Chapter 2359: Status of Sanya (Part 3)

When Xu Yanliang asked about housing, Tang Menglong waved his hand dismissively.

"Housing is ready-made—even building new for you wouldn't be difficult; we have architects here." He walked to the window and pointed to a three-story building northeast of the square.

"How about that one?"

Following his gesture, Xu Yanliang saw a three-story brick-and-wood building in Neoclassical style. The outer wall was the natural color of red brick, with green vines climbing its face—both artistic and refreshing.

Xu Yanliang was somewhat skeptical. He had seen enough of Lingao's Bauhaus-style architecture. Where had such a beautiful, elegant building come from? He hesitated. "That one?"

"That's right, that three-story brick building. Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Damn, you're generous!"

"It was designed by Zhang Xingpei—originally the Sanya Library." Tang Menglong said with some regret. "Unfortunately, there isn't a single book inside now. It's being used as a dormitory for some naturalized cadres. Honestly, it's a waste. Might as well vacate it for your use."

Xu Yanliang felt somewhat flattered. "This is truly a generous gift!"

"Not at all—this is also revitalizing fixed assets. Otherwise, leaving such a fine building empty, the maintenance fee alone is a large sum every year."

Xu Yanliang calculated in his mind. The headquarters currently had about fifty or sixty people, and even after expansion, there would be at most a hundred or so. This building would be sufficient for office use. He immediately thought of another problem: the Southeast Asia Company's trading station was in Hexi District. If headquarters staff lived in Hexi, they would have to spend time commuting every day.

"Can the dormitory issue be solved?"

"Yes." Tang Menglong said without hesitation. "I have plenty of houses here. Even the meal problem is easy—just sign a meal plan at the cafeteria. If they want better food, they'll have to go to Hexi—there are quite a few restaurants there."

Xu Yanliang settled the relevant relocation matters with Tang Menglong one by one. Tang Menglong patted his chest on almost everything, expressing his "full support."

Xu Yanliang naturally had to reciprocate. He immediately revealed that the Nanyang Company was about to start raising funds, implying that Tang Menglong could obtain the company's original shares on preferential terms.

"Well, since policy allows, I definitely want to buy some shares." Tang Menglong didn't play coy. "But honestly, it would be even better if you could boost industry and commerce here."

It seemed this Mayor Tang still had some ideas. Xu Yanliang thought for a moment. "It's still too early to say what we can do. How about this—tell me about Sanya's basic situation, and let's calculate together."

"Speaking of Sanya, there is some foundation." Tang Menglong said. "The problem now is that there are no new growth points. Since Engineer Wang was transferred and I took office, the Senate hasn't added any new fixed asset investment projects here—only some renovation and production increase investments. The amount isn't small, but relying only on these few state-owned enterprises to lead, growth is still too slow."

He didn't mention another crucial issue: these state-owned enterprises contributed very little to Sanya locally. Take the largest local enterprise, Tiandu Mining Bureau, for example. Logically, a small town formed by tens of thousands of workers should have considerable purchasing power. But more than half of Tiandu's laborers were slaves from Southeast Asia, who had no purchasing power to speak of beyond the most basic food and clothing. Other workers were also mostly bachelors—no wives, no children. After work, most just ate their fill in the canteen and went back to the dormitory. The connection with Sanya amounted to the canteen purchasing locally produced vegetables, salt, seafood, and a small amount of daily necessities. The largest consumables—grain and clothing—were transported from Lingao.

Such a large basic population base almost didn't participate in Sanya's economic cycle.

"...You know the style of old SOEs, right? Yes, Tiandu Mining Bureau is exactly like that." Tang Menglong said.

"Setting other things aside, grain and cloth shouldn't be like this. You can't import directly here and have to transport from Lingao? Foreigners aren't willing to earn this money?" Xu Yanliang was puzzled.

"Foreigners are certainly willing. The problem is that after selling grain and cloth, foreigners also need to purchase goods. The goods they want—sugar, silk, handicrafts, medicinal materials—I don't produce any of them here. They'd have to be transported from elsewhere. Or we pay in hard currency—but there's a quota for that."

This was indeed a problem, Xu Yanliang thought, but not easy to solve. Sugar and silk, for example, were somewhat "native products." Even if they wanted to develop related industries in Sanya, it would require huge investment. From a cost perspective, it wasn't economical either. This wasn't something the Nanyang Company could solve—it would require coordination from the Planning Committee and other departments.

However, he didn't speak and continued listening to Tang Menglong.

"Tiandu also has no suitable export products. Its only output is ore, and even the slag left from ore processing is transported away. So what it produces actually has little to do with Sanya—it's a completely independent economy." Tang Menglong complained. "I once thought about whether I could sell houses to miners, or at least rent some apartments to them long-term. But miners all have dormitories, and it's hard for them to get wives and form families, so they have no interest in buying or renting houses either."

Sanya's second largest industry was coconut processing.

Sanya's surroundings naturally had many coconut grove resources, but far from plantation scale. Production mainly relied on acquisition—this was also a sideline for many local commoners and nearby Li people. Because the Australians purchased coconuts, buyers appeared not only in Sanya but in all coconut-producing places in southern Hainan, purchasing locally and transporting to Sanya. It was currently Sanya's most successful industry.

The coconut was useful in its entirety. The Senate mainly used coconuts to produce coconut water and copra. Coconut water, as a Sanya specialty beverage, was bottled and sterilized locally, then transported to Lingao and other places by refrigerated ships cooled with natural ice. It was also quite a high-end "Australian premium beverage" in Guangzhou. Copra was mainly used for oil extraction. Coir extracted from coconut husks was used for rope-making. Coconut flowers could also be used to brew wine during flowering season.

This industry generated almost no waste and achieved full utilization of coconuts, with extremely high economic benefits. It was Sanya's most profitable industrial enterprise—also the second largest local employer after the Tiandu Mining Bureau, absorbing substantial local labor.

"Sanya Coconut Company is our economic pillar here." Tang Menglong said. "One could say that Sanya's ability to maintain its current state is largely due to it."

"Where are this company's coconut products sold?"

"Almost all are transported to Lingao." Tang Menglong said. "Part is transported to Wenchang—there are also coconut processing enterprises there. We don't produce coconut oil here; we only process it into copra and then transport it to Wenchang for oil extraction. Same goes for coir."

"Primary processing."

"Exactly. Just primary processing."

The Coconut Company actually had only two finished products it could sell directly: coconut water and Arrack.

Arrack hardly needed mentioning—it was currently Sanya's number one local export, very popular among European merchants. However, the quantity of flowers was limited, the brewing season short, and output couldn't be increased.

"...Actually, coconut trees can also produce coconut sugar. But we don't have plantations here, and collecting sap is too troublesome. It hasn't been done on a large scale—besides, European merchants are probably most interested in cane sugar. Even if we put in the effort to develop it, people might not be interested."

"Relying solely on acquiring coconuts, this industry won't grow big." Xu Yanliang said. "Plantations need to be established."

"Establishing plantations is easier said than done. The Agricultural Committee doesn't actually understand this either." Tang Menglong said. "When I went back to Lingao, I talked to Wu Nanhai. He mumbled something about 'we'll research it,' then there was no follow-up. Later I approached Fa Shilu—he said their Agricultural Committee didn't have professionals specializing in tropical crops. Apart from some book knowledge learned in university, they can only rely on materials from the Great Library."

"No wonder things like quinine and rubber have never been sorted out..."

"There's a big difference between reading books and actually doing it. I understand that too. Besides, even if everything goes smoothly, plantations won't be harvestable for eight or ten years."

The third industry was fish and salt. The reason for grouping them together was that Sanya's salt industry mainly served the fishery. Departing from Sanya, the abundant Xisha-Nansha waters had always been traditional fishing grounds for Chinese fishermen. Under the Senate's management, fishermen had to register for fishing in Sanya before each fishing season, receive fishing flags, and then proceed south for fishing operations under Coast Guard escort.

Because traditional fishermen lacked refrigeration conditions, they often needed large amounts of salt for preservation. Salt consumption was therefore very high. To obtain protein, the Senate not only sold salt on credit with favorable terms but also sent dedicated refrigerated ships to purchase fresh fish locally and transport them back to Sanya for processing into various fish products.

"Fishery tax and salt sales are considerable, but salt is a monopoly product. Like the Tiandu mine, no matter how much is sold, it has little to do with me. At least the fishery tax is currently fully refunded to the municipal government—without this money, I really couldn't keep going."

"The timber processing industry is also passable now. The Dutch and British often ship logs here—probably costs them nothing; they can make money just by hauling them over. If we can create enough supply sources in Sanya, they should ship even more timber."

Aside from this, Sanya had some scattered industry and commerce. Larger operations included ship repair, fishing boat manufacturing, fishing gear, and hardware. Many shell companies opened in Sanya for tax avoidance also provided a considerable amount of tax revenue and consumption.

"This can also be counted as an industry." Tang Menglong laughed.

"Well, Old Wang and I chatted before he went to Guangzhou. He said this loophole would be plugged sooner or later. Of course, it won't be completely plugged—we still have to give them some room."

(End of Chapter)