Dreams of the Fragrant River - Chapter 1008

1997, July 1.

Today is the day of the handover. The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center is particularly lively. Officials from both China and the UK, as well as celebrities from all walks of life in Hong Kong, have entered the venue one after another.

Kang Jianfei, the richest man in Hong Kong, was also invited. Sitting next to him were rich people such as Li Jiacheng, and not far away were Jin Yong, Shao Yifu and other bigwigs in the literary and art circles.

In the center of the hall stage, four flagpoles, two high and two low, are erected.

The two flagpoles on the left are empty, the taller one on the right flutters the Union Jack, and the lower one has the Hong Kong colonial flag. In the center of the four flagpoles, the five-star red flag and the rice flag are hung horizontally.

An English command sounded, and the British officer in white uniform drew his saber and stepped forward, followed by two columns of heavily armed British soldiers.

The British soldiers strode to the right of the stage, pausing under the Union Jack and Hong Kong colonial flags. At the same time, the Chinese troops stationed in Hong Kong also appeared from the left side of the stage and walked to the left side of the stage to stand by under the two empty flags.

Officials from both sides came on stage one after another, standing side by side under the national flags of the two countries.

“The flag-raising ceremony begins, all stand up!”

Including Kang Jianfei, all the guests and officials sitting under the stage to watch the ceremony stood up quickly or slowly, looking up at the flag ahead.

The military bands of China and the United Kingdom jointly played the march. After a short but passionate music, the Chinese soldiers came to the stage with the five-star red flag and the Bauhinia flag, and then the British military band played the British national anthem.

In the music of “God Save the Queen”, the Union Jack and the colonial flag were slowly lowered. Then the “March of the Volunteers” sounded, the five-star red flag and the Bauhinia flag rose slowly, and the Chinese at the scene sang the national anthem involuntarily.

Kang Jianfei also sang along silently. Some of the rich Hong Kong people around him had tears in their eyes, while others had complicated expressions.

This is the end of the flag handover ceremony, which announces the end of more than 100 years of British colonial rule over Hong Kong. In the mainland and Hong Kong, countless Chinese people cheered while watching the live broadcast.

In the next theatrical performance, Liu Dehua’s “Chinese” sang throughout the hall, and then stars from all walks of life in Hong Kong came on stage.

The climax of the party was “Pearl of the Orient” written and composed by Kang Jianfei. As many as 50 stars appeared on the stage, led by a little girl selected from the folks:

“The small river bends and flows southward, and flows to the Xiangjiang to have a look.

Pearl of the Orient, my love. Your style is still romantic.

The moon’s curved harbor, the night is deep, and the lights are shining.

The Pearl of the Orient, who stayed up all night, kept the promise of changing seas and fields.

Let the sea breeze blow for five thousand years,

Every teardrop seems to express your dignity.

Let the tide accompany me to bless you,

Please don’t forget me, never change, yellow face…”

Kang Jianfei turned his head to look at Li Chaoren, the gentleman had a faint smile on his face, but the smile was very shallow. Looking at Mr. Huo in the distance, Mr. Huo grinned, revealing his smoky yellow teeth.

Before the performance was over, Li Chaoren asked casually, “Mr. Kang, are you interested in exchanging shares?”

“What shares to exchange?” Kang Jianfei asked back.

Li Chaoren said: “The shares of Cheung Kong Industrial and Dongfang Network Technology Co., Ltd.”

“Let’s talk about it later.” Kang Jianfei didn’t want to talk too much, and watched the performance on stage seriously.

As the world’s first Internet technology stock, as Internet entrepreneurship becomes more and more popular, eitc has not been submerged by the Internet tide, but has become more and more dazzling. In 14 months, the share price of eitc has soared to 203 dollars. Last month, two major consortia invested in shares, and the company also issued additional shares. Now the market value has reached a terrifying $11 billion.

In January of this year, Kang Jianfei and He Chaoqiong became the richest Chinese in the world with a net worth of US$14.8 billion. As for last year’s richest Chinese man, Zheng Zhoumin (Philippines), although his wealth is also growing, he has fallen to the fourth place on the Chinese rich list – the family of Lee Shau Kee and Guo Bingxiang is too fierce.

At the end of March, the “Forbes Global Rich List” was released, and Bill Gates was the world’s richest man with a net worth of 36 billion US dollars. Kang Jianfei’s net worth, with the growth of the stock prices of eitc, Sega Games and Paramount, has surged again compared to the statistics two months ago, ranking fourth in the world’s richest list with personal assets of 15.3 billion US dollars. The fifth place is Li Zhaoji, whose personal assets are 14.7 billion US dollars, and the wealth of this gentleman is also terrifying. In addition, the Guo Bingxiang brothers ranked 9th in the world’s richest list with a net worth of 123 US dollars.

This year’s list of the world’s richest people is very interesting. There are several software and Internet industries on the list, and Bill Gates is far ahead of everyone. The richest people on this side of Asia have generally regressed, especially the ranking of Japanese benzene richest people has fallen the most, while Hong Kong’s richest people are unique in Asia, and several of them have successfully entered the top 10 and top 20.

Kang Jianfei ranked 4th in the world, Lee Shau Kee ranked 5th in the world, and Guo Bingxiang ranked 9th in the world. The situation is very good. As for Li Chaoren, well, this gentleman is out of 20 for the time being.

On the second day of Hong Kong’s return, the Asian financial turmoil struck.

From July to September, financial giants represented by Soros have successively overturned Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries. In late October, international speculators moved to Hong Kong, targeting Hong Kong’s linked exchange rate system. Under pressure, the Taiwan authorities suddenly abandoned the exchange rate of the New Taiwan dollar, which depreciated by 3.46% in one day, making the Hong Kong dollar and the Hong Kong stock market even worse.

Li and Guo, who have just entered the top ten of the world’s richest people, with the group’s stock price plummeting, their wealth has shrunk instantly, and even the capital chain has problems. On the contrary, Li Chaoren was the most supportive. His Cheung Kong Industrial had a low debt ratio, no problems with the capital chain, and he was hoarding land at low prices while the financial crisis broke out.

After the financial turmoil ended, Li Chaoren’s net worth surpassed Li Zhaoji and Guo Bingxiang in one fell swoop, completing a gorgeous turnaround.

Of course, the financial turmoil had less impact on Kang Jianfei. Although he is the richest man in Hong Kong, he has no listed company in Hong Kong, and a large part of his wealth is distributed in Japan, the United States and mainland China.

…

In May 1996, Oriental Music Group, a subsidiary of Oriental Entertainment Group, acquired a small company in the United States and changed its name to Generation Records. The first batch of signed artists was only three: Britney, Beyonce and Christina. After training in singing and dancing skills for half a year, the three girls formed the “True Destiny Girl” group and made their official debut. Their first album was a big hit. The two title songs were composed by Kang Jianfei, and they once topped the US Billboard Weekly Chart No. 6.

In September 1996, after half a year of production, “The Legend of the New White Snake” was finally broadcast in three places on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and it became popular in half of Asia.

In December 1996, “Resident Evil 2” directed by Xu Ke was released, and the zombie craze was once again set off around the world. The total global box office reached 400 million US dollars. This theme has changed from a niche to an important sci-fi branch.

In April 1997, the first Hong Kong International Film and Television Exhibition was held, and several units such as “Main Competition Unit”, “International Youth Unit” and “Golden Camera Unit” were set up, which not only invited dozens of top filmmakers from all over the world, but also Inviting Hollywood stars to the catwalk at sky-high prices. During the exhibition, the transaction of 142 Chinese and non-Chinese language film and television works was completed, and more than 100 works reached preliminary transaction intentions. With the strong support of Kang Jianfei, this film and television exhibition has been extremely successful, providing a brand-new trading platform for many small and medium-sized film companies and independent filmmakers in Hong Kong, and injecting new vitality into the gradually declining Hong Kong films.

In June 1997, “Titanic” jointly produced by Paramount Pictures and Oriental DreamWorks was released, which caused a global sensation and swept the global box office of 1.835 billion US dollars, becoming the highest in film history. Broken by Avatar.

In the same year, the Korean entertainment industry suddenly emerged, and Hallyu began to spread across China, Taiwan and Taiwan. Among them, Kang Jianfei’s company in South Korea has taken advantage of the situation and has launched many Korean dramas such as “Star Dreams” and “Blue Life and Death” in the past few years. The record company also popularized many singers such as Li Zhenxian and Li Xiaoli. The South Korean authorities once ordered to restrict the development of Kang Jianfei’s company in South Korea. In the end, under the compromise of various parties, Kang Jianfei gave up some of the company’s shares and lost absolute control, but was allowed to take shares in many South Korean entertainment companies. Ten years later, Korean industry insiders often complain that half of the five major Korean entertainment groups have the surname Kang.

From February 1997 to November 1998, after many bounces, Blizzard Entertainment successively released Warcraft 3, Resident Evil and StarCraft. After the two games came out, they were well received and almost dominated the world. computer game market. At the same time, Battle.net servers are also booming.

In January 1998, the Hong Kong Film Development Council was formally established, and Kang Jianfei served as the vice chairman of the film bureau.

In December 1999, Oriental Media Group started a 15-year global development plan, successively acquiring more than 40 newspapers, magazines and TV stations in Europe, America and Asia.

From May to December 2000, Kang Jianfei invested in Tencent and Google, and registered and established the legendary game company.

In the same year, Jiahe Company was liquidated 9 months later than the original time and space, and gradually went to the grave. Hong Kong films have also ushered in a completely cold winter period. Although the Hong Kong International Film and Television Exhibition has become one of the most watched film and TV drama trading platforms in the world, Hong Kong films and Hong Kong dramas have withered and become the common memory of people in that era. The once brilliant Oriental DreamWorks is also laying off staff year by year. The annual production volume has been reduced to about 8, and a large number of Hong Kong artists have gone to the mainland and Taiwan to make money.

In January 2001, Kang Jianfei invested in Baidu.

In the same year, the online game “Legend” independently developed by Legend Company was officially launched, and it became popular in the north and south of the country. At the same time, the number of online players exceeded 1 million.

In March 2002, Kang Jianfei was ranked second on the Forbes Global Rich List and No. 1 on the Asian Rich List with a net worth of US$51.2 billion.

In September 2003, due to the downturn in the traditional record industry, Kang Jianfei began to vigorously integrate the Oriental Music Group. Among them, its subsidiary, Singapore Haidie Records, was dismantled and sold. Mainland Magic Rock Records declared bankruptcy, and some singers were transferred to Xiongfei Records. At the same time, Kang Jianfei’s record companies in Japan, South Korea and the United States are still developing.

In the same year, China reformed the film industry, announced the commercialization of domestic cinema chains, increased the admission quota for Hong Kong films, and relaxed the standards for joint venture films. With the help of Hu Juncai, Kang Jianfei has built cinemas in China, and Oriental DreamWorks has increased the annual output of joint venture films.

In June 2004, Siemens mobile phone suffered serious losses, and the multi-party reforms still could not reverse the situation. BBK started acquisition negotiations with it. In May of the following year, the BBK Group controlled by Kang Jianfei and Hu Juncai successfully acquired Siemens Mobile and reorganized it.

In the same year, Tencent was listed in Hong Kong.

In the same year, “World of Warcraft” produced by Blizzard swept the world.

In 2005, BBK mobile phone sales ranked third in the country and ranked first among domestic mobile phone brands.

In the same year, Dongfang Media Group developed rapidly, Dongfang Music Group suffered continuous losses, its UFO record company was dismantled and sold by Kang Jianfei, and Xiongfei Records vigorously developed the online song business.

In 2006, Kang Jianfei invested in amc, the second largest cinema chain in the United States, and became the company’s fifth largest shareholder. Until 2011, the revenue of the US cinema industry dropped by 4.5%, and the US film industry was in turmoil. Kang Jianfei took the opportunity to complete the final acquisition of amc and became the largest shareholder of amc.

In November 2007, Alibaba’s affiliated network company was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and Taobao Mall was launched the following year.

In 2008, when the financial crisis broke out in the United States, the U.S. stock market plummeted, and Kang Jianfei’s Dream Fund took the opportunity to invest in 7 well-known American companies. Affected by the financial crisis, the number of billionaires on the list in 2009 dropped from 1,125 in the previous year to 793, and the wealth of the rich has shrunk significantly. Kang Jianfei finally took off the hat of the second child of ten thousand years and became the world’s richest man with a net worth of 43.5 billion US dollars.

In the same year, “Avatar,” jointly produced by Paramount Pictures and Oriental DreamWorks, grossed $2.787 billion at the global box office.

In March 2010, Kang Jianfei became the second richest man again, Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos became the richest man, and Bill Gates ranked third.

In May 2011, BBK launched the world’s first smartphone ahead of Apple. At the end of the same year, BBK was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the company’s shares rose by the limit for one week in a row.

In March 2012, “Forbes Global Rich List” announced that Kang Jianfei once again became the world’s richest man, with personal assets of 73 billion US dollars.

In 2013, Kang Jianfei completed the integration of its cinema chains, forming a world cinema network covering mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Southeast Asia, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. In the same year, relevant US agencies filed an anti-monopoly lawsuit against AMC. After Kang Jianfei bleeds, the farce came to an end.

In November 2014, Alibaba was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In March 2015, in the list of the world’s richest people released by Forbes, Jianfei Kang’s personal assets soared to 116 billion US dollars, and Bill Gates, who ranked second, was only worth 76 billion US dollars. Domestic netizens dubbed Kang Jianfei “Kang 100 billion”. His 30-year-old eldest daughter Kang Zhenqi officially took over the Oriental DreamWorks.

2016…