Regarding Feng Xiaochen's prophecy, Dong Lao and Meng Fanze both chose to remain silent. Their generation knows best how low China is in terms of funding. Before the reform and opening up, whenever the state wanted to express its determination to something, it often had to add the phrase "I would rather tighten my belt", which meant that the state's funds were saved from eating, and investment meant starving for a few days. Since the reform and opening up, there have been few such words as tightening the belt, but the process of attracting investment in various places is also full of blood and tears, and the slogan of "whoever can't get along with investors, the government can't get along with whom" is not just casual talk. Investors are absolute masters in the eyes of governments at all levels, in the final analysis, isn't it because of insufficient funds?

But this is also quietly changing. After 20 years of reform and opening up, private capital has gradually taken shape, and the state's financial situation has greatly improved compared with the past, and the problem of shortage of funds is no longer as severe as in the past. The two old men are both figures who can participate in high-level decision-making, and of course they have some understanding of these macroeconomic changes, plus Feng Xiaochen has repeatedly had some accurate predictions in the past, so this time they released such wild words, and the two old men have nothing to say.

Feng Xiaochen knew from the silence of the old people that the other party had accepted his point of view, so he continued: "What I just said is the problem of funds, and the second problem is technology, which is the strength of our equipment industry company. We have introduced technology from Western countries, and after years of digestion, absorption and innovation, we have made great progress in metallurgical equipment, power equipment, mining machinery, chemical equipment and other aspects. Compared with Western countries, there is still a gap between our technological level and that of Western countries, but for the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, such technology is sufficient, and we can't take out higher-end technology, and even if we can, they can't use it. ”

"So your next step is to export the technology you have to Africa?" Meng Fanze asked.

Feng Xiaochen smiled slightly and said, "Actually, even if we have the technology we have now, some of them are beyond the needs of African countries. For example, the supercritical 600,000 kilowatt thermal power unit technology just mastered by Longjiang Electric Power Plant has the advantages of energy saving and emission reduction, and belongs to high-clean thermal power units. This kind of unit can meet China's requirements for environmental protection, and the State Development Planning Commission requires that new power plants in all localities must adopt this kind of unit. However, many African countries have a low level of economic development and are not as under great pressure on environmental protection as ours, so they do not use the units of this latest technology, but our previous generation of thermal power equipment is more favored by them. ”

Dong Lao frowned and said: "At present, people's industry is underdeveloped, and the pressure on environmental protection is small, but in the future, when their industry develops, won't they also have to face the problem of environmental protection? Africa's development is lagging behind ours, should we also remind them to avoid following such an old path?"

"I'm afraid this can't be bypassed, right?" Feng Xiaochen said.

"Why can't you get around?" Dong Lao asked.

Feng Xiaochen said: "A set of 300,000 kilowatt units of the previous generation, the equipment cost only needs 50 million US dollars, and if we replace our latest high-clean units, the cost directly increases by 60%, to 80 million US dollars." For users, all they get is a set of units, if there is no environmental pressure, why should they buy more expensive units?"

"How can the cost of your new unit be so different?" asked Dong Lao.

Meng Fanze laughed and said, "Old Dong, you were deceived by this Xiao Feng. I have heard that in order to sell the previous generation of units to Africa, they have deliberately adjusted the price system, lowered the price of the previous generation of units, and raised the price of new units, in order to make African countries willing to choose the old model of units. ”

"You can't say that. Feng Xiaochen said embarrassedly, "Some of the equipment we export to Africa is old equipment that has been eliminated by power plants, so the price is relatively cheap." In fact, compared with Western manufacturers, we are already very kind, and this is mainly due to the problem of African countries' ability to pay, and it is inconvenient to export too expensive equipment to them. ”

"I see. Dong Lao understands that in recent years, the country has begun to attach importance to environmental protection, and has put forward very strict environmental protection requirements for domestic thermal power plants, and the old equipment of some power plants cannot meet this requirement and can only be scrapped in advance. But it is said to be scrapped, in fact, the equipment itself can still be used, and there is no problem with the quality at all. Everyone is used to living a hard life, who is willing to send six or seven percent of the new equipment back to the furnace?

As a result, a special business has emerged, that is, the old equipment that has been eliminated in China has been properly refurbished and repaired, and then sold to countries with relatively backward economic development such as South Asia and Africa. These countries are the same as China in the early 80s, shy in their pockets, survival is the most important thing, how can they have the leisure to pay attention to environmental protection, these environmental protection is not very standard old equipment, just looking for them to take over.

Of course, when Chinese companies sell these equipment, they also make it clear to customers, and customers know that these equipment are second-hand, and they are just looking for cheap, so there is no element of fraud. In contrast, some Western countries directly sell second-hand goods to African countries as first-hand goods, and the price is several percent higher than that of first-hand goods, which is outright overbearing.

"Now we can see the significance of our introduction of foreign technology. Meng Fanze said with emotion, "India's economic development level was similar to ours back then, and at the beginning of the founding of the country, India's industrial base was even better than ours." But now they can only buy the second-hand steel rolling production line that we have eliminated, and we use the latest domestic technology production line. ”

"The cost of our domestic equipment is about the same as the quotation of second-hand equipment sold to India, and some companies almost use the money earned from eliminating second-hand equipment to buy new complete sets of equipment. Feng Xiaochen happily reported.

For this kind of thing, Dong Lao and Meng Fanze are very happy to see it, so they will not say anything compassionate and compassionate. At the beginning, China's technology was backward, and when it bought equipment from Western countries, wasn't it the same situation? I remember that the Nanjiang Iron and Steel Plant planned to import a hot rolling production line from Japan, and the Japanese made a big deal of money on the equipment list, and even the flush toilet was counted in the equipment, and such humiliation will be remembered by the Chinese for a lifetime.

"Tell me about your third rule, talent. Dong Lao took the initiative to change the topic. Regarding the matter of technical assistance, he had already understood, and there was no need for Feng Xiaochen to lay it out again. In fact, the cooperation between the Equipment Industry Company and the Ministry of Industry of Gabegaria is a successful example of technical assistance to Africa, and Dong Lao has already seen the relevant reports in the past.

Feng Xiaochen nodded and said, "In terms of talent, it may be the biggest obstacle to the development of African countries. The average level of education in Africa is very low, the illiteracy rate in many countries is as high as more than 50%, and even the literate population has a level of education that is not comparable to that of junior high school students in our country. ”

"I've heard about it. Meng Fanze added, "The standard of literacy in our country is very high, and the requirement for rural residents is to know 1,500 Chinese characters, and the requirement for urban residents is to know 2,000 Chinese characters, which can basically meet the requirements for reading and writing." In some countries, the standard is that anyone who can write his name is not illiterate, so even those countries have difficulty reading a newspaper even if they are literate. ”

"Exactly. Feng Xiaochen said, "Because of the low level of education, the quality of officials in many African countries is also very low, they do not know how to manage, and they do not care about the rules of economic and trade cooperation. ”

Dong Lao smiled faintly and said, "This is not only a matter of education, but also a matter of vision, right? We have also suffered this kind of loss in the past." ”

"But we quickly learned the rules of the market. Feng Xiaochen retorted.

Dong Lao smiled: "You're right, I'm not afraid of losses, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to learn from losses if I suffer losses." Over the years, we have paid a lot of tuition, but we have also really learned some knowledge. This time, when China participated in the WTO accession talks, those negotiators in the foreign trade department appeared to be very sophisticated, and they were much better than those of our generation. ”

"That's also because of an old handsome man like you in the back as the Dinghai God Needle. Feng Xiaochen hurriedly slapped a sycophant. Compared with Dong Lao, Feng Xiaochen's generation is far beyond both the cultural level and the level of understanding of international rules. But this is not because Dong Lao is not as smart as the younger generation, it is just the limitation of the times. As the older generation, the new generation should be given more appreciation and support, and the new generation should have a sense of reverence for the older generation, and should not be contemptuous at any time.

Dong Lao waved his hand, accepting Feng Xiaochen's compliment. Feng Xiaochen continued: "Most of the officials in African countries have received Western education, and Western countries have instilled in them a kind of colonialist philosophy, which makes them instinctively think that this is a natural thing when faced with the exploitation of Western countries, and lack the awareness of fighting against Western countries. ”

"So, you're going to educate them to resist exploitation?" Meng Fanze teased with a smile.

Feng Xiaochen said: "No, I just think I can share China's development experience with them, focusing on the eight words of independence and self-reliance." If they can grasp the essence of these eight words, then they will be able to stand firm in international cooperation and will not be at the mercy of others. ”

"It's not easy to master these eight words. Meng Fanze sighed, "Think about what we paid for these eight words back then, and it was impossible to persevere without a firm will." ”