The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

Early July.

The shipyard in Yokohama, Japan, is holding an oil tanker launching ceremony. Lin Zhichao went to Japan to participate in person. After the launching ceremony, all the ships built last year have been launched, and the total tonnage of global shipping has reached 6.8 million tons (including 50 old ships). Less than 10,000 tons).

The shipbuilding contract for this year (1965) has not yet been signed, so this time I came to Japan to get it done. There are a total of two 150,000-ton oil tankers, two 130,000-ton oil tankers, and four 20,000-ton cargo ships, all of which are built in Japan. There are also some sporadic shipbuilding plans, which are planned to be built in Europe.

The ships built this year will be launched in the second half of next year; VLCC oil tankers (200,000 to 300,000-ton oil tankers) will be built next year, and they will also be built in the second half of the year.

The launching ceremony was very grand. After all, if Lin Zhichao attended in person, the shipyard would give him a grand courtesy.

"Ms. Yoshino, it's your turn to complete the bottle throwing ceremony and cut the rope!" Lin Zhichao invited like a gentleman.

Today, Sayuri Yoshino is invited to participate in the launching ceremony, throw wine bottles and cut off the rope links.

Sayuri Yoshino was holding a red wine bottle in her hand, feeling very excited. He asked excitedly: "Mr. Lin, what does the bottle throwing ceremony mean?"

The clear eyes and gentle face make people very comfortable.

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "It means that the hull is indestructible and can ride the wind and waves on the sea with smooth sailing. It also symbolizes the strength of your motherland, Japan's shipbuilding industry, which competes with Europe and the United States on the sea."

Every word in his mouth always reaches a higher level. This is the characteristic of Lin Zhichao's speech that he has developed over time.

Sayuri Yoshino suddenly felt that the wine bottle in her hand had some weight, and then threw it towards the hull of the ship.

However, an accident happened. The wine bottle lightly touched the hull of the ship, but it did not break.

For a moment, the scene was a little awkward, and Sayuri Yoshino was even more at a loss!

Fortunately, a staff member had quick eyes and quick hands. Without saying a word, he smashed the bottle heavily on the tanker's hull. With a 'pop' sound, the bottle shattered.

The crowd burst into applause, and the scene quickly became heated.

Lin Zhichao also clapped, not showing any concern on his face. Besides, Yoshino Sayuri was the guest he invited, so naturally the small problem did not affect any mood.

"The next step is to chop the rope. As long as the head is chopped off, the ship will officially launch!" Lin Zhichao asked the staff to hand over the ax to Sayuri Yoshino.

Sayuri Yoshino held the axe, and suddenly felt nervous and heavy. There were senior officials such as the shipyard president, cabinet ministers, and bank presidents around him, and he suddenly felt Alexander.

"Cut off this one?"

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "Yes, Miss Yoshino! Don't worry, you are my important guest today, just relax!"

When Sayuri Yoshino heard Lin Zhichao's words, she immediately felt relieved. The first was Lin Zhichao's appearance and temperament, and the second was that he regarded her as an important guest in his words.

So, she swung the ax and chopped the rope, and the red rope broke.

Because this rope is only symbolic, the real rope is completed by workers. It is a dangerous thing and cannot be completed by women; so as the workers cut off the rope, there were a few 'pops', and the oil tanker finally began to move towards Sail away into the sea.

There was a burst of applause at the scene!

The launching ceremony is successfully concluded!

This 130,000-ton oil tanker is leased to Japan's Sanko Shipping. The rental cost is almost five and a half years, and it may be five years, depending on the specific operating costs. Compared with the previous market, it was much better, but Lin Zhichao did not ask too high a price.

Shipping companies in Europe, the United States and Japan have also learned wisely. They will lower Lin Zhichao's prices, so others have a return rate of 20 to 25% per year, but Lin Zhichao only has a return rate of 18 to 20%.

But Lin Zhichao has a lot of contracts, and everyone is willing to lease his oil tanker.

So it seems like they are suffering a loss, but they are actually taking advantage of it. Life has been difficult for Greek shipowners in recent years. The strong rise of Lin Zhichao has taken away a lot of their resources.

At the cocktail party.

Sayuri Yoshino looked at the dignitaries and dignitaries surrounding Lin Zhichao not far away, and then looked at her side, and suddenly felt a little cold. Just when she felt a little angry and embarrassed, she saw the handsome Lin Zhichao coming to her with a wine glass.

"I'm sorry to have left Ms. Yoshino in the cold, I'm the one who didn't entertain you well!" Lin Zhichao said with a gentlemanly smile.

Sayuri Yoshino suddenly felt like a spring breeze on her face, and her lost emotions were swept away. After all, she is not a big celebrity at today's reception! Moreover, her sensitive identity made some people embarrassed to come forward to communicate.

But Lin Zhichao, a busy person, was able to detect this situation immediately, which immediately put her in a very good mood.

"It's okay, Mr. Lin! Today you are our distinguished guest from the Japanese business community, and we are the ones who entertain you!"

"Haha, but you are my invited guest, it is wrong to neglect you! Come, let me toast you and express my apologies!"

The two clinked glasses and took a sip of red wine.

Afterwards, the two started chatting, but Lin Zhichao didn't mix other factors into it, and just made friends with young people.

Well, he is already 37 years old without knowing it. Although he looks young on the outside, his mentality is always a little old. There are young girlfriends around him, which helps him keep his youthful mentality.

"Mr. Lin, why do you often come to Tokyo for business?"

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "I do come to Japan often. In fact, I am not familiar with cities including Tokyo. I am always in a hurry every time. By the way, where are you from?"

Sayuri Yoshino said: "I am from Tokyo. Next time Mr. Lin is free, you can come to me as a guide and I will show you around Tokyo!"

Not bad, quite active.

Lin Zhichao then said: "Okay, let's add a personal contact information and make friends later!"

Sayuri Yoshino said playfully, "Aren't you friends now?"

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "Only when we are friends are we considered friends, now you are my honored guest!"

Saiduri Yoshino blushed suddenly, and then felt very good again!

When the two were chatting, other people politely did not come to disturb, so Sayuri Yoshino finally relaxed and communicated with Lin Zhichao very happily.

Of course, Lin Zhichao didn't have any mixed feelings between men and women, he just met a friend very normally.

He is more natural towards women now, Sayuri Yoshino is good, but he doesn't want to spend too much energy on women. But looking at Sayuri Yoshino, it is easy to fall into Lin Zhichao's charm, and naturally he will not spend much effort.

Men have no resistance to beautiful women, not to mention that beautiful women naturally have little resistance to a rich, temperamental, and handsome man.

Central.

The inaugural meeting of the "Hong Kong Real Estate Association" and the inauguration ceremony of the first staff were held in the Hong Kong City Hall. In addition to the presence of people from the real estate industry, Lin Zhichao also specially invited Li Mingze, the chief member of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Government, to issue the inaugural certificate of appointment to the first session of directors.

Li Mingze was the Chinese with the highest official position and the most influence in the Hong Kong government at this time. His friendship with Lin Zhichao originated from the 'Embassy Building' transaction that year. After that transaction, the relationship between the two has been good, and then there was Hysan Avenue 2 Site No. 1 and the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel.

Of course, Li Mingze is only the most influential Chinese among Hong Kong government officials. His influence in the entire Hong Kong is far less than that of Lin Zhichao. Even after Lin Zhichao received the knighthood, his influence in the Hong Kong government was also very large. .

Dignitaries, celebrities, and wealthy people gathered together, with cups and cups intertwined. The lineup and scene were a grand occasion.

As the chairman of the Hong Kong Real Estate Chamber of Commerce, Lin Zhichao also began to deliver a speech:

“Hello everyone, today is a milestone in Hong Kong’s real estate industry. Real estate businessmen finally have their own chamber of commerce, which injects new strength and vitality into real estate development.

Recently, I have also observed that some real estate companies in Hong Kong have been in trouble one after another, and many real estate developers have lost interest in developing real estate. What I need to emphasize here is that Hong Kong is the most densely populated city in the world. After the war, the population has increased from 600,000 to 3 million today. With such a huge population base, it is impossible to rely solely on the low-rent housing provided by the Hong Kong government. To achieve 'home ownership', in the long run, Hong Kong real estate still has great prospects. I personally hold a very optimistic attitude.

The real estate industry has an inseparable and close relationship with other industries in Hong Kong. For example, in industry, factory owners need factories, and they must either buy their own land to build factories, or rent/purchase stratified unit factories; for example, operating in the tourism industry, they must also invest in building hotels and hotels. Shopping malls; such as the banking industry, investing in head office buildings and branch shops; such as large and small department stores, also buying their own shops to stabilize their business prospects. With the economic development of Hong Kong, there are more and more wealthy people, and people will inevitably think of purchasing properties first to achieve the effect of asset preservation.

The responsibilities of the Hong Kong Real Estate Chamber of Commerce are not only to liaise with the association at its meetings, exchange relevant opinions, and collect brainstorming results, but also to serve as a bridge between government and business people, establish a strict sales system, and solve management problems to ensure the interests of customers.

Finally, I need to emphasize that the real estate industry in Hong Kong has the obligation and responsibility to enable Hong Kong citizens to save only enough for property to achieve a life of "home ownership" and "living and working in peace and contentment". "

Thunderous applause!

Nowadays, the confidence of real estate developers seems to have been boosted, and their morale has temporarily increased!

And if the Navy Dockyard is acquired by Cheung Kong Holdings at a "high price", Hong Kong real estate will inevitably undergo a recovery phase. If it were not for the influence of the movement in the Mainland and the chaos in 1967, perhaps with the establishment of the Real Estate Chamber of Commerce and the bidding for the Navy Dockyard, Hong Kong real estate would really recover.

Hong Kong's real estate industry, together with industry and tourism, are known as the three major economic pillars of Hong Kong. In the government tax budget for 1965, revenue from land sales, rates, property taxes and other revenue from the real estate industry exceeded one-third of the total budget of HK$1.7 billion. In the past 10 years, the government's revenue from land sales is equivalent to the total revenue from the Hong Kong government's land sales in the past years.

Later, Li Mingze issued certificates to the directors. He said by the way: "The 'home ownership' concept mentioned by President Lin today is something that shocked me very much. Being able to live in peace and work happily is very important to the citizens." It will be of great benefit to have a stable life and promote social prosperity."

In fact, Lin Zhichao proposed the concept of ‘home ownership’ in his early years, but now it is just an old talk again. Of course, now that his identity is different, the natural effect will be different.

Finally, everyone started to communicate with each other during the cocktail party.

The Hong Kong Real Estate Developers Association usually has one president, two vice-presidents, eight standing directors, and fourteen directors to handle work affairs. Due to Lin Zhichao's personal reasons, naturally many matters have to be handed over to the company.

Airship Tai is naturally happy with this. His idea is to play a greater role in this chamber of commerce to ease the relationship with the Hong Kong government, or to make the Hong Kong government dare not touch him.

Of course, these are just wishful thinking on Airship Tai's part. In fact, he has discovered that the Hong Kong government is increasingly dissatisfied with him, and secretly going to the mainland to attend the celebration is already an offense against the Hong Kong government. Once 1967 comes, Airship Tai will find that he is in a dilemma, so he can only go abroad to escape. After returning to Hong Kong, they could only reduce real estate investment. From then on, Hong Kong lost a big real estate developer.

"Linsheng"

"Shau Kee, Guo Sheng"

The two giants of Sun Hung Kai came to toast Lin Zhichao, but Feng Jingxi was missing. Feng Jingxi did not join the Real Estate Chamber of Commerce, which was a bit surprising. However, Sun Hung Kai's Lee Shau Kee and Kwok Desheng became board directors, which can be considered very powerful.

"Sun Hung Kai is great. I heard that your properties have been under construction, which is amazing!" Lin Zhichao praised.

Speaking of this, both Lee Shau Kee and Kwok Desheng were very grateful to Lin Zhichao. After the real estate crash, although Sun Hung Kai had not made any aggressive advances before, it was also short of funds. At this time, Lee Shau Kee's savings accumulated over the years and factories, Guo Desheng's grocery stores and agents The profits from the products have relieved Sun Hung Kai's difficulties.

Lee Shau Kee said: "Although we have been working, we are not making much, we can only say that we are making small profits."

Lin Zhichao immediately said: "Goods are rotating, I understand. You will build residential buildings as factories and build production lines for buildings. This method is very good. In the future, you will definitely occupy an important position in Hong Kong's real estate industry."

Lee Shau Kee and Kwok Desheng couldn't help but be shocked. This man could see through Sun Hung Kai's business methods at a glance and was definitely very powerful.

Guo Desheng said with admiration: "Lin Sheng is indeed a real estate wizard, and you also know our little tricks. Of course, compared to your tricks of advancing simultaneously in commercial real estate and real estate development, we are just like little tricks!"

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "I run a factory. I invest in real estate when I have funds. Plus, I entered this industry earlier than you, so I must have some advantages. But in the future, you may be clever in your methods."

"where where"

"Dare not compare with Lin Sheng"

The two people immediately humbled themselves. In the eyes of the Chinese, Cheung Kong Holdings is now the second largest land company. Perhaps we can think of overtaking Land, but if we want to surpass Cheung Kong Holdings, which is on the ascending channel, I am afraid that no one dares to even think about it.

Nowadays, the Navy Dockyard is inviting tenders, and even Real Estate dare not bet on it. On the contrary, Lin Zhichao dares to compete with European, American and Japanese investors. So privately, everyone also hopes that Lin Zhichao can defeat European, American and Japanese investors and protect the land for the Chinese.

At the venue, Lin Zhichao chatted with major real estate developers!

After the Hong Kong Real Estate Chamber of Commerce was officially established, the bidding for the former Navy Dockyard site also came to an end, with a total of four units bidding. In fact, the other three companies were all hired by Lin Zhichao to accompany them.

In the Lands Department of the Hong Kong government, people from the Chief Secretary and Planning Department gathered together to prepare for internal bid evaluation.

When everyone saw the prices quoted by European, American and Japanese real estate developers, they were immediately furious.

"This is simply child's play. The highest price listed by the three companies is only HK$70 million. How can you buy such a large piece of land just for such a small amount of money!"

"That is, even if we cancel the tender, we will not declare them the winner."

The Chief Secretary said: "Look at another one. The price of a local company should not be that low!"

"Cheung Kong Holdings is Sir Lin's company. I hope the price is higher!"

"I'm afraid the strength of the Chinese is not as good as that of Europe, America and Japan, and maybe the price is lower."

When everyone gave up hope, someone opened the tender document.

"165 million Hong Kong dollars, more than double the second place!"

"It's still a little low, but it's not impossible to consider."

After a while.

"Their design plan is very good, and they are willing to invest HK$1 billion to build a landmark building complex for Hong Kong."

“This is a great plan! It’s a very creative idea to build a luxurious five-star Burj Al Arab hotel here!”

"Yes, we are planning to build a large shopping mall, hotel, and office complex here."

“The entire building is constructed into a ‘city within a city’ commercial center using pedestrian bridges. It’s amazing!”

Soon, Hong Kong government officials were smitten with Cheung Kong's ideas.

Of course they hope that Hong Kong will have a large landmark building. After all, they are officials of the Hong Kong government first and everything must be based on the development interests of Hong Kong.

"It's just that the price is a little lower, but if it can be developed in this area, it's a very good choice."

"The bid price is not too low. After all, the market outside is even worse. This can be reflected in the bid prices of the three European, American and Japanese companies. Once it is announced that Cheung Kong Holdings has won the bid, I believe Hong Kong real estate will rebound."

Everyone discussed.

There is still a week before the official announcement of the result, so it will be decided in a while. But the overall opinion, of course, is to acknowledge the result of this bidding.

"Your Excellency, Governor of Hong Kong, I will report to you the bidding situation of the Navy Ship King!" Han Meixun, acting assistant secretary, came to Dai Linzhi's office.

Dai Linzhi immediately put down his work and said, "What are the details of the four bidders?"

Han Meixun reported the situation seriously. After all, this matter is quite big, and the Governor of Hong Kong is very concerned.

After a long time, Dai Linzhi felt happy, Lin Zhichao didn't make it difficult for him.

His wife has received more than 3 million Hong Kong dollars worth of American real estate, stocks, antique collections, gold and other gifts; such a huge sum of wealth is a benefit that even British foreign firms cannot afford.

Therefore, he decided in his heart that as long as Lin Zhichao wanted 'fairness', then it could be achieved. But if there is strong opposition within the Hong Kong government, he will naturally not agree, and the money will naturally be swallowed up.

The current situation makes Dai Linzhi feel that even if he did not accept the money, he and the relevant officials of the Hong Kong government would agree.

As the rulers of Hong Kong, they naturally hope that Hong Kong will have a good landmark building and are willing to invest in it. There are no problems with Lin Zhichao's plan and price.

"What do you mean?"

"Most of my colleagues think that this tender should be recognized. After all, there are four bidders, and Cheung Kong's bid price is more than twice that of the second place. The development plan is beneficial to Hong Kong's economy."

Dai Linzhi nodded, looked at the design plan for a while, and said, "Okay, let's settle the matter! Others are also knighted by the royal family and have a huge influence in the world. If we treat them unfairly, it will be a big blow to the British Hong Kong government." There are also bad effects."

Han Meixun nodded and said, "Okay, I will convey your opinion to everyone!"

Things went perfectly!

If Lin Zhichao did one less part, he would definitely encounter more resistance. But Lin Zhichao did things seamlessly, so naturally it was a matter of course.

Of course, that doesn't mean the project went smoothly!

Because of the next plan, we have to communicate with the Hong Kong government. The Hong Kong government has the right to approve, and if they do not approve, there is no way to continue.

Moreover, this piece of land involves a wide range of areas, including the planning of roads and the planning of the entire city, so the official start of construction may not be until the early 1970s.