Masayoshi Kishimoto, Kiyoshi Kobayashi and others appeared in the waiting hall of Tokyo Narita International Airport. They are about to take a flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong.

Neither Kishimoto nor Kiyoshi Kobayashi entered the VIP lounge and sat side by side on soft chairs in the waiting hall. Neither of them values things that show their personal identity and social status.

Masayoshi Kishimoto leaned back on the back of the chair, turned slightly sideways towards the other party, crossed Erlang's legs, and chatted, "How much do you know about Hong Kong?"

"To tell you the truth, this is my first time in Hong Kong. Kobayashi Kiyoshi said honestly.

"Hong Kong is a paradise for the rich and a hell for the poor. In this respect, it is similar to Tokyo. Known as the Pearl of the Orient, Hong Kong is a well-developed and wealthy city, but it is also one of the regions with the largest gap between rich and poor in the world.

Its economic lifeline is mainly concentrated on Hong Kong Island. The most unfair point is that there is no inheritance tax in Hong Kong. It is obvious that the rich will become richer, and their children and grandchildren will be protected by their ancestors.

You think of Tokyo as a mini-kingdom where the lower middle class rents in small places, while Hong Kong makes you find that they live even smaller. Hong Kong people joke that pigs are more spacious than they do.

The wealthy live on the top of the mountain, the wealthy middle class lives halfway up the mountain, and the ordinary citizen class lives in the elevator apartments at the bottom of the mountain. As for the poor, they live in coffins and pigeon cages in old tenement buildings at the foot of the mountain, often without elevators.

Or, living in an illegal house on a rooftop. It is normal for an ordinary family of five or six, or even more, to be crowded in a house of more than 20 square meters.

Many young people are married and live separately in their parents' homes. Hong Kong's per capita residential area is defined by UNESCO as challenging the bottom line and dignity of human beings. Kishimoto gave a brief introduction.

"President, aren't you joking with me?" Although Kobayashi had never been to Hong Kong before, he also knew that many Japanese people liked to travel and vacation to Hong Kong.

"You can see that I'm not smiling, and you know I'm not joking. The reason why Hong Kong has lost its former status as a manufacturing center and become what it is now is that the government has implemented a strategy of industrial de-hollowing, resulting in many manufacturing industries in Hong Kong in the past gradually moving to the mainland in the north.

In this way, it can be imagined that those with low education and low skills will find it difficult to find suitable jobs. Even if you find it, you won't get a good salary. In addition, factors such as rising prices due to inflation have made life more difficult for low-income groups.

In this respect, Singapore is better than Hong Kong. The upper elite of the former knows that no matter how the city develops, there is always a need to solve the employment problem of the low-end people.

Otherwise, the whole city would not be able to function. Therefore, Singapore is not as committed to the hollowing out of industry as Hong Kong and blindly building the international status of a financial center.

Singapore's public housing scheme is also a well-thought-out plan to promote home ownership. Nowadays, Hong Kong's famous slums are Tin Shui Wai, Tung Chung, and Chung King Mansions.

In the past, the Kowloon Walled City was a slum that was famous all over the world and was one of the representatives of a slum culture and economy.

However, before Hong Kong returned to Chinese mainland, it was forcibly demolished by the British. Hong Kong's poverty rate is similar to Tokyo's.

In addition to the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the official data on the number of poor people has remained at the level of one-sixth all year round. Kishimoto said slowly.

When Kobayashi Kiyoshi heard what the chairman said, his heart suddenly brightened up a lot. The reason why the other party set up the office in Hong Kong is also after careful consideration.

Otherwise, how could Kishimoto know so much? This is the actual situation in many aspects of Hong Kong society.

"I'm still curious, why did you decide to set up your first office in Hong Kong in the first place, President?

According to the habits and traditions of Japanese companies entering the Chinese market, they always prefer to set up their first base in either Dalian or the magic capital. Kobayashi Kiyoshi asked curiously.

"Hong Kong people speak Cantonese, and Cantonese people speak Cantonese. The latter is also home to two of China's four first-tier cities. Many companies in Chinese mainland always show a cautious side when they think about going out.

They often take advantage of Hong Kong's window to look outside and learn more about international affairs and rules.

Chinese mainland is a humane society, state monopoly capitalism, not only different from Hong Kong, but also with Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and the major developed countries in Europe and the United States.

They pay attention to one to find a relationship and go through the back door. If this is bounded by the Yangtze River, the more north it is, the more serious it becomes, while the Vietnamese side will accept a modern market-oriented economy. Kishimoto said eloquently.

"I'm ashamed. I, the person in charge of investment, don't know much about the actual situation in these aspects, as you said, President. Kobayashi Qingzhi didn't mean to be a sycophant, he really admired it.

Kishimoto smiled and waved at him. I was a Chinese in my previous life, and I don't know what happened to China?

Especially after he read Sun Longji's "The Deep Structure of Chinese Culture" in his previous life, he was also a lot more open-minded in his thinking at that time.

"That's basically the case in South Korea. We focus on the related online game industry with one hand and the real estate industry with the other.

As for the investment direction and focus of our hard gold group in the next 20 years, one is in emerging markets such as Chinese mainland, and the other is in mature markets with high-tech such as the United States. "Kishimoto is very clear about the strategic development direction of his group company in the future.

Kiyoshi Kobayashi understands the president's strategic intentions very well. This is not only something he has repeatedly said at the senior management meeting of the group company, but also the composition of the personnel they went to Hong Kong this time is quite high-level. It can be seen that Kishimoto attaches great importance to entering the Chinese mainland market.

"Since the chairman values investment in the Chinese mainland market so much, he should not just send Rumiko Kato. Kiyoshi Kobayashi put forward his opinion.

"The Hong Kong office is just an outpost for us, and the main job is to gather relevant intelligence and get in touch with some of the companies in Chinese mainland with great potential.

In the future, I will set up offices of Hard Gold Group in each of the four first-tier cities in Chinese mainland. At that time, I will send someone again.

Nowadays, the Chinese government has given many preferential treatment to foreign investment, especially in terms of tax reduction and exemption. Kishimoto said calmly.

Kiyoshi Kobayashi understood the chairman's far-sighted intentions, and it was only then that he no longer raised objections to Rumiko Kato's appointment as head of the Hong Kong office.

"At present, there is nothing that worries me the most about the lack of talent within our group of companies. The newcomers behind them didn't follow.

It also takes time for Takayuki Minamino, the Minister of Personnel, to go around headhunting and poaching people, and it is not something that can be done in a moment and a half. Kishimoto said thoughtfully.