Chapter 2355: First Arrival in Sanya

The Senate hadn't disdained his age but promoted him to this position. And he had devoted himself entirely to his duties, serving with diligence.

Now he was truly "old," and the Australians were telling him to "retire." Today was his last day working at the Political Security Bureau.

All handover procedures had been completed. Yesterday afternoon, his colleagues had held a farewell tea party for him. Though there was no banquet, plenty of tea and snacks were provided. Colleagues from the Reconnaissance Division had pooled their money to buy him a gift, and everyone toasted him one by one with tea in place of wine. Finally, Chief Guo, the new head of the Reconnaissance Division, had attended. Though newly installed, he spoke many praiseworthy words about Liu Fuqing, thanking him for his years of service to the Senate. A brief ceremony followed, awarding him a "Certificate of Appreciation" and a "Labor Service Medal" signed by the Director and Deputy Directors.

The "Labor Service Medal" wasn't a particularly high honor—regulations specified that all naturalized cadres and employees of the Senate who retired normally could receive one. Yet when Guo Yi personally pinned the medal on his chest, Liu Fuqing shed tears for the first time in years.

He couldn't quite explain why he wept. Beyond the mixed feelings of leaving his post, it was more about the Senate's recognition of him. This was an emotion he had never experienced in all his years as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice.

Alas, I am old, he thought.

Liu Fuqing felt a hollowness inside. His family members were either dead or scattered, and he hadn't established a new family after coming to Lingao. For the past few years, he had essentially treated the bureau as his home. Now retired, where could he go?

Naturally, he could no longer access the bureau's single dormitory and canteen. Colleagues from the General Affairs Division had rented him a "Standard Single Residence" in the civil servant residential area of Lingao Old Town. The rent was nearly symbolic—extremely low. Eating was also easy to solve; plenty of "canteens" catered to single people locally. Whether ordering individual dishes or buying a "meal plan," it posed no burden for someone like him with a "pension."

The Australians think of everything; they won't let their faithful servants come to a bad end, Liu Fuqing mused. Not like the Great Ming. The masters treated you as human when you were useful, and as nothing when you weren't. Petty officials like us were truly worth less than toilet paper!

Though food and clothing wouldn't be a concern in the days ahead, what would he do? Liu Fuqing was certain of one thing: he could live at least another five or six years. Would he simply drift along and wait for death during those years?

He gathered his last belongings: his PSB identification and personal sidearm—he would turn them in at the guardroom when leaving. Then he would walk out the gate and, in the future, would have to apply for a pass separately if he wanted to enter this courtyard again. He took one last lingering look at this small office. Just as he was filled with emotion, the office door opened.

"Comrade Region Commander! Chief Guo requests your presence."

Xu Yanliang stood on the observation tower of Anleyou Pier, gazing out at the rippling expanse of Dadonghai.

In the old spacetime, he had been to Hainan and naturally visited Dadonghai. But for someone who had already traveled to Southeast Asia and seen pristine tropical islands, attractions like Sanya and Dadonghai were rather ordinary. Especially when diving—the gap was even more pronounced.

That trip to Sanya in the old spacetime had given Xu Yanliang plenty of material for complaints but no commendable memories.

This was his first time visiting Sanya under the Senate's rule.

The trip had been quite rushed; he had brought only a few attendants from the Southeast Asia Company who were familiar with the local situation. He hadn't even brought Li Huamei, whom they intended to place in an important position.

Since Wang Luobin's transfer back to Lingao, Sanya's development had stagnated. Though it remained a "Special City" and the "Southern Central Metropolis" in the island-wide planning of Hainan Region, it showed little of the scale a "Special City" should possess in actual construction.

One reason was financial constraints—the Senate couldn't allocate much money to develop Sanya. The other was Sanya's awkward location and geographical environment, which limited its development within the Senate's urban system.

In the Senate's plan, besides serving as the administrative center of southern Hainan Island and the export port for Tiandu iron ore, Sanya was also projected to become an important chemical and commercial trade center for southern Hainan. Xu Yanliang had seen the plan compiled under the Planning Committee's leadership in the Great Library: it envisioned using petroleum from Southeast Asia and salt from Yinggehai to establish a chemical industrial zone, and also designated Sanya as a "Nanyang Trade Center."

However, after these few years, most of these ambitious plans remained on paper. Even the planned "Navy Base and Command Center for the Nanyang Direction" had not materialized.

The ambitious salt chemical and petrochemical bases were entirely absent. Petrochemicals aside, even the "mature" industry of salt chemicals hadn't been rolled out. The reason was simple: no matter how superior Yinggehai's salt-drying conditions were, it was just a barren beach, requiring massive manpower and resources to transform into a salt field. And the edible salt produced by salt fields in northern Hainan and along Guangdong's southern coast was sufficient for the Senate's current salt chemical industry needs.

Of course, further expanding salt chemical production capacity was always beneficial, but the manpower and resources required to build the Yinggehai Salt Field daunted the Planning Committee. Though the "Yinggehai State-owned Salt City" unit now appeared on the Planning Committee's SOE roster, it was just a small salt field with annual output comparable only to Ma'ao Salt Field—more an employment base for exiles than a serious supplier of salt to the Senate.

Of the industrial planning assigned to Sanya at that time, besides the Tiandu Mining Bureau, the only thing truly realized was the coconut product processing base. Currently, the trade and processing center for coconuts in southern Hainan was located in Sanya. The other large-scale industrial enterprise was the Arrack Distillery.

Though the Senate had once promoted the trading center facing Nanyang, listing Sanya as an "Open Port" when concluding various trade agreements, the reality was that aside from Quark Poor's labor trade, most European merchant ships wouldn't use this place as a trading port.

The Senate had originally believed that since this location was a necessary stop on the route to Nanyang, and historically Nanyang trade ships had docked here, policy support would naturally foster a trading port.

On the other hand, there was Sanya's awkward geographical position. The Senators had overlooked one problem: though European merchants weren't choosy when seeking trading ports along the Chinese coast—willing to occupy even savage places like Tainan—the premise was that they had no better choice. Given options, everyone preferred trading at ports close to product sales and supply areas rather than at transshipment ports.

Sanya happened to be a city that produced no export commodities and consumed very few imported ones. The products exported most from here were iron ore and various coconut products—which strictly speaking were materials of the Planning Committee rather than commodities. The only local commodity that could truly be sold to foreign merchants was Arrack.

The bulk export commodities favored by foreign merchants—silk fabrics, sugar, rum, industrial products, steel products, glass products, food, porcelain—Sanya produced very little or none at all. This meant these commodities all had to be transported from Lingao and the mainland.

Though the Planning Committee and Sanya Special City had established many preferential conditions—including low-priced land and tax exemptions—to attract private capital for factory investment and overseas trade participation, and had indeed attracted quite a few merchants to set up "Limited Companies" in Sanya, Xu Yanliang walked around and found few local manufacturing enterprises. Most were "companies" consisting of little more than a sign. And there was no feeling of "bustling commerce."

The Agricultural Sector had invested substantial resources opening "Tropical Crop Gardens" around Sanya, but Hainan Island's conditions for tropical crops were far inferior to Southeast Asia's. Producing spices here was inferior to India and the Moluccas in both cost and yield, while the climatic conditions for planting rubber, cocoa, and palm oil in Sanya were somewhat insufficient, with very long production cycles. So far, no trade scale had formed. Moreover, in the long run, Hainan Island wasn't an ideal planting location anyway.

As for imports, even fewer commodities could be directly consumed locally. Because the city's scale couldn't rise and the industrial level was limited, Sanya's formal residents still numbered only fifty thousand—mainly mining bureau workers and agricultural immigrants settled by the Planning Committee on surrounding farms. Their own consumption wasn't enough to support significant imports. Currently, the only bulk "commodities" imported by Sanya were labor and rice. The former was also declining as the Mining Bureau's labor demand steadily dropped.

For the British and Dutch, going to Lingao or Kaohsiung didn't require much extra cost but offered far more flexibility in cargo selection. Though the Planning Committee had once attempted to use tariffs to regulate merchant ship destinations, the reality was: since foreign merchant ships could transport goods directly to Lingao, why force them to unload in Sanya, adding needless loading, unloading, and transshipment costs?

This made no sense economically, so Sanya—in which the Senate had placed such high hopes—had fallen into a half-dead state. After Wang Luobin's departure, few paid attention to the place.

Plans are always grand, but reality is always thin. After spending a few days in Sanya, Xu Yanliang deeply understood this saying.

"It seems Sanya wasn't an industrial and commercial city in the old spacetime either, and we lack the magic to make it one here," he said to himself.

Sanya in the old spacetime could develop tourism and real estate, but those would be things at least a century away in this spacetime. Besides, even if such development were possible here, it had nothing to do with the Nanyang Company.

Xu Yanliang couldn't help doubting the decision to set up headquarters in Sanya. Speaking of advantages, there was a good harbor locally, housing and land were quite abundant, and the climate and scenery were pleasant.

(End of Chapter)