Sail across the sea

Chapter 333: Opportunity to kick Lao's ass
Before the Spring Festival in 1984, the chemical industry welcomed two major events. One was the completion and production of the 5000-ton polyester unit of Guoguang Chemical Company in Renqiao District, Shuinan Province; the other was the completion and production of the 5000-ton vitamin C unit of Canghua Vitamin Factory in Luping District, Maolin Province.

Both of these units have a production capacity of 5000 tons, but the former is the smallest polyester unit in the country, while the latter is the largest vitamin C unit in the country, both of which have the characteristic of filling gaps.

In addition, the two projects have another common point that is not well known, that is, they are both related to a college student named Gao Fan. At the same time, because of Gao Fan, the two sets of equipment have attracted the attention of Zheng Linong, the vice minister of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, who asked him to make a special trip to the south before the Spring Festival and attend the inauguration ceremony of the two projects without stopping.

"Little Gao Fan, you did a good job."

After attending the inauguration ceremony of the vitamin C device at the former site of the Yanxiu Fertilizer Factory and the subsequent reception banquet, Zheng Linong met Gao Fan at the Yanxiu County Guesthouse where he was staying and spoke to him in an appreciative tone.

Secretary Wu Zhefu brought Gao Fan a cup of tea and placed it on the coffee table for him. Gao Fan thanked Wu Zhefu, then smiled and said to Zheng Linong: "Minister Zheng, you are too kind. Actually, I didn't do anything. I just went with the flow."

"What do you mean by 'go with the flow'?" Zheng Linong asked with interest.

Gao Fan said: "The small polyester in Shuinan was designed by Chief Engineer Pan, and the money was paid by more than a dozen township entrepreneurs in Renqiao. The most I did was to connect them, and I did nothing else. As for our vitamin C device, the technology was developed by experts from the Institute of Microbiology, and the money was invested by the Hatch Group. I am also just a matchmaker.

"If I were to say what I have done, it is nothing more than taking advantage of the country's reform and opening-up trend to introduce the right resources to the right places. Even without me, many things would have happened naturally."

Zheng Linong said, "You can't say that. At the very least, the investment from the Hatch Group didn't come out of thin air. You know how difficult it is for many departments to attract foreign investment. Who can go abroad like you and bring back $2500 million?"

Gao Fan said: "Hatch Group has always wanted to invest in China. Bob Hatch visited the Canton Fair with the motivation to invest. Hatch Group is a very far-sighted company. They foresee that China will have great development after reform and opening up, so they want to make arrangements in advance so as to catch the train of China's rapid development."

"Foreigners want to take China's cars. Only you, Gao Fan, would dare to say such a thing." Zheng Linong said with a smile.

In China in 1984, everyone was talking about how to get on the bus of developed countries and let developed countries take China with them. Gao Fan said that the Hatch Group wanted to get on the bus of China, which was a kind of arrogance. If there was the Internet back then, such remarks would have been dragged out and flogged by countless "kneeling tribes" to show off to the public.

Zheng Linong himself also believed that China should ride on the bandwagon of developed countries. However, he was not disgusted by Gao Fan's wild words. On the contrary, he admired him a little. He could feel that Gao Fan had a kind of self-confidence that transcended the times, which was lacking in most people.

As an old man on the industrial front, Zheng Linong often makes bold statements such as "What foreigners can do, Chinese can do too", but reason often forces him to face the reality, that is, China is indeed inferior to others in most areas.

Zheng Linong often struggles between self-reflection and self-confidence, and repeatedly reminds himself not to get carried away and to acknowledge the gap.

However, in Gao Fan, Zheng Linong did not see the kind of self-abasement that most Chinese people often have when facing foreigners. Gao Fan sincerely believed that China would definitely catch up with foreign countries. No, to be more precise, he sincerely believed that China would definitely surpass foreign countries. Zheng Linong sometimes felt that Gao Fan was a young and fearless person who was a little too confident, but sometimes he secretly hoped that Gao Fan's confidence was justified. After all, catching up with and surpassing developed countries is the deep obsession of Zheng Linong's generation.

"The development of Western countries has come to an end." Gao Fan said calmly, "Americans and Europeans all have a rich mentality now. They are used to making easy money and are no longer willing to endure hardship.

“The U.S. economy is rapidly deindustrializing. Everyone is talking about finance and venture capital, trying to make money with money, letting people from other countries engage in manufacturing, while Americans just need to sit in an air-conditioned room, drink coffee and collect dividends.

"The same is true for the Europeans. Take our newly commissioned vitamin C plant as an example. Lowe's paid $1200 million to buy out the global process license for the two-step fermentation process for the next ten years, but it was only to prevent others from using the process instead of using it themselves. The root cause is that they currently have a monopoly and do not want to change.

"If European and American countries act with this mentality, a full-scale recession will only happen in the next 20 years. By then, if they want to take the express train from China, it will depend on whether we agree or not."

"I hope what you said makes sense." Zheng Linong said with a wry smile. The scene Gao Fan described was so beautiful that he couldn't believe it.

However, Gao Fan's example of the two-step fermentation method is quite convincing. After signing the patent licensing contract with the Institute of Microbiology, Law did not take any substantive action, which confirmed Gao Fan's previous prediction.

"By the way, Xiao Gao, your vitamin C device has been put into production. Are there any plans for future sales? I heard your Director Xu report to me that the products of Canghua Vitamin Factory will all be exported. This means that you have to seize the market share of Lloyd's Pharmaceuticals. Can you really grab this market?" Zheng Linong brought the topic back to the real issue.

Gao Fan smiled and said, "It's not that serious. Lowe's vitamin C sales are 5 tons a year, while we only have 5000 tons, which is 1/10 of Lowe's. We can't say that we have taken away their market share.

"Low's adopts the method of hunger marketing in the market, always maintaining a certain gap in the market in order to maintain the sales price of products. This is particularly evident in the US market.

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“We initially considered focusing on the US market and choosing to sell to companies that were dissatisfied with Lowe’s, and the Hatch Group played a significant role in this process.

“Although our vitamin C plant has just been put into production, the orders we have on hand are enough to absorb the production capacity for the next six months.

"The world has suffered from Lowe's for a long time, and the arrogant American capitalists are all looking forward to the opportunity to kick Lowe's ass."

(End of this chapter)