Chapter 668: The Capital of the Tang Dynasty (Second update, please subscribe)
Opportunities are for those who are prepared.
While Wang Songnian and his party were starting their educational inspection in Kuala Lumpur, a plane landed at Chang'an Airport.
Among the passengers who had just gotten off the plane, there was a young man with a suitcase who couldn't help but look at the place.
The airport looks very modern and large, even London's airport cannot compare.
After Lee Kuan Yew came up with this answer in his heart, he was even a little excited. After all, he finally set foot on the place he had been looking forward to for a long time.
He just graduated from Cambridge University last year, three years ago He was qualified to practice law in London just a few months ago. I just returned to Singapore a month ago and started working as a lawyer.
I came to Nanyang this time not on purpose, but because of work.
This job is not complicated at all. As a representative of a company in Singapore, I come here to litigate a lawsuit against a company in Nanyang.
Following the flow of passengers disembarking from the plane, we arrived at the airport customs. However, faced with the passage for nationals and foreigners, Lee Kuan Yew couldn't help but feel a little melancholy - because most people used the passage for nationals.
Lee Kuan Yew, holding a Federation of Malay passport, could only pass through customs through the foreigners' channel.
As a foreigner entering the country, you will encounter a series of problems, such as needing a visa and filling out an entry registration form.
“If you apply for an overseas passport, it shouldn’t be so troublesome.”
When filling out the entry registration form, Lee Kuan Yew couldn’t help but have this idea in his mind. In fact, in the past few years, During the years, many people in Singapore applied for Nanyang’s overseas Chinese passports. Nanyang not only recognized dual nationality, but all Chinese overseas Chinese could apply for Nanyang’s overseas Chinese passports.
In fact, Lee Kuan Yew should be fortunate that his identity as a Tang nationality also allowed him to receive certain preferential treatment. Tang nationals holding foreign passports can enjoy the treatment of a 30-day visa on arrival, while those from the Federation of Malay States Malays and Indians do not have this kind of treatment.
Soon, Lee Kuan Yew passed the airport customs.
After walking out of customs, in the airport hall, people waiting to be picked up raised their feet and then raised the makeshift pick-up cards in their hands with the person being picked up written on them.
There are not many passengers traveling by plane at the moment, so Lee Kuan Yew didn’t waste much effort when he saw the pick-up person holding up his name.
"You must be Lawyer Tang from Dentons, right?"
Lee Kuan Yew walked up to the young man holding the airport pick-up sign and asked politely.
The young man opposite was very handsome and was wearing a decent suit. Lee Kuan Yew was not surprised by this. Although the weather in Nanyang was very hot, places like law firms had air conditioning, so it was normal to wear a suit and tie. operate.
"You must be Lawyer Lee Kuan Yew. In the next few days, I will fully cooperate with your work. You will have no problem speaking Mandarin."
Put away the cards and Tang Botao makes love with a smile on his face.
“Of course there is no problem.”
“Well, let’s use Mandarin, otherwise it will be too troublesome to use English.”
Reaching out to pick up Lee Kuan Yew's suitcase, Lee Kuan Yew handed the suitcase to him without hesitation. As Tang Botao walked away, he said:
"Let's go, Lawyer Li, I will take you to the hotel first. Tomorrow Let me show you Chang'an, which is the largest and most modern city in Asia."
Nodding slightly, Lee Kuan Yew did not refute. Chang'an is indeed the largest and most modern city in Asia. Not only does it have Asia's largest airport, but it also has the longest subway - 128 kilometers. It has more than 6 million residents living in a city circle with a total area of tens of thousands of square kilometers centered on Chang'an.
Even though he had never been to Chang'an, Lee Kuan Yew knew these data very well. After all, even when he was in London, he had been paying attention to this place and the changes here.
What’s more, I am curious about what kind of power turned this place from a wild forest into a modern city, not one, but several.
...
After getting in the car, Lee Kuan Yew was surprised as he felt the cold air blowing from the car as it drove. "The cold wind is blowing out here. Is this car also equipped with air conditioning?"
In Lee Kuan Yew's understanding, air conditioning is installed in hotels, cinemas and office buildings. Places like this, but the biggest emotion I feel when I return to Singapore this time is that there are more and more air-conditioned office buildings in Singapore.
But even so, no one would have expected that Lawyer Tang’s car was actually equipped with air conditioning.
Lee Kuan Yew's surprise made Tang Botao proudly show off.
"Yes, how about it? I didn't expect it. This is the latest Alfa Romeo-specific car air conditioner. I really can't believe how the engineers of Chunlan Company invented this kind of air conditioner and actually installed the air conditioner. When we got to the car, with it, the car was very cool no matter how hot the weather was. ”
I installed the air conditioner in my car!
Feeling the cool breeze blowing from the air conditioner, Lee Kuan Yew opened his mouth in surprise. He didn’t know much about cars at all, and car air conditioners were unheard of. However, he still learned some information from Tang Botao's words.
“Lawyer Tang, this air conditioner was also invented in Nanyang?”
"Yeah, how about it, I didn't expect it."
In fact, what Tang Botao didn't know was that this kind of car air conditioner, whether it was a single air conditioner or an integrated heating and cooling car air conditioner, was "smuggled" by Li Yian for his personal enjoyment. result. Although the American luxury car Packard provided a refrigeration air-conditioning system as early as 1939, it did not achieve commercial success due to its high price.
The tropical climate in Nanyang made Li Yi'an focus on air conditioners early. After learning that car air conditioners had not been really invented, he directly adopted the borrowing principle and "smuggled" several units from the system mall. A car with air conditioning, and Chunlan, as the largest air conditioning manufacturer in Nanyang, naturally took over the task of imitation.
After more than two years of improvement and debugging, it was not until last year that Chunlan Company launched a single-cooling car air conditioner. At first, due to limited production, it was exclusively for BMW. It was not until a few months ago that it was available as an optional accessory. Appeared on Alfa Romeo's options list.
The hot weather in Nanyang makes this kind of car air conditioner very popular in the market. Air conditioning has also become the biggest product advantage of BMW and Alfa Romeo cars, and thus they have successfully entered the southern US market. After all, the weather in the southern US is also very hot.
"It's really hard to imagine that air conditioning can be installed in a car. It's really a pleasure to drive in such a comfortable environment."
"Yes, if Lawyer Li likes it, he can go back to Singapore You can also buy one. There are also BMWs and Alfa Romeos there.”
“Yes, that’s right. The biggest change in Singapore after returning from the UK is that there are many more cars on the road. BMW and Alfa Romeo, cars made in Nanyang.”
Once upon a time, the streets of Singapore were dominated by British cars, but in the past three years, Nanyang cars have swept across Southeast Asia, including those in London. BMWs and Alfa Romeos also appeared on the streets.
“When I was studying in the UK, I also saw a lot of BMWs.”
Lee Kuan Yew specifically emphasized this.
“Last year, BMW exported 11,000 vehicles and Alfa Romeo exported 25,000 vehicles.”
As a business lawyer, Tang Botao naturally has a certain understanding of these two major automakers in Nanyang. learn.
“They have all introduced automated car production lines from Detroit, but they are not as good as Wuling in terms of output. Now I heard that its orders have been scheduled for half a year, let alone employees, just ordinary people Workers can also afford cars!”
“Ordinary workers can also afford cars... It’s really unexpected!”
There are also many workers in the UK who have their own cars, but that is the UK and this is Nanyang... However, soon the workers here will also have their own cars.
“I don’t know when Singapore’s workers will be able to live such a life.”
With emotion, Lee Kuan Yew looked out the car window. At this time, the car had already driven in The city area. The rows of high-rise buildings, the neon billboards with feasting and entertainment, and various cars running on the wide avenues were very similar to the London he had stayed in, except that there were not so many high-rise buildings in London.
The more important point is that this is not London, England, but Chang'an in Southeast Asia, a city of the Tang Dynasty! At this time, although I had seen photos of Chang'an countless times when I was in the UK, the feeling of being there was completely different. The straightforward visual impact of the bustling city directly shocked Lee Kuan Yew. In his heart, he couldn't help but sigh.
“This is Chang’an…the capital of the Tang Dynasty!”
(End of this chapter)