The Birth of the Hong Kong Island Family.

Chapter 277 [Free Market]

Entering the autumn season of the year, Hong Kong exudes vigorous vitality, whether it is real estate or the stock market, it presents a vigorous scene.Hong Kong's industry continues to be the biggest driving force for economic growth, and tourism has also continued to grow.

It can be said that Hong Kong's prosperity after the 60s would not have come without the foundation laid in the 70s and 50s.Undoubtedly, during the 60 years from the 20s to the 70s, Hong Kong was considered to have taken off economically, while the other three Asian tigers took off in the [-]s.

Hong Kong developed 15 years earlier than Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore.

On this day, Lin Zhichao invited Zhou Xinian to drink tea at Lu Yu Teahouse.

"Congratulations to Sir Zhou, being knighted by Her Majesty the Queen!" Lin Zhichao congratulated them upon meeting.

Compared with the identity of a businessman, people who are engaged in politics are more likely to obtain the title of 'Jazz', of course, it depends on the situation.

Zhou Xinian entered politics in the 30s and served as a hospital in the Municipal Health Bureau. After the war, he began to serve as a member of the Legislative Council and the Executive Council. In 1953, he stepped down as the chief non-official member of the two bureaus.Now it is relatively slow to be conferred the title of knight at this time.

Although Lin Zhichao is a businessman, he has a huge fleet and world influence. The British royal family will have to confer the title of 'Jazz' in three years at the latest.

As for the KBE award (second class), I am afraid that it is a very distant thing. If you want to get this title, it is estimated that you have to make a real contribution to the UK-invest in the UK, not Hong Kong.

The above GBE honor (first class) can only be obtained by a complete "lonely minister and evil son"; as a businessman, Lin Zhichao is even less likely to be towards the UK in his heart, so he died of this heart.

Both KBE and GBE are directly crowned with "jazz titles", and the weight of individual "jazz titles" is slightly lower. For example, Bao Yugang and Run Run Shaw in the previous life had already obtained them in the early 70s.

Zhou Xinian smiled and said, "Lin Sheng is being polite!"

Inside and outside the words, revealing pride.

Chow Sin-nian served in the Legislative Council and the Executive Council, and successively became the chief non-official member in 1953 and 1959. This is already the highest position that a Chinese can achieve in the Hong Kong British era.

However, the status of Hong Kong in this era is not high in the London government, so Zhou Xinian does not even have a KBE award, and like Lin Zhichao, he has a CBE award (third class), but it is just a number of 'jazz titles' .

In the 80s, after the British realized the importance of Hong Kong, they immediately became generous. Jian Yueqiang in the 70s and Zhong Shiyuan in the 80s were directly awarded the title of "GBE", or Big SIR for short.

In the 90s, in order to struggle and lay mines, the UK directly named Deng Lianru a 'baron'; of course, Deng Lianru was not only the chief member of the two councils, but also married an Englishman, which is why she has such a 'glory'.

On the whole, the highest political figures among Hong Kong Chinese are Zhou Xinian, Jian Yueqiang, Zhong Shiyuan, and Deng Lianru.

After chatting for a while, Lin Zhichao repeated the old story again: "Sir Zhou, I don't know if there is any progress on the establishment of the Institute of Technology?"

Just last year, Chow Sin-nian proposed the "establishment of a polytechnic institute" in the Legislative Council, but this kind of thing is unlikely to happen soon; Lin Zhichao is very active, and he is collaborating with MPs everywhere.

Zhou Xinian said: "There is no rush for this matter. The Hong Kong government needs to invite scholars from London to conduct a research report before finally deciding whether to set up a 'Polytechnic Institute Planning Committee'. I know that Lin Sheng is keen on this matter, but unfortunately I will resign in the next year. .So many things are not going smoothly.”

Soon, Lin Zhichao heard the overtones. Zhou Xinian's term as a member of the Legislative Council has ended this year, and he is currently only serving as the chief member of the Executive Council.However, as the highest political representative of the Chinese, the influence is still there.

He said so at this time, but he was still greedy for power and wanted to continue to serve as a member of the Executive Council.

But Lin Zhichao understood that the London Colonial Office would not agree, but in order to have another ally, he still said: "Sir Zhou has made outstanding contributions to Hong Kong's industry during his two-term tenure. , Let’s petition together in London, I hope you will continue to serve.”

Zhou Xinian was overjoyed, he knew Lin Zhichao's power in Hong Kong's industrial and commercial circles, and there was still hope for this matter.

Of course, he still said modestly: "I haven't made a big contribution, it's all my essential work. Since Lin Sheng is so passionate about education, I can't just sit by and do nothing. I'll bring this matter up with the Hong Kong government."

Lin Zhichao immediately said: "This is a major event that is beneficial to Hong Kong and a major event for long-term development, so I will trouble Sir Zhou."

Zhou Xinian immediately said: "Lin Sheng has a deep relationship with the Hong Kong government, and he is also familiar with the governor of Hong Kong, why don't you just come to the door and explain your point of view. I believe that such a selfless public welfare behavior, the governor of Hong Kong has no reason disregard."

Lin Zhichao said worriedly: "I am worried that the opinion of the Legislative Council is more important in this matter, so I have not discussed it with Governor Black!"

It is generally recognized that the Governor of Hong Kong will not veto matters decided by the Legislative Council.

Zhou Xinian said with a smile, "Not necessarily. The Governor of Hong Kong has great power, and the Legislative Council will also refer to it according to the Governor's wishes. Lin Sheng doesn't care about politics, so there may be some deviation in his understanding."

Lin Zhichao nodded, and then said: "Yes. I'd like to visit the governor of Hong Kong, Bai Liji, and hope he can pay attention to this issue."

Zhou Xinian said: "Your Mr. Lin's funding is not to establish a university. I don't think the problem is very big."

Lin Zhichao said: "I also know that the problem is not serious, but I don't want it to drag on for too long."

After chatting for a while, Lin Zhichao also decided to take the initiative and strive for the Hong Kong government to approve the establishment of the "Preparatory Committee" within three years. By then, the "Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute" will officially open in just two or three years.

What Lin Zhichao wants to do is not something that did not exist in his previous life, but just a few years in advance; in his previous life, the Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute was proposed by Zhong Shiyuan in 1965, and the "preparatory committee" was established in 1969. Tang Bingyuan was the chairman of the committee, and it was officially opened in 1972.

In this life, Lin Zhichao hopes that the "Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute" will open in 1966.

As for upgrading the University of Science and Technology, it took 20 years in the previous life. In this life, Lin Zhichao can use the donated funds to upgrade in the early 80s.

At that time, the time will be stuck in Hong Kong's industrial transformation.

In mid-October, the construction of Midea Building at No. 71 Des Voeux Road Central began. This is a 32-storey first-class Grade A building with a property area of ​​1 square feet per floor.

So far, the Lin Zhichao family has owned five first-class Grade A commercial buildings in Central, which are:

Crocodile Shirt Building: 16 floors high, with a total floor area of ​​11.2 square feet including the ground floor. It belongs to Uniqlo clothing company.

Ying Zhi Building: 22 floors high, with a total floor area of ​​19.2 square feet, belonging to Cheung Kong Properties.

Poly Building: 26 floors high, with a total floor area of ​​28 square feet. It belongs to the assets of Changjiang Real Estate; it has been leased out and will open early next year.

Global Building: 22 stories high, with a floor area of ​​22 square feet, a new coastal building with steel beams and steel columns, and glass curtain walls. It belongs to the assets of Changjiang Properties;

Midea Building: 32 floors high, with a total floor area of ​​32 square feet, a coastal building.

Other commercial projects include:
Miramar Hotel, Miramar Shopping Center, Sing Tao Daimaru Department Store, two buildings in Causeway Bay (Daimaru Department Store in Causeway Bay, Xintiandi Shopping Center), Lychee Garden Playground, a large number of scattered shops (the first floor of a residential building facing the street)
Soon, only relying on rent collection, Cheung Kong Industrial Group will be able to live comfortably.

This is like the foundation laid by Xu Aizhou for the family, of course it is much more expensive than the property assets of his family.

At the same time, there are still a full 140 million square feet of undeveloped land under Cheung Kong Properties (the more than 26 square feet of Paterson Street and the triangle belt are already developed).

In terms of cash flow, it is estimated that by the end of the year, there will be about 5000 million cash plus stocks, that is, the sale of the residential part of the seven buildings on Paterson Street.

And Cheung Kong's total assets are probably 4-5 million Hong Kong dollars, which is about 50% higher than last year.

Back at the company, Lin Zhichao asked Zhou Fuzhao for the lease information of 'Poly Building'.

Poly Building is located in the heart of Central, next to the later Landmark Plaza. Now it is a first-class building developed by Lin Zhichao, and Landmark is also envious; because in this area, Landmark's Alexandra Building is only nine stories high.

At present, the rent of Grade A office buildings in Central is between 1.2 and 1.4 Hong Kong dollars. Poly Building can collect more than 500 million Hong Kong dollars a year in rent, of which the shopping center contributes about 25%, but the fourth floor of the shopping center only accounts for 16% of the floor area.

The land cost of this building plus construction costs and miscellaneous costs is about 2800 million Hong Kong dollars; if about 8% of the rent is the net profit (see the vacancy rate), it will take about 7 years to pay back.

The construction cost of this building is a bit high, but Lin Zhichao thinks it is worth it!

"boss"

"Um"

Liang Guangchang from Miramar Hotel Group came to Lin Zhichao's office.

Liang Guangchang vaguely has the potential to become the fourth carriage within the group. The current Miramar Hotel Group actually manages Sing Tao Daimaru Department Store, Causeway Bay Daimaru Department Store (the building is called Walden Building), Xintiandi Shopping Center (building Also known as Xintiandi Building), Crocodile Shirt Shopping Center and a series of retail commercial real estate.

The rent collection of other office buildings and scattered shops is actually managed by the rent collection department.

Lin Zhichao is very optimistic about Liang Guangchang, and he will be in charge of the group's commercial real estate business in the future, becoming his fourth carriage.

Liang Guangchang went on to say: "I asked someone to look at the opening dates of the Miramar Hotel and the shopping mall. They are respectively. You can choose which day, so that we can organize a grand opening ceremony and invite guests." After finishing speaking, he handed over a almanac.

Lin Zhichao then flipped through the almanac and compared it, and quickly decided: "Wednesday, January 1961 next year (1)."

"Okay. What about the guests?"

Lin Zhichao said: "I will give you a list as soon as possible, and I will personally invite the Governor of Hong Kong."

"Um"

Inviting a Hong Kong governor is nothing!
The difficult thing is to meet the British royal family to participate in the ribbon-cutting of the opening, that is the courage.

In his previous life, Zheng Yutong deliberately waited for the foundation stone laying and opening ceremony of the Wanchai Convention and Exhibition Center until the date of the Queen's visit to Hong Kong and Charles and his wife's visit to Hong Kong in order to let the British royal family cut the ribbon for him.

When Prince Philip visited Hong Kong last year, Lin Zhichao did not have the foundation stone laying and opening ceremony for the building. Naturally, he could not invite him to lay the foundation stone and cut the ribbon for a hospital.

Lin Zhichao came to the Governor's Mansion and was invited into the Governor's Office by Li Kei's secretary.

He is a justice of the peace and a CBE recipient, and he can directly call the governor's office. Because he has a lot of power, in the eyes of people of his level, any association or police is a small person who can be crushed to death at any time.

Let’s just talk about those Chinese inspectors, if they offend the justices of the peace, they will definitely be in trouble; after all, the justices of the peace can drink tea with those superintendents, talk about social security, and then unite with some famous people in the society, and they can immediately kill a small Chief Inspector.

If it was Lin Zhichao, there would be no need for trouble, and he would soon be able to kill Inspector Zonghua.

Of course, on the other hand, the chaos in Hong Kong is not the cause of these inspectors, but the reason why these British officials of the Hong Kong government are too greedy, so 'the upper and lower are effective'.Whoever is in charge will look the same, so Lin Zhichao doesn't care about it, worrying unnecessarily.

Every era has its own characteristics. The "Detective Era" in Hong Kong in the 60s was not the kind of scene in the movie; Go and see; of course, clubs are indeed rampant, if you want to describe them, they are actually the opposite of the 90s, maybe not as good.

The status of foreigners in Hong Kong is still much higher. For example, in five or six years, when those 14K riots, the Hong Kong government had no intention of killing people, but they overturned the vehicle of the Swiss consul, causing his wife to be burned to death.Because of this incident, the military and police opened fire directly, killing 50 people directly in a short time.

In this era, the killing of Chinese by the British army and police stationed in Hong Kong is really useless, and there is no sense of human rights at all.Whoever decides for you, neither side will really call the shots.

The society of later generations is really tolerant of young people.

"Hello, Governor of Hong Kong!"

"Mr. Lin, please sit down!"

After the two sat down, the Assistant Governor made tea for them.

Lin Zhichao said: "I know that the governor of Hong Kong attaches great importance to Hong Kong's education. In the past three years since he took office, nearly a hundred schools have been built. In higher education, he also spared no effort to support, increasing the allocation of Hong Kong University; inviting rich Erdun came to Hong Kong to investigate the situation of higher education, and promoted the merger of three Chinese post-secondary colleges into 'The Chinese University of Hong Kong'."

Bai Liji was very happy when he heard Lin Zhichao's words. After all, it is a happy thing to be recognized by others.

Afterwards, he smiled and said, "Mr. Lin didn't come here this time to praise me, did he?"

As the governor of Hong Kong, he would not underestimate Lin Zhichao's energy. This Chinese man's wealth is not worse than that of Jardine; his influence in the Chinese business community is also ranked first; his influence in the world is also increasing day by day .

Such a character is bound to grow even stronger!
Lin Zhichao said seriously: "I came here to establish the Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute. I know that the Legislative Council has raised this matter, so I am very concerned. The current industries in Hong Kong are primary processing and assembly industries. Maybe within 20 years, enough Support Hong Kong to become an economically developed region in Asia. But in the long run, after a region is economically developed, factories will relocate to less developed regions to reduce costs. Then Hong Kong's industry in the future needs to be transformed. So I hope The Hong Kong government can speed up the establishment of the Hong Kong Polytechnic to better cultivate engineering talents for Hong Kong. As a member of the business community, I am willing to donate 1000 million and will continue to donate.”

He listened very carefully. He was an official who delegated power to the colony. Sing Tao was able to establish an autonomous government, and set up a prime minister and a cabinet to take charge of all affairs other than 'defense and foreign affairs'. He played a big role contribution, he even admired that lawyer very much.

At the same time, shortly after he took office as governor of Hong Kong, he announced that Hong Kong had gained independent economic and financial power. In the future, the Hong Kong government would no longer need to submit its budget to London for review. With the consent of the Hong Kong government, the Hong Kong government can formulate its own economic policies independently, and the colonial office will only intervene in Hong Kong's foreign lending affairs.

"I will seriously consider what Mr. Lin said. After all, it is a matter that is beneficial to Hong Kong. And Mr. Lin is willing to donate education. I welcome it very much." Bai Liji said.

After all, it is not a university, but a junior college. It is not a big deal. As the governor of Hong Kong, he can make a great contribution.

If it is a university, then things are complicated.

Lin Zhichao said: "Okay, thank you for your enlightenment. I also feel that the lack of talents in Hong Kong Polytechnic has greatly hindered the development of our company, so I want to promote this matter."

Bai Liji said with a smile: "Cheung Kong Industrial Group is well-known at home and abroad. It is only logical that Mr. Hualin has such a vision when he invented the trolley suitcase, instant noodles, and plastic. As the ruler of Hong Kong, I naturally hope that Hong Kong will become more prosperous." better."

After the two were courteous, Lin Zhichao stood up and said goodbye.

After Lin Zhichao left, Bai Liji looked at his back and couldn't help sighing: "This young man is really a business genius!"

The assistant said: "The Chinese are developing so fast, will it pose a threat to British assets?"

Black said: "This is a commercial matter, and our Hong Kong government will not interfere."

The assistant said nothing else immediately!

Within the Hong Kong government, many officials are of course partial to British capital, but as the governor of Hong Kong, governance, stability and other factors need to be considered first.

Some of the following departments are partial to British capital, which is enough for British capital to take advantage.

If we blatantly suppress Chinese capital, it will inevitably lead to an unstable environment, and it will be bad if we lose the support of the people.

When the new Financial Secretary, Sir Pak Wai Kwok takes office next year, Hong Kong will completely enter the 'free market'. The government will not intervene in business matters.In the beginning, it was true that the British capital had the upper hand - Landmark Drinking Milk, but later, it was the Chinese capital that turned around and gained the upper hand.

(End of this chapter)