In the whole of last year, Aikang sold a total of 1.08 million personal computers, and the actual shipment of monitors was basically 1 to 1 with computer sales. Coupled with the demand for CRTs for Oriental Games' arcade products, the new factory was operating at full capacity almost as soon as it was built.

"I have just received news that Mr. Thornton Bradshaw, the chairman of RCA, will come to Hong Kong next month to cut the ribbon for the second phase of the CRT factory!" Li Xuan said.

RCA's share of the U.S. television market continues to shrink, and although management has moved all of its manufacturing plants from the U.S. to Mexico, where labor costs are lower, it still can't compete with Japanese products.

The CRT factory jointly built by RCA in Asia needs to be expanded in the second phase as soon as it is completed. This was perhaps the only bright spot in RCA's operations in the past 1982. Of course, the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and RCA, a large conglomerate with a total market capitalization of more than $5 billion, is only a small project to build a picture tube factory with an Asian partner.

The reason why Bradshaw was willing to cut the ribbon for the second phase of the CRT factory was mainly because Li Xuan personally sent out an invitation, after all, the face of the world's richest man still has to be given. In the capitalist world, wealth means status.

In 1981, when Li Xuan went to RCA to inspect the company, the director Charleson of RCA company was responsible for receiving him throughout the whole process. At that time, Dongfang Electronics Company could only be regarded as a well-known rookie company in the electronics field, and Bradshaw just took time to hold a meeting with Li Xuan. But now, Li Xuan has become the richest man in the world, and the total value of Dongfang Electronics Group has far exceeded that of RCA Company. That's why Bradshaw, the chairman, is willing to travel thousands of miles to Hong Kong.

Lu Qintian was a little surprised when he heard the news, and RCA and Dongfang Electronics had both acted as promised. There is no involvement in the day-to-day management of the joint venture CRT factory. Including the construction of the second phase of the factory, Lu Qintian has always been in charge.

He didn't hear the news from the joint venture. Said the chairman of RCA was coming to Asia. Then the other party's itinerary must be inseparable from the "God of Wealth Li" in front of him. Lu Qintian thought about it for a while, and immediately guessed the cause and effect of the incident.

"Do we need to do anything to prepare?" Lu Qintian asked tentatively.

When the factory was put into production and cut the ribbon last year, Li Xuan was busy preparing for the wedding and did not attend. But the guest of honor was even bigger than this one, and Mr. Bush, Vice President of the United States, was in attendance. So much so that Lu Qintian, the person in charge of the whole process, couldn't intervene at all, and it was the public relations team of Dongfang Company that took over to liaise with the Guangdong Provincial Government and even the Foreign Affairs Ministries of China and the United States.

If it were two collaborators with similar strength, the other party would definitely make Lu Qintian unhappy like this. But in front of the "God of Wealth Lee". Lu Qintian couldn't afford to be jealous at all. Lu Qintian now has assets of more than 100 million, and he can be regarded as the wealthy class in Hong Kong and Kowloon City, but his money is not even a fraction of that of others.

More importantly, it is precisely because of the thick thigh of Lu's Electronics that it has been able to develop nearly a thousand miles in the past two years. For example, the Hong Kong stock market has plummeted recently, but Lu's Electronics' share price is unusually strong, because the company's quarterly financial statements are so good. Follow the "God of Wealth Lee" to make money, this is the consensus of all Hong Kong people.

However, the core companies of the Oriental Group either have no plans to go public, or they do not look down on the small pond of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at all. For example, Aikang chose to go public in London. Not long ago, Computer Park was listed in New York. Hong Kong shareholders have no chance to participate in a piece of the pie, so everyone can only love the house and Wu, and focus on oriental peripheral companies such as Lu's Electronics.

When the large-cap stock index plummeted, although the share price of Lu's Electronics also fell. But soon, there was a flock of investors who regarded Lu's Electronics as a safe haven to avoid the stock market crash. Because the whole of Hong Kong knows how fast the Oriental Group has developed in the past two years, enterprises like Lu's Electronics that rely on the Oriental Group to eat will naturally benefit.

So much so that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was forcibly screened out of an oriental sector by shareholders. A large amount of safe-haven money poured heavily into buying these companies, which have deep ties to the Eastern Group. So much so that the stock prices of companies like Lu's Electronics bucked the trend and rose in the market crash.

"There was no need for any special arrangements. After the second phase of the factory was put into operation, the monthly output of color tubes increased from 100,000 to 300,000. The next pressure on the sales department is not small!" Li Xuan asked.

After the completion of the second phase of the production line of the joint venture CRT factory, the annual production capacity will reach 3.9 million CRT. In addition to the production capacity of 300,000 black and white tubes in the first phase of the project, the remaining 3.6 million are color tubes. Aikang Company and Oriental Game Company will not be able to digest so much production capacity for the time being, and some of it will definitely be used for export. However, Li Xuan believes that with the speed of development of the personal computer industry, it is estimated that the issue of continuing to expand the factory will be discussed again at this time next year.

"In the past year, the sales department has been the most idle department in the company, and everyone has been dissatisfied. All products are digested internally, so they have no chance to earn sales commissions!" Lu Qintian said with a smile, "Now that everyone has finally been given a chance to show their strength, the entire sales department is gearing up!"

Lu Qintian is not worried about the export of picture tubes at all, and the production and sales of domestic TVs have become more and more prosperous in recent years. However, most of the television factories in the mainland do not have the capacity to produce qualified picture tube factories on their own, and although China has invested hundreds of millions of yuan to import technology from Japan and built large-scale picture tubes such as the Xianyangcai Tube Factory, it still cannot meet the shortfall.

Therefore, all TV manufacturers in China are trying to import picture tubes from abroad through various channels, and Hong Kong is one of the most important entrepot bases for exporting picture tubes to the mainland. There are 300,000 black-and-white picture tubes in the joint venture picture tube factory, all of which are sold out by various import and export companies in the mainland.

In fact, China has the ability to produce its own black and white picture tubes, but the quality of picture tubes is far from being comparable with that of joint ventures. Therefore, the picture tube products of the joint venture factory are definitely well-known in the Hong Kong market, and they are not inferior to the first-class Japanese goods in the Chinese people's perception.

As for the color picture tube, except for the newly built Xianyang color tube factory, the quality of the rest of the production plants is not up to standard, so the import demand is greater than that of black and white tubes. Moreover, Lu's company's own TV production has also risen rapidly in the past two years, and has successfully established a certain brand in the Southeast Asian market.

Relying on Lu Qintian's good relationship with the mainland, Lu's TV sets have already successfully entered the major friendship stores in China, competing with Japanese products for the domestic high-end market.

Therefore, Lu's TV can digest a large part of the production capacity of the picture tube by itself. The actual production capacity of the CRT factory will not exceed 50,000 per month. With the huge import demand of the mainland, Lu Qintian is not worried about sales at all. On the contrary, once he starts to sell to the outside world, if there is a situation where supply exceeds demand, he will be troubled by all kinds of connections and ask to go through the back door to grab orders.

"Old Dou, it's almost time to start the banquet!" Lu Qintian's son knocked on the door and walked in to remind.

So Li Xuan, accompanied by Lu Qintian, walked out of the lounge and walked towards the banquet hall, where he was arranged to sit at the main table. Chinese table manners are actually very particular, and the number of seats at each position on a round table is not arbitrarily arranged.

The seat ranking can be summed up in eight words, "far as the top, to the right as the respect". The seat at the table facing the direction of the gate is the chief, which is usually reserved for the master to sit. The two seats of the chief's left and right hands are called the upper position, of which the right is honored.

Li Xuan was placed on the right hand of Lu Qintian's birthday star, and sitting on Lu Qintian's left was Xu Jiachun, the new president of the Hong Kong Xinhua Branch. Lu Qintian's factories are all invested in the mainland, so the political tendency is naturally pro-mainland.

Sitting on the other side of Li Xuan was Du Hua, the secretary for industry and commerce of the Commerce and Industry Division of the Chief Secretary for Administration, who was an official member of the Executive Council, and the two had a nodding acquaintance at previous meetings of the Executive Council. The heads of the various sections of the Hong Kong government are not called section chiefs, but are mostly called "XX Divisions".

Lu Qintian raised his glass and toasted everyone with thanks, and the dinner officially began. At this kind of drinking party, everyone is self-conscious, so naturally they will not eat and drink nonsense. Most of the people at the main table, like Li Xuan, had actually had dinner before coming to the banquet. Although the dishes are very rich and sumptuous, everyone is very careful to taste them.

It can be said that everyone has a mask of an elegant gentleman on their face. Pretending to be a civilized person like this, every move must be very decent, how can you be at home at ease. At home, you want to eat and drink, so Li Xuan doesn't like to attend this kind of event.

"Mr. Li, please wait, I don't know if you are free in the next few days, I'm going to come to the door to chat!" Li Xuan said goodbye to Lu Qintian and prepared to leave.

He turned his head and saw that it was Xu Jiachun who stepped forward to speak to him, and the other party also said goodbye to Lu Qintian and was about to leave.

"Of course, I've been at home for the past few days, waiting for President Xu's arrival at any time!" Li Xuan responded with a polite smile.

Compared with Peng Fei, the conservative style of the former president, the Hong Kong media's comments on the newly appointed Xu Jiachun are more open and more atmospheric. But Li Xuan was not prepared to get too close to him, a figure who was later instigated by the CIA to flee to Los Angeles and expelled from the party by the central government. (To be continued......)

ps: It's very comfortable to feel unwell today, my head is buzzing, the second chapter is gone, I can only go to the company during the day tomorrow to code words, and strive to make up for the three chapters!