Chapter 13 Chapter 4 Yu-Kang Pao is far-sighted

Special eye for developing shipping After the mainland was liberated in 1949, wealthy families and big businessmen in Shanghai have moved to Hong Kong to live temporarily with huge sums of money.Rich people who supported Chiang Kai-shek went to live in Taiwan one after another, but they had no confidence in the CCP and Chiang Kai-shek, so they had to stay in Hong Kong temporarily to see how the current situation developed before making plans. The wealthy people at that time all took Hong Kong as a stepping stone. In their minds, they had two plans. The first plan was to cooperate with Communist Party officials to return to the mainland and regroup after the dust settled.Although Du Yuesheng lived in Hong Kong, at the beginning of 1950, he sent his eldest son as the manager of Zhonghui Bank to inquire about the attitude of New China towards him by visiting his benefactor, Sister Lin Guisheng. Can't talk.Merchants understand that any government is also eager to cooperate with merchants to improve the economy together.It is only a stopgap measure for businessmen to stay in Hong Kong with huge sums of money.

Another plan is to immigrate to the United States, but immigrating to the United States is not reconciled to ambitious entrepreneurs.Immigrants are only planning for retirement. Younger entrepreneurs hope to reach a higher level.To make a breakthrough in career, the only way is to return to Shanghai.In fact, regardless of whether a cat is white or black, in the minds of politicians, a capitalist who can provide jobs and create wealth is a good cat. Both communism and capitalism must create wealth for the people.Therefore, Shanghai entrepreneurs living in Hong Kong all have a plan to stay in Hong Kong temporarily.

After the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States implemented a blockade policy against the CCP.Facing the cold war between capitalism and communism, the entrepreneurs in Shanghai felt completely relieved.The lock-down policy implemented by the communist China made entrepreneurs living in Hong Kong seek a way out. Seeing that Shanghai could not go back, and the United States was unwilling to go, they had to face the reality and develop their careers in Hong Kong.As a result, their overall plan has changed, and the business in Hong Kong has been changed from temporary to permanent. When Bao Yugang first arrived in Hong Kong, he also planned to stay temporarily. He and his friends rented an office at the old site of today's Chinatown. The rent was 200 yuan. After leaving the office and sitting down, the other can push the door and enter.In the early stage, it was only doing some import and export business, and did some import and export trade of Chinese native products such as dry goods, duck feathers, fertilizers and livestock feed.This kind of business can be said to be a business that earns commissions with clean hands and feet.

In 1955, Bao Yugang decided to start the shipping business.At the beginning, his father Bao Zhaolong was against it, because this is a new industry, and based on the principle of unfamiliarity, it is not worth taking risks.When the Bao family moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong, the family's assets were only HK$400,000.This capital is hardly effective in the case of shipping with an investment of tens of millions of yuan. What Bao Zhaolong meant was to do some real estate business, buy buildings and collect rents, which is practical and affordable in comparison.Enjoying results without using your brain is ideal for veterans with a retirement mindset.But the ambitious Bao Yugang believes that being a landlord and collecting rent is relatively passive and does not make any contribution to society.To improve the economy of Hong Kong at that time, we must assist the government to solve the employment problem of the people.Those who run enterprises can provide employment opportunities and make society stable on the one hand, and can educate the world and pass on technology on the other hand.

As a result of the argument between the two fathers and sons, Bao Yugang convinced his father, of course, but what Bao Zhaolong agreed with was not that Bao Yugang wanted to realize his great ideals, but that Bao Yugang wanted to grasp entrepreneurial opportunities.At that time, doing shipping business was less risky and profitable. It was more profitable than buying a building and collecting rent. What entrepreneurial opportunities did Bao Yugang see?This is an opportunity provided by the Japanese to other countries in the world. Maybe Bao Yugang was influenced by Hu Xueyan. He saw this opportunity but people in the world ignored it.

At Bao Yugang's funeral, there were eight famous people who helped the spirit.The eight well-known persons are Zhou Nan, the president of Xinhua News Agency representing China, Mr. Thatcher, the husband of Mrs. Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Run Run Shaw, an old fellow countryman, Powells, the old partner of HSBC, and Sir Yu-Kang Pao who participated in the Basic Law. Dr. An Zijie who works, Mr. Li Ka-shing, the celebrity, Kisaburo Ikeura, chairman of the Industrial Bank of Japan, and Sir Sanders, the former HSBC bank chief who was the earliest partner of Bao Yugang.

Every spirit supporter has a very close relationship with Bao Yugang.Bao Yugang's prosperity has a great relationship with Japan and HSBC.The entrepreneurial opportunity mentioned above was provided by the Industrial Bank of Japan (IBJ).This bank is, is a semi-official bank, the purpose is to revive Japan's industry and commerce.Any entrepreneur who is interested in investing in Japan will be more or less assisted by the Industrial Bank of Japan. At that time, after World War II, in order to restore its national power, Japan started with industry and commerce and opened the door to entrepreneurs from all over the world.

Any country encourages exports.For example, I want to buy a machine from country A, and the cost is 100 million yuan, but I, the buyer, only have 10 million yuan in hand. In order to buy this machine, I must cooperate with the bank and borrow 90 million yuan. Ten million yuan.After buying the machine, it will be mortgaged to the bank, and then amortized in ten or eight years. Of course I am interested in this machine, but what about the local bank?The local bank is afraid of risks, and only pays 70% at most, so I can't buy the machine.Since the sale of a machine worth over 100 million yuan is very beneficial to the economy of country A.In order to facilitate this transaction, Country A dispatched a semi-official bank to offer preferential treatment to the buyer, while taking more risks and lending a relatively large sum of money so that the buyer could guarantee a 90% mortgage.

Japan's Industrial Bank of Japan is such a bank that particularly favors foreign businessmen. In addition to giving higher mortgage rates, it also provides preferential interest rates. For example, the Japanese borrow money to build a ship, and the interest is 5%, but what about foreigners who borrow money to build a ship?The interest is two percent.This is a subsidy to encourage foreign businessmen to do business in Japan, and this subsidy in Japan is publicized all over the world, but not many people will take advantage of this opportunity.Some people know it, but don't take advantage of it, and only after they have done it, they just let it go. Some people take advantage of this opportunity, but give up when they encounter difficulties.Only those who persevere in fighting for opportunities and overcoming difficulties after catching opportunities will succeed.

In addition to taking this opportunity to start a business for himself, Bao Yugang took another turn to solve the problem of expensive labor for Japanese shipowners.Pao Yugang likes to say the phrase "going away and finding an opportunity". I remember that when he bought Wharf, Bao Yugang held a press conference. He said that he went to the pawn shop and raised a huge sum of money. That is the $2.1 billion loaned by HSBC.For this reason, he was able to snap up nine warehouse shares in the market at a high price of 105 yuan. How did Bao Yugang take a turn to serve Japanese shipowners and manufacturers?

In industrially developed countries, labor costs are very expensive.The staff of Japanese shipping companies have relatively high wages.If the Japanese shipowner built a ship and sailed under the Japanese flag, he must hire Japanese crew members, and the salary is very uneconomical.To save money, we had to use labor from Southeast Asia. Bao Yugang borrowed money from the Japanese to build a ship. After the ship was built, he leased it back to the Japanese, allowing Japanese manufacturers to ship goods around the world.Bao Yugang is a foreign businessman in Japan, so his ship does not fly the Japanese flag. According to the regulations of the crew association, he can hire foreign crew members, saving a lot of wages and costs. When the Japanese manufacturer and Bao Yugang rented a boat, the Japanese realized that he was a fool. For example, the daily cost of a boat was 10,000 yuan a day, which was the cost price, but what about the rent of Bao Yugang’s boat?It's only 10,500 yuan a day, but what about the public price in the market?But it was 20,000 yuan. Why can he offer a price that is lower than others? Pao Yu-Kang also has his own calculations. Since he can hire crew members with lower wages in Southeast Asia and reduce costs, he can offer lower prices. By doing so, he can attract a large number of tenants, even long-term tenants. guest. Just like investing in real estate, the profit of investing in real estate comes from two aspects, one is the rent, and the other is the appreciation of the building.In the middle of the year, two friends happened to buy four buildings. One of them, Mr. Ling, sold it immediately after the building increased by 10%. Each building earned Mr. Ling 150,000 yuan. He earned 600,000 yuan.And Mr. Ling earned the 600,000 yuan in just one month.Mr. Ling's ability to make money is very enviable. Why did Mr. Ling sell the building in such a hurry?Because Mr. Ling had made calculations and thought that the value of the building and the increase in rent were not ideal.The value of each building is 1.5 million yuan, the rent is only about 10,000 yuan, and the income is only about 6%. Compared with depositing money in the bank, the profit is even lower. Mr. Ling thinks that it is smart to earn instant profits by speculating on buildings way of doing. Another friend is Mr. Fu, who also bought four units at the same time. Mr. Fu believes that investing in real estate can not only earn rental income, but also make money by increasing the value of the building.Mr. Fu decided to build the four buildings for a period of time as a long-term investment.In order to reduce the burden, Mr. Fu rented out the building at a fair price. The market price is 10,000 yuan.After the building was rented out, Mr. Fu felt at ease because the lease was two years long.From the rental income, Mr. Fu can also seek temporary stability. As everyone knows, two months later, the property market suddenly turned prosperous. The reason was that the Chinese and British governments decided to build an airport at Chek Lap Kok. More than one million yuan, Mr. Fu's total income is 6 million yuan and Mr. Ling's income is only 600,000 yuan. Both of them had equal chances, but different visions.The difference in vision between Bao Yugang and the shipowner at that time is also here. Bao saw the forest as well as the trees. What about the other shipowners?Only saw the trees but not the forest. This is the wisdom of the Chinese.Generally speaking, smart people, seeing the benefits in front of them, will often take short-distance, reaping harvests every time, while wise people believe in their own vision to keep their careers.When you wait for change, people will laugh at you as a fool. When Bao Yugang suggested cheap chartering to Japanese manufacturers, merchants and shipowners all over Japan also laughed at Bao Yugang as a fool. How could an experienced shipowner be so stupid?The Japanese also understand that Bao Yugang is a bit stupid when he is new to the industry. Since the fool came to his door, the Japanese manufacturers rushed to rent a boat from Bao Yugang, so as not to lose the opportunity of equal rent.