Chapter 240 Overseas Chinese
Hearing Liu Siying say this, several people present were stunned.

In fact, most of the employees of Shengli Machinery Factory are from Shanghai. When they were in Shanghai, they all had their own former residences. But no one would have thought that Liu Siying’s former home would be so luxurious and grand, and it was located in a road section that was so expensive in the past.

"Student Liu Siying, are you sure you remember this? Is this really your former home?" Du Xingguo asked in surprise after a moment.

"Of course I am not mistaken. I have lived here since I graduated from high school. The No. 1 Middle School in North City is on the other side of the street. That is my alma mater," said Liu Siying.

"I can't believe your original home was so big..." Liu Lianhua on the side couldn't help but say.

"Yes, that's the North City No. 1 Middle School." Du Xingguo nodded and said, "Isn't your father the director of our factory? How come he has such a big house?"

"My family has been running a drugstore for generations. Yu Chengtang was founded by my great-grandfather. Before liberation, our family bought this house. My grandfather originally hoped that my father would inherit his legacy and continue to run the drugstore, but he said he was not cut out for studying medicine, and later joined the party and left Shanghai." Liu Siying pondered for a moment, then continued, "After liberation, my family's drugstore was nationalized, but this house remained. Later, after I finished junior high school, I came to the machinery factory with my mother, and the house was returned to the Housing Authority..."

"Uh..." Hearing this, several people were so surprised that they were speechless.

Xu Qiang had heard Liu Siying talk about her family’s house in Shanghai before, but he didn’t expect that her house was so big and so beautiful. If it were placed in the future, based on the area and location, it would cost at least tens of millions!
"Then let's go in and take a look since we're here," Liu Lianhua suggested.

"There should be people living in there. I wonder if I can..." Liu Siying hesitated.

"What are you afraid of? We are not doing anything bad." Xu Qiang said, and then came to the gate of the yard.

"Bang bang bang!"

"Who is it?"

After knocking on the door twice, a middle-aged woman's voice came from inside.

"Hello, we are the former residents here. Can we come in and take a look?" Liu Siying said at this time, mustering up the courage.

"The original residents?" Through the gap in the iron door, the woman inside saw Xu Qiang and his group dressed neatly, then she opened the door and said to them, "What can I do for you?"

"It's like this, this building used to be where my family lived. Now we work in Jiangxi. This time I came back to Shanghai to study and passed by here, so I wanted to come back and take a look..." Liu Siying explained.

"I'm afraid that won't work..." The woman looked embarrassed, and he continued, "This house currently belongs to Mr. Qiao, and no one else is allowed to enter. You can look around from the outside, but you can't enter here without Mr. Qiao's permission."

"Who is Mr. Qiao? Does he live alone in such a big house? This is too outrageous." Upon hearing this, Du Xingguo, who was traveling with him, suddenly became angry.

You know, the current Shanghai is a land of gold. Due to the large population base, the per capita housing area in Shanghai can be said to be the smallest in the country, with an average of only four square meters per person! This includes shanties, simple houses and attics. There are even cases where three generations of a family of more than a dozen people live in a house of less than 20 square meters. The degree of tension in housing conditions can be seen from this!
Moreover, these days, whether it is housing allocation or rental, it is all managed by the Housing Authority. No matter how rich you are, it is impossible to live in a bigger house. And now this so-called Mr. Qiao actually lives in such a big house alone. In Du Xingguo's view, this is simply lawless!
"Mr. Qiao is an overseas Chinese in the United States. If you have any problems, you can ask the government to solve them. I can't help you..." After the middle-aged woman said this, she closed the iron gate directly.

"overseas Chinese……"

When everyone heard this, they all frowned.

"Are overseas Chinese superior to others? Why can they live in such big houses? This is totally unreasonable!" Du Xingguo said angrily.

Although Du Xingguo is already in his thirties, he still has a bit of an angry young man's temperament. In his opinion, all people are equal, and in the past they were just seeking privileges.

"Keep your voice down... People might think you want to fight." Liu Lianhua pulled his shirt and said, "This is the country's policy. The government is taking good care of returned overseas Chinese. It's all for the purpose of attracting investment..."

Compared with the others, Liu Lianhua, who has been working in the trade union, has a better understanding of national policies.

As he said, at the beginning of reform and opening up, in order to attract foreign investment and promote united front work, the SH Municipal Government did introduce many policies to take care of overseas Chinese.

Due to historical reasons, some Western countries still have doubts about my country's policies at the beginning of reform and opening up, and are taking a wait-and-see attitude towards investing in China.

Therefore, winning over compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas Chinese to participate in the socialist modernization drive of the motherland has become a priority in attracting overseas funds, technology and talent.

According to statistics, "In the early days of reform and opening up, among the large number of 'three foreign-invested enterprises' (referring to Sino-foreign joint ventures, Sino-foreign cooperative enterprises, and foreign-invested enterprises) introduced by China, those belonging to the 'three compatriots' (referring to compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao, compatriots from Taiwan, and overseas Chinese) accounted for 70% and more than half of the total amount.

Shanghai is one of the important hometowns of overseas Chinese and one of the cities with the most frequent economic and cultural exchanges with Hong Kong and Macao. It is also one of the homes for relatives of people who have gone to Taiwan and compatriots from Taiwan who have settled in the mainland.

After the reform and opening up, many compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas Chinese came to Shanghai to investigate, conduct economic cooperation and negotiate investment matters. The implementation of the private housing policy reflects the deep concern of the Party and the State for the united front figures, and helps to motivate them to further support the Party's policies and support the great cause of reform and opening up.

For example, in 1980, the SH Municipal Film Bureau returned a private house on Huaihai Middle Road that had been occupied by the late National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Municipal People's Congress Representative Guo Linshuang during a special period.

Guo Linshuang has 11 children who have settled in the United States, Brazil and other places. This move has a great response among his overseas relatives and friends. In 1984, his son Guo Zhikai returned to Shanghai to invest and negotiated with relevant departments in Shanghai to cooperate in the construction of the New Yongan Building and the joint venture to build a 30-story building, supporting Shanghai's infrastructure construction.

There is no doubt that Mr. Qiao should be one of the overseas Chinese who have returned to invest, and he should have certain investment projects in the country. Otherwise, the SH Municipal Government would not have given him such a large building to live in.

"At least Liu Siying is the original owner of this place. It's too unreasonable that she is not even allowed to enter the door." Du Xingguo said with some dissatisfaction.

"What can we do? They can bring foreign exchange to the country. How can we not coax them?" Liu Lianhua said.

"Forget it, I just wanted to come over and take a look. Besides, this is no longer my home." When Liu Siying said this, a hint of regret flashed in her eyes.

"By the way, what kind of business does this overseas Chinese surnamed Liu do?" Xu Qiang asked after thinking for a while.

"He didn't say anything. Besides, what does his business have to do with us?" Du Xingguo said.

"I'm just asking."

"Okay, let's go somewhere else." Du Xingguo glanced at Liu Siying and said, "Classmate Liu Siying, although we can't enter the house, we can visit your alma mater and maybe even see your teacher."

"That's great." Hearing Du Xingguo say this, Liu Siying immediately smiled and said, "Then let's go over there now."

"You go first, I'm going to the bathroom. I'll meet you at the school gate in a while." Xu Qiang said.

"Okay, then hurry up." Du Xingguo said, and led Liu Siying and Liu Lianhua away.

Seeing Liu Siying and the others leave, Xu Qiang came to the gate of the courtyard again and knocked on the door gently.

"Why are you here again? Didn't I just tell you that you can't come in..." the middle-aged woman said impatiently.

"Don't worry, big sister. I won't go in." Xu Qiang smiled slightly and continued, "I just want to ask, what kind of business does your Mr. Qiao do?"

"Why are you asking this?" the middle-aged woman immediately said vigilantly upon hearing this.

"Don't be nervous, I'm a college student and this is my student ID." Xu Qiang said, taking out his student ID from his pocket and shaking it in the gap of the iron gate.

College students are still very respected these days. At the very least, it proves that you are a decent, educated person, and not some kind of scoundrel. In order to eliminate the other party's misunderstanding, Xu Qiang directly revealed his identity.

"Uh..." The middle-aged woman had obviously never seen a university student ID card, but after seeing the photo and the seal of Jiangxi University on it, her expression suddenly eased.

"So...what's the matter?" After a moment, the middle-aged woman withdrew her gaze from the student ID and asked Xu Qiang.

"It's like this. Our school has a newly developed product project. If Mr. Qiao is interested in it..."

"There are too many people looking for Mr. Qiao. If you want to discuss business, come and talk to Assistant Yang in the evening. He is not here now." said the middle-aged woman.

"Assistant Yang?" Xu Qiang was stunned.

"Mr. Qiao is not in the country and may not be back until next month. Assistant Yang is now out on an inspection with his leader and will not be back until the evening. Please come over then." said the middle-aged woman.

"Is that so?" Xu Qiang suddenly understood what he said, so he asked, "What time can he come back in the evening?"

"I don't know about that. Don't ask me. I still have some clothes to wash." The middle-aged woman said, and turned away...

(End of this chapter)