Chapter 6 Figures in corporate history: "Boss" Yuan Geng

In Shekou, Yuan Geng did not shy away from being called "Boss" (Boss), and this appellation for a capitalist seemed quite appropriate for him.For 15 years, he controlled everything in Shekou like a boss, created it with one hand, and shaped every organ in it like a father, from the rules and regulations to the trees planted on the slope. I want my son to be different and have a great future.At one point, it seemed as though he had actually succeeded.Although he didn't take anything with him when he left, he was always the master of Shekou in terms of soul. Yuan Geng is a specimen figure of a certain group in the history of Chinese enterprises.

It is difficult for you to tell whether he is an official or an entrepreneur. His official title is the Secretary of the Management Committee of Shekou Development Zone. Especially in the "experimental area" like Shekou, he has almost obtained all the powers that can be delegated from the central government.At the same time, he was the chairman of a state-owned holding company. China Merchants had assets of less than 100 million yuan in 1979, but by the time he left, it was already a super company with total assets of more than 20 billion yuan.This part of the asset appreciation can be seen as the result of reform and development on the one hand, and on the other hand it is undoubtedly an institutional product under the premise of monopoly - China Merchants owns the land development rights of the Shekou Development Zone.It is difficult to interpret it as fair or unfair, reasonable or unreasonable. In a sense, it seems to be history itself.

Huan Xiang, an economist of the older generation, once said: "The reason why Yuan Geng came up with Shekou is because he knew nothing about China's planned economy." "Show off", but in the eyes of historians, it may not be the truth.The experiment in Shekou was by no means a reform of the "ignorant people fearless" type. Cultural scholar Yu Yingshi said in "A Current Reading of the Reform Movement of 1898": "In the 1980s, two reform forces emerged: one was the party and government cadres who implemented the reform and opening policy, Their situation and way of thinking are very similar to those of the self-improvement faction in the late Qing Dynasty, who were so-called reformers 'within the system'; the other group came from intellectuals, especially young students." Yuan Geng is a representative of the former group.Yuan Geng, who was born as the commander of the artillery regiment, is by no means a "martial arts man" who does not understand politics. He should be a symbol of the system change faction in the Chinese Communist Party in the early 1980s. From the first day he founded the Shekou Industrial Zone, he made it As a testing ground for social reform, from the very beginning, Shekou boldly carried out institutional reforms in the cadre system, democratic elections, and supervision by public opinion. The reason why Shekou has received keen attention is largely due to this. On March 28, 1980, Shekou was the first in China to officially implement the open and free recruitment system for cadres and staff, and took the lead in breaking the 31-year cadre deployment system in New China. On February 9, 1983, Shekou began a trial of directly electing and evaluating cadres by the masses. On April 24, 1983, 15 cadres of the first management committee of Shekou were elected by public opinion, and then directly elected by more than 2,000 people.From then on, the cadres at all levels transferred to Shekou, their original job levels are only recorded in the files, and they are all invalid in terms of actual working conditions in Shekou. In 1986, when Shekou implemented democratic elections, 15% of the people voted no confidence in Yuan Geng, and 5 directors lost the election on the spot.In Shekou, cadres are recruited once a year, and those who do not pass the public opinion evaluation every year will be laid off. The life tenure and appointment system for cadres has been completely abolished in Shekou.

Yuan Geng turned Shekou into the most eye-catching testing ground in China at that time. He put all his political life on the line and showed no intention of retreating. Yuan Geng is very good at winning the support of the central government with the rapid economic growth. In this regard, he can be said to be well versed in the way of being an official in China. In 1982, he had someone make a large placard, which was placed at the gate of the management committee of the industrial zone, with the words: "Time is money, efficiency is life."This slogan caused widespread controversy at the beginning. In 1984, when Deng Xiaoping inspected Shekou, Yuan Geng was very "cunning" when he accompanied Deng Xiaoping in the report. Is the slogan violating the taboo? We don’t know whether the risk we are taking is correct or not? We don’t ask Comrade Xiaoping to express his opinion on the spot, but to allow us to continue to practice and experiment.” It is said that when Yuan Geng said this, Deng Xiaoping and everyone present laughed.Since then, this slogan became popular all over the country and became the most famous reform classic quotation at that time.

The American jurist Rawls once said that an authoritarian system based on personal enlightenment is like a "building built on sand", and once the authoritarian figure abdicates or his influence fades, its progressiveness will naturally disappear.Yuan Geng and his Shekou just fulfilled this conclusion. In 1992, the 75-year-old Yuan Geng handed over Shekou, which he had managed for 15 years. After that, Shekou quickly lost its pioneering color, and became "silent" after only three to five years.After entering 2000, Shekou has been completely reduced to a general development zone. In June 2004, the Shekou Development Zone was officially revoked by the Guangdong Provincial Government, and all the systems that Yuan Geng painstakingly designed disappeared overnight.

Yuan Geng once had a sigh in his later years.He said that he made a historic mistake, which made Shekou miss another growth model that might be more efficient.What he refers to as "missing" is that in 1981, 13 Hong Kong entrepreneurs, headed by Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing and wealthy businessman Huo Yingdong, visited Shekou. They asked whether they could invest in the joint development of this land. At that time, Yuan Geng declined without hesitation.Yuan Geng's regret in his later years seems to be that if Li and Huo were allowed to take shares, Shekou would be completely capitalized and perhaps gain greater economic vitality.

This is a very allegorical deduction.It seems to show that in the early 1980s, the most reform-minded Chinese officials firmly believed that as long as they fully delegated power and made serious reforms, they were fully capable of doing well in state-owned enterprises and revitalizing the economy of one side.By the end of the 1990s, they had vaguely felt that the breakthrough within the system had reached its "limit", and perhaps only with the help of a more powerful and free "mixed blood" of foreign capital could constitute a further push.Shekou was born too early, so it is impossible to shoulder the propositions of two eras at the same time.

In fact, every strong individual will still appear so weak when he faces stubborn institutional obstacles.When Yuan Geng was dispatched to Shekou, his leader hoped to rely on him, a "strong and shrewd" warrior, to "blaze a trail". By the way, he completed another more important task: to build a completely different system on this newly developed land, which obviously exceeded his "mission".Therefore, the final loneliness is already doomed. Yuan Geng was born in Shenzhen in 1917 (called Bao'an in his early years).He was tall, with a square face and big eyes, and he had a military look. In 1949, when he became the commander of the artillery regiment, he led his troops to liberate the poor hometown. Thirty years later, he used his own method to "liberate" the land again economically.He has been living in a seaside apartment in Shekou in his later years, and he can see Yuen Long, Hong Kong at a glance from the window. He often keeps a photo album by his hand, which is full of group photos with Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, Jiang Zemin, Wan Li and others. At sunset, Turning over one by one, it seems like a world away from the past.