Legend of Xiangjiang Tycoon

,!

The second boss who partnered with Zhou Zhiyuan was also surnamed Zhou, and he was from the same town as Zhou Zhiyuan. Zheng Yutong called him Uncle Zhou.

One day, Uncle Zhou said to Boss Zhou, "You have good eyesight, your son-in-law is good."

Zhou Zhiyuan said proudly: "It's not bad, but it's not because of my good eyesight, but because of my good luck. Brother Zheng and I are married on the fingertips. We don't even know that we will have children in the future, so we will marry first."

Zhou Zhiyuan transferred Zheng Yutong to the office to work as a clerk, keeping accounts and auditing, buying gold with the boss, identifying quality, setting styles, supervising production, pricing and so on.

After Zheng Yutong gradually got on the road, he was promoted to be the store manager.

When Zheng Yutong was 18 years old, Zhou Zhiyuan betrothed his daughter Zhou Cuiying to him. Wedding ceremony in the bridal chamber, formally married.

The colleagues in the industry and the left and right shops were quite surprised. Boss Zhou really recruited a man to be his son-in-law. According to Boss Zhou's family background, he had to marry his daughter to a son of a rich family to be a good match.

Many people called Zheng Yutong the son-in-law of Chenglong Kuai, saying that his success in Chow Tai Fook was all due to having a good father-in-law who was the boss.

Why Zheng Yutong is valued by the boss, and why he can marry the boss's daughter, only the boss Zhou Zhiyuan knows best.

Perhaps, there is indeed a reason for marriage, but more importantly, it is hard work.

If Zheng Yutong's artifacts were inferior, even if Zhou Zhiyuan recognized him as his son-in-law, he would not be reused. Running a gold shop is not as simple as selling water tofu.

Regarding Zheng Yutong's fortune, many years later, people have been talking about the topic of riding a dragon and quickly becoming a son-in-law. Zheng Yutong admits that he is very lucky and will never forget his father-in-law's kindness in his life, but he also said:

"The so-called no luck, luck is only once or twice, and it will not last forever, so 'diligence' is the most important; secondly, 'sincerity' cannot be ignored, you must be honest with your friends, and you must not have the mentality of intrigue."

Zheng Yutong respects his father-in-law Zhou Zhiyuan, and is also deeply attached to his wife Zhou Cuiying, but he doesn't want to hear others talking about him as a son-in-law. Being a son-in-law means that he only got the favor of his father-in-law, not his own efforts.

If you want others to change the secular view of "riding the dragon and quickly son-in-law", you can only rely on your own efforts. Newly married Zheng Yutong worked harder. Chow Tai Fook Gold Shop stood out and became a leader in the industry.

At the beginning, Zhou Fangpu, a cousin who came to Macau with Zhou Zhiyuan, saw that his Chow Sang Sang Gold Shop was left behind, and secretly competed with each other. He must compare himself with Chow Tai Fook.

In 1946, the regained Xiangjiang began to recover. Zhou Zhiyuan decided to open a branch in Xiangjiang, and this heavy burden naturally fell on Zheng Yutong - he is the most trusted and valued person by Boss Zhou.

The Chow Tai Fook Gold Shop branch was located in the busiest Central District. Zheng Yutong was the manager and he was only 21 years old at the time.

It was Zheng Yutong's first overall responsibility, and he couldn't help but feel nervous.

While the gold shop was still being renovated, he took the time to go to other gold shops to learn scriptures secretly. He has a good understanding, and he can often see the mystery with just a few glances.

He works more than 10 hours a day, sleeps in bed at night, and is still thinking about the gold shop.

Contacting business, ordering goods, ordering payment, shop management, accounting and managing money, all with one kick. When he recalls the scene at that time now, he is quite amazed at his youthful energy.

Ten years later, Zheng Yutong has long been an expert in running a gold shop. When colleagues and shop assistants talk about Zheng Yutong, they are all overwhelmed.

The gold shop was well-run, and the scale continued to expand. The juniors in the industry called Zhou Zhiyuan the gold king.

The development prospect of Xiangjiang is much bigger than that of Macau. Zhou Zhiyuan's gold shop in Xiangjiang has made great progress, so he moved the head office to Xiangjiang, and the gold shop in Macau as a branch.

Another boss of Chow Tai Fook, Uncle Zhou, has no less evaluation of Zheng Yutong than Zhou Zhiyuan.

He was old and didn't want to spend any more time in business, so he transferred the shares to Zheng Yutong to spend his old age peacefully.

Zhou Zhiyuan also intends to help his daughter and son-in-law to practice independently, and also wants to quit Chow Tai Fook.

Zheng Yutong sincerely persuaded him to stay, so Zhou Zhiyuan kept some stocks and gradually faded out of business.

Zheng Yutong became the boss of Chow Tai Fook, and Zheng Yutong's friends called him the new gold king.

Zheng Yutong did not admit that he was the king of gold. He believed that Zhou Dafu could not be called a king in Xiangjiang where rich people were everywhere. Even if Chow Tai Fook's assets are the highest in the industry, Zheng Yutong will not be satisfied with being the gold king.

Jewelry at that time was usually made of gold and silver. Zheng Yutong sees that there are more and more rich people in Xiangjiang, people are more and more pursuing luxury, and the prospects of the main pearl industry will be immeasurable.

Although it has not yet become a hot spot, if you wait for it to become a hot spot and then follow others, if you want to create a brand, you will get twice the result with half the effort.

Diamond is the king of jewelry, and the price is extremely high. If you want to do it, you need to do diamond business with high added value. In the West, jewelry stores that deal in diamonds are all well-known first-class stores with strong capital and excellent reputation. Zheng Yutong naturally desires to be this "first-class".

Zheng Yutong felt that Chow Tai Fook's financial resources were weak, so he reorganized the two into a limited company and expanded the shares to increase capital. Zheng Yutong was still the largest shareholder. Zheng Yutong does not intend to give up the gold and silver jewelry business and continue to open more branches. In this year, that is, 1960, the company made a profit of five million Hong Kong dollars, ranking among the best in the industry.

The biggest problem in running a diamond business is that there is no source of diamonds. South Africa is the world's largest diamond producer, and its diamond business is monopolized by De Beer, a British company. De Beer also controls diamonds from other countries, and its diamond turnover accounts for 80% of the world's total.

De Beer's sale of diamonds is very unique. It does not sell for money, but can only be purchased with a license issued by the company.

The number of De Beers licenses is limited to 500. De Beers regularly conducts follow-up audits on the licensees, and only allows the licensees to use them for themselves. It is not allowed to resell the approved diamonds.

Xiangjiang only Liao Guichang has a De Beers license. Liao Guichang's nickname is the king of diamonds, strictly speaking, the king of diamond watches.

The movement of the watch comes from Switzerland. He bought rough stones, processed them, and inlaid finished diamonds on the watch. He only made dozens of diamond watches a year, and the price of each watch was lower due to the different diamonds. , worth at least one million Hong Kong dollars.

It is impossible for Zheng Yutong to apply for a De Beers license in the next few years. He imagined: Liao Guichang makes diamond watches, and I make diamond jewelry. As long as I can get matching stones, no one will compete with me in the near future.

Why did Zheng Yutong get the favor of the De Beers tycoon and give him more than 10 licenses at once? Many diamond processing factories around the world have been in operation for more than 10 years, but they cannot get matching stones from De Beers and can only undertake diamond processing business from jewelers.

It turned out that Zheng Yutong consulted a lot of information about diamonds in order to get involved in the diamond business.

For this reason, he specially hired an English translator to translate the English diamond information into Chinese. A fantasy gradually became clear in Zheng Yutong's mind, and he immediately flew to South Africa with an interpreter.

South Africa's diamond resources are monopolized by the state, and De Beer holds the diamond business patent. Taking advantage of the landowners, diamond processing factories in South Africa are blooming everywhere, and they get De Beers' matching stones by license.

If you want to get a De Beers license, the only shortcut is to buy a diamond processing factory. The hard work paid off, and Zheng Yutong really bought a diamond processing factory. This factory has more than 10 De Beers licenses!

Killing two birds with one stone, Zheng Yutong not only obtained more than 10 De Beers licenses, but also has his own processing plant. South Africa has a history of processing diamonds for hundreds of years, and it is impossible for Xiangjiang to catch up with the processing level all at once.

When the news spread that the main bank of Chow Tai Fook Pearl obtained more than 10 licenses of De Beer in one go, Liao Guichang, the diamond king of Xiangjiang, was surprised. The diamond king's honorary title "Zen Yi" was given to Zheng Yutong.

Diamonds and gold are Chow Tai Fook's two major commodities. Zheng Yutong did not ignore other jewelry business, Chow Tai Fook has more than 20 types of jewelry, and there are so many styles that even Zheng Yutong can't count.

Diamonds have greatly increased Chow Tai Fook's turnover, and the company has started to count 100 million yuan as the unit of turnover.

Zheng Yutong is unswervingly loyal to Diamond, and his love is hard to part with. He has been Hong Kong's largest diamond importer.

He said at a press conference in 1992: "Chow Tai Fook's annual imports of diamonds accounted for about 30% of the total in Hong Kong. In 1991, Hong Kong imported a total of more than 800 million yuan of diamonds, of which more than 200 million (Hong Kong) belonged to our company. Yuan."

Chow Tai Fook's diamonds no longer come from South Africa alone, but also from the United Kingdom, the United States, Belgium and other countries.

The popularity of Chow Tai Fook's diamond jewelry is the result of Zheng Yutong's accurate understanding of women's psychology.

Women love beauty, and the dazzling light of diamonds is by no means comparable to gold and silver. Women like to show their nobility. Because of the priceless value of diamonds, the women who own it are either super wealthy or noble ladies with special status. Diamonds can preserve value. Owning diamonds means owning wealth. Diamonds are not afraid of corrosion, wear and tear, and are easy to hide and carry.

Chow Tai Fook's advertisements are aimed at women's psychology.

Chow Tai Fook's business has grown, and it is impossible for Zheng Yutong to kick everything. He is good at discovering and using talents.

He never acted hastily in the appointment of his subordinates, and generally had to go through several years of inspection. Zheng Yutong has only received elementary school education and is eager to seek talents, especially college graduates.

His talent standard has always been both ability and political integrity. He often sighed: "I value talents the most, but truly talented and reliable people are the hardest to find."

At that time, there were hundreds of gold shops in Xiangjiang, and Zhou Taifu was the most popular in the limelight, ranking first. Can this attribute Zheng Yutong's success to "Chenglong Kuaishou"?

Zheng Yutong attributes his success to.

"The way of life is to keep promises, honor promises, work diligently, be cautious in dealing with things, drink water and remember the source, and should not be ungrateful for profit."

This is the 24-character mantra that everyone in Chow Tai Fook Company knows.

In the second generation, the situation changed. Zhou Zhiyuan's three sons were not interested in inheriting his father's business, so Zhou Zhiyuan made his son-in-law Zheng Yutong the head of Chow Tai Fook.

Zhou Fangpu had a wife and a concubine, and he had six sons, three of whom inherited his father's business, and the other three found other ways to develop. The name of the gold shop is still Zhou Shengsheng.

There are many legends in Hong Kong and Macau about why Chow Sang-sang confronts Chow Tai-fook: the daughter who is married off, the water that is thrown out, and the young shopkeeper of Chow Sang-sang thinks that Chow Sang-sang changed hands to a foreigner, which is not in line with the clan law.

It is also said that Zheng Yutong regards himself as the Zheng family and is unwilling to participate in family social activities held by people with Zhou surnames in Hong Kong. It is said that at a clan gathering, when reading the roster of attendees, the members of the Zhou family have their first names and surnames. When Zheng Yutong is read, However, he was called "Zhou Zhiyuan's son-in-law Yutong", which made Zheng Yutong's wife Zhou Cuiying very dissatisfied; after Zheng Yutong took over Chow Tai Fook, Chow Tai Fook flourished, which aroused the jealousy of Chow Sang Sang's boss. The last one is probably more reasonable: in business, there are no fathers and sons in shopping malls, and relatives and friends are even more ruthless.

Chow Sang-sang adopts the policy of hot pursuit and pressing against Chow Tai Fook. Wherever you set up a business, I will not be next to you, but will be opposite you.

I will sell whatever you sell; if you get De Beer's license to get diamonds, I will be the same as De Beer, and I will never let you dominate.

Chow Tai Fook lashed out with "buy it now", and Chow Sang Sang counterattacked with "no bargain".

For two weeks, the fight was inextricably linked, and the sky was dark and the earth was dark. In this situation, it's like the competition between the top two department stores and Yong'an. Both of them have done their business perfectly and reached the pinnacle.

In terms of turnover, Chow Tai Fook is slightly better; in terms of berths, Chow Sang Sang is far ahead - Chow Tai Fook has ten branches, and Chow Sang Sang has 20 branches, twice as many as Chow Tai Fook!

Is it because Chow Tai Fook has limited financial resources and cannot afford to buy a store property? No.

Since the 1970s, Zheng Yutong has focused on real estate. If it is said that the jewelry industry earned Zheng's first pot of gold, then real estate is a gold mine for Zheng.

Zheng Yutong realized early on about investing in real estate.

The profits of the jewelry industry provided him with a lot of funds to invest in real estate, and he continued to expand the scale. The banking crisis of 1965, the events of 1967, set back his real estate business.

The palace people sold their real estate one after another, and snapped up floating properties such as jewellery. Zheng benefited a lot.

Zheng Yutong said: "In investment, we must look for opportunities, try to buy people at the lowest point, and release them at the highest point. All in all, the rise and fall of all industries are going on in cycles."

The Zheng family took advantage of the low price, and the real estate rejuvenated, and the value skyrocketed. Zheng's remarks are exactly the same as those of other successful real estate developers.

Over the past few decades ~www.readwn.com~ there have been few businessmen involved in real estate, only a few hundred have succeeded, and only a handful of them have become real estate tycoons.

In all fairness, Zheng Yutong, Guo Desheng, Li Zhaoji, Li Jiacheng, Chen Zengxi, Wang Dehui, Hu Yingxiang, etc. did not have more capital than others at that time, and they were able to achieve great success. It lies in their foresight and sagacity, and their hard work.

In addition, how can there be real estate in the world that is always at a low tide, which is a good time to take advantage of the low tide? If this is the case, no one would dare to be a real estate developer.

Real estate is always in a prosperous market, so real estate developers can do a lot. Therefore, taking advantage of the low is by no means waiting for the low to absorb. As long as you keep an eye on the site and situation, it is also very profitable to absorb high positions.

Today's high prices are tomorrow's low prices—this is the law of real estate in dynamic areas.

In 1970, Zheng Yutong bought the former site of "Blue Chimney" in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon from Swire Pacific at an astonishingly high price of 137,000 Hong Kong dollars.

Blue Chimney is a steamship company in Taizhan, and the site is just a dilapidated wharf and factory buildings.

Zheng built the New World Center on the site: Regent Store, New World Hotel, a large shopping center with tens of thousands of square feet, and thousands of commercial units.