The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

Sunday, February 8, 1948.

Today is the day before New Year's Eve. Lin Zhichao took Tang Caiyun shopping in Central, followed by two light bulbs - Tang Caiying and Lin Xiner.

Fortunately, these two light bulbs are relatively sensible and will hardly disturb Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiyun's date.

At this time, many refugees can still be seen on the streets of Hong Kong, even in Central. And everyone is accustomed to it and will not drive it away.

If you observe carefully, you will find that in Hong Kong society at this time, hawkers can sell on the streets at will, and shop owners will not maliciously drive away refugees at the door. Hong Kong as a whole is relatively tolerant.

Rich people are not deterred by the presence of refugees at the door of a store. They are accustomed to walking in to make purchases.

The spontaneous market on Queen's Road is packed with people. There are girls selling dried fish, grannies selling newspapers (probably a woman, but they look older), there are also many Royal Marines doing purchases, and there are also some carrying guns. The British soldiers on patrol were commonplace among the citizens.

At first glance, most of them are poor, poor people who are just trying to survive.

"Those refugees are so pitiful! The weather is so cold, they can only sleep under the eaves at night." Tang Caiyun said to Lin Zhichao with a kind heart.

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "No need to worry, they can have enough to eat, and they don't need to worry about war. The difficulty is short-lived. Those who arrive in Hong Kong soon will live in wooden houses."

Hong Kong's population is soaring, and there is indeed a shortage of a large number of houses.

An old three-story wooden tenement building in Wan Chai is home to 90 people, many of whom sleep on six-story bunk beds. This is considered to be a good situation. A large number of Hong Kong residents who were forced to move (the landlords raised rents to evict them so they could charge exorbitant fees) and new refugees were forced to build buildings on the rooftops of tenement buildings, beside the streets, and around the city. A large number of shacks, wooden houses, and even "paper houses" have formed many densely populated wooden house areas.

These wooden houses are built one after another, from the street to the end of the street, forming the spectacular "Rooftop Wooden House Street". Since building a wooden house at that time required tens of dollars to buy wood and iron sheets, some poor people simply went to the streets to collect paper boxes and build "paper houses". These paper houses mostly use several strips of wood as roof trusses, use "asphalt paper" to cover the roof, and nail the paper around them to form another wonder of the wooden house area - paper houses.

Due to the complex population and historical background at this time, these wooden house areas, rooftop wooden house areas, and paper houses often become areas where evil forces commit crimes and hide dirt and evil, and social problems abound.

Therefore, the darkness of society is often in the slums, and the upper class is out of sight and out of mind.

Originally, during this period, real estate developers in Hong Kong were operating on a small scale. They usually built 2 to 4 houses for sale. This method was commonly known in the industry as "speculating on the four hot topics".

There is an unwritten rule among these people that no house can be built with more than 5 floors, otherwise the Governor of Hong Kong in conjunction with the Executive Council will need to approve it.

Lin Zhichao developed "stratified sales" and "instalment sales" in advance, which made a great contribution to the residential real estate market. Of course, this does not mean that the situation of housing shortage in Hong Kong has been changed in one fell swoop, but it has been relatively alleviated.

After all, even in another ten years, it is estimated that the proportion of private housing in Hong Kong will not exceed 35%.

In order for more people to be able to afford houses, Hong Kong must first be industrialized and reach a certain degree of prosperity, thus generating a large amount of purchasing power. Otherwise, even if the capital goes into real estate, it will be useless if the house is not easy to sell.

Tang Caiyun suggested: "Brother Zhichao, should we buy some things and distribute them to these refugees?"

Lin Zhichao immediately shook his head and said: "It's not safe! When the things are distributed and someone doesn't receive them, it will offend others for nothing. Caiyun, it's not that I am stingy with the money, but I think this is not a good idea. You want You know, there are more than 100 workers in my factory, and I am more willing to distribute materials to them to benefit their families. It just so happens that in the afternoon, Yangtze River Industry will distribute oil rice to workers, I will take you to experience it."

When Tang Caiyun heard this, she was not pretentious at all, and said happily: "Well, I think what Brother Zhichao said makes sense. You are supporting so many workers now, and there are many family members behind these workers, and you distribute supplies to them. It’s really more meaningful than distributing things to street refugees.”

Lin Zhichao looked at Tang Caiyun unexpectedly, but he didn't expect that this woman was not hypocritical at all.

Tang Caiyun stuck out her tongue and said cutely: "Brother Zhichao, you don't think I'm pretentious, do you?" She cleverly realized that Lin Zhichao's eyes conveyed the message.

In fact, she just wanted to do something with Lin Zhichao, and even if Lin Zhichao refused for no reason, she would not be really angry. Now, she finds out that Lin Zhichao is very kind to the workers, and she understands the true meaning of "charity".

Of course, Lin Zhichao does not think that charity is redundant, but that his current strength is limited, so he can only take good care of his workers first. If he has greater strength in the future, he will naturally be willing to spend more funds and do charity on a wider scale.

In the afternoon, Lin Zhichao brought Tang Caiyun to the Changjiang Industrial Factory.

Seeing Lin Zhichao leading a beautiful girl, a group of workers shouted, "Boss, Mrs. Lin!"

Tang Caiyun was both happy and shy, so Lin Zhichao did not correct the workers. He just introduced Tang Caiyun to several managers and asked everyone to call them "Miss Tang".

"How is the production arrangement for the Spring Festival? Do you have any comments?" Lin Zhichao asked.

Wang Liang immediately said: "We have already negotiated with everyone, and everyone has no objections. After all, the boss is giving everyone double grains and New Year's goods. Everyone knows that the factory's production tasks are heavy, and they agree to obey the arrangements."

On New Year's Eve and Spring Festival, Cheung Kong Industries will still not stop work, but half of the workers will get off work at 5 o'clock on New Year's Eve, and the other half will get off work at 5 o'clock on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Equivalently, each worker has time to have dinner with his family, but the entire Yangtze River Industry still works for 18 hours (workers generally work 14 to 16 hours).

Factories in Hong Kong are like this. Workers almost always have to work for 16 hours or even longer. After all, there are too many people without jobs outside, and many factories even only pay novice workers 30 Hong Kong dollars or 25 Hong Kong dollars (depending on their education and skills). These bosses are sure that these workers will be able to find a salaried job when they first arrive in Hong Kong. It is already very difficult, so I will squeeze it hard.

Fortunately, Cheung Kong Holdings has a salary of 40 Hong Kong dollars per month for novices, and as long as they get started, it is almost 60 to 100 Hong Kong dollars, depending on the work proficiency. Not to mention, at the end of this year, Lin Zhichao gave everyone double grains and New Year’s goods.

Next, Lin Zhichao distributed rice, oil and supplies to each worker, and encouraged everyone to keep up their efforts and work hard in the new year (so that the boss can live in a mansion and drive a luxury car as soon as possible).

All the workers beamed with joy and expressed their gratitude quickly.

"Boss, you are such a good boss. You are the best boss in Hong Kong."

"The boss has given us double rations and rice oil. I haven't even worked for half a year yet. What a good boss!"

"Boss, congratulations on getting rich. I wish you and your wife a baby soon!"

The simple words of the workers soon filled the Changjiang Industrial factory, and Lin Zhichao was deeply moved. He has a goal in mind, which is to only engage in high value-added manufacturing and get rid of sweatshops. The welfare of his workers must belong to the top students in the entire manufacturing industry.

His zipper industry is of course an industry with high added value, at least higher than that of Hong Kong's textiles and garments.

After the benefits were distributed, Lin Zhichao gave instructions to the management, then took the initiative to hold Tang Caiyun's hand and prepared to go home.

Tang Caiyun's heart was beating wildly, but she did not break free from Lin Zhichao's hand.

Back in the car, Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "The workers' words are all simple. Don't think it's crude!"

Thinking of words like having a baby early, Tang Caiyun lowered her head and said coquettishly: "Brother Zhichao!" Her tone was full of coquettishness.

Lin Zhichao even touched other people's little hands and couldn't put them down, saying: "Where are you thinking!"

Knowing that Lin Zhichao was teasing her, Tang Caiyun became even more shy and said, "I'm not imagining things! It's you who is imagining things!"

Lin Zhichao laughed, prompting Tang Caiyun to fight with her fists. It was the first time that the two of them were so close.

He is about to turn 20, and Tang Caiyun has also turned 19. However, Lin Zhichao does not want to get married too early, and will probably not consider it until next year (1949).

Fortunately, the relationship between the two has been approved by both parents, and it is considered a certainty. Even if Lin Zhichao takes advantage, it will be fine.

The main reason is that Lin Zhichao's career is very important, and since he can't afford a new house now, it's obviously not possible.

During this Spring Festival, the families of Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiyun had a meal together and reaffirmed the relationship between Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiyun. When the time is right, the two will get married.

Lin Zhichao also visited two elders who had helped him - Jian Dongpu and He Dong. They were also very happy that Lin Zhichao came to visit. After all, Lin Zhichao's achievements were already extraordinary. Supporting such juniors is equivalent to giving a good deed to one's descendants.

After that, Lin Zhichao quickly got into work.