Wind Rises 2005

Chapter 655 Creating God
Monday, January 2009, 1.

No. 8 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong.

Because the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has its trading floor here, it was named Trading Square.

This place not only represents one of the core areas of Hong Kong economy, but also a popular tourist attraction.

In particular, the big copper bull standing on the square is where many tourists check in and take photos.

And just today, Ma Liang led several executives to the trading floor of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, along with venture capital queen Xu Xin and Chai Daguanren.

These two are both investors and shareholders of [Liupo Malatang], so it is natural for them to be invited to participate in the gong-ringing ceremony of the IPO.

After more than half a year of preparation, [Liupo Malatang] is finally going to be listed on the Hong Kong stock market, and Xu Xin and Chai Daguanren are also very excited.

After all, I had invested in Ma Liang's project for so long, and it was finally time to withdraw and cash out.

As the first company to be listed in Hong Kong at the beginning of the year, the entire Hong Kong Stock Exchange attaches great importance to it, and this IPO is of extraordinary significance. It can even be said to be arranged with the purpose of stimulating the Hong Kong stock market.

In particular, the special status of the boss of this company made today's listing ceremony held on the trading floor particularly grand.

Not only did many people come from Ma Liang, but most of the main leaders of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange were also present. They even invited the president of Goldman Sachs China and the head of the securities department.

The issuing brokerage of [Liupo Malatang] is Goldman Sachs, and now everyone is here.

"Boss, this is Mr. Hu Zulu, partner of Goldman Sachs Group and president of Greater China, and this is Mr. Zhang Xudong, managing director of Goldman Sachs China Securities Department."

Vice President and CFO Deng Jingwen enthusiastically introduced two important figures to Ma Liang.

Originally, given Hu Zulu and Zhang Xudong's level, they didn't need to come at all.

However, due to the special situation of Boss Tamar, and the invitation from the relevant leaders of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, everyone gathered together to participate in the grand event.

As a result, before Ma Liang could say hello, the venture capital queen beside her spoke first: "Dr. Hu, you are very busy, so it is a great honor to be able to attend today!"

Xu Xin had been living in Xiangjiang for a few years before, and the two were old acquaintances.

It was also because the big boss in front of him was an academic expert, so calling him doctor would please him more.

"Mr. Xu, you're welcome!
I have been paying attention to Mr. Ma for a long time, and today I finally have the opportunity to meet him in person..." Hu Zulu replied while nodding to Ma Liang and smiling.

Ma Liang didn't dare to make excuses, so he hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Thank you, Mr. Hu. What you just said should be spoken by me, a junior."

The reason for being so polite to the other party is because this big boss is really extraordinary.

Not long after, he would leave Goldman Sachs, and then he would be recruited by his superiors, and he would become the deputy governor of the Bank of China, in charge of the most important foreign exchange business.

How could he be so rude to such a giant man?

"Mr. Ma, being too humble can turn into pride. You must know that you are already registered with our Goldman Sachs Group."

At this time, Zhang Xudong, the general manager of the securities department who was next to Hu Zulu, answered with a smile.

This is also a super elite who has reached the top level in the workplace. He previously served as the general head of Deutsche Bank's China Institutional Client Department and Equity Business Department.

In 03, he was appointed as a consultant to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and in 04, he was hired as an asset securitization consultant by the China Development Bank.

During this period, he also co-founded Anjia Group and served as chairman and CEO.

I don’t know why, but he had just been recruited by Goldman Sachs Group, and it had only been a few days since he took charge of the securities department in Greater China.

Whether it was Hu Zulu or Zhang Xudong, Ma Liang had heard of these two names in his previous life.

Seeing the other party praising him to his face at this time, he had to humbly say again: "Don't dare, Mr. Zhang, please don't praise me to death..."

"Mr. Ma, do you still need my support?"

Zhang Xudong joked again, "Take a look at the battle arranged on the spot today. It can be said that this is the first time in the decades since the Hong Kong Stock Exchange opened." Ma Liang subconsciously looked around and couldn't help but smile bitterly. When I came out, I was speechless for a moment.

When it comes to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, most people’s impressions of it are mostly of the busy scenes in Hong Kong dramas of the busy “red vests”—stock brokers—shutting through the trading floor.

At its peak, the trading floor was filled with counters and could accommodate more than 900 stock brokers working at the same time.

However, since computers and the Internet became popular and electronic trading became popular, more and more stock brokers can complete their work on their own computers and no longer need to rent a counter in the trading hall of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In 2006, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange renovated the entire trading floor and significantly reduced the number of counters, leaving only 294.

Even so, it's still too much.

In such a large trading hall, only dozens of people come in and out every day. The bustling trading scenes in Hong Kong dramas are no longer seen, but instead it is deserted.

Today's trading floor is more symbolic.

Only when a company comes to Hong Kong for IPO, can the gong-beating ceremony be arranged here to make the trading hall more lively.

Today, for the listing of Ma Liang's subsidiary, Xia Jiali, the helmsman, worked even harder.

Not only did the trading floor be re-decorated, but many festive elements and various promotional items were also added.

As early as a few days ago, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange arranged for the media to start building momentum.

"China's youngest business genius", "Twitter's angel investor", "Leading figure in the mainland catering industry", "Top 10 global angel investors"...

One after another, noisy titles were forcibly placed on Ma Liang, making it difficult for him to accept it or not.

There is no way. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is planning to use it to stimulate the stock market. Naturally, the bigger the noise, the better. Who cares if it is not worthy of its name?

What's more, the things that Boss Ma did are each more astonishing than the last, and it can't be exaggerated.

As the top brother of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Gary Hsia prepared a "god-making" campaign for him.

Today, he even invited the TV stations to prepare a live broadcast of Ma Liang's gong-beating ceremony.

For this reason, Old Man Xia really tried his best to maximize his energy and connections, and forcibly molded him into the savior of Hong Kong stocks in just half a month.

To stimulate the stock market, we must rebuild the confidence of investors, and there is no more effective way than "creating gods."

Creating gods, in fact, similar operations are performed in all walks of life.

Just like the live broadcast industry created Li Jiaqi, Wei Ya and other big anchors more than ten years later, it is a common routine to stimulate the industry, stimulate practitioners and consumers, and thereby attract the public to flock to it.

The same is true for the Internet literature industry, which is as small as it can be. Don’t some Chinese websites still hold a god-granting activity every year?

So when Mr. Xia thought about it, since the people in Xiangjiang are superstitious about the "Ding Crab Effect", it would be completely logically feasible to create a "god" that stimulates the stock market through reverse operations.

After all, this trick was used once as early as 1997.

The person used that time was Old Man Li, who was known as the "Hong Kong Superman". At that time, the Hong Kong stock market was besieged and shorted by international hot money, and it was because of this guy's stable military morale.

Now, it is finally the turn of Ma Liang, the reborn boss, to be elevated to the altar.

Although he was reluctant, he had no choice but to obey for the sake of Hong Kong dollars. Besides, becoming famous would happen sooner or later.

Even if he wants to deliberately keep a low profile this time, it is not impossible, but when Twitter goes public, he will no longer be able to hide it, and everyone will know it.

Rather than being passively exposed, it is better to take advantage of this matter and maximize the economic value.

So he readily agreed to Old Man Xia's series of operations, and even cooperated in accepting interviews with several local media in Xiangjiang in the past two days.

Since we want to create gods, we must go to the front of the stage and can no longer stay behind the scenes.

(End of this chapter)