Chapter 2550 - The Cloth Store Owner
Li Shan scratched his head and pondered the reports that Chen Xiaobing and others had brought him about the Guangzhou market situation, then said: "Both seem to be correct?"
Zou Biao spread his hands: "That's right. These two statements appear contradictory, but both are correct. Social development has dynamic spatial and temporal imbalances—this was true for Britain, and even more so for China. These two seemingly contradictory processes can exist simultaneously in the same country, or even within the same county."
"I didn't expect that you, a science student, would be so interested in social sciences."
"I'm an engineering student," Zou Biao said with utmost seriousness. "And what we're discussing here is essentially economic history. Without a certain level of mathematical ability, one cannot properly comprehend it."
"So you're saying long-term historical patterns are still valid? If history continues to develop this way, it seems that historical events will still repeat themselves?"
"Historical sources can be true or false, but history itself doesn't become 'valid' or 'invalid,'" Zou Biao said. "History is a summary and distillation based on information from the past. Historical sources themselves may be true or false, incomplete or fragmentary. If you really want to know the situation, you still have to conduct field investigations."
"We're just going to take a stroll around the International Market, and you're almost ready to write a thesis," Li Shan laughed.
"The International Market opened smoothly, but the market itself is probably quite unsettled," Zou Biao said with a worried expression. "If we don't go see for ourselves, there might be big problems."
They both knew about the paper cotton situation. Whether it was the police or Political Security, one of their important jobs was to gather social conditions and public sentiment. The matter of paper cotton proliferation and speculation had reached their desks more than a month ago.
However, paper cotton speculation had actually become a financial issue. Though Li Shan and Zou Biao were aware of the risks, the specific response would have to depend on decisions from the fiscal and financial departments. After all, they were only leaders over production—they had no decision-making authority over specific market operations.
"I also feel the paper cotton situation is getting out of hand. The speculation is too heavy," Zou Biao furrowed his brow. "What do the Wang couple have to say?"
"They're not handling this. Theoretically speaking, this doesn't fall under anyone's purview right now. After all, we don't have a futures market. The bank also says it's not their business—after all, people speculating on paper cotton haven't borrowed from the bank. Mayor Liu held a working meeting and assigned this to Chu He and Ren Youzi. Theoretically they're the heads of the Guangzhou Stock Exchange, aren't they?"
"What use are those two commanders without troops?" Despite Chu He being the Securities Commission Secretary and Ren Youzi being Chairman of the Stock Exchange, they only had their own Living Secretaries to command. They had set up an office in the Great World for joint operations.
Because securities business volume was currently very small, and the Senate followed the principle of not supporting idle personnel, the Stock Exchange and Securities Commission were only open for business on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, the two had other part-time duties.
"Isn't this about matching expertise?"
"I think if we keep going like this, something's bound to happen sooner or later. Sigh, sigh, sigh." Zou Biao began sighing.
They took a small boat directly from the Great World pier and arrived at the International Market's dock. When they landed, they didn't attract much attention. Although the opening ceremony had just been held yesterday, the market was already quite lively. Naturalized citizens came and went frequently, and everyone was long accustomed to seeing people in Australian dress—no one paid them any notice.
To promote market development, the Hainan Demonstration Factory had been releasing stockpiled cotton yarn and cloth into the market in batches starting from a week ago. The Nansha Cotton Textile Factory that they had focused on supporting had also begun selling cotton cloth in the market. Now it was time to see the market response.
In the four specialty zones—A, B, C, and D—of the International Market, except for Zone D which was mainly for Senate enterprises, the storefront occupancy rate for the first three zones wasn't even fifty percent. However, even at less than half occupancy, the transaction volume by contemporary standards was already quite considerable. The advantages of this type of specialty market were something merchants could fully appreciate.
They first visited the Market Management Company and got a general understanding of current operations. The situation was about what they had envisaged—current transaction volumes weren't large, but there was a growing trend. However, in total transaction value, cotton, yarn, and cloth accounted for only a small portion—less than twenty percent. The bulk was still silk products.
The reason was self-evident: raw silk and silk fabrics benefited from bulk purchases by foreign merchants. As Guangzhou opened up and various restrictions on foreign merchants were successively lifted, foreign merchants' procurement patterns had shifted from "monsoon-based" to "year-round." Many merchants now stayed in Guangzhou long-term, and purchasing goods was no longer concentrated in certain months.
As for cotton products, locally produced cotton cloth had negligible export volume. Instead, due to the hot sales of mid-to-low grade cotton cloth, large quantities of Songjiang cotton cloth had recently arrived. Influenced by increased cotton cloth demand and rising prices, small producers and household weavers had continuously increasing demand for cotton yarn. Cotton yarn output from both the Lingao Demonstration Factory and the Nansha Factory was steadily improving, and even the "improved yarn" produced with Model 07 manual machines was rising with the tide. Prices were climbing steadily.
From the market perspective, apart from the surging cotton prices and the already "going mad" paper cotton, overall market conditions were fairly good. Machine-spun yarn had gained great acceptance and had already eroded the native yarn market to some extent.
After leaving the Market Management Company, they walked around the market some more, chatting with shopkeepers and workers. This largely confirmed the data from the management company.
This being the case, as long as they could promptly curb paper cotton speculation and eliminate financial risks, the risk of a cotton textile market crisis would remain within a controllable range.
After completing their circuit, the two felt relatively satisfied. Finally, Zou Biao suggested visiting Zone A.
Zone A was all small businesses. Though bustling with activity, it didn't even account for five percent of the market's total transaction volume. Yet such small businesses often touched thousands of households.
"...To see how much our actions impact society, looking directly at the conditions of the masses is the most practical approach."
Zone A had storefronts, but also allowed stalls on as-yet undeveloped open ground. The merchants here, whether buying or selling, were as small as could be. Traded goods were as little as one or two bolts of silk cloth; a few skeins of cotton yarn or silk thread; a dan of cotton or dried cocoons. Though the business was small, it represented the side income of countless farm households around Guangzhou—many families had women earning a bit of income this way to supplement the household.
They soon noticed a small storefront surrounded by seven or eight people who seemed to be discussing something. It looked like some shop was purchasing cloth from individual sellers.
At Li Shan's signal, the group inconspicuously moved closer to observe the scene inside the shop.
Indeed, this was a small "cloth store." Li Shan knew that the word "store" or "zhuang" had a special meaning in local commerce. In the handicraft sector, these were mostly "putting-out merchants": they distributed raw materials and purchased finished products. Some didn't distribute materials but simply bought directly from individual producers—most did a bit of both.
Merchants who operated stores had their own wholesale channels. After collecting goods, they would transport them to certain places for bulk sales.
The cloth store owner was a tall, thin man. While directing his two assistants to move bolts of cloth and receive customers, he simultaneously haggled with individual sellers, scrutinized quality, measured lengths, and finally put everything on the scale to weigh. From time to time he would scold or remind the assistants—truly hearing in all directions and seeing in all six.
Almost every bolt of cloth that reached his hands was unrolled with a shake of his head. Though Li Shan and Zou Biao couldn't fully understand his Cantonese, they got the gist: all manner of fault-finding. Although the individual sellers invariably argued with him, in the end they all retreated in defeat, having a few fen to one jiao deducted from their price.
"His manner reminds me of a martial arts character..." Zou Biao said.
"Who?"
"The Head-Shaking Lion."
Both of them laughed. This laugh startled the owner. Looking up, he saw several people in "cadre clothes" watching from the side. He was quick-witted and immediately greeted them with a smile: "Comrades, how about coming to take a look at my little shop?"
Li Shan was interested in learning about the merchant's situation and nodded: "That would be fine, but you're still busy with business..."
"That's no problem," the owner laughed. "I've practiced this skill since childhood—multitasking between talking business and doing business, no conflict at all!"
With that he called to his assistant: "Ah Qian, please invite these comrades inside for a seat. Brew some good tea!"
Li and Zou entered the shop. It was very small. Besides the counter, everything was inventory. Yet behind the counter, there was still a tea table with several Australian rattan chairs. Looking at the complete set of "kung fu tea" paraphernalia on the table gave Li Shan a familiar feeling. He hadn't expected that certain customs brought by some Elders from the old timeline would spread so quickly.
The owner had his assistant hold down the fort temporarily while he personally came to brew tea for the two. He asked: "You two must be high-ranking cadres for the Australians..."
Li Shan couldn't help laughing: "How do you know?"
"One can tell from your bearing—just from the way you carry yourselves! Though you're still not quite like the Elder Chiefs, you're about seventy or eighty percent there."
Hearing this, Li Shan wasn't sure whether to take it as praise or mockery, and could only give a few dry laughs. Zou Biao found this owner quite interesting and asked: "You have a sharp eye! We're from the Great Song Weaving Bureau, here specifically to observe the sales of Australian cotton yarn."
"So the Australian yarn comes from your establishment!" the manager exclaimed in "surprise." "My apologies! What are the comrades' surnames?"
There was no need to conceal this, and the two gave their surnames. The manager said: "My surname is Li, given name Qiwei. I run a small cloth store in Nanhai County. This here is something of a branch."
The tea in both their mouths nearly sprayed out. Li Shan struggled to contain his laughter and said:
"So... so it's Manager Li."
"You flatter me." Manager Li was quite excited and was about to personally attend to them when the customers waiting outside grew impatient and began clamoring to sell their cloth.
(End of Chapter)