Chapter 462: A Wave of Wealth

Li Dongling looked at the Dongxing giant panda before him. As for the people of Chuan-Shu, he didn't know if they rode giant pandas to school, but from this moment on, the Li family could also be considered to have a giant panda at home!

Before leaving the panda house, Li Dongling still reached out to touch Dongxing Zai. Feeling that it was solid and not just bloated, he then walked toward the outside.

Once outside, Chen Linfeng saw the look on Li Dongling's face. The Chief Secretary was very perceptive and took Li Dongyue, Li Dongshan, Miao Jiahui, and the others to another area. He knew that Li Dongling definitely had matters to discuss with the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center.

"This giant panda research center in Hanxi must remain in Pingyang from now on, and it must remain here at the Pingyang Animal Park!"

After taking off his isolation suit and arriving at the research center's office, Li Dongling spoke to Fu Lang, He Haize, and the others, primarily addressing Fu Lang.

Currently, giant pandas had not yet reached the level of being "money-printing artifacts," so all parties were not fighting over them; in fact, they were even pushing them away.

But not fighting over them now did not mean they wouldn't fight over them later when the market improved. Once the giant panda market picked up and they became entities pursued by countless people, all parties would certainly fight over them.

Li Dongling did not want this giant panda research center in Pingyang to be snatched away one day. This was a matter concerning the Pingyang Animal Park and the key to whether it could be profitable in the future.

Dongling High-Tech was set to invest over 300 million in funding into the Pingyang Animal Park project over the next few years, and he did not want that effort to go to waste!

"That is only natural!"

Fu Lang said with a smile. Currently, among the animal research institutes and zoos within Hanxi, there were truly very few that were willing to raise pandas. Even the provincial capital's zoo was losing money and complaining incessantly, let alone other units. Aside from Pingyang, there really was no one else capable of taking over.

"These things should still be put in writing. A four-party agreement should be established between the Hanxi Wildlife Association, the Pingyang Municipal Government, the Pingyang Animal Park, and the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center, promising not to relocate the giant panda research center and not to transfer the giant pandas from the research center at will. Only then can Dongling High-Tech invest more funds with peace of mind in the future!"

Li Dongling looked at Fu Lang and said clearly. Some things had to be stated plainly from the start. Li Dongling did not want the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center to work hard to raise a panda, only for the Wildlife Association to wave a hand and send it off to a foreign zoo in the blink of an eye.

Hearing Li Dongling's words, Fu Lang fell silent. If this agreement were signed, it would not be so easy for the Hanxi Wildlife Association to interfere with the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center and Pingyang Animal Park in the future. In Pingyang, the power of the Hanxi Wildlife Association would be significantly weakened.

It might not seem like much now, but what if the Pingyang Animal Park became profitable later? If the Wildlife Association had no right to interfere then, it would be a huge loss!

Seeing this, Li Dongling added another point, "In the future, at least 70% of the funds donated to the giant panda research center by Dongling High-Tech, the Li family, or other donors must be used for giant panda research, living conditions, and related aspects!"

Upon hearing this, a look of joy couldn't help but appear on He Haize's face, and Fu Lang's tense expression also relaxed. Li Dongling had set the rules: the funding invested in the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center would basically be a 70/30 split.

The Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center would have the right to use 70% of the funds, and the remaining 30% would naturally belong to the Hanxi Wildlife Association.

This was the only way; the giant panda research center could not be handed over to private operation, and the Hanxi Wildlife Association was the direct superior unit of the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center. Theoretically, funding, personnel, and animal projects were all decided by the Hanxi Wildlife Association.

Why was it said that a higher official could crush those below them? It was because, according to the rules, there was really no way to completely bypass the Hanxi Wildlife Association!

Using 70% of the funds entirely on the giant panda research center was already quite good. Additionally, by taking the opportunity to sign a black-and-white agreement, the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center could have absolute autonomy in the future and not be constrained by the Hanxi Wildlife Association.

This was the key point. In the future, the fate of the giant pandas at the Pingyang Research Center could be kept in their own hands; at the very least, they wouldn't be dragged off to suffer in some overseas regions and be unable to return.

As for what happens when giant pandas go overseas, to a certain extent, it depends entirely on luck. Places like Qatar, Malaysia, Japan, and even South Korea have treated the pandas they received quite well. As for some other places, they could barely afford to feed the giant pandas and treated them entirely as tools to rake in ticket money.

"Mr. Li is overthinking it. Hanxi is also giving its full support to the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center."

"Since Mr. Li has the heart for it, the Hanxi Wildlife Association will sign this agreement to put Mr. Li's mind at ease. However, the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center must not violate the agreement in the future either!"

Fu Lang was also afraid that the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center would play tricks and intercept that 30% of the funding. For the Hanxi Wildlife Association, that 30% of funding would be a major source of extra income for a long time to come, so they certainly had to value it.

"Director Fu, rest assured, I, He Haize, have always kept my word!"

Being able to secure 70% of the funding, He Haize was already quite satisfied and just wanted to quickly send away the "mother-in-law" who had been squatting here for ten days to half a month.

With his worries resolved, Li Dongling's expression relaxed as he said to He Haize, "Director He, how to research, breed, and raise giant pandas is a matter for the research center and Professor Qian to be responsible for."

"Dongling High-Tech and I personally have always believed in letting professionals do professional work. I do not want rumors about giant pandas being mistreated to emerge from the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center in the future, and I do not want any messy business happening here!"

After giving He Haize a reminder, Li Dongling continued, "The matter of raising giant pandas will be the responsibility of the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center, while publicity, promotion, and the commercialization of giant panda derivative products will be the responsibility of the Dongling High-Tech Investment Department!"

"Of course, if there are profits, then the earnings from these giant panda derivative products will be split proportionally between Dongling High-Tech, the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center... and the Hanxi Wildlife Association!"

Seeing Fu Lang's perked-up ears and his gaze fixed on this side, Li Dongling still added the Hanxi Wildlife Association. After all, he would still need the support of the Hanxi Wildlife Association, and even the National Wildlife Association above them, in the future; it was impossible to truly cut them out completely.

Li Dongling and He Haize finally settled on a 60/40 split agreement. That is, for future giant panda derivative products in cooperation with the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center, the Dongling High-Tech Investment Department would receive 60% of the profits, and the remaining 40% would belong to the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center. As for how He Haize and Fu Lang would bicker between themselves, that was up to them.

"In the future, the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center can promote adoption. This is not only to raise funds but also to better promote the pandas. Only by letting more people pay attention to and accept giant pandas can their status as a national treasure be truly established!"

Li Dongling said, "Additionally, the Dongling High-Tech Investment Department can cooperate with Hanxi Provincial Television and other media to launch various programs centered on the giant pandas at the Pingyang Research Center."

"Hire domestic fairy tale writers to write fairy tales and reading materials themed around the giant pandas at the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Institute, and publish articles about giant pandas in magazines like *Reader* and *Youth Digest* for publicity."

"The Japanese Bandai company, invested in by Dongling High-Tech, can cooperate to produce manga, animated series, and animated films based on pandas like Dongxing."

"On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the first forum website in the country, Tianya Net, will open its servers and officially go online. We can hold an online naming contest for the pandas at the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center on Tianya Net!"

Writing articles about giant pandas in magazines like *Reader*, *Youth Digest*, and *Yilin* to advertise for them was much better than writing about Washington and his cherry axe or German engineers wrapped in oil paper in the sewers of Jiaozhou, and selling "national reflection coupons" whenever they had nothing to do.

However, one thing to say is that the "three-piece set" of the magazine world—*Reader*, *Youth Digest*, and *Yilin*—had been advertising Feiyan's mini radios in every issue due to ad placements, and the results were quite good...

After being tested for a long time and delayed several times, Tianya Net finally passed its internal testing. It was preparing to go online at midnight on the first day of the Lunar New Year, 1996—the first official forum website in the country.

The opening of Tianya Net also needed some gimmicks to attract popularity, and the Pingyang Giant Xiong Mao Research Center needed fame; the two sides could just happen to coordinate a wave of cooperation.

Fu Lang and He Haize were stunned as they listened to Li Dongling's words, with only one thought in their minds: No, how did this man come up with so many tricks? Making TV shows, cartoons, manga, and even movies for giant pandas—could the few bears they saw every day really be played with like this?!

"Director Fu, there is one more most important point. I hope the Hanxi Wildlife Association can help the Dongling High-Tech Investment Department obtain the exclusive authorization for domestic commercial giant panda derivative products for the next thirty years from the National Wildlife Association. For this, the Dongling High-Tech Investment Department is willing to donate 500,000 yuan annually to the Hanxi Wildlife Association and 2 million yuan to the National Wildlife Association!"

"Additionally, for giant panda derivative products, including brand licensing, plush toys, travel souvenirs, food, stationery, clothing, household goods, popular science books, picture books, panda educational toys, etc., if they are profitable, the Dongling High-Tech Investment Department can distribute 25% of the profits to the National Wildlife Association and the wildlife associations of various provinces in the country!"

It was hard to say who the copyright for giant panda derivative products truly belonged to, but the National Wildlife Association certainly had the most say. Especially for some key activities and events, the National Wildlife Association had the ability to have giant pandas appear in the promotion of events like the Olympics and the National Games.

If Dongling High-Tech could obtain the giant panda copyright for such events, like the Bing Dwen Dwen dolls at the Winter Olympics in his previous life, which sold 2.5 billion yuan worth of products domestically alone—and that was just domestically; the overseas market would have at least tens of millions of dollars in sales to start with. ===== CHAPTER 463 =====