Rebirth of Siheyuan starts in the 1980s

As a time-traveler who has been bombarded by entertainment, especially short videos, Cao Zhiqiang knows very well where everyone’s memory points are.

For most people, they cannot remember stories that are too complex, and they cannot understand the connotations that are too deep. Only those beautiful melodies and simple lyrics are easier to remember.

Take the movie "Shangganling" for example. Even for people of this period, many people have long forgotten the specific content and the names of the specific characters. But when talking about the episode "My Motherland" in it, most people remember it.

Most people will hum twice.

The song "Flowing Red Flag" is actually not very good in terms of artistic connotation, but the melody is the best and the lyrics are simple. You can basically remember it after listening to it once.

Especially the lyrics inside, such as "Five-star red flag, you are my pride" and "Five-star red flag, I am proud of you". These lyrics are straight from the heart, straightforward and simple, and children can understand and remember them.

Live, but it is repeated continuously, which of course constitutes the elements of the Divine Comedy.

The so-called divine comedies all have some common characteristics, which are simplicity and straightforwardness, bright rhythm, and constant repetition.

For example, the later most typical "nobody", "Gangnam Style", and "The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style" are all in this mode.

There is also "Red Flag Fluttering", which is actually the same model.

Including "Blood-stained Style", if you put aside the connotation of the lyrics and purely from the perspective of artistic expression, this is actually a divine song.

Otherwise, this is the charm of the lyrics.

The same song "Flowing Red Flag" will still be popular if you turn it into a love song, but it will definitely not be as popular as a red song with a patriotic theme.

Originally it was just a slobbery song with a simple melody, but as long as the lyrics are richer in connotation, it instantly becomes more sophisticated and the artistic conception is completely different.

For example, now, CCTV only broadcasts it for two days, once a day, only twice in total, but it has already been remembered by the masses, and some people even sang it in private.

Maybe you want to say, don't you want to sell records or singles? The TV station has broadcast this song, but you still get a cent from it.

I just don’t understand. The more you do this, the more likely you are to sell something.

Because during this period, the penetration rate of television was not high, so the penetration rate in cities was slightly higher.

But TV is broadcast live and has no memory ability and cannot be played back repeatedly.

There are video recorders and video tapes that can record TV programs, but these things are basically imported goods and are not available to ordinary people.

So even if someone were to record this song on a video recorder, it would be rare and would not create a phenomenon.

But you can't listen to a good song once and then stop listening to it. That would be so uncomfortable.

For example, Teresa Teng's "Sweet Honey" has been introduced to the mainland for several years. It was banned at first, and it was only this year that it was completely liberalized.

That is to say, "Sweet Honey" has been popular in China for many years, but people still never tire of listening to it, and the tapes of this song are still very popular. As long as they are sold, they are basically sold out in one day.

Therefore, nothing else matters, but for things like pop songs, it is not that the more mysterious the better, on the contrary, the more widely it is sung, the better it sells.

If you arrive after 1985, you will still be worried about the large number of piracy.

But in 1983, when audio tapes and recorders were scarce, there was no need to worry about pirated tapes.

Because pirated tapes are definitely stragglers and cannot compete with regular manufacturers. This is determined by the supply of tapes.

In a period when tape production is still in short supply, you don’t need to worry about piracy or not, just produce or sell it and that’s it!

The real question is whether the tape factory wants to supply it to you, and whether you have a chance to sell these tapes.

In 1983, domestic cassette tapes were basically dominated by domestic tapes, and they were always in short supply. If you wanted to get the tapes, you had to meet the quota.

Although imported tapes are also available, they have not yet become popular. The main reason is that the country's economic policy is still very conservative, especially in terms of import and export. For the purpose of industrial protection, the formal import quota for audio tapes is very small, and the quantity is not

many.

Of course there are also smuggled imported tapes, but at this time the people who smuggled imported tapes were basically self-employed second-tier dealers.

As for these second-rate dealers, most of them have not completed primitive accumulation. They have little money and a small market, so they are not a viable business at all.

After everyone started doing business in 1984, various collective units and even state-owned units started smuggling themselves. That was the period when the imported tapes began to explode.

But the real outbreak occurred in 1985, to be precise, after the Plaza Accord.

After the Plaza Accord, due to the appreciation of the yen, many Japanese companies transferred a large number of low value-added industries to China, including the tape industry.

At that time, many small workshops began to import foreign parts and components, like lighters that were processed from supplied materials, and assemble their own audio tapes.

Since then, the so-called "imported tapes" in China have begun to explode. Such domestic "imported tapes" are everywhere in the streets and alleys. As a result, the supply of audio tapes has changed from a shortage to an oversupply, and of course the price has plummeted.

But at present, although audio tapes are no longer a rare thing and do not need to be purchased with a ticket, it is still difficult for ordinary people to purchase in large quantities because there must be a quota.

Take the Peking Tape Factory for example. The production capacity here is basically fixed at present, and the production targets are all set.

If you want tape, you must make adjustments, that is, temporarily freeing up some unimportant indicators for you, and the operation here will be complicated.

If you want some tape factory production capacity indicators, you must first meet the standards.

That is to say, first of all, you must be a formal state-owned unit, not a collective unit.

In this regard, Cao Zhiqiang met the standard, because he applied in the name of Huaxia Audio and Video Company, and Huaxia Audio and Video Company is a state-owned enterprise in name, even though Cao Zhiqiang himself holds 49% of the shares.

Otherwise, why did Cao Zhiqiang not want 50% of the shares or even more shares in the first place? In fact, this can be done.

But as long as Cao Zhiqiang wants 50% or more of the shares, the nature of the company will change during this period. It can no longer be called a state-owned enterprise, but a joint venture.

Yes, the joint ventures that everyone knows seem to be Sino-foreign joint ventures, but in fact, the initial joint ventures include not only Sino-foreign joint ventures, but also domestic joint ventures.

Let’s not talk about Sino-foreign joint ventures. Domestic joint ventures mainly refer to business models in which private individuals partner with collective enterprises or state-owned enterprises.

For example, some companies that were public-private partnerships in the early years were actually considered joint ventures.

However, this domestic joint venture quickly withdrew from the stage of history after the promulgation of the Company Law in 1993, leaving only the name Sino-foreign joint venture.

In a joint venture, if private shares account for the majority, it cannot be called a state-owned enterprise, but can only be called a joint venture.

But if a state-owned enterprise accounts for the majority of the joint venture, and the state-owned enterprise holds the majority share, then it can be called a state-owned enterprise.

Otherwise, Cao Zhiqiang would not have given 51% of his shares to Hongguang Machinery Factory in the first place, just for the sake of the skin of a state-owned enterprise.

Don't underestimate this skin, it is very useful in this period.

For example, if you go to a tape factory to discuss quotas, you won't be able to negotiate if you are not a state-owned enterprise.

After your identity is up to standard, you must also have your relationship up to standard.

To do business in the capital at this time, just having money and status is not enough, you also need to have good connections.

To put it simply, it’s the Peking Tape Factory. Why does it give you tape production quotas just to make you look handsome?

By the same token, why do other tape manufacturers give you their own indicators?

This requires people to make connections.

The so-called relationship is nothing more than eating, drinking and giving gifts.

Don't try to overwhelm people with high-ranking officials. Now this thing is really not useful for units like tape factories. Real money is most useful.

To put it bluntly, I want to give a gift to the director of the tape factory. As for what to give, it has to be appropriate. Anyway, the money must be indispensable.

Beijing is easy to talk to, and with the help of Director Li, Chen Jiabang and others, it is not difficult to get through the connections at the Peking Tape Factory, and the money does not need to be too much.

What is difficult is the tape factories in other cities, such as those in Jinan and other places, which require a social master like Li Youfu to run them.

Li Youfu's success as a regional wholesaler as a self-employed businessman is inseparable from his social skills.

Now that he has the skin of a leader of a state-owned enterprise in Beijing, he has more confidence.

Li Youfu is now working tirelessly to wander around for Mao? Of course he is happy!

In the past, Li Youfu would not have dared to go around looking for big leaders in big factories, but would have to secretly look for small leaders in small factories.

Things are different now. Li Youfu is a serious state-owned enterprise manager. Regardless of whether he is a real cadre, his position cannot be faked.

Outsiders will not check whether you are a cadre, they can only check whether you are from a state-owned enterprise and whether you are a manager of a state-owned enterprise.

For example, at the tape factory in Jinan, people immediately called Hongguang Publishing House to confirm and asked if there was a manager named Li Youfu.

After confirming that everything was correct, they dared to continue discussing the tape indicators with Li Youfu, as well as how to eat and receive gifts.

Once the identity is up to standard and the relationship is in place, can we get product indicators?

The answer is no, you must have a formal reason and get approval from your leader.

In 1983, the country still did not completely liberalize the market. Most of the goods were still supplied on a ticket basis, especially manufacturers, who had to apply for production quotas.

To apply for production quotas, you must not only meet the identity standards and have the right connections, but you must also have a legitimate and formal reason, that is, why you want this batch of products and what is the purpose of you want this batch of products.

This formal reason basically isolates 99% of self-employed people because they cannot give a formal reason.

Especially for blank tapes, that's quite strict.

Because in the early 1980s, recording equipment was not something you could play with casually.

For example, today's tape recorders are said to be called tape recorders, but in fact they can only be called cassette players, and most of them cannot record at all.

Those that can record, especially the dual-card recorders that can rip audio tapes, are mostly imported recorders, and imported recorders are not available to ordinary people at this time, because they also need foreign exchange coupons and overseas remittance coupons, unless you buy them

It's smuggled goods.

Not only is it difficult to buy tape recorders, but it is also difficult to buy blank tapes. At least large quantities of blank tapes are not available to ordinary people.

Only special units, such as record companies, CCTV, various government units, etc., can purchase blank tapes in large quantities.

By coincidence, Huaxia Audio and Video Company is the place where blank tapes can be purchased.

Of course, since Huaxia Audio and Video Company currently does not have its own equipment, it can only ask the tape factory to record the content directly and produce tapes with content instead of blank tapes.

Although the main business of tape factories during this period was the production of blank tapes, it did not mean that they could not produce tapes with content.

On the contrary, tape manufacturers prefer tapes with recorded content, because recording content is self-generated income and does not require tax.

For example, the Peking Tape Factory produces a tape with an ex-factory price of 80 cents. This part of the money is full of taxes, and taxes must be paid.

But if you add an extra 50 cents to fill the blank tape with content and add related packaging, then the 50 cents do not need to pay tax and are self-generated income, which can be regarded as the factory's own internal treasury.

Well, don't doubt it, this is the case during this period.

Of course, this model changed later, especially after the two tax laws came into force, it became really difficult to avoid taxes in this way.

Therefore, during this period, tape manufacturers actually preferred companies like Huaxia Audio and Video Company because they could reap additional benefits.

On the contrary, large units such as Chinese record companies and local TV stations have their own recording equipment, so they only need to buy blank tapes and then go back and record the records themselves. As a result, the tape manufacturers can make very little money, but they don't like it.

This is also the fundamental reason why Cao Zhiqiang's Huaxia Audio and Video Company, as a little-known small state-owned enterprise, can extract production indicators from tape factories everywhere!

To put it bluntly, those tape manufacturers postponed other unimportant indicators and gave priority to Huaxia Audio and Video Company to produce tapes with content.

To do this, your identity, relationships, project rationality, and even the talent itself are all indispensable!

This shows how difficult it was to start a business on your own in the early 1980s, especially in 1983 when the market economy was not yet fully open.

But as for Cao Zhiqiang, he was actually not familiar with the art here, so he just had to do it hard and fool around, and strange things would always happen!

This is not just a matter of Cao Zhiqiang's personal talent, but also a lot of luck.

For example, if Cao Zhiqiang had not met Li Youfu, he would not have been able to escape the foreign market so easily.

If Hongguang Machinery Factory had not encountered a life-or-death crisis, causing Director Li to act as a doctor and try to use Cao Zhiqiang as a breakthrough point to fully support Cao Zhiqiang, Cao Zhiqiang would not have been able to do this.

Of course, the source, or premise, of these things must be inseparable from the favor and support of the big leaders.

If you want to win the favor of a big leader, you must first be able to get to know them, and this is inseparable from Shazhu!

So in the final analysis, Cao Zhiqiang was able to accomplish such an astonishing career in a short period of time, and Shazhu was indispensable!

Without Si Zhu's initial introduction, Cao Zhiqiang would be a wealthy commoner with a little money at best, and he would never be where he is now.

Others may not be able to figure this out clearly, but Cao Zhiqiang is clear in his heart.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have laid out the plan in advance and designed the silly pillars in advance.