Back to the Republic of China to be a editor

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There are indeed a lot of ceramics displayed at the Canton Fair. There are two entire exhibition halls, with different origins and shapes, mainly mid-to-high-end porcelain.Nowadays, many parts of the world can produce ceramics in large quantities, but China is still competitive in high-end porcelain.

Tea is the same as porcelain. India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) have a large amount of tea. China exhibits mainly high-end tea. There are a total of 12 major tea producing areas, and they all display their own tea.

The Canton Fair also has a small exhibition hall dedicated to selling Chinese medicinal materials—Europeans are not interested in Chinese medicine, but more than 50 Chinese and overseas Chinese came to the Canton Fair, and they recognize Chinese medicine.As for whether there is any curative effect, this is not an issue that the Canton Fair should discuss.

In fact, the mid-to-high-end tea displayed in the tea hall is largely prepared for Chinese and overseas Chinese. The British drink tea with sugar, milk and honey, and then cook it randomly. Provides the function of a dye.

Traditional native products are placed in the most obvious position of the Canton Fair, and industrial products have to go through one door to another branch.

Ye Jizhuang walked into the branch library with more than 20 businessmen who were interested in industrial products.Facing it is a high imitation model of the Hongqi-4 surface-to-air missile launch vehicle.

British and European merchants: ...

Overseas Chinese: ...

Ye Jizhuang: "This is China's second-generation field surface-to-air missile. It was exhibited to the public at the National Day military parade on October 10 last year. Let me explain first that we do not plan to sell the Hongqi-1 missile system freely for the time being. , The reason why this model is put here is to let everyone have an intuitive understanding of China's current industrial technology and industrial design capabilities."

Just talk about showing off, and talk about showing off so politely.

Westland knows that some industrial technologies in China are not simple. The C55 computer he sells as a consignment has not been able to produce imitations with similar functions in Europe. It is said that the Americans have imitated them, but the reliability is not as good as C55. Generally speaking, there is no advantage over the original C55.

The Chinese anti-aircraft missiles are here, and Westland still can't help but look at them a few more times.Of course he is familiar with industrial technology, and air defense missiles must have a large number of electronic components, so he has no doubts about the performance of Chinese air defense missiles.

"Mr. Minister, your country can really reconsider the sale of arms," ​​Westland found an opportunity and whispered to Ye Jizhuang, "In fact, the original law of international arms trade is like this..."

It was the first time Ye Jizhuang saw such a request from a foreigner, so he just laughed and changed the subject: "Hey, Mr. Westland, why don't we take a look at the latest remote control TV? The screen is more flat and more rectangular. , and more clearly..."

……

In this session of the Canton Fair, the fists of China's industrial products are neither computers nor other high-end technology products, but rice cookers and lucky fans.

"My British friends may not know much about this thing, but I want to emphasize that in areas where rice is the staple food, rice cookers will be the best-selling kitchen appliances."

"This is a light-duty electric fan. I don't need to introduce the purpose of the electric fan. In the hot areas at and near the equator, the electric fan is one of the best-selling household appliances. However, I would like to draw your attention to its selling price." price."

Lucky Fan, an ultra-low-cost electric fan.Except for a motor, which is the most complicated electromechanical part, most of the others are plastic parts, and they are very simple.There is no oscillating device for electric fans, and the change of wind direction depends on blowing a deflecting fence.Therefore, the cost of the lucky fan is unbelievably low.

The oil field has been developed, and large-scale production of plastic products is not a problem. The domestic light industry is developing rapidly. While supplying the consumption of the Chinese people, a certain amount of export is also allowed. Unsatisfactory, but the export part is still necessary.

It is not only the need to exchange for foreign exchange, but also the need to seize the market or develop foreign consumption habits.For example, the rice cooker, someone in Japan may soon invent it again.

"This is a list of three refineries with different configurations, as well as a list of configurations for ethylene petrochemical plants. I can say with certainty that neither the Soviet Union nor Romania can match our equipment in terms of price and quality."

Campbell Cargill, who came to market on behalf of Burma Petroleum Company, soon had an appointment with the Minister of Foreign Trade for a private trade meeting.

"I heard that China's newly discovered oil fields have more than 50 billion barrels of reserves, which is really remarkable," Campbell said first, "You are a big country with a population of 6 million, and it is impossible for the new oil fields to reach an annual output of 1000 million tons." No problem, so you need to build a large number of petrochemical plants as soon as possible to process oil into refined oil and various industrial raw materials, otherwise this oil field will be wasted.”

Ye Jizhuang carefully compared the factory information and quotations provided by Campbell, and asked a lot of questions, so he had a good idea.

"No, no, Mr. Minister, what I meant just now is that what you need is definitely not an oil refinery and an ethylene plant," Campbell said again, "as I said just now, according to your country's oil production capacity, you It is necessary to add five 60-ton refineries and six ethylene production lines with a total annual output of 30 tons in the next two years."

Ye Jizhuang: "It takes time to train qualified workers and technicians. Moreover, our foreign exchange quota for petrochemicals is limited..."

The next day, Campbell came to see Ye Jizhuang again, this time with another person.

"Continuing yesterday's topic, if China can order five oil refineries and six ethylene production lines at one time, Burma can sell these equipments to you at a 9% discount, and provide technician training and engineer training services for China, I can make this commitment, said Campbell,

"As for the issue of foreign exchange, this is Mr. Damons Feng, a senior manager of HSBC. I think you can purchase these devices at one time by means of loans, and then make a repayment plan."

……

"It's like this. Burma is having a hard time because of the Suez crisis. They urgently need to get a large order immediately, otherwise they may not be able to survive."

After the talks came out, Ye Jizhuang met with the comrade in charge of Hong Kong's economic and trade outreach, and this comrade spoke out about Burma's current situation.

Chapter 151 Xia Meng

After the Suez War, whether the Middle East oil can continue to supply Western Europe in large quantities and stably in the future has been marked with a big question mark.The confidence of the European petrochemical industry was first affected, and the number of orders was reduced. The stock prices of companies related to petroleum refining and chemical machinery fell by an average of 20%.

Orders in the entire petroleum refining and chemical machinery industry have fallen, and there are always one or two unlucky ghosts. When the industry's average order dropped by 15%, his family's order dropped by 50%.Burma Petroleum Company is such an unlucky company. If there is no new order, the company will lay off employees on a large scale in about three months.

Not only layoffs, but production may also be suspended.Due to the impact of the petrochemical industry and the overall economic downturn, Burma estimated that he would not be able to get loans in 1957 and 1958-unless he held an order contract.

The situation is such that if only one refinery is sold, Burma will still starve to death. This kind of economic downturn usually lasts for more than two years, and one refinery is not enough to feed.

However, the plan proposed by the Burma Petroleum Company has also aroused heated discussions on the Chinese side.

……

"It's only been a few years since we turned around, and we have to borrow money from capitalists again."

"In fact, we have money now, but the gold and foreign exchange reserves have their own uses, and we can't draw so much money at once to pay."

The meeting was first hosted by the chief accountant in Guangzhou. At the meeting, one or two people raised such doubts.

"Borrowing money is not a shameful thing. I think it is better to take the loan from HSBC instead of pulling out the gold at the bottom of the box or reducing the number of orders." Ye Jizhuang said his opinion.

Chief Accountant: "HSBC's loan is to be repaid in installments over 5 years, but we can obtain several refineries and petrochemical plants within two years at a [-]% discount. In short, this loan is not a loss, provided that we can ensure that There will be enough foreign currency to repay the loan for the next five years."

Ye Jizhuang: "Based on the accumulative speed of our export surplus to the West in the past few years as a reference, there is no problem at all in repaying the loan, not to mention that after the Canton Fair, the export volume will increase significantly."

Kang Shien, deputy director of the Petroleum Industry Bureau of the Ministry of Energy: "We need all six ethylene production lines. The domestic plastics industry has a huge spread. Then, in terms of oil refining, we still need an aviation kerosene refinery, which Burma does not have. So , the plan is to import and purchase an aviation fuel refinery from the Soviet Union, Burma proposed to build 5 refineries, we only need 4."

Tao Zhu: "One of them is located in Guangdong, so I want to know the advantages of this British oil refining equipment compared with Soviet Romania's."

Kang Shien: "Let's talk about the cracking and refining equipment for gasoline and diesel oil. The utilization rate of crude oil in the British oil refining equipment reached 97.7%, while that in the Soviet Union was 96%. There are 174 people...the difference in staffing is particularly large. In terms of price, if the official exchange rate is used, the price of oil refining equipment in the UK is 260% cheaper than that in the Soviet Union."

……

The HSBC loan issue had a meeting in Guangzhou in the afternoon, and it was reported back to Beijing that night. After the Prime Minister learned about it, he called the Finance and Economics Committee and the Industry and Information Technology Committee to hold another meeting to discuss it.

"The HSBC loan this time is a loan provided by a foreign bank to the country, and the national credit is the endorsement. Therefore, from the bank's point of view, the risk is relatively low. Since it is a relatively low risk, it should adopt a lower interest rate. , This is common sense," Xue Muqiao said, "I am generally in favor of taking this loan, but when negotiating specific terms, I hope HSBC can lower the interest rate further."

Tang Hua: "That's it for gasoline and diesel equipment. It's also being developed in China. Buy it and take a look and continue to copy it...Berma has some patents in their hands for the lubricating oil production line. We will build a line in this area first. Later It may be necessary to buy a patent license."

In the middle of the night, Beijing sent its opinions back to Guangzhou.

Given that the chief accountant is in Guangzhou and there is a deputy prime minister, the chief accountant can be authorized to negotiate and sign at this time.

"Yes, loans to countries, but gentlemen, not all countries have the same credit rating."

said Damons Fung, senior manager at HSBC in Hong Kong.

Ye Jizhuang: "China has a population of [-] million, and its economy is operating well. In recent years, it has maintained a surplus in foreign trade, and its total foreign trade has been increasing steadily."

Dammons Feng: "You confiscated all bureaucratic assets and imperialist assets in China in 49. To tell you the truth, the former headquarters of our HSBC Bank in Shanghai is now used by you as a workers' club."

Ye Jizhuang: ...

Tao Zhu: ...