Chapter 376 Negotiation with Shaw

"Everyone, today is the Hong Kong Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce."

At this moment, after everyone was present, Bao Yu just began to speak actively.

Li Changhe was sitting at the banquet, listening to Bao Yugang's speech while looking at the man sitting next to him.

This man was none other than the eldest son of Tung Chao-Yen, another Zhejiang shipping magnate in Hong Kong. He would also be the first Chief Executive after Hong Kong's return.

Since last year, Mr. Dong has taken over his father, the shipping tycoon, and has become the controller of the family shipping company. This is the first time that Li Changhe has seen him after coming to Hong Kong Island so many times.

Of course, this was the first time they met, but Li Changhe knew a lot about their private situations.

All I can say is that there is a reason why the other party will be able to become the Chief Executive in the future and beat my cheap "cousin-in-law".

Although the Dong family at that time could not be compared with Wu Guangzheng in terms of capital, at the political level, the Dong family's resources were enough to crush Wu Guangzheng.

The main resources Wu Guangzheng can rely on are the connections left by his father-in-law Bao Yugang and the resources he has built up through business connections over the years.

But this Mr. Xiao Dong is different.

Many people thought that he got to the top with the support of the Huo family, but in fact, that was not entirely true.

It was only after Li Changhe arrived in Hong Kong and slowly investigated that he discovered that the former shipping king Dong and his wife were both members of the Ant Society.

The Ant Society is the Ant Society, a social organization founded by the League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai. It includes drama troupes, book clubs, singing clubs and many other aspects. Its members are either our own internal staff or left-wing intellectuals.

Shipping magnate Dong Haoyun and his wife were both members of the Ant Society.

With this relationship, needless to say, in fact, in Hong Kong Island, Dong Chuanwang often secretly interacted with the leftists. It is said that "Xiao Erhei Gets Married" was funded by him.

So in fact, the Dong family's relationship with the country is longer-lasting and deeper than that of the Bao family.

If it were just that, it would be fine, but Li Changhe also knew that the Dong family had a close relationship with the island and Taiwan. This was a family that had the best of both worlds.

After learning this, Li Changhe understood why Mr. Dong was elected with a high vote that year.

It can be said that his rise to power was able to balance the interests of all parties at the time and at the same time gain the trust of all parties. In this respect, Wu Guangzheng was far from comparable.

While Li Changhe was thinking, Bao Yugang finished his opening remarks, and then a group of bigwigs began to greet each other.

Li Changhe has nothing to do with this.

Although nominally it was Bao Yugang who introduced Li Changhe's fake identity to the Zhejiang business community in Hong Kong, this was just an excuse.

In fact, many big guys come here for business purposes.

For example, the purpose of Mr. Xiao Dong's visit was to discuss matters with Bao Yugang.

What were we discussing? Buying a ship.

It was no secret in Hong Kong that Bao Yugang had abandoned his ship and landed, intending to sell some of the ships he had.

On the contrary, the shipping tycoon Dong family was actively purchasing ships at this time and even borrowed large amounts of money from banks for expansion.

The two shipping tycoons had different operational ideas, so the Dong family set their sights on the old ships that Global Shipping was preparing to sell.

The conversation between the two parties also made Li Changhe understand once again that the underworld is a circle, especially in Hong Kong Island.

In fact, according to his understanding in the previous life, Li Changhe always thought that Bao and Dong did not get along well, because Dong was a veteran shipping tycoon who had already made great achievements in the shipping industry in the 1950s.

Bao was a rising star, having just entered the shipping industry in the 1950s. To Shipping King Dong, he was definitely a junior.

But it was this young generation who, in just twenty years, surpassed all other shipping families and became the world's number one shipping king. Anyone would feel uncomfortable.

After all, when Bao Yu was just planning to enter the shipping industry, he went to visit his fellow townsman and senior shipping magnate Dong Haoyun.

But now Li Changhe knows that most of the outside world's statements are exaggerated.

The relationships among these hometown groups in Hong Kong Island are well-connected and they are all connected to each other.

Just like Bao Yugang and Dong Haoyun, both of them have close ties with the Haining Chen family.

The Chen family of Haining is a famous and prominent family in Zhejiang, and has the title of the most prominent family in the country. During the Qing Dynasty, there were three cabinet ministers and five chancellors in six ministries in the family.

In Jin Yong's "The Book and the Sword", the famous Red Flower Society leader Chen Jialuo was originally from the Haining Chen family.

These families are like a huge spider web, connecting many famous people together.

Just like Jin Yong, Xu Zhimo, Wang Guowei, Jiang Baili, and even many well-known domestic figures, they are all related to the Chen family.

This kind of southern clan power also gave Li Changhe a deeper understanding of Hong Kong's current business environment.

No wonder the country is extremely cautious in dealing with overseas issues. The saying that a single move can affect the entire body is not just talk.

Business tycoons were communicating with each other, and Li Changhe also took the opportunity to approach the Shaw brothers.

Compared with the exchanges between other business tycoons, the exchanges between Shao Yi-fu and his brother Shao Renmei were a little quiet.

They are in the film industry, which is relatively niche and, more importantly, has relatively few assets.

Compared with those industrial tycoons who have a net worth of hundreds of millions, Run Run Shaw and his ilk, whose main business is Shaw Brothers Films, have a net worth of only around hundreds of millions.

After all, before this, a movie only had a box office of a few million. After deducting costs and various expenses, most movies only made a few hundred thousand to a million.

At the end of the year, the profit is only about 10 or 20 million, which is a lot for ordinary people, but for other wealthy Zhejiang businessmen, this amount of money is actually nothing.

"Uncles, let me offer you a toast!"

After approaching, Li Changhe took the initiative to hold the wine glass and said to Shao Yifu and Shao Renmei with a smile.

"Ayang, you are too polite."

"I heard from Sixth Brother that you also set up a film company in Hong Kong Island?"

Shao Renmei took the initiative to ask gently at this time.

Compared to Shao Yifu's aloofness, Shao Renmei is relatively peaceful, which may be related to his belief in Buddhism.

He is not actually in Hong Kong Island very often. He often stays in Singapore.

Li Changhe's other nominal uncle, Bao Yushu, Bao Yuguang's elder brother, actually had a better relationship with Shao Renmei. Both of them were in Singapore and were from Ninghai, so they had a close relationship.

"Yes, I started a film company. I'm here to ask for help from my two uncles."

Seeing that Shao Renmei took the initiative to bring up the topic, Li Changhe also took the opportunity to intervene in the topic.

"It's the cinema's business."

"It's okay. Just ask your subordinates to contact Shaw Cinemas. I will tell them to follow the normal market contracts. Regarding the film scheduling, I will let them treat it the same as Shaw's own films."

Shao Renmei seemed to know Li Changhe's purpose and immediately said with a smile.

But for Li Changhe, this has shown great goodwill.

You know, the contracts of Shaw Brothers Cinemas were notoriously harsh on film producers. The reason why Golden Harvest was able to succeed was because the contracts of Shaw Brothers Cinemas were too harsh at the time, so Golden Harvest relaxed the contract standards to allow film producers to make more money.

What Shao Renmei meant by referring to the contracts on the market was actually not to use Shaw Brothers' harsh contract, but to use the more relaxed contracts on the market today to give Li Changhe's film company high-end treatment, not to mention setting the screening schedule at the same level as Shaw Brothers' films.

This means that Planet Films’ screening schedule will not be deliberately suppressed.

This is the treatment we receive as our own people.

After listening to this, Li Changhe smiled and said to Shao Renmei: "Thank you, uncle, but I have a better cooperation proposal. Uncles, how about we discuss it in private?"

"Ok?"

Hearing Li Changhe's words, Shao Yifu and Shao Renmei were a little surprised and looked at him in surprise.

But after thinking about it, the two nodded: "Okay, let's go to another place to talk."

Afterwards, the three of them walked out of the banquet hall and came to a tea room next to it, which was specially prepared by Li Changhe.

"Uncles, please sit down!"

After the three of them sat down, Shao Yifu looked at Li Changhe and said thoughtfully: "Ayang, if you have any ideas, just say them out."

"Uncles, please allow me to ask a question first."

"Next, does Uncle Liu plan to take over TVB and take over Li's shares in TVB?" Li Changhe asked with a smile.

When Shao Yifu heard this, his expression changed.

His contact with the Li family was a private and confidential matter. Now Li Xiaohe's wife Li Lu Yanqun has not given him a clear answer.
"Ayang, how did you know about this?"

Shao Yifu asked calmly at this moment.

"To be honest, when I learned about Lee Ho-wo's death, I also had my eyes on TVB shares."

Li Changhe said with a smile at this time.

When Shao Yi-fu and Shao Renmei heard this, their expressions changed.

With Li Changhe's current strength, if he were to compete with them for TVB's shares, to be honest, Shao Yifu would not have much chance of winning.

After all, the feelings between business partners are vulnerable in the face of money.

What's more, the cooperation between Run Run Shaw and Lee Ho-wo was inherently unequal.

The Li family was a well-established wealthy family at that time, and Li Ho-wo had enough connections with the British Hong Kong authorities to be able to obtain television licenses and handle political and business relations.

In comparison, Shao Yifu is more like an operating partner, responsible for the operation of the TV station. He has professional capabilities, but in fact he is also working for the capital, although he is also a small shareholder.

At that time, Run Run Shaw was working with Li Ka-shing to operate the TV station. In fact, he probably also wanted to use Li's brand to protect his own film empire.

After all, the film industry of that era was very risky, with serious conflicts between the left and the right. If you were not careful, you would be doomed. It was the wisest thing for Run Run Shaw not to take a clear side and to cling to the relationship with the British Hong Kong authorities.

Seeing the two men's faces change slightly, Li Changhe immediately explained: "Don't worry, uncles. I had just returned to Hong Kong Island at that time and didn't understand many things."

"Later, my second uncle told me about the situation. He thought that my sixth uncle might also be interested in TVB. So I didn't get involved and didn't have any contact with the Li family."

After hearing Li Changhe's words, Shao Yifu's expression eased slightly.

"Ah Yang, you really scared the two of us. To be honest, Lao Liu is indeed in contact with TVB. We want to take over the Li family's shares in TVB."

"The competition in Hong Kong's film industry is getting more and more intense. We don't think it's appropriate to rely solely on films."

"We don't have the courage like Qi Ran to abandon ship and take over Wharf directly, so your uncle Liu is considering taking over TVB. After all, he has been managing the TVB for so many years, and it also has something in common with the film industry."

Shao Renmei said with a smile at this time.

Shao Yifu looked at Li Changhe at this moment: "Ayang, why are you interested in TV stations and movies?"

The other party is planning to set up a TV station and a film company, which is obviously not a casual move.

Shao Yifu must understand this point now, otherwise it will not be a good thing for him if this kid continues to suffer.

"Actually, I do this for my own business."

"To be honest with you, my two uncles, media is a very important part of my plan."

Li Changhe then told the two Shao brothers about his ideas on promoting the movie and his industry.

"At the beginning, I thought that movies and TV series would go hand in hand. Compared with movies, TV series have a longer broadcast time and are actually easier to influence the audience."

"You can see it from TVB's ability to create stars. In many cases, the actors in a TV series will be more popular than the actors in the movie. Zhao Yazhi and Zhou Runfa are examples of this."

"The Bund made the two famous in Hong Kong Island. Almost everyone knew Xu Wenqiang."

"For my clothing and real estate, this kind of invisible publicity is more effective than any advertisement!"

After hearing Li Changhe's words, the Shao brothers looked at Li Changhe in surprise. No wonder Li Changhe wanted to get involved in this industry. It turned out that he had this kind of business thinking.

"Ayang, it turns out that you young people have longer-term ideas than us old guys. We really haven't considered this kind of mutual influence in business."

Shao Renmei said with emotion at this moment.

Shao Yifu seemed to be thinking about something. If what Li Changhe said was true, the matter the other party was discussing with him would probably not be simple.

"Do you want TVB's next TV series to also be included in your industry promotion?"

Shao Yifu said thoughtfully at this time.

Li Changhe shook his head: "No, I won't consider the TV station for now. I want to ask my two uncles, since you have decided to join TVB, do you have any thoughts on buying the movie theaters under Shaw Brothers?"

Li Changhe asked Shao Yifu and Shao Renmei seriously at this time.

The two people's expressions changed.

They didn't expect that Li Changhe would directly target the Shaw Brothers Cinema Chain.

"You want to buy the movie theater chain under Shaw Brothers?"

Shao Yifu looked at Li Changhe at this moment and asked expressionlessly.

Li Changhe smiled and nodded: "Yes, if the two uncles are willing to sell, I would like to buy it."

"I know that both of you are veterans in the film industry. To be honest, if a film company does not have its own cinema chain, it will not be able to grow big, and its films will find it difficult to have an impact."

"And as far as I know, Shaw Brothers has begun to reduce production in the past two years, so I want to ask my two uncles if they have any intention of selling Shaw Cinemas."

Li Changhe expressed his thoughts.

After listening to this, Shao Yifu and Shao Renmei sighed.

They are now targeting TVB, on the one hand because they want to change industries, and on the other hand, it is indeed because of Shaw Brothers' difficulties.

In the 1950s, Shaw Brothers started out in Southeast Asia and competed with Cathay Films in Singapore. They defeated Cathay by taking advantage of the accidental death of Cathay's boss in a plane crash.

The reason why Shaw Brothers was able to dominate Hong Kong Island in the 1960s was that after the collapse of Cathay Pacific, the left-wing film companies that could have competed with Shaw Brothers were suppressed by the British Hong Kong government for some reasons and began to lie dormant under internal and external troubles.

Then, Shaw Brothers rose and dominated the Hong Kong film industry. However, in addition to external reasons, there was also an internal factor for Shaw Brothers' rise, which was that they pioneered the direction of martial arts fighting films.

Director Chang Cheh brought a new direction to Shaw Brothers films from within. Martial arts films became Shaw Brothers' box office guarantee and also triggered a wave of movie-watching among the Hong Kong people.

But now, Shaw Brothers is facing a very embarrassing problem: the market for martial arts films is no longer viable.

Because of the emergence of ancient costume martial arts dramas, the martial arts dramas shot by TV stations are more exciting, have richer plots, and are longer than martial arts movies.

Therefore, the emergence of martial arts TV dramas has seriously squeezed people's enthusiasm for watching martial arts movies.

As for modern films, Shaw Brothers' reserves are not as good as Golden Harvest's. In fact, Golden Harvest is constantly poaching talents from Shaw Brothers. Golden Harvest will take action if it finds any director or actor who is slightly outstanding.

Therefore, under the pressure from both inside and outside, Shaw Brothers Films is now in trouble. Although on the surface, Shaw Brothers Films can still compete with Golden Harvest, in fact, Run Run Shaw understands that Shaw Brothers is already on the decline again.

Because a large part of Shaw Brothers' profits come from martial arts films, and the impact of TV station's martial arts dramas on martial arts films will only become greater and greater, which also means that Shaw Brothers' main film business is getting smaller and smaller.

"Ayang, it seems that you came here well prepared. You know a lot about our Shaw Brothers films!"

Shao Renmei said with a smile at this time.

It was obvious that the other party did not do this on impulse. He had made sufficient preparations before coming to talk to the two brothers.

No wonder this time, Bao Yugang not only invited Shao Yifu, but also Shao Renmei who had just returned to Hong Kong Island not long ago. It turns out that the reason is here.

Li Changhe said seriously: "Uncles, I actually have another idea. You two can listen to it."

"I know that Shaw Brothers Films and Shaw Cinemas are family businesses of the Shaw family. In fact, I don't necessarily have to say that the cinemas are operated by themselves, but Planet Films must have its own cinemas."

"Look, is there a way for us to cooperate?"

"In fact, I not only have my eyes on Shaw Brothers' cinema chain, I also have my eyes on a talent in Shaw Brothers."

"I wonder if my two uncles can give up and dig him over here."

"Ayang, you not only want our cinema, but also our people?"

Shao Renmei was speechless at this time. Even though he had a good temper, he felt that Li Changhe was going a bit too far.

"Who else do you want to poach?"

Shao Yifu asked calmly.

Li Changhe then slowly uttered three words, causing the two brothers to change their expressions.

(End of this chapter)