Throughout last year, for Hong Kong, the main theme was prosperity! The real estate and stock market boom has made the capitalists in Hong Kong begin to become very arrogant. After having money, these capitals continue to increase investment in all walks of life.

For example, investing in Shenzhen and Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta region, enclosing land and building buildings in Hong Kong, at this time, the passion for the construction of high-rise buildings in Hong Kong is not half a point slower than that of Shenzhen on the other side. Even during the shipping depression, a large number of Hong Kong shipowners had the courage to place orders with shipyards in Japan, Taiwan and other places to build new ships.

Naturally, there is also a large amount of industrial capital, in order to find profit growth points, began to enter the film and television entertainment industry.

For example, Lei Juekun, an important shareholder of Kowloon Bus and Kowloon Development, who is outside the film industry, first established the Golden Princess Cinema Line, and then invested in the establishment of Xinyicheng Film Company.

With many traditional industries trying to invest in film and television, many directors are no longer simply queuing up for investment in large film companies such as Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest, but self-help with scripts to seek interested investors!

Hong Kong's local comic industry is also developing rapidly. For example, Yulang International, which is very optimistic about the prospects of the comics industry, has expanded its scale aggressively by constantly borrowing at this time, and in 79 years, Yulang International's debt was less than 10 million Hong Kong dollars.

However, in the 80s, Yulang International began to set up new companies in Taiwan, Singapore, and Yueben, and mastered the comics that sold 100,000 copies per issue such as "The Legend of Double Dragons of the Tang Dynasty" and "Dragon Tiger Gate", as well as new works such as "Dragon Babu" and "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" that could sell more than 30,000 copies.

These expansions are naturally the need for more capital. At this time, the assets of Yulang International reached 200 million Hong Kong dollars, but the liabilities occupied 130 million Hong Kong dollars

Such a large-scale loan expansion, and even owns the super popular comics of "The Legend of Double Dragons of the Tang Dynasty" and "Dragon Tiger Gate", as well as the comic versions of Jin Yong's "Dragon Babu" and "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", but although Yulang's international strength has reached an unprecedented level, its market share has not increased!

Because, in the second half of the 80s, with Ma Rongcheng judging Yulang International and founding the World Publishing House, the popularity of "Chinese Heroes" comics has been rising, and by the end of the year, "Chinese Heroes" sold 130,000 copies per episode, winning the first sales of comics being serialized in Hong Kong!

"Chinese Heroes" alone has been able to occupy 15% of the market!

What's more, with the continuous profits provided by "Chinese Heroes", the expansion speed of Tianxia Publishing House is also very rapid - in December 1980, Tianxia Publishing House launched the weekly "Animation Boys"!

This comprehensive comic weekly, mainly for amateur cartoonists, the paper is 16 pages, the thickness reaches 628 pages, and the price is only 25 yuan, which is quite cheap and beautiful.

The editorial department of "Anime Shonen" gives the participating cartoonists a minimum remuneration of HK$25 per illustration.

If an amateur cartoonist only draws one comic a day and meets the standard of the editorial department of "Anime Boys", he can get at least HK$750 a month.

Excellent painters can enjoy a manuscript fee of more than 100 yuan per painting, and even popular serialized comics can be made as a single book for distribution like "Chinese Heroes".

HK$25 for an illustration is a very attractive fee for an amateur artist.

Therefore, after the "Anime Boy" invitation advertisement was released on "Chinese Heroes" in November, it received more than 500 submissions in less than a month.

Ma Rongcheng led a group of editors to select 290 out of more than 500 submissions, and distributed a total of 80,000 Hong Kong dollars to the painters.

Among the more than 200 rejected manuscripts, a postage of 2 yuan was also placed in the rejection letter, and the artist was encouraged to improve his skills and strive to draw a manuscript that could be published in "Anime Shonen". The painter who rejects the manuscript can only represent the level at this time, and it does not mean that there will be no qualitative changes from the accumulation of quantity in the future!

Although "Anime Shonen" was widely popular among manga artists, it only sold 8,000 copies on December 29, 1980, after the release of the inaugural issue of "Anime Shonen".

From the printing to the sale of each copy of "Anime Boy", Tianxia Publishing Company only made a profit of 2 Hong Kong dollars, and counting the 80,000 Hong Kong dollars paid for the manuscript fee, the net loss of the first issue was 65,000 Hong Kong dollars.

However, as "Anime Shonen" continues to be released, the rich original content and affordable prices still attract more and more readers to join the purchase ranks.

Therefore, the circulation of the weekly magazine "Anime Shonen" gradually increased from 8,000, 9,500, and 11,700 copies all the way up, and by the end of January 1921, it had been able to sell 23,000 copies

Although, the weekly magazine "Anime Shonen", since its inception, has been making a net loss. However, from the first phase of only 8,000 copies sold, with a loss of 65,000 yuan, to the sixth phase, 23,000 copies were sold, and the loss narrowed to 20,000 Hong Kong dollars.

Sales continue to expand, losses continue to decrease, and it is about to make a profit, which shows the momentum of this magazine's vigorous development!

In fact, "Anime Boy" magazine, if you want not to lose money, it is very simple, as long as you publish some real estate advertisements and commodity advertisements, and earn tens of thousands of yuan per issue, it is easy.

However, Zhang Shaojie and Ma Rongcheng not only consider the immediate interests, but also pay more attention to the long-term reputation of this magazine.

So "Anime Shonen" would rather endure temporary losses than accept commercial advertisements that have nothing to do with comics.

In fact, the reason why "Anime Boy" can afford to lose money is because "Chinese Heroes" can now bring a profit of 500,000 Hong Kong dollars to the company per issue. In the past few months, the cash deposits of Commonwealth Publishing Company have grown to 6 million Hong Kong dollars!

Now that it is the end of the year, it is about to be a holiday for the New Year, and the deposit of 6 million Hong Kong dollars has made the entire company's 60 employees feel very red-eyed. After all, it is a tradition of Chinese companies to give out red envelopes during the Chinese New Year

"Let's pay dividends! Employees get red envelopes, shareholders also take a little, and the rest of the money is enough for next year's expansion. Ma Rongcheng suggested.

"How much do you think is appropriate?" Zhang Shaojie said.

"Some employees with great credit and fast progress, such as Xu Jinjiang and a few others, can reward him with 20 months' salary, which is 30,000 Hong Kong dollars. Ordinary employees can be paid 10,000 yuan, and employee dividends need 800,000 Hong Kong dollars. Shareholder dividends, for the time being, how about the annual fee of 500,000 yuan for each of our two shareholders? Ma Rongcheng said with a smile.

Zhang Shaojie looked at the company's account deposit and smiled: "Okay, just send red envelopes today!" After the delivery, let the employees go home for the New Year. In particular, painters in the mainland allowed them to take a 10-day vacation to go home with money to visit their relatives, so that they could enjoy the scenery in their hometown. In the future, when recruiting talents in the mainland, it will be more convincing to have those examples of making a fortune! ”

The company's finance department went to the bank with a check signed and approved by Zhang Shaojie and Ma Rongcheng.

Dozens of minutes later, carrying 1.8 million Hong Kong dollars in cash, escorted by bank security, returned to the company.

"Send money!" The whole company cheered!

In the finance department, one by one, the employees lined up and looked anxiously!

Every employee who comes to the financial staff will get 10,000 yuan at least and 30,000 yuan at most.

At the end of the year, everyone gets a year-end bonus that is more than 10 times more than the monthly salary.

Most of the employees who received huge bonuses began to be granted leave by the company. The entire company, with the exception of a few editors who stayed behind, has basically gone on vacation.

As for "Chinese Heroes" and "Anime Boys" to be released during the Spring Festival, 2 issues have been produced in advance. At that time, as long as the company's inventory of printed products, according to the time, steadily issued and listed.

Employees who make a windfall at the end of the year, Hong Kong employees are just a luxury.

The employees who are about to return to the mainland are rushing to some wholesale markets in Hong Kong to buy large bags of goods to take back to the mainland.

In addition to the gifts they brought to their families, more young painters from the mainland apparently discussed and bought home appliances such as televisions, radios, rice cookers, electric fans, and washing machines.

In the early 80s, Hong Kong's manufacturing industry was very strong, and all kinds of household appliances were exported to Europe and the United States. In China, all kinds of Hong Kong manufacturing are also synonymous with fashion, clothing, leather shoes, watches, and all kinds of Hong Kong trendy items are sold very hot in the mainland.

What's even more embarrassing is that the wholesale price of 2 Hong Kong dollars, that is, 0.6 yuan for electronic watches. These mainland employees have rushed to buy in the market!

Because, the electronic watch in the mainland, that is a fashionable product! Even if it is sold to the most open city since the founding of the People's Republic of China - Guangzhou! Electronic watches can also be sold for 2 yuan, which is more than twice the wholesale price in Hong Kong!

And if the electronic watch is sold to inland cities, such as Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan and other places, it can be sold for at least 50 yuan!

This kind of invention in the 60s, after the expiration of patent protection in the 80s, the profit became minimal, and the original was basically not produced. However, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and other places have built factories for production, which can bring good results in both local sales and exports.

In particular, electronic watches produced in Hong Kong can be exported directly to Guangzhou, which has been relatively open since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and Shenzhen, which is across the river. And then by the Shenzhen, Guangzhou, the model of selling to all parts of the country, so that Hong Kong's electronic watches, unexpectedly popular.

Zhang Shaojie is not funny about the "shrewdness" of these mainland employees.

The only thing I am worried about is that these painters will be very profitable because of the dumping of Hong Kong goods and trafficking them to the mainland, and they will be keen on doing business instead of being forced painters.

Zhang Shaojie told Ma Rongcheng about this concern.

Ma Rongcheng laughed and said, "Don't worry! It is in the name of Hong Kong workers that they can travel back and forth between the mainland and Hong Kong so smoothly. If they don't have an employment contract issued by our company, it will be very troublesome just to travel to and from Hong Kong! ”

(To be continued)