Chapter 2597

Shanghai was a major economic city in China, arguably the most developed city outside the capital, and an old industrial base. There were numerous large state-owned enterprises here, and naturally, many problems occurred. Therefore, Premier Nan had sent Su Xinghui here, wanting to truly know what kind of problems were happening.

In addition, Premier Nan had given Su Xinghui a special task, though this task was not public: to investigate the state of Shanghai's real estate market.

Since entering the new century, China's housing prices had seen a relatively large increase. For instance, the courtyard house Su Xinghui had bought had now risen to over three thousand, nearly four thousand yuan. If Su Xinghui were to sell it now, he would have made hundreds of thousands in just a few months.

However, Su Xinghui would, of course, never sell the courtyard.

The region with the largest increase in housing prices was Shanghai. The average housing price in the center of Shanghai had already risen to four or five thousand, and some high-end residential areas had reached seven or eight thousand, or even ten thousand. Moreover, the housing market was extremely hot.

This phenomenon had also caught Premier Nan's attention, so he had given Su Xinghui a secret task: to investigate the current state of Shanghai's real estate market and see how such increases were being generated.

Since taking office, Premier Nan had been sparing no effort to control the rise in housing prices. The real estate boom in the south in the nineties was something he had personally controlled. He believed that if housing prices rose too fast and too high, it would certainly not be a good thing for the country.

He believed that reform was meant to allow all the common people to enjoy the dividends of economic growth and to ensure everyone could afford a house. If housing prices rose too high and people couldn't even afford a house, how could one talk about living and working in peace?

It must be said that Premier Nan was far-sighted. His vision pierced through the fog, seeing some of the strange phenomena in China more than a decade later. Unfortunately, he was already too old and could only serve this term, and his power was insufficient to confront the numerous vested interests.

While Premier Nan was in office, he could still manage to control housing prices. A few years later, after Premier Nan stepped down, China's housing prices immediately saw a wave of retaliatory, strong growth.

Of course, that is a story for later. At this time, Premier Nan noticed that the wave of rising housing prices in Shanghai was unusual, so he took this opportunity to have Su Xinghui investigate it.

Xing Guodong entered Su Xinghui's room and immediately took a cup, brewed a cup of tea for Su Xinghui, and placed it on the coffee table. Su Xinghui laughed and said, "Old Xing, pour yourself a cup too."

Xing Guodong took another cup, poured one for himself, and then sat upright opposite Su Xinghui, his back straight, waiting for Su Xinghui to speak.

Su Xinghui laughed and said, "Old Xing, don't be so nervous. We're just chatting."

Xing Guodong nodded and relaxed his posture slightly.

Su Xinghui said, "Old Xing, Shanghai is a major economic city with many state-owned enterprises, all of which are very important. Therefore, our task this time is not light. You need to be mentally prepared."

Xing Guodong nodded and said, "Yes, there are too many large state-owned enterprises in Shanghai, and they occupy a very important position in our country. The reform of state-owned enterprises here is also very important. Our task is indeed not light. Whatever we should do, I will listen to Director Su."

Su Xinghui said, "How about this: we split into two groups. I will take Xia Song, and you take Old Tang and the others. We will each visit the various state-owned enterprises for investigation, and then meet up every night to exchange the information we've gathered so we can have a clear understanding."

In fact, Su Xinghui's research team was a bit small, but they only had so many people in the Policy Research Office, and they still had to maintain normal work and conduct research in other places, so they could only send these few people.

Xing Guodong said, "Alright, I will listen to Director Su."

Su Xinghui said, "During our research, we must delve deep, maintain independence, and ensure our work is not interfered with by others. We must truly discover the problems. Only by discovering problems can we allow the reform of state-owned enterprises to truly develop in a good direction."

Xing Guodong's expression turned stern, and he nodded: "Director Su, rest assured, I will definitely go all out!"

Su Xinghui nodded with satisfaction. He did this not because he had any issues with Shanghai or was resentful about the low reception specifications; coming down for research was, of course, to discover problems. If they couldn't discover any problems and everything was perfect, what was the point of their research team? They could just look at the reports submitted by the local authorities themselves.

In this sense, their research team was here to find faults. If they truly couldn't find any faults, it would prove that the work below was solid and could stand the test, which would be a good thing.

Su Xinghui smiled and said, "Old Xing, you are a veteran comrade with a solid theoretical foundation and rich work experience. Therefore, I am relying heavily on you for this research. I hope you can do a good job."

Xing Guodong's spirits were immediately lifted. He nodded quickly: "Director Su, rest assured, I will definitely do a good job and will not let you down!"

Su Xinghui smiled and nodded: "Alright, then go and rest. You must be tired after being on the train for so long."

Xing Guodong stood up and said, "Alright, then I'll head over. Director Su, you should rest as well." ===== CHAPTER 2599 =====