Chapter 498 It’s Too Little
The establishment of the China Youth Education Development Foundation involves multiple departments. There are certainly reasons for this. For example, in terms of publicity, how can we do without the help of others?
The news broadcast on TV's "News Broadcast" is just an appetizer, and the overwhelming print media reports the next day are the main course.
The next day, major domestic media outlets reported in detail the establishment of the China Youth Education Development Foundation. The reports also revealed some important information that was not reported on TV news, which surprised many people who were concerned about this matter.
The "News Broadcast" only mentioned that Lin Weimin was the initiator of the foundation and advocated the implementation of the Hope Project, but did not mention that this matter was directly approved by that leader.
Not only that, out of the huge amount of 75 million yuan in donations raised by the foundation in the early stage, more than 37 million yuan was donated by Lin Weimin alone.
Can you believe that nearly half of the 75 million yuan of a national foundation was donated by one person?
Many people who read this in the newspaper did not figure out the math at first, but then they put down the newspaper and started to count carefully using their fingers.
37 million RMB, what does this mean?
According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the average disposable income of urban residents in my country in 1988 was 1,119 yuan, and the average disposable income of farmers in my country was 545 yuan. Everyone knows how inflated these figures are.
In reality, the wage income level of most urban working class people is between 50 and 80 yuan. 37 million yuan is equivalent to the annual income of 60,000 to 70,000 ordinary people. If it is transferred to rural areas, the number will be even larger.
If calculated simply in terms of food, the number is even more terrifying, enough to feed hundreds of thousands of people for a whole year.
The figure revealed in the newspaper reports made countless people stunned and amazed.
In the past, many Chinese people knew that Lin Weimin was a great writer. Not only did his works frequently win major awards overseas and bring glory to the country, but his publications also sold very well. It was rumored that he was Lin Baiwan or Lin Qianwan, and that he was one of the richest people in the domestic literary world.
But no one could have imagined that he could donate more than 37 million in one go.
For the Chinese people in the 1980s, this was an astronomical figure!
A question has arisen in many people's minds: Lin Weimin donated so much money, how much money does he actually have?
No one could answer this question in an age of information blockade, but a small group of people were able to find out.
Lin Weimin was an employee of the Guowen Publishing House, and most of his colleagues in the publishing house had heard of it.
The news reports of Lin Weimin's huge donation shook down the pen holders on the desks of many employees of the Guowen Publishing House, leaving everyone shocked and unable to believe it.
Some young people, out of curiosity, gossip, envy and jealousy, gathered together and began to study Lin Weimin's income issue.
They divided Lin Weimin's income into two parts: domestic and foreign.
Starting from 1980, Lin Weimin has published a total of 11 works in China, all of which were published through or published by Guowen Publishing House. The royalties from publications are easy to calculate. Everyone is familiar with the standard of royalties from Guowen Publishing House, which is not high. It only accounts for a fraction of Lin Weimin's income, which is 100,000 yuan.
In terms of publishing, the total sales of Lin Weimin's published works have exceeded 32 million copies. Adding the basic publishing royalties and the print royalties together, his income is at least 1.4 million.
As for the adaptation part, most of Lin Weimin's works have been moved to the drama stage of the People's Art Theatre, with about 180 performances every year. The box office share income is very small, plus the royalties from the novel broadcast, it is estimated to be around 200,000 yuan.
The total domestic income over the years is about 1.7 million yuan.
Based on this income, Lin Weimin would have to donate a huge amount of 37 million yuan, and he would not be able to make up a fraction of the total even if he broke his teeth.
But the real bulk of his income comes from abroad.
Since Farewell My Concubine was published in Japan and the United States in 1982, Lin Weimin's works have been published in many overseas countries over the years, with cumulative sales exceeding 11 million copies.
Everyone knows that Lin Weimin gets royalties abroad, and he is one of the top ones.
Based on overseas book sales prices, it is conservatively estimated that Lin Weimin has earned $1,200 million from novel publishing over the years.
In addition to the income from novels, Lin Weimin earned even more from drama.
Even though he could only get a pitiful share of the box office from his plays performed in the People's Art Theatre, his value increased dramatically when he performed them abroad. It is said that he earns hundreds of thousands of dollars every quarter.
From the time everyone first heard that his play was going to be performed in the United States to now, three or four years later, everyone estimated a figure of 5 million US dollars.
There are also film and television adaptations. Except for the initial spy war trilogy, Lin Weimin's novels have not been adapted into any film and television in China, but they have been very popular overseas. It is said that the script fees for "The Lover" and "The Last Emperor" were both in six figures. Recently, I heard that the Americans bought the copyright of "The Intouchables", and it is estimated that the total cost is at least 1 million US dollars.
If calculated in terms of rice, Lin Weimin's various incomes at home and abroad over the years total nearly 20 million rice.
This time, Lin Weimin donated 37 million RMB to the China Youth Education Development Foundation. Based on this year's RMB to USD exchange rate, it is exactly 10 million USD, which is almost half of Lin Weimin's total income.
After calculating this number, everyone couldn't help but marvel again.
"If you earned 20 million US dollars and donated 10 million US dollars, would you be willing to do that?" someone asked this question.
My colleagues looked at each other, and most of them shook their heads hesitantly. "It's too much. If it was tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, I might donate."
This is the mentality of most people.
There is a young man who is unconventional. "If it were me, I would donate, not to mention 10 million, I would donate 15 million. After donating 15 million, I would still have 5 million dollars left, which is enough to last me ten lifetimes. Why would I be reluctant to give it up?"
A colleague beside him tried to take money out of his pocket, but he quickly covered it up and asked, "What for?"
"Don't you want to make a donation? Come on, donate half of this month's salary to the foundation."
The young man stopped covering his pocket with his hand, and when his colleague reached in again, he couldn't help but cover his pocket again.
"What? Can't bear to part with it?" a colleague joked.
The others also laughed when they saw this.
This class was so lively. Everyone can talk about it, but when it comes to real action, not everyone has the courage to donate so much money.
Seeing the others laughing exaggeratedly, the young man muttered, "You are laughing so happily, if it were you, you would be reluctant to donate either."
"That's right. There's always an old saying that the richer you are, the more stingy you are. For ordinary people like us, no one can donate tens of millions of dollars just because we want to."
When colleagues talked about this, admiration was evident on their faces.
A simple experiment allowed everyone to see the reactions of ordinary people in the face of money. Everyone present asked themselves: if they were allowed to get along easily with Xiaonian, they would not be much better off.
Therefore, Lin Weimin's donation this time really made everyone see what it means to regard money as dirt.
That’s 37 million!
"Hey, for the people!"
Lin Weimin and Tong Zhonggui were delivering manuscripts when they were stopped by Liu Yin.
"What's the matter?" Lin Weimin knew it was nothing good when he saw Liu Yin's gossipy expression.
As expected, Liu Yin asked, "The guys in the front building said you made 20 million Mi Dao. Is that really that much?"
The other people in the office also pricked up their ears curiously.
Lin Weimin asked curiously: "How did they calculate it?"
"It's an estimate!"
Under Lin Weimin's questioning, Liu Yin explained to him in detail the estimation methods of his colleagues.
Lin Weimin shook his head, "No."
Liu Yin understood and said, "I was just saying these guys are talking nonsense. Twenty million Mi Dao, how much money is that?"
When she said this, she looked at Lin Weimin with admiration in her eyes, "Are you donating all your wife's capital this time?"
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "It's not that exaggerated. Anyway, the remaining money will definitely be enough for me to spend."
Liu Yin nodded, "That's right, the money you earn is enough to last a lifetime even if there is only a small fraction left, not to mention you can still earn more!"
After chatting with Liu Yin for a few words, Lin Weimin left the office with a smile on his face.
Just now Liu Yin asked him about his income, and he said it was wrong and he was not lying, the calculation was indeed wrong.
Everyone has only heard about his various incomes from hearsay and has only a vague understanding of them. The actual calculation is definitely inaccurate, as most of them are underestimated, and they are not even aware of some of his income.
The bulk of his income comes from overseas publishing and box office revenue from Broadway shows.
In the past few years, the overseas publication of his novels has brought him an income of 13 million US dollars, and the box office revenue of the two plays "The Intouchables" and "The Kite Runner" has also reached 16 million US dollars.
In terms of movies, "The Lover" made 200,000 Hong Kong dollars, "The Last Emperor" made 10 million Hong Kong dollars, "The Intouchables" made 30 million Hong Kong dollars, and "Life is Beautiful" made 800,000 Hong Kong dollars, which together totaled more than 1.3 million Hong Kong dollars.
Everyone's estimates of domestic income are similar, which is around 2 million RMB.
All these sums added up to more than 31 million US dollars in rice, which is much more than everyone's estimate.
But in fact, his colleagues didn't know that he had two other sources of income.
One is the share of the box office revenue from "The Phantom of the Opera" performed in London's West End for more than a year, which is more than 18 million US dollars.
The other was the appreciation of the Japanese yen starting in 1985. He made a net profit of nearly 12 million US dollars just by holding the Japanese yen.
So, when Liu Yin asked him about his income, Lin Weimin did not lie, and his colleagues' calculations were indeed wrong.
It's not too much, it's too little.
His total income over the years has exceeded 61 million US dollars.
He bought antique paintings, cars, and houses, and spent a lot of money in the past few years, but only spent 3 million US dollars.
The remaining tens of millions of US dollars lay quietly in the bank's foreign exchange account, which even made the leaders of the Bank of China feel upset.
With so much foreign exchange that we can only look at but not move, and there is such a shortage of foreign exchange now, who wouldn’t be jealous?
In fact, Lin Weimin himself was a little upset watching this. He now finally slowly understood why some bigwigs in later generations often "spoke wildly" and thus became the target of criticism from many netizens.
Fortunately, this time, he finally took the opportunity to donate to the foundation and spent 10 million US dollars.
Seeing the first digit in his bank's foreign exchange account drop from "5" to "4", for some reason, Lin Weimin was no longer so upset.
When you are in a bad mood, spending money is the best way to heal yourself.
Thank you all for your concern. Some of you even gave me some tips for my old waist. Thank you!
(End of this chapter)
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