Chapter 810 Contributions to the Country and the People

Lin Weimin opened a museum.

After the opening of the Jinghua Museum, the news quickly spread throughout the Chinese cultural circle.

Since the reform and opening up, there have been many domestic writers who have become rich through writing. Especially after the emergence of the Ragdoll series, many writers have received hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties because their works were selected for this series.

Writers have made money. Some have used it to buy houses, some have used it to buy cars, and some have used it to enjoy life. But making money to open a museum is still beyond most people's cognition.

A few days ago, the news that the little girl Yuxiu earned nearly 10 million yuan with the movie "Flower Season and Rainy Season" became widely known after being spread by many media outlets across the country.

In 1996, the average national wage was only around 300 to 400 yuan. Earning nearly 10 million yuan by writing a novel seemed like a fantasy.

This is the dream of countless young literary people, and it is an unattainable dream.

Yuxiu's successful case has once again brought a peak in the number of manuscripts received by the Buhuhu series editorial team.

Write books to get rich!

Guowen Society has brought about a great spectacle in the Chinese literary world.

But the money Yuxiu earned is nothing compared to that of Lin Weimin, a well-known and internationally renowned writer.

Everyone in the domestic literary world, and even among ordinary people, knew that Lin Weimin was rich.

More than a decade ago, his works were sold overseas and adapted many times. He made a lot of money and his royalties were far higher than those of domestic writers.

But many people are still shocked by the fact that he is rich enough to open a museum.

Especially when many people come to the Jinghua Museum for a physical visit, this feeling becomes more intuitive and stronger.

Lin Weimin started collecting in the early 1980s, and over the years, the cost of collecting has accounted for a considerable portion of his income from royalties.

This does not mean that Lin Weimin spent all his money on collecting.

But compared with his huge assets, apart from his collection, his other consumption and investment are not much.

For example, when he bought houses, the cheapest courtyard houses in Yanjing in the 1980s cost only a few thousand yuan, and the most expensive ones were no more than 20,000 or 30,000 yuan. Even now, they have not exceeded one million yuan. How much money can he spend in a year if he spends as much as he can?

Besides, the speed at which he is buying houses is not as fast as the speed at which the houses he has are being demolished.

You can’t spend it all, you can’t spend it all!

In other words, collecting, a hobby that only spends money but never earns any, can help Lin Weimin's increasingly huge assets slim down a bit.

Of course, this kind of weight loss is only temporary.

The prices of the items he has been collecting since the 1980s have increased by more than 10 times. If we only count the wealth on paper, even the richest man in China would only be worthy of carrying Mr. Lin's shoes.

But it doesn’t matter. As long as Mr. Lin doesn’t cash in these things, he won’t have much money.

Well, ignoring the numbers on the foreign exchange account, he really doesn't have much money in his account.

Because it operates on a reservation system and the number of visitors it receives each day is fixed, the Jinghua Museum has never been busy and has always been well organized since its opening.

But in just one week, the museum's reservation period has been scheduled until July this year, and the number of reservations is still increasing every day.

Back then, Ma Dudu joked about welcoming nouveau riche tourists, but that was of course just an idea. A museum is not a club, so how could it possibly restrict the identities of tourists?

Moreover, the ticket price of Jinghua Museum is not high, just about the same as that of the Forbidden City.

You should know that the Forbidden City is subsidized by the state, but the Jinghua Museum is a real private museum.

Before the museum opened, Ma Dudu discussed with Lin Weimin whether the ticket price could be set a little higher so that they could at least break even.

Lin Weimin only asked him one question: "We only receive a few hundred people a day. Tell me, how high should the ticket price be to break even?"

Ma Dudu fell silent after hearing this.

Indeed, not to mention the cost of buying the mansion and repairing it, not to mention the cost of purchasing these collections, the Jinghua Museum now has 80 staff members alone. Add to that the museum's operating expenses and the annual maintenance and upkeep of the cultural relics, the annual fixed cost is at least over 3 million yuan.

The museum can only allow so many visitors every day, and the ticket price is fixed. Excluding the days when it is closed, the annual ticket revenue is at most 1.2 million yuan. If you do the math, this means that Teacher Lin loses 5,000 yuan every day when he opens his eyes.

Unless Madudu raises ticket prices by more than two times, it will be possible to cover the cost of losses.

But the problem is, the ticket prices are so high, your buildings are not as magnificent as the Forbidden City, and your cultural relics are not as numerous or as exquisite as the Forbidden City, so why would tourists come to you?

Thinking about this question, Ma Dudu became conflicted.

"It doesn't matter if we lose some money! The most important thing about running a museum is to allow these cultural relics to no longer be kept in an empty corner every day. Letting more tourists see their beauty is the most meaningful part of running a museum."

Lin Weimin's tone was calm and each sentence was filled with high awareness.

But when Ma Dudu heard this, he only heard this sentence: I'm not short of money!

He couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head. He was really worrying too much. With Teacher Lin's wealth, this museum would not go bankrupt even if it was open for another 1,000 years.

The news of the museum spread in the literary world for a few days, and naturally attracted the attention of some reporters and media.

Jinghua Museum is the first private museum in China. This alone is enough to make it a hot topic, not to mention that the owner of this museum is the famous Lin Weimin.

Within a few days, Jinghua Museum was featured in many domestic media and became famous overnight.

A few days later, Zhao Xin from the editor-in-chief's office brought some stacks of sample books into Lin Weimin's office.

Several people were holding books and making clanging noises in Lin Weimin's office, working on their work for fear that Lin Weimin couldn't see them.

"Editor-in-Chief, please come and have a look. The sample book of the American volume is out!"

There was excitement and boasting in Zhao Xin's tone, as if he had accomplished something great.

This is indeed the case.

Lin Weimin was concentrating on reviewing the manuscript. He didn't pay attention when the few people came in just now. Until Zhao Xin said this, he finally looked up, with a glimmer of surprise in his eyes.

"Come out?"

Zhao Xin nodded and repeated, "It's out!"

Lin Weimin jumped up from his chair and approached the sample books that had just come out of the printing factory. The strong scent of ink hit his face. Having been in the industry for more than ten years, he has become accustomed to this smell.

But today's batch of sample books are of extraordinary significance.

Because they are sample books of the last volume of "World Literature Masterpieces Collection", "American Literature Volume", the printing of this volume also represents the perfect conclusion of the huge publishing project "World Literature Masterpieces Collection".

From 1992 when Lin Weimin proposed the concept of "World Literature Classics Library", to the discussion and debate among many experts in the society, and then to Lin Weimin gaining support, it was not an easy task to get the "World Literature Classics Library" project off the ground.

Such a large-scale publishing project has never been seen in the history of the National Literature Publishing House.

Guowen Press once compiled two editions of "The Complete Works of Lu Xun", which took several years of work by many elite editors from Guowen Press, but it only consisted of 18 volumes.

But the "World Literature Classics Collection" proposed by Lin Weimin is a series of books that includes classic literary works from all over the world.

The French Sequence du Chien, the American Library of Literature... In this world, library series have always been a symbol of a cultural power, representing that a country's cultural and political prosperity has reached a certain level.

Over the past four years, dozens of editors from Guowen Publishing House have worked tirelessly and devotedly to finally complete the translation, editing and proofreading of this series of books.

Lin Weimin stroked the cover of the last volume of the series with a little excitement. This volume consists of 13 books. The dust cover was designed by the famous bookbinder Li Jiqing. The whole book is covered with a silver-gray dust cover, which is angular, upright and majestic.

The interior is covered with luxurious silk cotton, satin and gold-stamped hardcover, the paper is still Bible paper and the printing is clear.

"It wasn't easy. This series of books is finally finished!"

Lin Weimin felt relieved when he said this.

The concept of "World Literature Classics Collection" was proposed by him, and he was also the one who promoted it. With the efforts of the entire society, several years of hard work, and the wisdom and hard work of many elites, this series of books was finally completed!

The people present heard the excitement and joy in Lin Weimin's heart and smiled as well.

Suddenly, with a "bang", the office door was pushed open from the outside, and Cheng Zaochun rushed in with an anxious look on his face.

"Where's the book? Where's the book?"

Just like a blind man feeling for his crutches, Cheng Zaochun's face was full of urgency and impatience. He entered the house without looking at anyone, and his eyes finally fixed on the beautifully packaged books on Lin Weimin's desk.

Greed. From the eyes of Cheng Zaochun, an old comrade who is nearly sixty years old, everyone saw an uncontrollable desire.

He walked forward, with only this series of books in his eyes, then slowly picked up the two books, with a gleam in his eyes.

"Printing is finished!" Cheng Zaochun murmured to himself.

Looking at his poor performance, Lin Weimin couldn't help but despise him in his heart, looking at how low you can go!

"Zhao Xin..."

He was about to speak when Cheng Zaochun, who was still in a daze, suddenly interrupted him, "The sample book is out, why didn't you send it to me?"

After these words were spoken, Zhao Xin became a head shorter and became very nervous.

Although Old Cheng was going to step down, he hadn't really stepped down yet. Besides, even if he did step down, he would just be exchanging positions with Lin Weimin.

The leader is still the same leader.

I was so busy flattering the new leader that I was careless!

Lin Weimin said, "I asked them to send it here, shouldn't I try it?"

He is the editor-in-chief and has the final say over the sample books, so this is justified.

Even if Lao Cheng is the president, he can't find any reason to complain.

When Cheng Zaochun heard this, he smacked his lips and stopped bothering Zhao Xin.

Lin Weimin said again: "Zhao Xin, go and urge the printing factory. Don't just send this sample book. Other leaders in the company have to review it as well!"

Zhao Xin breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "Yes, I'll go and urge them right away."

Two sentences were enough to hold the situation, and Lin Weimin started chatting with Cheng Zaochun.

"How is it? It's not even May yet, and we've already finished the last volume. The fighting power of our editors is pretty good, right?"

Cheng Zaochun smiled broadly, "Not bad, no, it's very good! Very good!"

Cheng Zaochun is about to retire, but before he retires, the thing he can't let go of the most is the series of books called "World Literature Classics Collection".

As the largest and most financially and manpower-intensive literary series since the founding of Guowen Publishing House, this series is destined to make a significant mark in the history of Guowen Publishing House and fill a blank in China's publishing industry.

Although he was not the leading person, the publication of this series of books would not have been so smooth without his support over the years.

The completion of the publication of "Collection of World Literature Classics" is also a perfect ending to his publishing career.

After chatting with Lin Weimin for a while, Cheng Zaochun said, "No, I have to call the office to report the good news."

As he said this, he hurriedly left Lin Weimin's office.

Less than ten minutes later, the leader of the department called Lin Weimin's office.

"Comrade Weimin, thank you for your hard work!"

It was the first time in so many years that Lin Weimin heard such intimate and warm words from his leader.

After expressing their condolences to Lin Weimin, the leader emphasized on praising the National Literature Publishing House for being able to complete the publication of the world-class series "World Literary Classics" in such a short period of time, and also praised the many staff members who participated in this great work.

The leader finally said:

“The publication of the World Literature Masterpieces Collection not only fills a gap in my country’s publishing industry, but also sets a monument for the country’s cultural undertakings.

You, the Guowen Society, have made contributions to the country and the people!"

(End of this chapter)