Chapter 242 Inspection
Liu Zhicheng stayed in Beijing for a week and then set off for Shanghai. However, he did not board a private plane. Instead, he took a green train from the mainland and clattered to Shanghai.

The trains of this era were far inferior to the high-speed trains of later generations. Their average speed was only 60 kilometers per hour, which was not even as fast as the accelerator of an ordinary car.

But trains are the first choice for all ordinary people to travel. Planes are too expensive, needless to say, and cars are not practical either.

In the days before a nationwide road network became widespread, car travel would have been more expensive.

And there are not enough buses for transportation between cities, because in most cities, the number of internal buses may not be sufficient.

Of course, Liu Zhicheng's identity inevitably brings certain privileges. He was riding in a separate, enclosed luxury carriage attached to the tail end of the train.

Along the way, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the motherland without having to experience a crowded carriage.

The next day.

It was already four o'clock in the afternoon when the train arrived in Shanghu.

Upon learning that Liu Zhicheng and his entourage were coming from the capital, the Shanghai Municipal Government dispatched a welcoming team headed by a senior city official and the secretary-general.

"Hello, Mr. Liu, welcome back to Shanghai City." Secretary-General Zhang was the first to step forward and say as soon as Liu Zhicheng and his party got off the car.

"Hello, Secretary-General Zhang, long time no see!" Liu Zhicheng also smiled and stretched out his hand, shaking his hand tightly.

The platform at this moment was obviously cleared out, and the platforms on both sides were crowded with people.

But there were only Secretary-General Zhang and others in this area, and the surrounding area was blocked by railway police, so others were not allowed to come in.

Many people passing by were very curious, but under the watchful eyes of the patrol police, they just looked for a moment and then left.

Secretary Zhang smiled and said, "Mr. Liu, it's almost dark now. The senior officials have prepared a banquet at the Peace Hotel and asked me to come to the station to greet you."

"You are so polite, senior official." Liu Zhicheng nodded and smiled.

In the Chinese territories, this kind of banquet is inevitable. Whether it is to discuss business or to enhance friendship, the wine table is always indispensable.

Soon, everyone arrived at the Peace Hotel, where senior officials from the Shanghai Stock Exchange and a group of officials from the Ministry of Commerce were already waiting.

After entering the banquet, many officials became enthusiastic and came over one after another to toast Liu Zhicheng.

These are the investment promotion managers of various areas in Shanghai. They all know that Liu Zhicheng’s capital has invested in Shanghai in recent years, and naturally hope to carry out deeper cooperation.

However, Liu Zhicheng's daily schedule is very tight. According to the plan, he still needs to discuss some important cooperation matters with senior officials tonight.

With the high-ranking official present, it was naturally impossible for this group of people to get the distinguished guest drunk.

After the banquet, Liu Zhicheng, senior officials and several top executives of the Shanghai Stock Exchange went into a conference room.

The senior official smiled and said, "Mr. Liu, I'm sorry, everyone is quite happy today, maybe a little too enthusiastic!"

Liu Zhicheng waved his hand and smiled, "It's okay, just a little wine."

The senior official nodded and said, "Okay, Mr. Liu, we invite you to come to Shanghai this time. I hope Mr. Liu can cooperate with us in Shanghai again?"

"What kind of cooperation?" Liu Zhicheng asked.

The most important purpose of this visit to Shanghai is to inspect the automobile factory, which is a truck production factory jointly built by Mack Truck Company and mainland China.

The senior official said, "Mr. Liu, the central government has sent a message that Shanghai will be the next batch of special economic zone cities, and it will be announced soon."

"Special Economic Zone?" Liu Zhicheng said with a smile, "Congratulations to you, senior official. The success of Pengcheng is well known to the whole country. With the current foundation of Shanghai, once it is opened up, the economy will surely take off further."

The senior official smiled and said, “So I hope to get further support from Mr. Liu on this point.”

Liu Zhicheng asked: "Senior official, please speak?"

The senior official said: "Mr. Liu, last month, our municipal party committee passed a motion to build a landmark building in Puxi, Shanghai.

We originally planned to wait until next year's budget comes out before preparing for construction, but if Mr. Liu is interested, can we discuss this opportunity for cooperation?"

"I wonder what kind of landmark building you are planning to build?" Liu Zhicheng asked.

The senior official said: "The specific design has not yet been finalized, but the municipal party committee means that it must not lose to other cities in terms of height!"

"Oh." Liu Zhicheng also understood that landmark buildings in the current country are positioned based on their height.

After all, when most people hear about a building, the first question they probably ask is how tall it is.

At present, the tallest building in the entire mainland is the Huangpu Building built by ourselves in Pengcheng City, which is 218 meters high.

The senior official said, "Mr. Liu, do you know what is the tallest building in Shanghai?"

"The tallest building?" Liu Zhicheng recalled carefully that he hadn't seen any obvious tall buildings on the way to the Peace Hotel, so he asked tentatively, "Could it be the Peace Hotel?"

The senior official shook his head and said, "No, it's the Shanghai International Hotel."

"The heights of these two buildings seem to be similar. I can't tell which one is taller and which one is shorter." Liu Zhicheng said with a smile.

The senior official said: "The Shanghai International Hotel is 83.3 meters high, and the Peace Hotel is 77 meters high. It is indeed difficult for ordinary people to tell them apart unless they deliberately compare them.

Now Liu Zhicheng also understood that in the entire Shanghai City, the tallest building was less than 100 meters.

This can no longer keep up with the current development speed of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, so the construction of a new landmark building is imperative.

Moreover, in recent years, many overseas companies have come to Shanghai to invest or set up offices, and the demand for office buildings is also very high.

Building a building can also meet the needs of foreign investors and further increase the achievements of reform and opening up.

"Then I wonder where this building is built?" Liu Zhicheng asked.

“If Mr. Liu is willing to invest, how about placing it near Xinhua Road Pedestrian Street?
In this way, Xinhua Pedestrian Street can meet the entertainment and life needs of the staff in the building.

At the same time, it can also increase commercial consumption on Xinhua Road Pedestrian Street, killing two birds with one stone!
"This is a good position." Liu Zhicheng also agreed.

Xinhua Road Pedestrian Street is a pedestrian street that Liu Zhicheng arranged for Huangpu Group to invest in in the Shanghai Stock Exchange three years ago. It is 960 meters long and has 47 buildings.

It includes cinemas, department stores, clothing companies, food supermarkets, tobacco and alcohol shops, traditional Chinese medicine shops, electrical appliances and other shops, with a complete range of scales, limited by the needs of current policies.

All shops are rented to state-owned enterprises, and only the office buildings, hotels, apartments, etc. above are operated by the Huangpu Group and rented to some foreign businessmen or overseas Chinese. Xinhua Road has never been able to compete with Nanjing Road in terms of business, but it is understandable.

After all, Nanjing Road has been established for decades and is very famous. At the same time, it is much stronger in terms of area, shop scale and resources.

If a large office building can be built near Xinhua Road this time, it will be able to accommodate at least thousands of consumers with considerable incomes, which will more or less increase the business of Xinhua Road Pedestrian Street.

The location of the tallest building in Shanghai will inevitably attract a large number of tourists and pedestrians, and will also increase the prestige of the nearby geographical location and the potential commercial value of the nearby land.

The senior official continued, "Okay, since Mr. Liu has agreed, I will immediately arrange for someone to look for a suitable location near Xinhua Road. We will discuss this in further detail once we have more detailed information."

"Thank you very much, Senior Official. I will also arrange for professionals from Hong Kong to come and check it out and cooperate with you." Liu Zhicheng said with a smile: "But is this building a joint venture or will it be built by us alone?"

The senior official smiled and said, "After Shanghai became a new special economic zone, as long as it does not involve some special industries stipulated by the state, other projects can be wholly foreign-owned. However, if Mr. Liu wants to form a joint venture, we can also discuss it."

Liu Zhicheng waved his hand and smiled, "That's not necessary. Shanghai's finances should be used for more important investments in people's livelihood. I will build this building alone!"

"Mr. Liu is very straightforward. If you are interested in any projects in Shanghai, you can tell the municipal party committee directly. We very much hope to have all-round cooperation with Hong Kong Capital." said the senior official.

The two sides had a very pleasant conversation. After a few pleasantries, Liu Zhicheng mentioned the issue of port construction.

"Mr. Liu, the port is related to major decisions. I can't answer you now. I need to report to the leadership for approval." The senior official smiled and rejected Liu Zhicheng's proposal.

Of course, it is impossible for Liu Zhicheng to obtain the right to build a berth in Shanghai right now, and he was just whispering in the ears of senior officials.

We hope that when the Shanghai Stock Exchange needs funds to propose ports in the future, we will have the opportunity to obtain the construction rights of several berths.

……

The next day.

Liu Zhicheng came to the Mack Truck Industrial Park and saw a huge factory building. The scientific planning and brand-new facilities made Liu Zhicheng feel as if he had returned to the automobile factory of his previous life.

The Mack truck and transmission factory is bustling with activity. With the launch of Mack trucks, the factory is operating at full capacity 24 hours a day.

Here, Liu Zhicheng saw that many of the factory buildings and facilities adopted the United States standards, and the production management also learned the United States model.

"Mr. Liu, this may be the best truck production line in China."

When visiting Mack Trucks' new 6-unit complete vehicle production line workshop, George pointed to the major equipment and said.

Schuler's large stamping machines, Kuka's welding robots, Dürr's automatic spraying, and Schenck's assembly lines are almost the same mechanical equipment as those in Marka.

Liu Zhicheng was surprised by Mack Trucks' brand new production line, which cost 5 million RMB and had a welding robot arm, which was comparable to the level of Mack Trucks' local factories.

“Is this production line the most advanced in the world?”

"of course."

After Liu Zhicheng received a positive answer, he thought for a moment and then instructed: "You must conduct in-depth market research, increase the research and development of models suitable for the mainland market, and adhere to the principle of fuel-efficient, small displacement, and large cargo capacity..."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Liu, we will definitely increase our investment in research and development."

However, when Liu Zhicheng arrived at the factory, he found that it was full of vitality. The workers were young, energetic, confident and polite. This was a scene he could not see when he visited many large state-owned enterprises.

The underlying culture of mainland automobiles is unique. Perhaps it is precisely because of its youth and the lack of too many constraints of state-owned enterprises that it has created a unique corporate culture.

Early in the morning of the third day, Secretary Zhang drove over in person, and Liu Zhicheng and his party followed him to visit the Huangpu Bridge.

The entire bridge is bright red in color, with two floors and four lanes in both directions. The upper floor is for cars only, while the lower floor is for pedestrians and bicycles.

With the current car ownership rate in Shanghai, it is still difficult to cause traffic jams. However, bicycle fleets often cause traffic jams during rush hours.

In a few years, when the number of cars is too high, the lower level of the Huangpu Bridge can be converted into a car passage, which can also alleviate future traffic jams.

Liu Zhicheng and a group of people from the Municipal Party Committee watched for a while and then returned to the hotel. After enjoying lunch together, many officials said goodbye and left.

Liu Zhicheng then went to Xinhua Road Pedestrian Street to see the first privately owned pedestrian street in the history of the mainland.

At present, the main designer of this street is from Hong Kong. When it was designed, in addition to taking into account the needs of mainland businesses, it also fully considered the needs of foreign businessmen and tourists in Shanghai.

The first floor is full of normal shops, but above the second floor, there are many billiard rooms, bars, gyms, yoga clubs, restaurants serving Western food, etc.

The main purpose is to earn foreign exchange from foreigners or some Chinese who own foreign exchange coupons. Whether it is the Shanghai Stock Exchange or Huangpu Company, they can obtain foreign exchange coupons worth millions of US dollars every month.

Liu Zhicheng didn't care about how much money he could make, but rather the agreement with the Shanghai Stock Exchange at that time to divide the property when the time came.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange, where every inch of land is valuable, will be a gold mine for the Huangpu Group in the future.

After staying in Shanghai for a few more days, Liu Zhicheng returned to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong.

Liu Zhicheng came to his office in the Sailing Building.

In fact, he had already returned to Hong Kong last Saturday afternoon, but he was very confident in his executives, so he naturally spent the weekend with his family.

The last time he went on business to the United States and the Maple Leaf Country, his executives managed the company in perfect order, so he did not feel uneasy during his half-month stay in the mainland this time.

Moreover, this situation will become the norm, and Liu Zhicheng will frequently fly around the world in the future.

He is now like a spiritual symbol. As long as he is alive, the company will not be in chaos and will develop according to the strategy he has formulated.

After arriving at the office, Liu Zhicheng did not rush to work, but read the newspaper while drinking tea. His subordinates also knew his habits and would not come to report work too early unless there was something urgent.

He reads the newspaper very quickly, not because he is swallowing it whole, but because he has an excellent memory and brain power.

Because of this, he reads about ten newspapers every day.

His favorite newspaper is, of course, his own financial newspaper, the Daily Economic News. He also reads the same type of newspaper, the Sing Tao Daily.

An ordinary piece of news caught Liu Zhicheng's attention.

(End of this chapter)