Chapter 1640: Speaking of the World

Zhou Xuexi is now a leading figure in the business world of the Republic of China. His achievements in establishing the Kailuan Coal Mine, supervising the management of the Tianjin Official Bank, and founding the Beijing Waterworks are well known to everyone.

Not to mention his many patriotic actions, but only Zhou Xuexi's financial resources. Based in Tianjin, he established a "Zhou's Enterprise Group" that attracted the attention of the world and became famous at home and abroad in the following decades. The investment fields include fuel , building materials, textiles, hardware, electricity, machinery, and finance industries, forming a huge capital group with Qixin, Luankuang, and Huaxin as the core. It holds the initiative in the transportation of roads, railways and canals; the company has its own power system and water supply system, with a total capital of more than 40 million yuan, which is a very scary figure.

Lu Jiaju and Chen Shouting only spent 10,000 yuan to buy the Dahua dyeing factory, and Zhou Xuexi's family property is equal to 4,000 Dahua factories. Although this analogy is a bit inappropriate, you can still see the difference.

In addition, Zhou Xuexi is also the first principal of Shandong University, and he has a high status in the hearts of local scholars like Miao Handong, so he was a little unhappy when Shen Long said this, "Sixth brother, I know you have a high spirit! It's a good thing to be tall, but you can't underestimate the heroes of the world because of this, Mr. Zhou's ability is still far behind me!"

"The manager of Huaxin Spinning Mill is Zhou Zhijun, the second son of Mr. Zhou. He once studied capitalist economics at the Alexander Hamilton Business Correspondence School in the United States. As a technical supervisor with a Ph.D., no matter in terms of equipment or scale, it is first-class in China!"

"Brother Miao, I still admire Mr. Zhou, but this does not mean that the cloth from Huaxin Factory is good. At least compared with Japanese cloth, they are not as good in terms of quality and price." Shen Long didn't fear Miao Handong's attitude, but told the truth that if the cloth from Huaxin Factory was really good, he wouldn't go to Fujii to buy cloth.

Now Miao Handong is really speechless. Most of the Japanese cloth is shipped from China now, and the shipping cost is one layer higher than the local cloth in Qingdao. Even so, the cloth of other people is cheaper, and the quality is even worse. Needless to say, Japan's technology is definitely more advanced than that of Huaxin Factory. After all, the development of industry in the Republic of China was many years later than that of Japan.

"Hehe, if you don't even like the cloth from the Huaxin factory, then mine will be even less so to you!" Miao Handong shook his head and said, his factory in Qingdao is smaller than the Huaxin factory, and the equipment is even more backward.

Shen Long did not answer directly, but continued to talk about Zhou Xuexi, "I heard that Mr. Zhou paid great attention to improving technology when he established Qixin Cement Company. He always paid attention to the improvement of foreign cement manufacturing processes and the invention of new equipment. Once there is a new Equipment can improve the quality of cement, and he always spends a lot of money to buy and use it; Qixin Company's cement production and quality have been continuously improved, and the cost has been continuously reduced. It has won medals and awards in international competitions, expositions and domestic exhibitions many times. .”

Zhou Xuexi is also known as the "Father of Chinese Cement". Qixin Cement Company has monopolized the Chinese cement market for 14 years.

Famous buildings at that time, such as the Beijing Library, Fu Jen Catholic University, Yenching University, Continental Bank, Bank of Communications, Hebei Gymnasium, and Shanghai General Post Office, were all built with Qixin cement.

"Maybe Mr. Zhou did the same thing when he set up the Huaxin Factory?" Hearing this, Miao Handong's face softened, but Shen Long changed the subject, "However, now Toyota Loom Institute has started to produce textiles. Machinery is now available, and the quality is even better than Microcred’s products, and we have been importing textile machines, how long will it take to catch up with Japan?”

Zhou Xuexi is already considered a discerning businessman in this era, but even he has never thought of manufacturing textile machinery by himself. Most of the so-called prosperity in the Republic of China was like this. Merchants imported various foreign machinery and used local resources to produce Some light industrial products do not have the ability to manufacture machinery by themselves. This kind of prosperity is nothing but illusion after all.

This is like the precision machine tools or lithography machines of later generations. If these things cannot be mastered by themselves, it is tantamount to being stuck by foreign countries and cannot develop for a long time.

"No way, our time to start a business is too short!" Miao Handong learned this, of course he knew the problems Shen Long pointed out, not only impressed Shen Long even more, "Sixth Brother, how much progress have you made in this period of time?" How long? That Lu Jiaju told you? We have another amazing foreign student in Shandong!"

He felt that Chen Shouting, a countryman who has been nesting in Zhoucun, could possibly know this information. It must have been said by Lu Jiaju, who had studied abroad and returned from his studies.

Let's just take it as he said it, otherwise I wouldn't be able to explain it to him, and Shen Long originally planned to put these on Lu Jiaju, if he followed his topic, "Jiaju told me, Ranbu Textiles and textiles are called light industries, while the production of textile machines and flour mills is called heavy industry. If a country’s economy wants to have long-term development, it must have its own heavy industry, that is, the ability to manufacture machinery!"

"It's not bad for young people to have this insight! However, this manufacturing machine is not as simple as you imagine!" Miao Handong was both gratified and a little regretful. The gratified thing is that Shandong has produced such an excellent Unfortunately, although the dream is good, there is no basis for realizing it.

It is not easy for Miao Handong to build light industrial factories such as flour mills and textile mills, let alone heavy industrial factories with higher investment and more difficult construction? Of course he knew that it was a great thing for him to research and manufacture textile machinery, but he really didn't have the ability or the conditions.

"You have to eat one bite at a time, and the road has to be taken step by step. It's good for you to have such an idea, but don't be in a hurry. Wait until you finish the dyeing factory first, and then think about these things!" In fact, he didn't think Shen Long and Lu Jiaju can do it, after all, this is something that neither he nor Zhou Xuexi can do.

"Jia Kui studied textile printing in Germany. Germany's heavy industry is very developed, so he came up with such an idea. He often finds opportunities to visit German factories and learn from others." Shen Long took out a stack of paper and handed it to Miao Han East.

"This is Jia Kui's transformation plan based on what he learned in Germany, for the machinery you used in Qingdao Spinning Mill. It may be difficult for us to build textile machinery from scratch, but there is still hope for transformation. Yes!" Shen Long continued.