Special interview
Written by: Wei Yingzhi
2020-10-24 09:00
Last update date: 2020-10-24 09:00
Invited by the chairman of the Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation, Cheng Ka-shing, the sociologist Wang Huiling of the University of Hong Kong and the historian Mo Jianwei jointly wrote the book "The Life of Zheng Yutong: The Practice of Diligence, Honesty, and Righteousness", using oral history through The memories and words of others have reshaped a generation of Hong Kong merchant Zheng Yutong.
Zheng Yutong (hereinafter referred to as Uncle Tong) is closely related to the two major families throughout his life.
The book also uses a longer space to describe the connection between the Zheng family and the Zhou family, as well as the relationship between Uncle Tong and his hometown of Shunde, Guangdong, Macau, and Hong Kong. The story of Uncle Tong is deconstructed from family history.
"It's hard to believe that a person falls from the sky." When presenting himself, it is natural to use the first-person perspective to describe himself, but Mo Jianwei pointed out that everyone has different backgrounds. Uncle Tong went to Hong Kong to work in gold. The success of the decoration is not only about the current situation, it is necessary to trace the origin, find out the context, and understand what happened from the birth of Uncle Tong to the previous generation, so that readers can have a deeper understanding and get a complete answer. .
Wang Huiling: "It's even Chow Tai Fook's boss" until later
Regarding Uncle Tong’s understanding, Wang Huiling made no secret of saying that before she wrote the book, in fact, just like ordinary citizens, she only knew that he was one of the real estate kings in Hong Kong, a rich man, a business person, and even Chow Tai Fook’s The boss" only learned about it later.
In the process of oral history, it is very special that many interviewees can be contacted.
Through different interviews, I realized that the matter of "something developed" cannot be answered directly.
She said that when listening to everyone's recollections, Uncle Tong's personality will show up along the way. How does this character do things and how does he treat people and things?
Finally, the cognition of Uncle Tong's personality is condensed on the three words "diligence, sincerity and righteousness" in the title of the book.
Mo Jianwei agrees with Wang Huiling’s statement that his impression of Uncle Tong is based on the image created by the media. He also pointed out that understanding what he has done and what economic achievements will not help you to know the other party, nor can you know. His characteristics.
Through oral history, to observe a person’s growth, and to listen to the evaluations of people around him, "it seems like a person’s characteristics and personality traits."
Add thinking, scrutiny, and imagination to reconstruct the other side of Uncle Tong.
For example, through some short stories, it turns out that Uncle Tong is a little funny sometimes, "It's so fun, so curious."
At work, some people sometimes describe that Uncle Tong is quick-minded, quick to work, and at the same time seeing his trust in people. These deeper impressions are hard to get from the media.
Going back to the Mainland to do "infrastructure" is a prospect of the political situation
Before and after his return, Uncle Tong returned to the mainland to make a lot of investment, and he also got good returns at that time. In recent years, New World has also had many projects in the Greater Bay Area.
Mok Jianwei said that the book actually did not touch on some of the developments of Uncle Tong in the later 90s. For example, New World had a period of large-scale expansion overseas, not just the mainland market, but also the shipping industry. They have all tried to get out of Hong Kong, and there are also some development projects in the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia. These new investments are new directions for Uncle Tong after his transformation in the 1970s and 1980s.
However, due to the subject relationship of the book, the scope of the narration is limited by time, space and time, so there is no more space and energy to study the changes or new features of Uncle Tong's commercial development in his later years.
"I don't necessarily think that Mr. Cheng Yutong will concentrate on a certain business in a certain place." Mo Jianwei said, judging from Uncle Tong's past experience, in fact, his vision is very broad and "worldwide." , Not only invest in the Chinese mainland market.
In December 1974, China's self-designed and built million-dollar water power station, and 5 units of Liujiaxia Water Power Station were completed, becoming a new milestone in China's water and electricity technology.
(Web picture)
Wang Huiling analyzed that Uncle Tong's entry into China was a relatively forward-looking business plan. To estimate his decision, everyone must first observe his development in China.
In the early days of entering the mainland market, Uncle Tong originally did not work in real estate first, but in hotel management.
According to Uncle Tong’s employees, when Uncle Tong saw China’s reform and opening up, more people wanted to travel back to China. He believed that there would be demand for hotels and related businesses would develop faster. In addition, there were two hotels in the New World Center at that time. It has been built for several years, so he thinks he is capable of trying to do this.
Uncle Tong later turned to the real estate industry, but Wang Huiling emphasized that one thing to note is that "real estate" means "infrastructure."
In the earlier years, New World’s construction of infrastructure projects such as highways, power plants, and water plants in Guangzhou was related to a period of time after China’s reform and opening up. Policies tend to focus on the development of manufacturing, and manufacturing is in need of related infrastructure projects.
Coupled with the central government's intent to "Guangdong goes first," Ling Tong turned to this direction.
The so-called "real estate" project in 1996 was actually the reconstruction of the old city.
When China’s economy was improving at that time, some old cities needed to be converted into residential and commercial land. Uncle Tong converted the old urban areas of local cities in Beijing into some core commercial districts, which was in line with the central government’s development of several major cities. direction.
Zheng Yutong met with mainland officials.
(Photo of New World Development website)
Wang Huiling stated clearly that if she wanted to ask how Uncle Tong would do in the face of such a situation today, she would not know. She could only imagine what China's development needs today.
What important person's network will find him?
When someone sells an introduction to him, he will understand after listening and reflect on whether these are needed in China today?
What are the benefits for the people's livelihood of the country?
If he understands and accepts persuasion, he will do it.
She can only imagine that Uncle Tong would ask the above questions, and then they would become a reference when making decisions, not just "I do real estate in a single line."
As Mo Jianwei said, it is not necessarily real estate, but based on the information that Uncle Tong has contacted, he will do it if the content convinces him.
To the readers to pay more attention to the usual things and things
When asked what they hope this biography would say to readers or young people, the two scholars both said with a smile that they were afraid of doing this kind of thing, and did not deliberately leave any lessons for readers to learn when writing. If you really want to ask what you hope readers can get, Mo Jianwei said, "The part about creating opportunities is "a little proud"."
He pointed out that in Uncle Tong’s experience, “there is actually a waiting for the channel to carry it.” Instead, Uncle Tong tried to find “opportunities” that might not have been formed at the time. After contacting Uncle Tong, he created A big environment came out, and his business in diamonds and real estate back then was a good presentation.
Press conference for the book "The Biography of Zheng Yutong: The Practice of Diligence, Honesty and Righteousness in Life".
(Photo provided by New World)
"Opportunity does not mean that society has a development direction that can be clearly presented at the time." Mo Jianwei explained that creating opportunity means "you can refer to the era of personal creation, or the opportunity has been released in the past. "Explore", and the characteristic of this clichéd experience is not handed down wisdom, nor is it a golden rule, it is simply telling the experience to the next generation.
It's just that these seemingly ordinary things are constantly forgotten.
"The Biography of Zheng Yutong" is telling these clichés.
"In fact, I want to be an open-ended one. I don't want to get the same lesson from others. If I want to, I can ask myself, but if I only want a share, I hope he can share a person's life."
Recalling the time when the title was decided, Wang Huiling said that she wanted to truthfully reflect the personality and life value of Uncle Tong, so she came up with the concept of "diligence, sincerity, and righteousness."
On the other hand, we must also consider the issue of bibliographic attraction. She said, "It's "diligence, honesty, and righteousness", and it seems to be the old generation." It only adds to the taste of the older generation and is not attractive.
Take diligence as an example. It seems that some people who have not yet succeeded first need it. But the book talks about Uncle Tong’s undertaking of exhibition projects. For example, big entrepreneurs like him have to do business by themselves. The boss asks someone to do it."
Wang Huiling said that this kind of "both old-fashioned and clichéd" thing is just a reminder to everyone, and also wants young people to think about and accept these seemingly outdated values.
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