Chapter 46

Jia Hongjian had his eyes on the family savings. The last time he checked, his parents had saved up about 40,000 yuan. If he converted this 40,000 yuan into cash to buy Yanzhong Industrial stocks, he could sell them when the stock price rose to 45 yuan and make a pure profit of 160,000 yuan!

Although, by 21st-century standards, 160,000 yuan wasn't a huge amount of money—just enough to buy a car. But in 1993, it was an era when a few ten thousand yuan could start a factory in the countryside! With 160,000 yuan as capital in this era, even without following his complete "Oriental Magic Water" plan, he was confident he could turn it into 16 million yuan within ten years!

However, if he used the family savings, even if he eventually returned 200,000 yuan with interest, his parents would be furious and might even want to kill him—how could any parent tolerate their child taking all the family savings to invest in the stock market without a word? If he made a profit, it would be fine, but what if he lost money? Wouldn't that be like having a pig for a partner? Wouldn't that be betraying his parents? He should at least discuss it with his parents before investing! Taking all the money without a word was worse than being a thief!

But Jia Hongjian really couldn't tell his parents. Could he just say, "Ah, I'm reborn, I know Dad's company will be acquired, and I know the stock will soar. Trust me, it will be fine!"? Even if he went crazy and said that, his parents would probably send him to a mental hospital first.

"Damn, I need to think of a good excuse," Jia Hongjian suddenly thought of Wang Coulan's figure that night when she left the table to make a phone call. "What if I blame it all on Sister Wang? I could say I overheard her talking to Old Luo about buying Yanzhong Industrial stocks and the theories behind it?"

"Achoo," "Achoo"! Wang Coulan, who was in a meeting, suddenly sneezed twice for no reason, drawing concerned looks from the others. "Is everything okay, Ms. Wang? Are you catching a cold?" "Here, Ms. Wang, I have a tissue"...

At that moment, even the middle-aged man sitting next to Wang Coulan, the chairman of the meeting table, joked, "They say one thought, two thoughts, three colds. Ms. Wang, you sneezed twice in a row, is your husband thinking about you?" Wang Coulan smiled but didn't respond, instead nodding slightly to a man across the table.

The man, receiving the signal, suddenly said to the middle-aged man next to Wang Coulan, "Chairman Cao, the CSRC recently opened up the domestic legal person's permission to buy A-shares. I have an idea that I think could benefit our company..."

After the man explained his idea, Chairman Cao interrupted, "You mean our company should enter the market to acquire listed companies? Is that a good idea?" "Of course it is! As a state-owned enterprise, we rely on government funding every year, and over 80% of our profits go to the central government, leaving us with only a small percentage for development. This is too much of a drain! If we acquire a listed company, we can have another financing platform, and at least we won't have to worry so much about where to get the funds for expanding production next year!"

Chairman Cao thought about it silently. Although he still felt that as a state-owned enterprise, acquiring another state-owned enterprise didn't seem right, he couldn't deny that being a state-owned enterprise in Shanghai, the economic center of China, was no easy task. After liberation, only Northeast China and Shanghai had relatively developed industries, but the government's drain on Shanghai was severe. To put it bluntly, if Shanghai's annual income was 100 yuan, 87 yuan would be taken away, leaving only 13 yuan for Shanghai—this was almost like slavery!

Moreover, the Shanghai municipal government was acting strangely, insisting on "retreating from the second industry and advancing to the third industry"—clearing out the second industry across Shanghai and fully promoting the third industry! This meant that their state-owned enterprise would be heavily drained by the central government and pushed out by the Shanghai government. Was this a life for humans?

However, Chairman Cao couldn't express any biased opinions during the meeting. He knew that once he did, the others would immediately stop arguing and hide their own views, becoming supporters of his. "What do you all think of this idea?"

"Acquiring listed companies? Most listed companies are collective enterprises, right? Acquiring our own factories doesn't seem right to the factory party committee, does it?"

"I think it's feasible. Even if it doesn't pass the party committee, our factory won't survive for long if we do nothing. You all know how the government is attracting foreign investment, almost offering to pay for the travel expenses of foreign investors! How cheap is the land transfer fee? And the tax policy is three years of exemption and two years of reduction! In a few years, even if the quality and price are the same, our costs will be much higher than foreign companies. If we don't find a way to get money, our factory will slowly decline. When that happens, our state-owned enterprise will rely on government funding to survive. How will the party committee explain this to the higher-ups? Will they have any face left?"

"Exactly, what's so good about those foreigners? Don't the government officials understand that foreigners are not angels but have ulterior motives? Two years ago, the government made our company form a joint venture with Johnson & Johnson using the Lumei and Meijiajing brands. What happened? They deliberately ruined our two national brands! Our Meijiajing, which had sales of over 300 million yuan, is now down to 6 million yuan! We can't even use the brand ourselves! Is this something humans can do? This is all because of the party committee! If we propose this plan, they won't dare to oppose it. I'll go up and slap them!"

"Old Ge, calm down. But you're right, Johnson & Johnson is too unscrupulous, determined to ruin the Meijiajing brand. At least Unilever is still operating the Zhonghua toothpaste brand seriously."

"What's the point of being serious? The words 'Unilever' are written under 'Zhonghua toothpaste.' Isn't this a great irony? Zhonghua! Do we need foreigners to support the Zhonghua brand? Ha! A foreign-made Zhonghua brand? We Chinese aren't all dead yet!"

"Old Ge! You're too impulsive, calm down!"

"But how can we acquire listed companies? Do we have enough funds? We're drained every year, do we have enough money to acquire other companies?"

"We do!" The man who proposed the idea said, "Yanzhong Industrial, one of the 'Big Eight' stocks! This company has over 91% of its shares publicly issued, far exceeding the 70% limit of other companies. And these 91% of shares are scattered among individual investors, while the board members, including the street units and employees, hold only 9%. If we acquire 10% of the shares, we can control the company! And their registered capital is only 500,000 yuan... They were pushed to go public because they were weak and easy to manipulate. Now that A-shares are open to legal persons, they are like a three-year-old child carrying a gold bar through a busy street, vulnerable to anyone. If we acquire them, at least the money stays within our own ranks. If a joint venture or private company acquires them, it will benefit outsiders..."

"Chairman Cao, it seems feasible?" Wang Coulan turned to Chairman Cao and suggested, "Shall I ask the people from Guotai Securities about the feasibility? Our Shanghai Jiahua was once the best in China. Now Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble have entered, and if we don't take action, all of China's daily chemical products might be dominated by foreigners... We can't be so weak anymore! Otherwise, the pride that our predecessors worked hard to build will be lost in our hands! We were once the pride of China!"

Chairman Cao, hearing this, stood up, his hands slamming on the table. "Alright! Ms. Wang, you go and ask Guotai Securities about the feasibility. If it's feasible, we'll take action. As long as we can raise funds, we'll spend the money to redeem the 'Meijiajing' brand! This brand must not be destroyed by the Americans!"

"Great!" The atmosphere in the Shanghai Jiahua meeting room was electrifying, with everyone united in purpose! As a reborn person, Jia Hongjian would never know that his accidental words at dinner would prematurely ignite the war between national brands and foreign capital! The "nationalist defense war" that historically began to ferment in 1995 was now sprouting under his butterfly effect!

However, even if Jia Hongjian knew he was the cause, with his villainous nature, he would probably applaud and fan the flames. He often missed the national brands that accompanied him in his childhood, such as Huafeng's Sanxian Yimian, Meijiajing toothpaste, Zhonghua toothpaste, Fenghua shampoo, Phoenix bicycles, Yongjiu bicycles, Huoli 28 Shashi daily chemicals, Haoyou cameras, Lucky film, Liangmianzhen, Heimei... and the once national brand battery, Nanchu, which was forcibly introduced to foreign capital by the government, and even the legendary Tianfu Cola that he had only heard of but never seen...

If he were to fan the flames, he might borrow the famous slogan from the Soviet Patriotic War: "Russia is vast, but we have no place to retreat, for behind us is Moscow!"

***************

Note: Historically, Shanghai Jiahua decided to spend a large sum of money to redeem the Meijiajing brand, which had been sidelined by Johnson & Johnson, in 1995. The then chairman of Shanghai Jiahua, a Mr. Ge, made the decision to redeem the brand and pledged to support its development for 15-20 years. In the same year, Hangzhou experienced a national tea defense war due to a certain undisclosed event. In the same year, Beijing's second daily chemical factory's "Panda" laundry powder was sidelined after Procter & Gamble acquired the brand rights for 50 years. In Jiangsu, the Xiangxuehai brand refrigerator was abandoned by Samsung, and in Chongqing, the Tianfu Cola brand, which had been designated for state banquets, was abandoned after a joint venture with Pepsi. In 2009, Chongqing began to reclaim the Tianfu Cola brand from Pepsi. In the 21st century, the "Xiaonv" cosmetics brand was abandoned by French acquirers...

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