Chapter 347 SARS
In 2001, although the average level of the domestic economy was much lower than that of Hong Kong, the overall volume was almost the same.

Shen Li’s children were originally living well in Hong Kong, but Hong Kong’s economy of one trillion US dollars is mainly in the financial and foreign trade industries.

Although the hotel and retail industries make money, their profits cannot grow explosively. Moreover, Hong Kong is so small that it is difficult to expand.

As for the hotel, Jiang Fei was begging Jiang Cheng to invest in building another luxury hotel. The tourism industry in Hong Kong is booming now. On average, millions of people from China come to Hong Kong for tourism every month. The hotel business has been really good in the past few years.

But even if they build another luxury hotel, compared with the growth of the domestic economic scale, the profit growth of the Jiang Group in China makes Jiang Fei and others jealous.

After Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying came to live in Hong Kong, Jiang Fei proposed to merge the Hong Kong industries into the Jiang Group and wanted to invest in some hotels in the mainland.

Therefore, in the second half of 2001, Jiang’s Group grew stronger, with businesses not only in Hong Kong but also in the mainland. Jiang Fei also planned to enter the hotel industry in Taiwan. Anyway, Jiang’s Group was thriving.

Except for Jiang An who went abroad to travel, Zheng Shuang was still studying, and Jiang Yue worked at Hang Seng Bank. There were seven brothers and sisters in the Jiang family who worked in the Jiang Group.

This power struggle is inevitable in private, but there is no dark side in the struggle. In order to perform well in the group, everyone is trying their best to expand in their own industry.

Now everyone can still expand in their own field, but it won’t be long before there will be more people competing within each field.

Just like Jiang Zhaozhao’s husband, he got a cousin and a brother-in-law to work in the company. Jiang Panpan’s husband got his younger brother to work in the company.

The security guard of a factory may be someone’s fellow villager or relative.

The overall nepotism within the Jiang Group is still good at the moment. In another 20 years or so, when Jiang Cheng’s grandchildren begin to enter society, there may really be a situation of open and covert fighting.

Perhaps due to its eagerness to expand and its imperfect audit mechanism, the Jiang Group actually encountered financial difficulties at the end of 2001.

The construction of three new hotels, more than 20 shopping malls and supermarkets, the expansion of garment factories, and the Jiang Group’s involvement in the real estate industry have also invested a lot of money.

The real estate industry in particular has also learned from other real estate companies to obtain land and take out loans at the same time. However, it still requires a lot of capital investment, after all, the households to be relocated have to pay the money in advance. Now is not the time of reform and opening up, and many cities can find some unoccupied plots of land.

The areas that are easy to develop have been taken up by people in the past 20 years. That is, the housing prices continue to rise, and more and more people are buying houses, so developers are willing to invest more.

People in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are now becoming rich overnight when their houses are demolished, but in inland cities like Changcheng, housing prices are still average.

Anyway, due to the huge investment, the valuation of Jiang Group is rising rapidly.

Jiang Cheng spent a lot of money on the construction of the hotel, but he didn’t say that he had no money. But for some reason, his children instinctively thought that their old father had been squeezed dry by them.

When it comes to investment, no one thinks about what Jiang Cheng can do to help. They all hope that Jiang Cheng, who is only in his fifties, can take good care of his mother and aunt in their old age.

Without the disturbance of his children, Jiang Cheng lived a carefree life in Hong Kong with Zhou Lingying, Shen Li and Zheng Ke. He was just a little shameless sometimes, but after Zhou Lingying had some experience, she gradually relaxed.

At this age, if I don’t do something exciting, I’ll just be getting by.

I spend spring and autumn in China, and summer and winter in Hong Kong. When I am in China, I go to the mountains to walk my dog ​​and hunt. When I am in Hong Kong, I go to the sea in the morning when I feel like it. I usually eat delicious food and fish on the boat.

After more than a year of leisurely living, it was 2002. During the Chinese New Year, the financial statements of Jiang’s Group were really beautiful, but there was not much money left in the group’s account after the dividends were distributed to everyone and the employees’ salaries and year-end bonuses were paid. Many of the statements were estimated earnings. If there was no continuous large-scale capital investment, the group’s financial situation would be very healthy and good in one or two years.

However, some projects are making money, but more new projects are being invested. The domestic economy is developing rapidly, and many industries are thriving. Currently, the Jiang Group headed by Jiang Zhaozhao is really bold in investment.

In the second half of 2002, FD, also known as SARS, broke out in China.

When SARS appeared, the tourism industry was the first to be hit, and almost all business was suspended. In addition, the aviation business in Hong Kong and China dropped by half.

In the hotel industry, occupancy rates dropped directly from over 80 percent to just over 10 percent.

The retail industry is also bleak. Everyone wears a mask and buys necessities at home. In other words, large shopping malls sell firewood, rice, oil, salt, vegetables and meat, while some small shops and small supermarkets have no business at all.

Even many schools are under closed management, and the booming Internet cafe business has been greatly affected.

As for the real estate industry, the situation has cooled down temporarily. Some construction sites are still occupied, but many real estate projects are in a semi-suspended state.

The house prices haven’t dropped much, but there are fewer people looking at houses.

The construction progress at the site is slow and has been delayed for a year. Not only is there a problem of labor costs, but the annual interest on the bank loan is also quite high.

In addition to the booming medical industry, people are also hoarding edible salt. In addition, it is rumored that drinking vinegar can kill viruses, so many people buy vinegar and drink a cup every day, and the vinegar business is also booming.

Because the Jiang Group grew too fast and its funds were a little unhealthy, the group had some difficulty operating six months after the SARS outbreak. The group had to extend its bank loan, and the bank had to be willing to lend a large amount of money again.

Jiang Cheng had a golf course and a private helicopter, so he spent money to negotiate with the country to open a temporary flight route. Jiang Cheng arranged for someone to bring Jiang Panpan’s family, who no longer had any business, to Hong Kong.

As a tourism industry, the operating costs are actually mainly the salaries of tour guides and salesmen, and the salaries of tour guides and salesmen are quite low, and they mainly rely on commissions.

So even though the tourism industry has almost stopped, the loss is not that big. Unlike other industries, there are still a lot of expenses every day even without business and operations.

Jiang Cheng wanted to bring other people to live on the golf course, but no one was willing to do so. They were worried every day and worked in various departments under the group.

Fortunately, certain domestic departments will not watch some large enterprises and companies face bankruptcy. Once they go bankrupt, it means a large number of people will be laid off and there will be social shocks.

Before Jiang Cheng made his move, the group had stabilized through bank loans. During this period, Jiang Cheng hesitated again. It was no wonder that some people relied on loans to get by, but some companies had a lower debt ratio than the Jiang Group and might not be able to borrow money from the bank.

Many assets were sold at low prices. Jiang Cheng knew that SARS would last for some time, but not too long.

Buying it at a low price now is basically like picking up a bargain, but Jiang Cheng had a hard time getting his children to voluntarily divide up the property under his name, and he has been lying back comfortably for several years.

Asking Jiang Cheng to develop projects and build real estates is a long process and requires a lot of energy, so he is not in the mood to do it. But if he picks up something that is already available, he knows that the price will recover soon and will continue to rise in the future.

In the end, Jiang Cheng made moves privately, mainly purchasing some large hotels. When other companies transferred the hotels, Jiang Cheng would keep the employees as long as they did not want to work there anymore.

(End of this chapter)