Chapter 496 Who Spoils You? (Bug Fix): Everyone's scheming
Wang Xiao stayed in Beijing for a whole week, and even ate Yuanxiao (sweet rice balls) with Director Zeng and the others on the Lantern Festival.
Is it delicious? I don't know.
After talking or arguing for a week straight, my tongue was completely numb and my sense of taste was dulled. When I put food in my mouth, it was purely to fill my stomach.
It's not that either side is deliberately picking a fight, but they can argue about a single project for a whole week.
Rather, it's unprecedented. This is the first time in Chinese history that cross-border e-commerce has been undertaken, and the first time such a method has been used to circumvent export quotas.
None of the steps were precedents, and there were no laws to follow. Therefore, every detail had to be written down.
Otherwise, the subsequent project progress will easily encounter situations where "there was no such rule before, and I don't know what to do."
Anyone who has dealt with government agencies knows that if any link in the chain gets blocked, the whole thing will be stuck and there will be no follow-up.
After eating the glutinous rice balls, everyone also needs to take the opportunity to discuss the next steps of the work.
Director Zeng looked at Wang Xiao and sighed with envy: "A strong general has no weak soldiers. President Wang, you really have a strong army now. Look, these are all your soldiers, each and every one of them is capable."
Wang Xiao smiled and shook hands with him: "It's our honor to receive such praise. Your subordinates are the same; aren't they all talented? To be honest, I'd like to poach some of your people."
Director Zeng looked terrified and kept exclaiming, "Oh dear, please don't do it! We're already short-staffed and overworked, with each person doing the work of two. If we get any fewer people, our work will be completely paralyzed."
Wang Xiao smiled and sighed, "I knew it. We can't easily poach our cadres."
Director Zeng sighed, "We'll need to send more people to the factory to conduct research and coordinate with you, and we're really short-handed."
Yang Tao picked up the conversation, smiling, and said, "Leaders, you should borrow more people from the local areas, so that the local comrades can have more opportunities to train."
"That won't work either. It's not like you can just transfer people whenever you want." Director Zeng's sigh grew louder. "Putting everything else aside, just finding accommodation is a problem. Meals are easy to arrange; everyone can make do and squeeze out what they can. But where can we find accommodation? There aren't enough dormitories. If we send people out to rent rooms or stay in hotels, who will reimburse the expenses? We're short of administrative funds everywhere."
Wang Xiao sighed along with him: "Yes, nothing is easy, everything is difficult."
As the group got into the car and left, Xiao Gao was completely bewildered: "What does Director Zeng mean? Does he expect us to take care of the accommodation for the seconded personnel?"
Thinking about it, it's actually quite possible.
Those who live near mountains live off the mountains, and those who live near water live off the water; both are resources.
But do they have a place for people to stay? The boss himself comes to Beijing on business and stays in hotels.
Wang Xiao smiled and shook his head: "That's not what he meant. Director Zeng was just telling us to be mentally prepared that the number of people the business center can send to help us liaise with the manufacturers will be very limited. Given the conditions, he has already done his best."
Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao exchanged a glance. Goodness, this leader's every word has three layers of meaning.
Wang Xiao looked up out the car window; a full moon, like a silver plate, hung in the sky.
Unfortunately, the air pollution in Beijing is indeed severe now. Even the moon on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month looks blurry, as if it's covered by more than one layer of veil.
Not far away, under the overpass, laid-off workers still stood, looking for work. Their exhaled breath turned into white mist, blurring their features and making them look like clumps of shadows.
This time, however, the air was no longer silent. A singer wrapped in a military overcoat was singing into a microphone: "Looking at flowers through the mist, gazing at the moon in the water, can you discern this ever-changing world..." (Note ①)
The singing was quite good and very fitting for the occasion.
The laid-off workers who hadn't yet found work applauded and whistled at him.
Look, even those who are in distress can find their own happiness and can discover their own joy.
Zhang Tao sighed, "Beijing is Beijing after all. There are so many opportunities here. Singers all come here to look for opportunities."
Decades ago, singers all went to Guangzhou to seek opportunities. Singers like Yang Yuying and Mao Ning both rose to fame singing in Guangzhou.
In the past two years, singers have all moved north to Beijing.
Wang Xiao chuckled and stretched his stiff neck: "That's why it's the capital; all the talented people flock to Beijing."
She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao waiting listlessly for the traffic light to turn green. She casually remarked, "If you're bored, then think about what the third meaning is."
The two looked at each other blankly before realizing that what the boss meant by a statement they had made earlier had three layers of meaning.
Wow, there really are three layers of meaning!
They instinctively glanced at the other people in the car, and Zhou Liang was the first to refuse: "I don't know, my head is a complete mess right now."
He's thinking about how to improve the payment system.
Yang Tao waved her hand and said, "Don't look for me, I'm just wondering how to recruit people."
The others also firmly declined, so please don't mention it; everyone is busy.
The two simply gave up: "We don't want to. It's a holiday, and we don't want to use our brains at all."
The main problem is that I don't have much brainpower to use.
Wang Xiao smiled and waved his hand: "Whatever."
Anyway, I don't expect to train them to be senior executives.
The light turned green, and the car drove forward, leaving the singing and the crowd behind.
Yang Tao quietly reported to her boss, "Everything's arranged. I'll send them another serving of glutinous rice balls for a late-night snack later."
Wang Xiao squinted to rest, then nodded. The Lantern Festival is a big festival too.
Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao thought the same thing.
So after returning to the hotel, the two of them made a special call to Tang Yicheng to send him holiday greetings, and by the way, they brought up what Director Zeng had said earlier that day, grinning and saying, "He's just digging a hole for us. He's been unhappy ever since he couldn't become the boss."
But why doesn't Director Zeng think about this? Is her boss the kind of person who lets others make decisions for her?
If that's the case, the boss's business won't be able to grow very large.
Tang Yicheng didn't like eating glutinous rice balls; sticky, sugary things didn't suit his taste. So he ate roast meat and drank beer, leaning back in his chair, and asked curiously, "What's going on?"
He was very happy to cultivate good relations with Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao; which high-ranking official doesn't need the support of the emperor's close advisors?
After listening to the two bodyguards whisper about what had happened, Tang Yicheng chuckled and praised them, "They really are central government officials; they can dig a pit for someone without making a sound."
Xiao Gao pressed on, asking, "How exactly do you dig the hole?"
He felt that Director Zeng was just trying to make things difficult for the boss.
“Nine times out of ten, leaders at this level wouldn’t be that bored,” Tang Yicheng said frankly. “He’s a typical pragmatic official, persistent and using indirect methods to achieve his goals.”
Xiao Zhao eagerly pressed on, "Which country did he save?"
“The factories that have gone bankrupt or closed down,” Tang Yicheng laughed. “He told you that you didn’t have enough manpower, so it’s only natural that the factory coordination process is slow. Once you’ve completed all the other preparations, the manufacturers are still late in arriving, and the goods can’t be listed on time. The website certainly can’t just sit around waiting, right?”
Both Xiao Zhao and Xiao Zhao agreed wholeheartedly. Initial advertising and promotion require money. Logistics costs for dispensing the medicine also add up.
Tang Yicheng sighed: "By then, everything will be ready except for the final push. The website will definitely have to speed up the product selection process, right? With the situation urgent and the enemy at the gates, can we afford to be so meticulous? Let's just get it up and running for now. At that time, the e-commerce center will provide you with another list of manufacturers. All of that is already prepared. So, will you go online or not?"
The answer is yes. It's like a shopping mall opening on schedule; no matter what it is, it has to be taken out and put on the shelves first.
Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao suddenly realized: "So, after all this time, they still wanted to force us to sell things that they couldn't sell at all."
Why choose closed-down factories over perfectly good ones?
Tang Yicheng laughed and said, "It's just like old folks. I want the children who are doing well to subsidize the children who are doing poorly."
It's a kind heart; they can't bear to see people suffer.
But the problem is, you can't make decisions for others.
How do conflicts arise between generations? Eight out of ten times, it's like this.
He agreed with his boss's idea: what's the point of saving them? There's absolutely no need to save those that are already closed.
McKinsey's assessment report pointed out that last year, 46% of China's 100,000 large state-owned enterprises were operating at a loss.
The government has tried to help them; state-owned enterprises (SOEs) account for 80% of China's new loans. Yet, their contribution to the country's total output is less than 30%.
Honestly, is this fair?
If we keep supporting them like this, when will it end?
The government can't make money, so isn't this subsidy money coming from other people's pockets? In the long run, who can afford it? Who won't have complaints?
Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao finally understood, and both felt disgusted: "So they're using us to do favors?"
No wonder the boss didn't say much on the way back. Anyone who gets tricked like that would feel like they've swallowed a fly.
Luckily, they have their own source of goods; otherwise, they would have been driven crazy by Director Zeng.
Tang Yicheng was both amused and exasperated: "Isn't doing business all about you scheming against me and me scheming against you? You two are always by the boss's side. Is the boss the kind of person who would suffer a loss? She schemed against him too."
ah?
The two bodyguards were completely baffled. What kind of scheme was this? The boss had at most sensed the other party's sinister intentions and carefully avoided the trap.
Tang Yicheng scratched his head.
He now firmly believes in the saying that genes determine destiny.
These two guys follow the boss around every day, but they don't seem to have any sense of reason. What a waste of such good conditions.
He had to remind them, "Have you been focusing on policy support for website operations and sales these past few days?"
Xiao Gao echoed, "That's indeed what we're discussing."
They started talking about export tax rebates, export subsidies, and market development support from day one, going into such detail that their ears were sore from listening.
"Whether these policies can move from paper to reality depends on the implementation by the relevant departments. If the e-commerce center is committed, and with the Premier personally overseeing the process, these policies can be implemented quickly."
"On the contrary, a single document might give you one or two years to get approved."
"The e-commerce center wants to make things difficult for e-commerce companies in their choices. If it's a manufacturer they want to recommend, they can't just do nothing."
"The Premier is personally overseeing this, and he's known for his iron fist. If they're slow and hesitant, they're just asking for trouble and waiting to be punished."
"Moreover, the longer these factories are shut down, the more likely things are to go wrong. Therefore, the e-commerce center dares not delay."
"So what do they do? They put a lot of effort into preferential and supportive policies to push the project forward at lightning speed. That way, when it comes to the final step, the website can't afford to waste any more time and has no choice but to listen to them and cooperate with their actions."
"Besides, since they've been working so diligently, even if your website eventually sees through their intentions, wouldn't you feel awkward turning against them and just have to accept it with a stiff nose?"
Oh my god!
Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao were both dumbfounded.
These people are as cunning as honeycomb briquettes; they're even more complicated than when fighting a war.
Xiao Gao blurted out: "So the boss is taking this opportunity to have the e-commerce center work for her for free?"
As expected of their boss, she can make use of everyone.
So what if she's a leader in a central ministry? If others dare to scheme against her, she can scheme back.
No wonder he's Brother Tang; only someone who started doing business with the boss from the very beginning could see things so clearly.
Xiao Zhao said sincerely, "Brother Tang, the two of our heads combined are not worth as much as yours alone."
Tang Yicheng thought to himself: Thanks, but I don't want your heads. Even if you put them all together, they wouldn't be of any use.
He smiled and didn't respond to that question, but instead changed the subject: "Is the boss busy right now? If not, I'll give him a call."
Unfortunately, Wang Xiao was busy.
Yang Tao was sitting opposite her, giving a work report.
But when Tang Yicheng said he wanted to call her, she answered his call immediately.
Yang Tao was slightly disappointed. The boss's choices had already proven that President Tang was much more important than her.
This gave her a strong sense of crisis in her career, and she desperately polished her plan in her mind, hoping to convince her boss in one go.
Wang Xiao wasn't intentionally using manipulative tactics on Yang Tao; she was just forcing the workplace hustler to evolve.
She simply didn't call Tang Yicheng to wish her a happy Lantern Festival unless there was something important to say, as he was in Hong Kong.
As expected, Brother Tang only gave a brief, polite greeting before getting straight to the point: "I reckon the supply of goods in the Yangtze River Delta region is already readily available, but things might be a bit more complicated in the Northeast. I have a few people working for me who were with me when we were in Suifenhe, so they're quite familiar with the situation in the Northeast. If we can't find anyone more suitable right away, we can transfer them over there."
Wang Xiao laughed and said, "President Tang is indeed President Tang. He can always be relied upon in critical moments."
Yang Tao was already regretting it in her heart.
For the executives at Wuzhou, President Tang was like a towering mountain.
Back in Shanghai, it was General Tang who sent Zhang Junfei, one of his men, to oust her from that battlefield.
Now, when it comes to online shopping, he can find a way to squeeze his subordinates into the product selection team.
Yet no one can say a bad word about him, because he always steps up when the boss needs him most.
It's easy to imagine how devoted Tang Yicheng's subordinates would be to him with these two ready-made examples in front of them.
If it were her, she wouldn't be able to refuse either; following him would truly lead to a bright future.
Wang Xiao hung up the phone, and seeing her lost in thought, he smiled and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Yang Tao blurted out, "President Tang is really capable."
She didn't know how to describe it. The earliest people who worked for the boss were General Manager Tang, General Manager Xiang, and General Manager Feng, and later General Manager Chen, but the latter three combined didn't seem to have the same drive as General Manager Tang.
It's not that other people aren't ambitious, hardworking, or don't cultivate talent; she herself was recommended to the boss by General Manager Chen.
But they were all passive; they only pushed people away when the boss asked them for more.
President Tang is different; President Tang always takes the initiative to push people forward.
She couldn't say these words aloud, so she could only vaguely reply, "President Tang's reaction is truly astute."
Wang Xiao smiled knowingly, "Learn from him. No matter where President Tang goes, he's always capable of handling things independently. By the way, what were you going to tell me?"
Yang Tao quickly perked up: "Boss, I think the website can further expand its product range. Our current main focus is on domestic sales to export, but in fact, we can also import."
The reason she suddenly came up with this idea was because after returning home that evening, she called Zhao Qing to discuss talent recruitment.
A few years ago, Zhao Qing was developing the imported flower market for high-end hotels in Beijing, while Zhu Jingjing was doing courtyard house recycling.
However, later, in order to cooperate with the demolition of factories in the electronics city and send laid-off workers abroad for labor export, they began to act as intermediaries.
Then the job grew bigger and bigger, and the scope of business expanded, so it simply became their main job.
After Yang Tao finished discussing serious matters with them, the two women inquired about her next trip to the United States, so they could bring back things for their friends from America.
It was after hearing this that Yang Tao was inspired and suddenly realized that there was also an online shopping market in China that catered to foreign consumer demand.
In fact, this market has always existed. In the 1980s, some people tried to find people from abroad to help bring in imported home appliances.
The situation is similar now.
Although they travel all over the world frequently, so they don't feel it much, in fact, it is still very difficult for Chinese people to travel abroad.
From a theoretical perspective, after the government issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Citizens' Self-Funded Overseas Travel on July 1, 1997, the day Hong Kong returned to China, citizens were able to travel abroad legitimately.
But in reality, there are still many restrictions.
Currently, the only approved destinations for citizens to travel abroad at their own expense are Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Russia.
It doesn't include Europe and America at all, and Japan is out of the question either. Even if you're incredibly wealthy and want to travel to these countries and buy things along the way, you simply can't do it without certain connections.
Ironically, goods from these countries are quite popular among Chinese people, especially those who have become wealthy first.
“I checked, and as of the end of last December, our country had 2.1 million internet users, and the growth rate is very fast. The statistics on June 30 last year showed only 1.175 million. They are not a large number, but they are high-end customers.”
With current internet access fees, those who can afford it won't go poor.
It is precisely these people who are curious about products from countries like Europe, America, and Japan, and who also have the financial means to try them.
"As for the fact that few people in our country use credit cards, that's not a big problem. They can send money to the website through the post office."
"On the seller side, WoBuy.com is not a small website; it's a world-renowned international shopping website. Our rapidly growing market value is a natural endorsement that can win the trust of manufacturers in Europe, America, Japan, and other countries. Moreover, we can also contact buyers to directly open stores and supply goods."
Even when she was still managing the Zhimen Trade City, many Romanian buyers came there to select goods. Moreover, as far as she knew, these buyers would also go to Western European countries to buy goods and then sell them in Romania.
They could easily continue doing the same thing.
Yang Tao carefully observed the boss's expression: "I think this can satisfy the needs of domestic customers and cultivate the domestic online shopping market. After all, our country has so many people, it's a huge market. On the other hand, selling goods from these countries to China is a good thing for them. In the future, when it comes to the regulation of small parcels, they, as beneficiaries, may exert their influence to affect the policy-making of their respective countries."
Wang Xiao smiled and nodded: "Okay, go ahead and do it. You can decide the specifics yourself."
Before she traveled through time, this business had a specific name: overseas shopping.
Yang Tao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and assured her boss, "I will definitely do my best."
She experienced the internet boom in the United States and clearly realized that this was the age of the internet, which could produce countless miracles.
Wang Xiao laughed: "Go ahead and do it! Actually, no one can define exactly how online shopping should be done, including the person who first proposed it."
Everything is full of infinite possibilities, and so are all industries.
She is a time traveler; she knows the so-called correct answer.
But is the correct answer the only correct answer?
Does not taking a certain path necessarily mean failure?
No, no one can be sure.
Just like the moon outside the window, the moon on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is like a silver plate, so there is a full moon on the fifteenth of every month.
So why restrict yourself and set so many rules and regulations?
Wang Xiao yawned and told the guest to leave, "Alright, go back to sleep. We can talk about any problems tomorrow."
Oh dear, she won't be able to rest tomorrow either.
It's not that she still has to coordinate with Xiang Dong about online store models. President Xiang is very good at this kind of work. There's no difference in essence between offline models and online models. They can handle it themselves and don't need her to worry about it.
Sigh, I bet they'll be recruiting lots of handsome young men and beautiful young women. I'll go over and have a good look, and feast my eyes.
Someone like her, who is prone to anemia, should look at beautiful women more often.
With a longing for beauty in her heart, she tilted her head, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
When she woke up in the morning, she unfortunately had a stiff neck.
I pressed the Wailaogong acupoint and used a hairdryer, and it felt better for less than half a minute before it started hurting again.
A group of people surrounded her, some calling doctors for help, others giving her massages, all busy and happy.
We need to help her recover quickly, because she has to catch a flight back to Xiaozhou today.
Why the rush? Because Zhang Rujing is also flying from Taiwan to Xiaozhou today to officially begin serving as his advisor.
She couldn't very well not show up to greet them, could she? It wouldn't be good for them to feel neglected on the very first day, would it?
Therefore, her neck can't continue to hurt, otherwise she won't be able to sit comfortably on the plane.
Finally, I had to call around and ask a director of a rehabilitation department for help. The doctor's advice was to have her sit up straight. If she had a stiff neck on the right side, she should slowly turn her neck to the left. When she felt pain, she should stop, hold her breath for at least 20 seconds, and then return her neck to its original position. She should repeat this three to five times and it should be fine.
Wang Xiao tried it and felt that it did seem to help a bit; at least her neck wasn't as stiff as a rock anymore.
Yang Tao looked at her boss, unsure whether to envy her or pity her.
If the boss has any problem, no matter how trivial, countless people will get anxious and try their best to serve her and solve the problem as soon as possible.
Isn't that something to be envious of?
If it were someone else, they would most likely have to bear it all by themselves.
But at the same time, the boss can't stop.
The reason everyone is so anxious is that if she stops, the work can't be carried out, and in the end, everyone will suffer.
Doesn't this deserve our sympathy?
Wang Xiao didn't think others should envy her—who would envy her if they tried getting a stiff neck first? It hurt like hell.
She started experiencing pain while going through security and could only walk while slowly turning her neck.
Then, when boarding the plane, she had to repeat the same actions.
The surrounding passengers all stared at her in astonishment, as if she were E.T.
Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao couldn't help but admire their boss's incredible composure. She could truly be oblivious to everyone around her, completely unconcerned, even ignoring what others thought of her.
This is a manifestation of strength.
However, it seems that if we follow this standard, there are more and more powerful women nowadays.
While waiting for their flight, they saw a woman putting on makeup—shouldn't that be something done at home?
According to the magazine, women only let others see the result of their transformation, never the process of it.
Wang Xiao finally managed to turn her neck back around and casually replied, "When do we have time? The faster the pace of society, the less people care about these things."
But then again, how many people around us are truly worth our attention?
Then, she leaned against the seat the whole way, with a heat pack on her shoulder and a hot water bottle under the right side of her neck, and flew back to Xiaozhou.
Thank goodness, at least her neck was able to move slightly back and forth when she landed.
A group of people protected their boss as if she were facing a formidable enemy, fearing that she might be harmed again.
Before she got off the plane, Lyuba made a point of tying her scarf properly, just in case she caught a chill from the wind and her neck would stiffen up again.
So everyone entering and leaving Xiaozhou Airport looked at her strangely—good heavens, it's 20 degrees Celsius in Xiaozhou today. Look at how lush the grass is and how the peach blossoms are blooming so eagerly, yet someone is still wearing a scarf. Is she trying to get heat rash by covering herself up?
When Zhang Rujing got off the plane, he was also taken aback by her attire.
However, the man was refined and, although it was strange, he didn't ask anything, which at least eased Wang Xiao's embarrassment about his haphazard attire.
Once the car had taken everyone to the chip factory and everyone was seated in the conference room with the doors and windows closed, Liuba finally allowed Wang Xiao to take off her scarf.
Unfortunately, at that moment, the conference room door opened again, and a gust of wind blew in, which was surprisingly cool.
She immediately felt a tightness around her neck again.
Lyuba quickly pressed her back with her hands to help loosen the stiff muscles.
"Is everyone here? Let's begin if everyone's here," Wang Xiao reminded everyone, drawing their attention away from her female bodyguard.
The factory manager then quickly spoke up: "Then let me tell you about the current situation. The biggest problem is that cooperation is not going smoothly, and the integration is not going well."
While being manipulated with intense pleasure, Wang Xiao grimaced and asked, "Which side is not working smoothly? Is it the American company's side?"
"No, no, no, they are very easy to talk to, and we cooperated quite well."
It was even so good that it surprised the factory manager.
He originally thought that there was a serious clash between Eastern and Western cultures between China and the United States, and that they would be unable to communicate effectively, making it impossible to advance the work.
He discovered that Americans were quite easy to talk to, even more so than Europeans. Once both sides agreed on something, it could be pushed forward. Even if problems arose along the way, they could hold another meeting, discuss it, and continue working on it.
What really gave him a headache were the South Korean engineers, the very South Korean engineers who were sold along with LG Electronics' chips.
Even though we are all East Asians and have been influenced by Confucian culture, we are still very difficult to communicate with. When we try to communicate about something, it always falls apart.
The factory manager sighed, looking at Zhang Rujing with hopeful anticipation, hoping that the other party could produce a miracle cure.
You can't hit them, you can't scold them, and dragging your feet on the work isn't going to work either. If the yield rate isn't high, then every product we make will result in a loss.
Before Zhang Rujing could even speak, Wang Xiao frowned: "You have a problem with that? You think we're forcing them into a sale and insulting them? Get this straight, it's LG that doesn't want them anymore. LG can keep the LCD screens, why can't they keep them? Because they're not good enough, they're not worth the group spending so much money to keep them. Don't you all have any self-awareness?"
They have to be incredibly humble in South Korea, but they think they can act all high and mighty in China? They're really giving them too much credit!
Zhang Rujing tried to ease the tension, but Wang Xiao didn't give him a chance and launched into a second round of attacks: "Now we're spreading the word that our 0.18-micron process has been successfully piloted and will soon be packed up and brought back to China from Belgium to begin large-scale commercial production line trials of 0.18 microns."
Huh? Everyone was stunned.
What...what does that mean?
Why not just go straight to 0.18 micrometers and skip the mature 0.25 micrometer production lines?
"Forget it. If the yield rate can't be improved, then forget it. Just scrap it." Wang Xiao said expressionlessly. "I'm not short of money. I'll just throw money at it and continue working on the 0.18-micron production line. The 0.25-micron production line isn't appealing to me anymore. I don't need it. LG Electronics engineers can stay or leave as they please, I don't care!"
There are limits to taking a joke.
It's been a year already, and you're still acting all high and mighty? The technology you're so proud of is depreciating every day.
Do you really think you're irreplaceable?
One by one, these are all bad habits they've developed!
————————!!————————
Note ①: "Seeing Flowers Through the Fog" was originally a song composed by Yan Su and Sun Chuan for the 1993 CCTV "3.15" Gala's "anti-counterfeiting" theme. Surprisingly, I was quite astonished when I found this while researching.
In addition, regarding the relevant regulations for overseas travel in 1999, please refer to the article on the Guangming.com homepage > Homepage > Digest Newspaper.
Outbound tourism: When will my country fully open up its borders?
July 25, 1999 Source: Wenzhai Bao I Have Something to Say
Lin Chunxia
In 1983, the first group of mainland residents secretly traveled to Hong Kong under the guise of visiting relatives. It wasn't until 1984, with the approval of the State Council, that official family visit tours to Hong Kong and Macau were launched. In 1990, based on tours to Hong Kong and Macau, overseas family visit tours were introduced, initially limited to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Later, the Philippines was added. It wasn't until July 1, 1997, when the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Self-Funded Overseas Tourism by Chinese Citizens" came into effect, that Chinese citizens were able to legally travel abroad.
Currently, there are still many restrictions on outbound tourism from China. Only eight destination countries are approved for Chinese citizens to travel abroad at their own expense. Furthermore, total volume control and quota management are implemented for outbound tourism. On the other hand, tourist destination countries also adopt corresponding restrictive policies towards Chinese outbound tourism, especially some developed countries in Europe and America, which are hesitant to open their doors to China due to concerns about Chinese tourists overstaying their visas. Some travel agencies illegally operating outbound tourism businesses frequently encounter problems with their staff overstaying their visas. Out of caution, China International Travel Service (CITS) conducts stricter screening of outbound tourists.
Outbound tourism restrictions have created numerous inconveniences for travel agencies. The entire process typically takes 40-50 days, and many travelers assume they can complete their travel permits within a week, often resulting in their enthusiasm for overseas travel being dampened by the time constraints. In some developed countries, obtaining a passport for overseas travel generally takes only 2-3 days, with even the slowest taking only a week. China's procedures for completing outbound travel permits need simplification. [Winking face]
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