Hong Kong Island's New Rich Era

Chapter 84: First Hearing of the Canton Fair

On the road of reform and opening up in Shenzhen, one company must be mentioned: Zhengda Company. It is the first foreign-invested enterprise established in Shenzhen after the reform and opening up, with registration certificate number 001.

Due to the low land prices and labor costs in Shenzhen, their business in Shenzhen at that time was to open a feed factory and poultry farming, and then sell live chickens to Hong Kong.

Although it was only 1976 and there were still two years before CP Group moved to the mainland, they had already come to Hong Kong in 1973 to develop the market.

Currently, Charoen Pokphand Group mainly engages in trade and food sales in Hong Kong. They later entered the feed and poultry industries in the mainland, but did not set up factories or farms in Hong Kong.

The person in charge of CP Group in Hong Kong was Li Shaozhu, a Chinese from southern Thailand. He learned Chinese since childhood. Later, by chance, he met Xie Guoming, a senior executive of CP Group, and came to Hong Kong in 73 to take charge of the work.

The person Liu Zhicheng invited to have morning tea today was Li Shaozhu. He wanted to make friends with him and sell motorcycles to Thailand.

One is a wealthy Chinese tycoon in Hong Kong, and the other is the head of a large group in Hong Kong. One wants the other to sell motorcycles to Thailand, and the other wants to get to know the big boss in Hong Kong and develop more business.

In the private room on the third floor of Lu Yu Teahouse, Liu Zhicheng and Li Shaozhu were chatting happily. Li Shaozhu smiled and said, "Mr. Liu, it is my honor to have you invite me to drink tea with you today."

"Mr. Li, all Chinese businessmen should interact more and work together to resist the targeting of British capital." Liu Zhicheng said with a smile.

"Mr. Liu, thank you for your kindness. Just give me a call if you need anything." Li Shaozhu also gave enough face today.

"Mr. Li speaks Chinese very well, even better than me, a native Chinese." Liu Zhicheng praised Li Shaozhu's Chinese proficiency.

"It was hard to talk about it. Learning Chinese was very hard. My father always told me that I would return to my motherland when I grew up, so I had to learn Chinese. There were no Chinese schools at that time, so five or six of us found a tutor to study at night."

Li Shaozhu slowly told Liu Zhicheng about his experience of learning Chinese. His story revealed that it was not easy for Chinese people to survive in Southeast Asia.

"Mr. Li is a role model for overseas Chinese and is worthy of admiration!" Liu Zhicheng nodded and expressed his admiration for him.

"Mr. Liu, I have to thank you for your hard work back then, otherwise I wouldn't be meeting you in Hong Kong today."

Li Shaozhu was also a straightforward person. Seeing this, Liu Zhicheng did not hesitate to say anything. He said, "Mr. Li, to be honest, I have produced a batch of motorcycles and would like to expand into the Thai market. I would like to seek cooperation with your company."

"Motorcycle?" Li Shaozhu was stunned when he heard Liu Zhicheng talking about motorcycles. Isn't the whole Southeast Asia the market for RB motorcycles now?
Could it be that Liu Zhicheng wanted to develop industrial manufacturing and had already produced motorcycles? RB cars are very strong now, and this is not a good deal.

But Liu Zhicheng asked in person that it was difficult to refuse, otherwise it would be difficult for them to meet in the future. After all, it was a business deal, it was just a matter of conditions.

He asked tentatively: "Mr. Liu, as long as the quality is up to standard and the price is acceptable, there will be no problem."

Liu Zhicheng also considered the price issue before coming. In order to compete with RB goods for the market, the first thing to consider is service, and the most important thing is price.

He smiled and said, "All our motorcycles are powered by engines produced by Yamaha. As for after-sales service, we are willing to set up a service center in Bangkok. I promise that the price will always be 10% lower than that of the RB brand. What do you think?"

Seeing that Liu Zhicheng had said this, Li Shaozhu thought about it and nodded: "As long as Mr. Liu is willing to sell it to us on credit first and guarantee after-sales service, I can bring the Chigo motorcycle back to Thailand."

Businessmen are always businessmen, and Li Shaozhu is no pushover. When he finds himself in an advantageous position, he pushes all the risks onto others.

Liu Zhicheng considered the pros and cons and nodded in agreement. Of course, the specific details were not discussed by them, but were handed over to the negotiation teams of both sides.

The two of them saw that the cooperation was almost discussed, and suddenly Li Shaozhu asked: "Since you are in the industry, the acquisition of Huangpu Group is to prepare for the real estate business, right?"

Liu Zhicheng smiled and said, "I acquired Huangpu for real estate, but not just for real estate. I originally wanted to acquire ParknShop chain supermarket stores, but I didn't expect to acquire Huangpu as well." "Mr. Liu really boosted the morale of the Chinese this time. This is the first time in a hundred years."

"Mr. Li, you are too kind." When Liu Zhicheng first heard that Li Shaozhu wanted to return to his motherland and was engaged in trade, he asked, "Mr. Li, have you heard of the Canton Fair?"

Li Shaozhu glanced at Liu Zhicheng and said with a smile: "Mr. Liu, you have asked the right person. Not only have I heard of this Canton Fair, I have also participated in it."

Li Shaozhu didn't know what Liu Zhicheng meant, but since it was a business matter, it didn't matter if he told him, so he blurted it all out.

Liu Zhicheng was also surprised when he heard this. It turned out that Li Shaozhu had participated in the Canton Fair last year and planned to purchase some goods to sell in Hong Kong.

Li Shaozhu went to the Canton Fair so early, no wonder he was the first Chinese entrepreneur to develop in the mainland.

"Mr. Li, what is the quality of the products at the Canton Fair now?" Liu Zhicheng asked curiously.

Li Shaozhu shook his head and said, "I found a few products that are suitable for sale, but I always feel that the quality is not very good."

"But one thing is certain: since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Europe and the United States, the Canton Fair has become increasingly popular."

"This is a good thing." Liu Zhicheng nodded and said. In fact, the Canton Fair is a window for China to open up to the outside world and also an initial pilot project for reform and opening up.

In recent years, the Canton Fair has grown larger and larger, with the scale of transactions growing very rapidly, earning a lot of foreign exchange, which has been used to introduce necessary production materials and equipment.

"What can we cooperate on?" Liu Zhicheng couldn't help but ask.

“Some silk handicrafts are OK, but as you know, this market is too small. I want to find some circulating goods to sell in Hong Kong.”

"That won't work. Do they have any clothing or other goods for sale?"

Now that Europe and the United States are affected by the oil crisis, people are increasingly in need of cheap goods.

If the clothing is cheap, you can purchase a batch and sell it in Europe and the United States.

“Yes, they do. Due to the lack of chemical fiber, they are all pure cotton products. The price is cheap, but they lack elasticity.”

At present, chemical equipment is being introduced into the mainland, but large-scale production will take several years. Liu Zhicheng remembered the popularity of the "Duoliang" shirt in his previous life in China.

"But they recommended a product to me that I think has promise, and that's white wine," said Li Shaozhu with a smile.

"White wine? Europeans and Americans generally don't like to drink this stuff, right?" Liu Zhicheng remembered that in his previous life, most of the domestic wine was strong liquor, so he blurted out.

"Not necessarily. With so many Chinese people around the world, it doesn't necessarily mean that we can't sell our products."

"Europeans and Americans generally prefer milder wines. If Mr. Li can contact them and make such a wine, I can help contact customers."

"Okay, I'll contact them and reply to Mr. Liu then."

(End of this chapter)