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Volume One: Living in Troubled Times Chapter 29: Taking advantage of the situation

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    Smuggling is common, and many Hong Kong businessmen engaged in sea transportation played an important role in the anti-embargo process. They transported "embargoed materials" to the mainland not only to seek their own survival and development, but it is undeniable that they also  Waging a fight against the US embargo.

    The embargo caused business depression in Hong Kong, a sharp increase in unemployment and social unrest, and also caused the British Hong Kong authorities to adopt a two-faced attitude.  At the same time, the Industrial and Commercial Administration, the Political Department, the Customs and the "Anti-Corruption Department", which include the functional departments of the British government in Hong Kong, and the "Anti-Corruption Department" that specializes in investigating corruption, are very aware of the small profits made by transporting embargoed materials to the mainland. There are also many cases where  Methods are used to transport embargoed materials to the mainland.

    So after the Korean War, these agencies often exported goods privately.  Other departments, from top to bottom, also regard the embargo as a good opportunity to enrich themselves and make a fortune, so they all rush to participate in "anti-smuggling".  The Hong Kong Port Authority also tacitly agrees to trade with the mainland. For ships coming from Hong Kong to Tianjin, two copies of the export customs procedures are prepared. One is forged (for example, exported to Japan Moji), and the other is genuine and sent to the Chinese port to prevent  just in case.

    ¡°Money can make all the difference. Meng Youtian can use most or all of the profits from smuggling to bribe or hand over Hong Kong customs and water spirits.  The business can neither make a loss nor make a profit. Anyway, he has other industries, unlike many people who do it to support their families.

    But the impact of the Korean War on Hong Kong was serious. Not only was Hong Kong¡¯s re-export trade, which had just recovered and developed after the war, plummeting, it plummeted.  Since the embargo of strategic materials also targets Hong Kong and Macau, many raw materials are in short supply and prices have soared, which has affected Hong Kong's construction industry, real estate industry, weaving industry, transportation industry, hardware industry, warehouse industry, banking industry, rubber industry, foreign industry, etc.  All walks of life have been hit hard.

    Although he bought the land, Meng Youtian knew that now was not the time for comprehensive development.  He already knows the specific planning in mind. Paterson Street will be the commercial and shopping area of ??Causeway Bay in the future. It is more suitable to develop commercial office buildings and medium-sized residential buildings. Jardine's Lookout will be the future luxury area due to its superior scenery.

    Relatively speaking, the embargo did not have a great impact on Meng Youtian¡¯s factories, especially the instant noodle factory, which developed paper barrel tin foil packaging and entered the European and American markets.  The difficulties faced by clothing and toy factories are temporary, and it doesn't matter if they make less money, as long as they can persevere.  Meng Youtian knew that the Hong Kong government would formulate a new industrial policy soon, and Hong Kong's economy would shift from re-export trade to processing trade, and the booming processing industry would become the backbone of Hong Kong's economy.

    Despite this, Meng Youtian mainly focused on real estate. Taking advantage of the business depression caused by the embargo and the closure of factories, he used funds to purchase several cotton mills and moved his own business there.  This has the effect of killing two birds with one stone. Firstly, it has its own fixed place and does not have to pay rent for its own factories. Secondly, these three factories are in good locations. When the real estate industry recovers, they can make a lot of money.

    In the early 1950s, Hong Kong¡¯s real estate market was not active, and it was even more sluggish due to the impact of the Korean War.  Land prices are particularly cheap. Meng Youtian took the opportunity to hoard land. Tsim Sha Tsui, To Kwa Wan, Sai Wan and other sites were included in the bag. The price per square foot is only a dozen yuan, and buying a piece of land only costs hundreds of thousands. It is simply too cheap.  .

    The main feature of Hong Kong in that era was the retreat of foreign businessmen and the rise of Chinese businessmen.  Because compared to Chinese businessmen, foreigners have no confidence in New China's policies and have a stronger fear of gcd.  As soon as there is any trouble, they will make preparations to divest their capital and evacuate their overseas Chinese.

    After Meng Youtian bought the land, he instructed Haisha Company to enter the construction industry. After recruiting a group of construction workers, he began to build residential buildings in Sai Wan.  Most of these residential buildings were five-storey, and some were six-storey. They were considered relatively tall residential buildings in Hong Kong at that time.

    The construction period is one or two years. By the time all these buildings are completed, it will be almost the end of the Korean War.  Then came the comprehensive recovery of Hong Kong's economy, and the real estate industry became even more prosperous.  Looking back at Hong Kong's economic development in the past half century, we can see that Hong Kong's economic take-off, and its eventual emergence as one of the "Four Asian Tigers", actually started with the rise of the real estate industry.

    The preparations are sufficient. First, get a piece of land to let Haisha Company become familiar with the construction industry, and train and form its own construction team.  This was not enough, so Meng Youtian hired two more barristers to make legal preparations.

    At that time, renting out buildings was the most popular method in Hong Kong¡¯s real estate industry.  The way to sell a building is to use the entire building as a unit.  It is difficult to buy without huge funds.  But even if you have the money to buy the entire building, it is extremely difficult to resell it.  Therefore, those engaged in building buying and selling are all large and powerful companies, and private individuals rarely get involved.  After a large company owns a building, it either sells the entire building or uses it for itself or rents it to other users.  Therefore, real estate companies at that time were usually called real estate companies, not developers.

      Strata sales and off-the-plan sales are naturally the two sales tools that Meng Youtian has mastered, but there are still troubles in realizing them, mainly because the property rights and liability issues of the buildings cannot be resolved.  At that time, the Hong Kong government did not recognize the upper floors of buildings, even if they built one, two, or four or five floors, the government ignored them. After the government sold the land to you, it only recognized you as the owner and only treated you as the owner.  Collect land price and land tax.  If the buildings were sold in strata, this problem could not be solved legally at that time.

    In fact, not only in Hong Kong, but also in many places around the world, building sales at that time were based on a whole building as a unit.  This old practice has been in use for many years. No one thinks there is anything wrong with it, and no one proposes to reform it.  But Meng Youtian realized the limitations of this business method, so he wanted to change his ways and explore new ways of selling properties.  Just like "cutting a mooncake", the building contract is cut into pieces, that is, "strata lease", and then the building is sold in different layers.  But at that time, there was no precedent for "strata lease" in Hong Kong.

    Since others can do it, there must be a solution, and Meng Youtian is quite confident about this.  He instructed his two legal advisers to study and consult with their colleagues to come up with a solution as soon as possible.

    "Professional is professional. In Meng Youtian's view, there is no way to deal with the legal issues, but the legal consultant believes that this law is desirable and does not conflict with the current law.  Within a few months, they resolved the legal issues surrounding the strata sale and only had to go through complicated filing procedures.

    Everything is ready, just waiting for the North Korean artillery to subside, Meng Youtian can flex his muscles, and a new army emerges.  It was already 1952. In order to take care of Britain's sentiments and to enforce the embargo more resolutely, the United States decided to open its market to Hong Kong, which eased Hong Kong's economic decline.  rs!  .
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