Chapter 98

No matter how Boquan Jia looked at it, Huaxia High-Tech, which was founded by Jia Hongjian just a few days ago, had already become well-known nationwide. Why? Because this was Jia Hongjian's carefully designed plan! Because during the National Day holiday, when the whole country was on a short break, with no money and no time to go out, Huaxia High-Tech presented a news feast filled with many eye-catching elements to the national audience!

What did this news feast contain? Undoubtedly, it first included the breaking of the shame of no gold medals for Chinese athletics, and even no gold medals for Asians, at the World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart over a month ago! This achievement was even more inspiring than Liu Xiang winning the 110-meter hurdles championship in the 21st century! Why? Because Liu Xiang was an individual, while the Ma Family Army was a team that dominated middle-distance running! From 1500 meters to 3000 meters, then to 5000 meters and 10000 meters, they directly kicked away the medal monopoly of the Ethiopians and won all the gold medals! In the year 2000, which sports star was the most popular? Without a doubt, it was the Ma Family Army! At least, after the fake prosperity of the fake A football league, it was the Ma Family Army!

Huaxia High-Tech had signed the secret formula that the Ma Family Army considered top-secret! Just this gimmick alone was enough to keep Jia Hongjian's company's name in the newspapers for a month! Not to mention that Jia Hongjian was very cunning in using scarcity marketing! He not only used scarcity marketing on consumers but also on journalists! The media, which had no idea who Jia Gang was, where he came from, or what he did, went crazy trying to dig up information about Jia Gang. In the end, they only found out that Jia Gang was a former vice president of the listed company Yan'an Industry, and nothing else. Because looking at Jia Gang's background, his assets were clearly not enough to buy the secret formula. Where did his money come from? Why didn't he promote himself, even refusing to mention his company's name in interviews? How much did they pay for the secret formula? All of this was too intriguing for the media!

Not only journalists, but also many ordinary people had heard that Ma Junren would not sell the secret formula for even 10 million yuan. So, Jia Gang's company must have offered more than 10 million yuan? What did 10 million yuan mean in this era? It meant that 10 million yuan could build a very nice stadium that met the requirements for major competitions! Was it not eye-catching to use more than the value of a stadium to buy a piece of paper with a secret formula?

Moreover, there was another very important eye-catching point—this was the highest-priced civilian intellectual property transaction since the founding of New China! It's worth noting that in 1993, China officially joined the international copyright organization, meaning that all the small goods with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck printed on them were previously pirated! The manufacturers didn't pay a penny for intellectual property rights! This was true not only for small goods but also for other areas. For example, the three-wheeled motorcycles with sidecars often seen in movies from the 1950s and 1960s, which were used by the police, were based on the BMW motorcycles used by the Nazi German army. After the Soviet army captured them and found them useful, they were copied and used for free, and then China obtained the blueprints from the Soviet Union and used them directly, following the principle of "friendship." In the 156 projects, where the Soviet Union almost unconditionally helped China transform from an agricultural country to an industrial country, the Soviet Union sent blueprints and documents to China by the carload, and the fees charged were only for photocopying! More recently, the Guanshengyuan factory in Nanjing and Shanghai used the same trademark without any concept of intellectual property. The Chinese-made BMW three-wheeled motorcycle, the "Changjiang 750," was also copied by other manufacturers, resulting in models like the "Shandong 750," "Victory 750," and "Feiyue 750." As for the famous Jeep, it was originally a military vehicle procured by the U.S. Army. The Americans gave these vehicles as military aid to Chiang Kai-shek, who called them Jeeps. After the Communists captured them, they also called them Jeeps, leading to the common belief that the vehicle model was called "Jeep" rather than the brand. Even after joining the international copyright organization, the Beijing Jeep factory was still in a dispute with the original American Jeep company over the trademark!

If 21st-century China was known for being a country of knock-offs, then China in 1993 and earlier could be said to have had no copyright awareness at all—since the socialist countries were blockaded by the "CoCom" (Note), and capitalists wouldn't sell their genuine products, they simply copied them! Even in 1995, two companies beloved by teenagers were sued by Japanese companies for their blatant piracy. If 21st-century internet users often complained that Chinese people loved to use pirated products, Jia Hongjian always felt that it was more due to historical inertia than insufficient income—just like the joke he once told, when Changdu, which made helicopters, started manufacturing minivans, did they pay a penny to the original Japanese manufacturer?

Because of this, and because the people of this era thought it was natural and justified to use others' intellectual property for free, the sale of a piece of paper with a secret formula for 10 million yuan or more was bound to attract attention! Even 1 million yuan would be shockingly high!

Moreover, Jia Hongjian designed the press conference with a lot of gimmicks—police standing guard, police cars leading and following. When this scene appeared on TV and in newspapers, it would definitely attract all the attention! Why? Because there was so little entertainment in this era! There were only shows like "The Story of the Editorial Department" and "Tokyo Love Story" to watch! This was not the over-hyped 21st century, and there were no people skilled at hype, let alone those who tried to become famous by deliberately making themselves look bad! In such a situation, wouldn't such an exaggerated and hyped-up scene attract the attention of the entire nation?

Finally, Jia Gang, following Jia Hongjian's instructions, immediately sent the small piece of paper to the People's Bank of China's Shanghai branch's vault under the witness of journalists and the protection of the police after the press conference! This was the first time in the country that a private entrepreneur had openly sent intellectual property to the central bank's vault!

Under all these temptations, just because Jia Hongjian's family had given advance notice, there were as many as 300 journalists reporting at the press conference!

When the press conference ended, Jia Gang, who was physically exhausted but mentally excited, didn't need his son's analysis to know that Huaxia High-Tech had become the most watched private enterprise in China this year. He knew that Huaxia High-Tech had fully whetted the market's appetite, had caused a sensation nationwide, and that his genius son's plan had really succeeded!

At 9 PM, sitting at home and smoking, Jia Gang looked at his wife with a disbelieving gaze, as if he still couldn't believe what had happened during the day. After smoking several cigarettes and calming down, Jia Gang turned to his son, who he now really began to think was as smart as a monster!

The plan that he, a seasoned vice president with over a decade of business experience, wouldn't dare to think of, his son not only dared to think of but also carried out step by step, pulling off this project of getting something for nothing! Jia Gang was extremely proud and delighted by his son! He was so eager for his son to succeed, so fond of his son, and had never doubted his son's genius. Now, seeing his son achieve so much at such a young age, how could he not be overjoyed? Would he doubt whether his son was possessed by a ghost or had been reborn?

"Dear son, once this project of getting something for nothing succeeds, and the auction proceeds come in, what do you want? Dad will definitely buy it for you!" Jia Gang felt he couldn't express his joy for his son in any other way than by offering material rewards.

"Hmm... I want a Ferrari sports car... I want a Gucci bag... I want three Armani jackets and three Dunhill suits... I want Tod's handmade leather shoes... And a few tens of millions to buy some game companies..." Jia Hongjian now made his demands without any hesitation, not acting like a 15-year-old at all.

When was a better time to act like a spoiled rich second generation than now? After working hard for a month and a half after being reborn, seeing that he was about to become a rich second generation, shouldn't he quickly start being a spendthrift? But when his father heard these random demands, he simply said one word: "Get lost!"

Jia Hongjian laughed and returned to his room. Although he was scolded by his father, he realized that he didn't have the talent to be a spendthrift rich second generation. He felt that if he really let his father handle everything and spent his days chasing girls and playing, it would be quite boring and not very adaptable... Well, although discovering that he didn't even have the talent for such an easy job as being a spendthrift rich second generation was a bit discouraging, Jia Hongjian decided to try a little harder.

******

Note: CoCom, short for the Paris Coordinating Committee, was officially known as the Committee for the Control of Exports to Communist Countries. A product of the Cold War, it prohibited the sale of any technology above a certain level, whether military or civilian, to communist countries. This organization was dissolved in 1994, but high-tech exports to China are still controlled by the U.S.-led NATO and U.S. allies.

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