On the evening of May 8, Li Guangyu and Cao Weiqing went to the banquet hall of the Governor's Palace to attend MacLehose's banquet.

Today is the official departure of MacLehose, who came to Xiangjiang as governor in 71 years, and it has been nearly 11 years now.

Under his governance, Xiangjiang's economy has developed rapidly, and the government and people's livelihood have been greatly improved, making great contributions to Xiangjiang.

This time, in order to show respect for MacLehose, and also thank MacLehose for taking care of the Lee Group in the past few years, even though Cao Weiqing has been pregnant for more than four months, she still attended the banquet with Li Guangyu.

In the banquet hall of the Governor's Palace tonight, the heads of the major families in Xiangjiang, as well as the elites of the political and business circles attended the dinner.

Now a new governor has not yet arrived, and Xia Dingji is currently serving as the governor.

On Lee Guangyu's side, after MacLehose stepped down, he told some of his views.

Li Ka-shing said: "When MacLehose was in office, our Chinese family was doing well, as long as we didn't deliberately stand on the opposite side, our development was not suppressed, but I don't know what the situation is with Youde's arrival." ”

At the end of last year, the British government announced that Youde would come to Hong Kong as governor after MacLehose stepped down.

After the announcement of the British, all the major families in Xiangjiang collected information about Youde in order to understand Youde's situation and make adequate preparations for the future.

Li Guangyu himself has a lot of information about Youde, the rookie governor is quite familiar with the Greater China region, has been a diplomat on the mainland for many years, and he also knows Chinese.

It's just that most of his life has been engaged in diplomatic work, and Lee Guangyu himself does not know whether this man will be able to maintain the policies of the MacLehose era in terms of economy.

Moreover, the next two or three years will be very difficult for Xiangjiang, and the economic development will be very unsatisfactory, especially after the collapse of the property market, Xiangjiang's economy will be hit hard.

Lee also sometimes felt that MacLehose was very lucky, and his tenure happened to avoid the moment when some problems in Xiangjiang erupted, so that he had a good ending when he stepped down, making him one of the governors to whom the citizens of Xiangjiang were most grateful.

Many things are inevitable in the future, if MacLehose serves another term, I am afraid that he will squander the fame he has accumulated before, human nature is sometimes so complicated, once there is a bad time, even if there is more credit before, it will be ignored.

As the clock ticked to eight o'clock, MacLehose said at the beginning of the banquet: "Thank you all for coming to my farewell banquet. Over the past ten years, Xiangjiang has been my second hometown, and the development of Xiangjiang over the years has made me feel very gratified, which is also inseparable from the efforts of all of you, and it is with everyone's common struggle that our economy of Xiangjiang can be rapidly developed. ”

Subsequently, MacLehose talked about some of his shortcomings in the past year, such as the lack of higher education in Hong Kong and the lack of improvement in people's livelihood, and hoped that the people present could work together with the successor governor to develop Hong Kong better and better.

MacLehose did not talk about how much he has contributed to Hong Kong tonight, but said that he has not done enough in those aspects, and has not done those things yet, and hopes that everyone will focus on Hong Kong and promote the rapid and good development of Hong Kong in all aspects.

After finishing speaking, MacLehose specially came to Li Guangyu and his side to express his gratitude to Li Guangyu and others for coming.

MacLehose knows in his heart that the future of Hong Kong is in the hands of Li Guangyu and his interest group, and they have now begun to involve all aspects of Hong Kong's production and life, as long as they are stable, there will be no major problems in Hong Kong.

Although MacLehose has stepped down, he still hopes that Hong Kong can maintain stable and positive development. He himself knows the difficulties of the major families in Xiangjiang, and they have paid too much hard work to have the current family business.

Due to the specific historical environment, the development of the Chinese family in Xiangjiang was naturally suppressed by the British-funded consortium. After so many years of accumulation, coupled with the fact that they did not deliberately suppress the Chinese-funded family after they took power, they began to develop by leaps and bounds, and the result was the rapid decline of the British-funded consortium.

MacLehose himself knows that there are many legislators on the local side who have opinions about some of the policies he has implemented in Hong Kong, but MacLehose does not care about these.

He knew that the British-funded consortium had been shrouded in Xiangjiang, and Xiangjiang's economy could not develop rapidly, but he didn't expect the British-funded consortium to be so vulnerable.

It's only been a few years, and it has been suppressed by the Chinese-funded consortium, and only two of the four major foreign companies remain, Jardine Matheson and Swire, and the two groups are not having a good time now.

Swire has now given up on the battle with the Chinese consortium, while Jardine Matheson is shifting the market. Others don't know very well, as the Governor, MacLehose has a lot of sources, and Jardine Matheson is preparing to withdraw from the Xiangjiang market.

"Mr. Lee Guangyu, the current development has not come easily, and I hope you will maintain confidence in Hong Kong and promote the development of Hong Kong. ”

Li Guangyu said: "Mr. MacLehose, such development of Hong Kong is inseparable from your contributions over the past ten years, and it is a series of policies you have implemented that have made Hong Kong have such a good living and working environment, and I believe that the citizens of Hong Kong will not forget your efforts for Hong Kong." ”

"I also believe that Xiangjiang will develop better and better in the future, Xiangjiang is the place where I grew up, and it is also the place where my group started, and this place will not change as the foundation of my Li Group. ”

MacLehose was noncommittal about Li Guangyu's words, but he knew some of the actions of Li Guangyu's group.

Last year, it was rumored that a new landmark in Hong Kong would be built, and the new group building, which is taller than the HSBC Building, is still on paper, and its Wheelock Group is dealing with a large number of properties in its hands.

MacLehose said: "I have also communicated with Governor Youde, he also knows this side very well, he will not specifically target your Chinese family, and please put aside the worries in your heart, Xiangjiang is the common Xiangjiang of more than five million citizens, and it is also your Xiangjiang, and the support policy for the four major consortia will not appear again, let alone suppress your development." ”

Listening to MacLehose's words, Li Ka-shing and others are also a lot more relieved, as long as the government does not specifically target themselves and others, they really don't worry about commercial competition.

They are worried that as in the 60s, the government will explicitly not allow some Chinese families to enter, which will deal a big blow to their family industries, and their businessmen will not have the capital to resist the government.

Li Ka-shing said: "Mr. MacLehose, thank you for your concern about our Chinese family, we also take Xiangjiang as our main market, and we also hope that Xiangjiang will develop better and better, only when Xiangjiang economy develops, our own enterprises can develop rapidly." ”

After communicating with Lee Guangyu, Lee Shau-kee, and Stanley Ho for a while, MacLehose went to Chan Tseng-hei and Wang Dehui to have some exchanges with them.

As the host of today's banquet, MacLehose obviously can't just communicate with the interest group on Lee Guangyu's side.

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