The Birth of the Hong Kong Island Family.

Chapter 50 [The True Essence of Charity] (Seek to read more!)

Sunday, February 1948, 2.

Today is the day before New Year's Eve, Lin Zhichao took Tang Caiyun to go shopping in Central, followed by two light bulbs - Tang Caiying and Lin Xiner.

Fortunately, these two light bulbs are more sensible, and they hardly disturb Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiyun's date.

At this time, many refugees can still be seen on the streets of Hong Kong, even in Central.And everyone is accustomed to it, and will not drive it away.

If you observe carefully, you will find that in Hong Kong society at this time, hawkers can sell on the street at will, and shop owners will not maliciously drive out refugees at the door. Hong Kong as a whole is more tolerant.

Rich people will not stop just because there are refugees at the door of the store, they are all accustomed to shopping.

The self-made market on Queen's Road is crowded with people. There are girls selling dried fish, a woman selling newspapers (probably a woman, but she looks old), and many Royal Marines are buying, and some are carrying guns. Citizens are used to patrolling British soldiers.

It means that most of them are poor people at a glance, and they are all poor people who want to survive.

"Those refugees are so pitiful! It's so cold, they can only sleep under the eaves at night." Tang Caiyun said to Lin Zhichao with kindness.

Lin Zhichao smiled and said, "There's no need to worry. They can have enough to eat, and they don't need to worry about the war. The difficulties are short-lived. Those who arrive in Hong Kong soon will live in wooden houses."

Hong Kong's population is soaring, and there is indeed a shortage of a large number of houses.

An ancient 3-story wooden tenement house in Wan Chai has as many as 90 people living there, many of whom sleep in 6-story "bunk beds".This is considered to be a good situation. A large number of Hong Kong residents who were forced to relocate (landlords increased rents to drive people away, so as to ask for sky-high fees), and new refugees were forced to build houses on the roofs of tenement buildings, beside the streets, and around the city. A large number of shacks, wooden houses, and even "cardboard houses" have formed many densely populated wooden housing areas.

These wooden houses were built one after another, from the street to the end of the street, forming a spectacular "Roof House Street".Since building a wooden house at that time required tens of dollars to buy wood and iron sheets, some poor people simply went to the streets to collect cardboard boxes and build "cardboard houses".These paper houses mostly use a few strips of wood as the roof truss, and the roof is covered with "asphalt paper", and the paper is nailed around, forming another wonderful flower in the wooden house area-the paper house.

Due to the complex population and the historical background at this time, these wooden house areas, rooftop wooden house areas, and cardboard houses often become areas where evil forces commit crimes and hide filth, and social problems abound.

Therefore, the darkness of society is often in the slums, and the upper class is out of sight and out of mind.

Originally, during this period, Hong Kong real estate and property developers were operating on a small budget. They usually built 2 to 4 houses for sale, and the industry commonly called this method "fried four hot meat".

There is an unwritten rule among these people that no house can be built with more than 5 floors, otherwise the Governor of Hong Kong in conjunction with the Executive Council will need to approve it.

And Lin Zhichao developed the "layered sales" and "installment sales" in advance, which made a great contribution to the residential real estate market; of course, it does not mean that the situation of housing shortage in Hong Kong can be changed in one fell swoop, but it has been relatively alleviated.

After all, even in another ten years, it is estimated that the proportion of private housing in Hong Kong will not exceed 35%.

In order for more people to be able to afford houses, Hong Kong must first be industrialized and reach a certain degree of prosperity, thus generating a large amount of purchasing power.Otherwise, even if the capital goes into real estate, it will be useless if the house is not easy to sell.

Tang Caiyun suggested: "Brother Zhichao, should we buy some things and distribute them to these refugees?"

Lin Zhichao immediately shook his head and said, "It's not very safe! When the things are distributed and some people don't receive them, they will offend them for no reason. Caiyun, it's not that I'm stingy with the money, but I don't think it's a good idea. You want I know that there are more than 100 workers in my factory, and I am more willing to distribute supplies to them to benefit their families. It just so happens that Cheung Kong will distribute oil and rice to the workers this afternoon, so I will take you to experience it.”

When Tang Caiyun heard it, she was not pretentious at all, and said happily: "Well, I think Brother Zhichao is very reasonable. You are supporting so many workers now, and there are many family members behind these workers. Send them supplies. It’s really more meaningful than handing out stuff to the streets.”

Lin Zhichao looked at Tang Caiyun unexpectedly, but he didn't expect that this woman was not hypocritical at all.

Tang Caiyun stuck out her tongue and said cutely: "Brother Zhichao, you don't think I'm hypocritical, do you?" She cleverly realized that Lin Zhichao's eyes conveyed the message.

In fact, she just wanted to do something with Lin Zhichao, and even if Lin Zhichao refused for no reason, she would not be really angry.Now, she finds out that Lin Zhichao is very kind to the workers, and she understands the true meaning of "charity".

Of course, Lin Zhichao does not think that charity is redundant, but that his current strength is limited, so he can only take good care of his workers first.If he has greater strength in the future, he will naturally be willing to spend more funds and do charity on a wider scale.

In the afternoon, Lin Zhichao brought Tang Caiyun to the Changjiang Industrial Factory.

Seeing Lin Zhichao leading a beautiful girl, a group of workers shouted, "Boss, Mrs. Lin!"

Tang Caiyun was both happy and shy, and Lin Zhichao did not correct the workers, but just introduced Tang Caiyun to several managers and asked everyone to call her "Miss Tang".

"How is the production arrangement for the Spring Festival? Do you have any comments?" Lin Zhichao asked.

Wang Liang immediately said: "I've already discussed it with everyone, and no one has any objections. After all, the boss is giving everyone double rations, and also giving everyone New Year's goods. Everyone also knows that the factory's production tasks are heavy, and they express their obedience to the arrangement."

During the two days of New Year’s Eve and Spring Festival, Cheung Kong will not suspend work, but half of the workers will get off work at 18 o’clock on New Year’s Eve, while the other half will get off work at 14 o’clock on the first day of the new year.In other words, each worker has time to have dinner with his family, while the whole Cheung Kong still works for 16 hours (workers usually work [-]-[-] hours).

All factories in Hong Kong are like this, and workers almost have to work for 16 hours or even longer.After all, too many people outside have no jobs, and many factories even only pay novice workers a salary of 30 Hong Kong dollars or 25 Hong Kong dollars (depending on their education level and skill level). It is already very difficult, so I will squeeze hard.

Cheung Kong is not bad. The salary for a novice is 40 Hong Kong dollars per month, and as long as you get started, it is almost 60-100 Hong Kong dollars, depending on the proficiency of the job.Not to mention, at the end of this year, Lin Zhichao gave everyone double pay and new year's goods.

Next, Lin Zhichao distributed rice and oil supplies to each worker, encouraging everyone to make persistent efforts and work hard in the new year (let the boss live in a luxury house and drive a luxury car as soon as possible).

All the workers smiled happily and expressed their thanks quickly.

"Boss, you are such a good boss, you are the best boss in Hong Kong."

"The boss gave us double rations and rice oil. I haven't worked for half a year yet. The boss is a good man!"

"Boss Gong Xi Fa Cai, I wish you and your wife have a baby soon!"

The simple words of the workers soon filled the factory area of ​​Cheung Kong Industrial, and Lin Zhichao was quite moved.He has a goal in mind, that is to only do high value-added manufacturing, get rid of sweatshops, and the welfare of his workers should belong to the top students in the entire manufacturing industry.

His zipper industry is of course a high value-added industry, at least higher than Hong Kong's textile and garments.

After finishing the distribution of benefits, Lin Zhichao explained to the management, and took the initiative to hold Tang Caiyun's little hand, ready to go home.

Tang Caiyun's heart jumped wildly, but she didn't break free from Lin Zhichao's hand.

Back in the car, Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "The words of the workers are all simple, don't you think it's rude!"

Thinking of the words about having a baby early, Tang Caiyun immediately lowered her head and said softly, "Brother Zhichao!" Her tone was full of coquettishness.

Lin Zhichao still touched other people's little hands, couldn't put it down, and said, "Where do you want to go!"

Knowing that Lin Zhichao was teasing her, Tang Caiyun became even more shy, and said, "I'm not thinking about it! You are thinking about it!"

Lin Zhichao laughed, which provoked Tang Caiyun to serve him with fists, and it was the first time that the two got so close.

He is about to turn 20, and Tang Caiyun has also turned 19, but Lin Zhichao doesn't want to marry too early, and it is estimated that he will consider it next year (1949).

Fortunately, the relationship between the two has been approved by both parents, and it can be regarded as a certainty. It doesn't matter if Lin Zhichao takes advantage of it.

The main reason is that Lin Zhichao's career is very important, and he can't afford a new house now, which is obviously impossible.

This Spring Festival, the families of Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiyun had a meal together, reconfirming the relationship between Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiyun. When the time is right, the two will get married.

Lin Zhichao also visited two elders who have supported him - Jian Dongpu and He Dong. They were also very happy that Lin Zhichao came to visit, after all, Lin Zhichao's achievements are already extraordinary.Supporting such a junior is equivalent to giving a good fortune to one's own descendants.

After that, Lin Zhichao quickly devoted himself to work.

(End of this chapter)