepped into the gate of the Kong Mansion, Kong Lingyi looked at Chen Guangliang seriously, as if she wanted to see what kind of person this person was who had captured her "best friend's heart".

"Miss Kong"

"You're quite good-looking. No wonder Renmei has lost interest in studying."

When Yan Renmei heard this, she said anxiously, "Lingyi, what nonsense are you talking about!"

Chen Guangliang thought it was just a fight between the young ladies and didn't take it seriously. He then went to the living room of the Confucius Mansion.

Kong Xiangxi and Miss Song were both there. They had been sitting on the sofa, but when they saw Chen Guangliang and the others walk in, they stood up and greeted them with a smile. This clearly showed that they did not regard Chen Guangliang as a junior, and that the main focus of today's conversation was naturally business.

After greeting everyone, they sat down on the sofa.

Kong Lingyi sensibly pulled Yan Renmei to her boudoir upstairs and let her parents talk to Chen Guangliang. She didn't know that her parents wanted to discuss business with Chen Guangliang today.

"I have also read Mr. Chen's recent 'China Sugar Theory' and 'China Shipping Theory', and I am also paying attention to Nanjing." Kong Xiangxi said in a slightly official tone.

Chen Guangliang said naturally, "After all, I am the founder of Oriental Daily. My original intention in writing these articles was just to write articles and express my own opinions. But I am just talking on paper. I believe many people know more than me!"

Kong Xiangxi and Miss Song and her husband looked at each other. They both thought that Chen Guangliang was a "shrewd and scheming" man who would not get close to them at all, but he also maintained his reasonableness and evidence.

Most businessmen would flatter the Kong and Song families.

This Chen Guangliang is so good, his fiancée has a relationship with their daughter, but he doesn't even take advantage of the situation to get closer.

Miss Song asked directly, "Do you think Shanghai is suitable for opening a sugar factory?"

Kong Xiangxi spent 150 million yuan to buy the original National Sugar Factory, and then used this asset to cooperate with the Nanjing government to open a sugar factory.

However, the operation of this sugar factory has not improved, and it is even on the verge of stopping production due to Yangtang's dumping.

Chen Guangliang said, "Minister Kong, Madam, the sugar refinery's equipment can only compete with Yangtang if it uses sugarcane to extract sugar. Of course, I've also investigated the situation in and around Shanghai. It also has a subtropical monsoon climate, and the conditions are quite good. For example, Chongming Island is very suitable for growing sugarcane. Of course, compared to Guangdong Province, it's still somewhat worse. Coincidentally, in recent years, my country's raw silk and other crops have been affected by the global economic depression, so we could try growing sugarcane. Of course, the sugar refinery must provide farmers with a guarantee of a minimum wage in order for everyone to be motivated."

Kong Xiangxi, the Minister of Industry, said, "You mean the farmers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be severely affected by the global economic depression?"

Chen Guangliang nodded and said, "Of course, the price of raw silk has already fallen sharply, and the Japanese have taken the opportunity to dump their products. All these things prove that the rural economy will suffer a great blow in the next few years."

Kong Xiangxi said, "We will give your suggestion careful consideration."

What are you talking about? Didn’t you ask the question first? How did it become your suggestion?

One played the role of an official, the other played the role of a businessman. Miss Song immediately said, "I heard that you are launching a share offering for the Guangdong Sugar Refinery?"

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "We were invited by Chen Mingshu, Chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Government. Our Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium intends to invest 50% in Guangdong Province's first large-scale sugar refinery."

The words revealed two pieces of information: it was invited by the provincial government represented by Chen Mingshu, and the entire "Jiangsu and Zhejiang Financial Group" participated.

Otherwise, it would be troublesome to investigate his relationship with Chen Jitang in the future.

Miss Song didn't care and continued, "How much share is still missing? Since it is beneficial to the country, we are willing to support it!"

Boy, what a beautiful thing to say!
How much is still missing? That means there must be a 'difference'.

They want to invest because it is beneficial to the country.

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "The Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium has almost raised 150 million, and they are still short of 50 shares."

At this time, only Yu Qiaqing, Zhang Yuanji, Fang Jiaobo and others initiated it, and they subscribed to a maximum of 100,000.

Seeing that the discussion was almost complete, Kong Xiangxi immediately said, "Okay, I'll subscribe to the remaining 50 yuan. In addition, the Nanjing government is also interested in setting up a sugar refinery and would like to invite you to be their advisor!"

Is this what history is like?
Nanjing actually wanted to get involved in the sugar factory, but he didn't know that it was because of Chen Guangliang's ability in this area that Kong Xiangxi decided to continue investing in the sugar factory.

"Okay, but I suggest that Nanjing consider investing after Guangdong Province has gained some experience. This includes negotiating favorably with the sugar mill equipment factory and introducing sugarcane varieties. Once there are some signs of success, we can join in. This way, we can save money on equipment and we won't have to worry about sugarcane varieties either."

Kong Xiangxi said happily, "Okay, I'll listen to you, Mr. Chen. When the preparations are almost done over there, you can write a plan for our Ministry of Industry."

"it is good"

Chen Guangliang will also work hard, after all, this is a good thing.

Of course, due to limited conditions, the Nanjing government only needs to invest in a factory that can crush 1000 tons of sugarcane per day (here 1000 tons refers to sugarcane).

The first reason is that the conditions are not urgent in Guangdong Province, and the second is for the sake of caution.

A factory that can crush 1000 tons of sugarcane per day would conservatively require an investment of $100 million (or 400 million Australian dollars). Such a factory could potentially produce 200 tons of sugar per day.

The market price of a ton of sugar in Hong Kong next year is estimated to be 140 yuan per ton, but in China it will be at least around 250 yuan because tariffs will be introduced next year.

In this way, even if the price is calculated at 200, the daily output value is 4 yuan, and the annual output value is 1400 million yuan.

It can be said that the investment can be recovered in about one year.

Afterwards, Chen Guangliang had a meal at the Kong Mansion, with a somewhat "business-like" attitude, and did not rely on the Kong and Song families.

His principle in life was to "stay out of officialdom," but he also avoided offending officials and refrained from competing for personal gain. For example, the Oriental Daily News was much more politically flexible than the Shenbao and Xinwenbao. While it might lose some radical intellectuals, as a newspaper primarily focused on business news and current affairs, it didn't pursue sharp commentary. After Chen Guangliang and Yan Renmei left,

In the study, Miss Song asked Kong Xiangxi, "What do you think of this young man?"

Kong Xiangxi spoke in an official tone, "He's tactful and smooth, but there's nothing wrong with him. He seems to be on guard in many areas, but in fact he's very easy to control, and he's always been supportive of the Nanjing government. It would be great if our Ling Kan had this ability!"

Being tactful is the best quality for the Kong family.

The Kong family of Shanxi is also a branch of the Kong family of Shandong.

Miss Song immediately said, "Our Ling Kan is just not old enough. He will have much better conditions than Chen Guangliang to work in the future."

In her eyes, she naturally believed that her son's future achievements would surpass Chen Guangliang, after all, he had the support of the Kong, Song and Jiang families.

Kong Xiangxi smiled and said, "That's right. At least he doesn't have to be so submissive. If it were Ling Kan, the sugar business wouldn't have yielded so little benefit."

What this means is that Chen Guangliang has been busy all this time and has only acquired a 25% stake in a sugar factory, but he is not the mastermind.

mid-December.

On this day, Chen Guangliang invited the famous Shanghai designer László Hudec to the land on Nanjing West Road.

The Asia Building and Jardine Matheson Building, designed by László Hudec in his early years, adopted symmetrical and rigorous imitation of classicism. The Huizhong Hotel imitated the Renaissance style. The British General Association adopted the classical Baroque style. These are all representative works of classicism.

After both parties inspected the three acres of land, Chen Guangliang began to make his demands: "Mr. Wu Daqian, first of all, we need to be clear that for this design, I hope you will lean towards modernist architecture, with a simple and trendy design, abandoning the cumbersome old style."

Wu Daqian was stunned and immediately asked, "Since Mr. Chen is very familiar with my design style, why did he ask me to design it?"

Chen Guangliang smiled and said, "You are still one of the best designers in Shanghai, but I want to see something different in your hands. At the same time, you can show a rare avant-garde tendency in Shanghai and turn our Chinese Western-style architecture towards modernism."

Wu Daqian fell into deep thought. He had his own pride, and if the client asked for too much, he felt that it would limit his inspiration.

However, what the young man said was quite right. If he designed a modernist Western-style building, he would be a pioneer in this field, which would be very helpful to his influence.

After a long while, he said seriously, "Okay, since you trust me, I'm willing to compromise and change my style."

Chen Guangliang took the opportunity to add, "Okay. But I have another request: the cinema I want to design will be different from other cinemas. Currently, most cinemas in the world have one hall, but I want to build a two-hall cinema, a main hall and a secondary hall. This is from a business perspective. Solving the problems of attendance and the diversity of audiences' film choices is very important."

Wu Daqian frowned again. He had heard that Chen Guangliang was an "innovator" and the concept of "large community" came from him.

He said: "A two-hall cinema is truly unheard of. The film industry in the West is so developed that even Shanghai can be compared to it, but it's still a little behind."

Chen Guangliang smiled and said, "Precisely because of the gap, we should consider two-screen cinemas. We can adjust the size of the main and small screens based on the attendance rate, and we can show two movies at the same time, giving customers more choices and patronizing more. One day, multi-screen cinemas will be the development trend."

Of course, this is definitely unrealistic at the moment.

But Chen Guangliang's opening of two halls this time definitely has more benefits than disadvantages.

Wu Daqian compromised again, and of course, he was also aroused by some interest. He said, "If we have two halls, we can only develop them in the upper floors. The first and second floors will be the main halls, and the third floor will be the secondary hall. The main hall can be considered for 800 seats, and the secondary hall for 400 seats. This way, there will be space for waiting rooms, restaurants, etc."

Chen Guangliang immediately added, "800 seats is too small. We need around 1000, and the annex could have 300-400 seats. Here's my idea: our cinema will only have a waiting area connected to a large bar. Besides selling tickets, the bar will only sell drinks, popcorn, and other snacks. It's just a place for watching movies; there's no need for any other business."

In this day and age, cinemas, restaurants, lounges, etc. are completely redundant.

Of course, a large enough waiting area is necessary, after all, it is not the online ticketing of later generations.

When Wu Dake heard this, he joined the discussion with Chen Guangliang. For a while, the two of them reached many similar views in the cinema.

Use large glass windows and glass lampposts, natural and smooth interior ceiling and wall lines, and set up space for large posters on the front of the exterior wall, etc.

Finally, Wu Daqian wrote down the client's request and said, "Okay, I will design it according to this request. We will wait and see."

"Thank you. We'll sign a formal design contract later."

"it is good"

According to Chen Guangliang's current requirements, the theater has two to three hundred more seats than the Cathay Grand Theater, which opened in 1932. The Cathay Grand Theater was designed to seat 1080, while the highest number of seats was at the Grand Cinema, which reopened in 1933 and had around 1800.

The cinema that Chen Guangliang now requires has a total of about 1400 seats, which is equivalent to the number of seats on the first and second floors being similar to that of the Cathay Theatre, except that there is an additional small hall.

In fact, this small hall is very important. The more than 300 seats are very suitable for showing different movies, which increases the audience's choices; it can also increase the venue and revenue when popular movies are released.

After separating from Wu Dake, Chen Guangliang returned to Changjiang Real Estate with his subordinates.

The three acres of land on Nanjing West Road (west of Paramount) purchased this time cost a total of 10 yuan (including tax), which is almost yuan per acre.

You should know that this piece of land is No. 1736, Nanjing West Road in later generations. It is several hundred meters away from the westernmost section and three kilometers away from the easternmost section of "Nanjing East Road".

As you can imagine, land prices in the eastern section of Nanjing West Road can easily reach 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. Of course, this also depends on the attached area; some plots extend far outward, which naturally lowers the average price.

The current owner of this land is Changjiang Real Estate. Chen Guangliang plans to use this land and 10 yuan, a total of yuan, to launch the IPO of "Times Pictures".

In fact, it is not impossible for him to invest 60, but he knows that movies and cinemas cannot make much money, so he can invest as little as possible; what's more, more shareholders mean more help and more support.

Now for Chen Guangliang, only "finance" is the most profitable. To put it bluntly, this also confirms the trend in Shanghai - speculation.

For other industries, joint ventures are of course best!
(End of this chapter)