Chapter 99: The Banner Changes on the City Wall

"Shenzhou phones defeated Ximen in the European market, becoming the currently most popular phone brand globally!"

"Monthly sales broke 240,000 units. Wall Street analysts estimate that Shenzhou phone sales are far from reaching their peak. It is expected that within the next three years, over 100 million households and companies globally will replace their landlines with digital cordless phones. Including the addition of new users, the scale of global digital cordless phones will exceed previous estimates."

"But in the future, Shenzhou phones will not only face Ximen, but also the entry of a host of companies such as AT&T, General Electric, Philips, and Panasonic to snatch the digital cordless phone market!"

"The pride of domestic products, Shenzhou creates a miracle for domestic brands, becoming the first Chinese company among domestic brands to occupy an advantage in competition with foreign giants!"

Inside the Yanjing Business Daily, Feng Miaoyu held the latest news report published by her own newspaper. "Pride of domestic products" was what Yanjing Business Daily had hyped up about Shenzhou phones, but the other reports above were reported by a host of major media outlets such as Economic Daily, Industrial and Commercial Daily, Yangcheng Evening News, and Southern Weekly.

A month ago, domestic media almost overwhelmingly reported the news of "Shenzhou's defeat in Europe," but just one month later, countless reports began to appear hyping up Shenzhou phones.

Never mind outsiders, even Feng Miaoyu, a media person, felt dazzled. It really felt like a scene of the banner changing on the city wall.

Last month, the brand Shenzhou was "black-red" (infamous). I don't know how many people cursed it. The saying "don't learn from Shenzhou when starting a company" began to spread. Everyone was ashamed of Shenzhou, and the media even summarized several crimes of Shenzhou's inevitable failure overseas. But now Shenzhou had transformed into the pride of domestic products, selling explosively in Europe, starting to suppress Ximen, and in one fell swoop becoming the flag of domestic brands. The speed of this rise and fall was truly too fast!

I don't know how the spectators felt, but even Feng Miaoyu, a media person, felt embarrassed for those media outlets that had cursed Shenzhou and Dongling High-Tech before. Although Yanjing Business Daily had reported it before, it hadn't kicked them while they were down. At this time, it also began to desperately hype up Shenzhou phones.

From the moment the news reached the country, it was destined that the domestic media industry would explode. This was the first time a domestic brand had gone head-to-head with a foreign giant company, fought face-to-face, and actually won!

If this scene hadn't happened right before their eyes, it's estimated that no one would believe it. Previously, there were domestic products, such as Little Swan, exported to Bangladesh and other places to earn foreign exchange, but that ultimately hadn't entered the markets of developed countries like Europe, America, and Japan, and certainly hadn't fought and won against recognized giants like Ximen.

Shenzhou hadn't just sold to European countries; it had beaten the opponent in Ximen' home base. When media people wrote Shenzhou news, they all felt a surge of energy in their chests, excited and wanting to shout out, not to mention the people who saw the news.

Feng Miaoyu flipped through several newspapers. Basically, they were all hyping Shenzhou or citing and carrying overseas news reports. As for what exactly happened to Shenzhou in Europe during this month, no media reported it, leaving her unable to find out. But she was certain that this month must have been a long season for Shenzhou...

"Shenzhou phones currently set a new record for domestic electric appliance overseas sales, and also created a new record for Asian brands landing in Europe and selling well after Japan and South Korea!"

While countless large and small newspapers in the country were bombarding with reports on Shenzhou news, the CCTV economic channel also made a report, confirming the authenticity of this news. No one doubted the fact that Shenzhou digital cordless phones had actually overtaken Ximen in sales in Europe!

It hadn't reached the point where several major domestic home appliance brands supplied the global home appliance market. The main home appliance industry brands were mainly from America, Europe, Japan, or perhaps a rising star, South Korea. Domestic home appliance brands, mainly TVs, were either fighting internally in the country or struggling to resist the offensive of foreign brands.

And just at this time, the news suddenly came out that Shenzhou phones, also a domestic brand, were selling wildly in Europe. For domestic electric appliance brands like Changhong, Gree, Haier, Hisense, TCL, Konka, Chunlan, Little Swan, Xinfei, Rongsheng, Lenovo, and Panda, this was no less than a thunderclap.

This news was simply too shocking. When bosses of electric appliance companies like Haier's Mr. Zhang and TCL's boss Mr. Li first saw the news, they all suspected it was fake news. But reports from multiple large media outlets and CCTV let them know that this news was true.

For a time, major domestic brand companies were endlessly curious about Shenzhou phones, not knowing how Shenzhou had sold the phones and actually won head-to-head against Ximen!

If they could find the trick, which domestic brand wouldn't want to sell products to Europe and America to earn foreign exchange? Who would want to fight internally in the country every day?!

Under the overwhelming reports of countless media, the focus was on Shenzhou, causing Shenzhou's popularity in the country to soar. Not only in the country, but even in Southeast Asia, Shenzhou's popularity also soared by a large margin!

Just like in the country, now Southeast Asian countries, including Japan and South Korea, all had a filter for Western culture, economy, movies, and tech products. Western movies and tech products were popular in Japan and other places and were inexplicably welcomed. Shenzhou being able to sell well in Europe, although it couldn't be called defeating Ximen, was enough to attract attention and reports in these places.

Although many people in the country had followed the media's incitement to curse Shenzhou before, when the news came out that Shenzhou was selling well in Europe and had become the pride of domestic brands, Shenzhou phones began to be snatched up wildly in the country!

The price of 1,200 RMB for a Shenzhou digital cordless phone in the country, if placed in Europe, was equivalent to three to five days of a clerk's wages, which wasn't a heavy burden, and ordinary families could afford it. But it was different in the country.

In the country, 1,200 RMB was almost equivalent to half a year's wage income for a strong laborer. It really wasn't cheap. But on that day, the sales of Shenzhou phones in the country almost multiplied several times in one day, reaching a staggering 24,000 units, hitting 28.88 million RMB in sales in the country in a single day, shaking the domestic electric appliance industry. This was domestic users using real money to support Shenzhou!

The digital cordless phone market, which had originally been ignored, suddenly became a hot industry in the country. Domestic electric appliance companies including BBK, TCL, Changhong, Haier, Konka, and Xinxin all announced their entry into the digital cordless phone market.

However, companies like BBK and TCL actually knew that their entry into this industry was just to get a piece of the pie and compete for second place.

Drinking some soup was fine, but wanting to challenge Shenzhou was basically hopeless. It was hard to say about abroad, but in the country, as long as digital cordless phones were mentioned, it's estimated everyone would think of Shenzhou. To a certain extent, for domestic users, it had already transcended the definition of a brand. As long as it was in the domestic digital cordless phone field, no one could compete with Shenzhou, and it would be the same ten years later!

The world of the Jianghu has always been a place where some are happy and some are sad; there has never been a situation where everyone can laugh. While domestic media were violently hyping Shenzhou, and it even began to represent the confidence of the Chinese people, and was being snatched up wildly by the Chinese people, some people couldn't laugh.

"Boss Wang, domestic computer manufacturers including Lenovo, Seven Joy, Great Wall, Inspur, Star, Tongfang, and Donghai have all announced the termination of cooperation with our company, refusing to purchase computer components we represent!"

"Ah?!"

Inside Yanjing Tiancheng Trading Company, Wang Tianan raised his head in a daze. For this news, he was both surprised and had already anticipated it.

From the Bai Yin mouse to electronic pets, and now to Shenzhou phones, Wang Tianan had been spouting nonsense about Dongling High-Tech in the media. He needed to do so; he had to defeat Dongling High-Tech, this "alien" of domestic technology, so that the components of those overseas companies he represented could be sold continuously in the country.

But this time, when Wang Tianan swore that Shenzhou would fail and claimed he would represent Ximen computers, he was finally backlashed.

After the news of Shenzhou phones selling wildly in Europe reached the country, Wang Tianan became a street rat that everyone wanted to beat. Representing Ximen to fight against the pride of domestic products—if that wasn't eating inside and out, what was?

Wang Tianan's reputation was completely ruined. No major domestic computer manufacturer dared to cooperate with him anymore, to avoid getting into trouble. There wasn't just one company representing computer components in the country; why hang himself on one tree?

As for those overseas computer component companies, they didn't care about Tiancheng Trading Company at all. Wang Tianan was just a comprador agent for them to enter the country. If his reputation was ruined, they would just change to another agent; it wouldn't affect them selling goods in the country.

Wang Tianan slumped dejectedly in his chair. This time, his Yanjing Tiancheng Trading Company was going to go completely bankrupt. Foreign computer component manufacturers and domestic computer brand owners had all abandoned him. Was there any need for him to exist? Even that pile of goods in the warehouse, if they couldn't be sold, he would have to pay a huge amount of money!

In a similar situation to Wang Tianan was the media commentator Yan Lixiang. Looking at the news reported in the media, he found it even harder to accept than Wang Tianan.

"How is this possible? How could Shenzhou possibly beat Ximen?!"

Yan Lixiang wanted to pick up his pen to refute it, but the impact of this matter on him was truly too great, making him truly unable to accept it. In his anticipation, shouldn't Ximen have crushed Shenzhou in one go? How could they let Shenzhou turn the tables and suppress Ximen instead?

"It's definitely impossible. Shenzhou must have done something; it's fake news..."

Yan Lixiang wanted to write like this, but the reports from CCTV, Industrial and Commercial Daily, and Economic Daily were all right before his eyes. One media outlet could cover for Shenzhou phones, but it was impossible for all of them to have been bought by Shenzhou phones. Among them were some newspapers that had carried news from America. Could it be that overseas media had also been bought by Shenzhou? Yan Lixiang also knew this was impossible.

"There must be something I don't know. How could it sell so much!"

Sitting uneasily, Yan Lixiang took out a small notebook, found a number, and dialed it. This number was one he had gotten to know some foreign friends, mainly Japanese friends, when he went abroad before.

Those overseas friends told Yan Lixiang that if he had difficulties after returning home, he could call them to seek their help. Yan Lixiang and those overseas friends contacted each other from time to time, and they would even have dinner together once or twice a year. Sometimes they would even invite Yan Lixiang's whole family to travel abroad. Over the years, those overseas friends had also funded him many times, allowing Yan Lixiang to focus on writing and criticizing current affairs, such as criticizing Dongling High-Tech last month.

But regardless of whether public opinion was praising or belittling, at this time, Dongling High-Tech was busy, desperately producing units!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 100 =====