Chapter 3974: The Impact of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis

As it approached eight o'clock, leaders including Lu Zhenghong and dignitaries from around the world walked onto the rostrum and waved to all the spectators in the stadium, which meant the opening ceremony was about to begin. All the spectators let out a huge cheer.

A dazzling halo illuminated the ancient sundial. In the center of the stadium, with powerful beats, 2008 ancient Chinese percussion instruments, the *fou*, emitted a soul-stirring sound. White lights on the *fou* flashed in sequence, forming a countdown. Amidst the thunderous sound of the *fou*, the entire audience shouted along with the changing numbers: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Amidst the cheers, the official start of the opening ceremony arrived: exactly 8:00 PM. 2008 performers beat the *fou* and sang, reciting, "Friends have come from afar, how happy we are," expressing their welcome to Olympic athletes and guests from all over the world.

Su Xinghui had seen this scene on TV in his previous life, but when he saw it in person in this life, he was still extremely excited. Like an ordinary spectator, he cheered along with the powerful sound of the 2008 performers beating the *fou*.

Beside him, his family and friends were also cheering like ordinary spectators. This scene of beating the *fou* was simply too visually impactful and too exciting, making one's blood boil involuntarily.

Subsequently, one program after another was performed in sequence: fireworks, "Singing for the Motherland," flag-raising and the national anthem, and various wonderful cultural performances made the audience cheer with satisfaction. Even Su Xinghui, who had already watched this opening ceremony on TV in his previous life, was watching intently.

Watching this opening ceremony in person was a completely different feeling from watching it on TV.

The delegations from various countries entered the venue. A total of 204 delegations entered in sequence. When the Chinese delegation entered last, the entire audience boiled over.

The climax of the entire event came when the Olympic flame was lit. At 12:04 AM, the flame was lit by the famous "Prince of Gymnastics" with a torch in his hand, in a pose of walking in the air. Instantly, the entire stadium was as bright as day, and all the spectators were cheering.

The unbridled music and enthusiastic cheers were deafening, and the atmosphere at the scene reached a climax. At the same time, over 40,000 fireworks were set off across Beijing, and the colorful fireworks, like a ribbon under the starry sky, echoed the fireworks over the National Stadium.

The Beijing Olympic opening ceremony ended in an enthusiastic atmosphere, but all the spectators were unable to calm down for a long time. Many people didn't sleep all night, and Su Xinghui was one of those who stayed awake all night.

Only those who had personally attended the opening ceremony knew how exhilarating it felt. This opening ceremony was not just an opening ceremony, but a display of China's increasingly powerful national strength.

After watching the opening ceremony, the next day, Su Xinghui and his family went to watch the first day of the Olympic competitions. The Chinese athletes performed excellently, winning gold and silver medals one after another, which made the atmosphere at the scene very enthusiastic.

However, Su Xinghui was simply too busy and didn't have that much time to stay in Beijing to watch the Olympics. So, on Sunday, he, Lu Xiaoya, and his parents returned to Linshan, leaving only Niuniu in Beijing to stay with his grandparents for a period of time.

2008 was truly a very special year. At the beginning of this year, the once-in-a-century southern snow disaster occurred, and the US subprime mortgage crisis swept the globe, triggering a global financial crisis. Immediately after, China experienced the Western Sichuan earthquake, which caused tens of thousands of casualties and shocked the world.

In August, China hosted the Summer Olympics for the first time, which also attracted worldwide attention. In this Summer Olympics, the Chinese delegation went on a rampage, eventually winning a total of 100 medals, including 51 gold medals, and climbed to the top of the gold medal list in one fell swoop. This was also the first time China had topped the gold medal list in the Summer Olympics.

This result thrilled countless Chinese people. Sports are a war in peacetime and a reflection of a country's comprehensive national strength. In many previous Olympics, the United States was the undisputed leader, and other countries couldn't even pose any effective threat to them.

But in this Olympics, China surpassed the United States' leading position in one fell swoop and became the new leader of the gold medal list. How could the Chinese people not cheer?

Although Su Xinghui was very busy at work every day, whenever he had time, he would open his mobile phone to see what events were on today and how many gold medals China had won. This was something he had to do every day in his previous life, but after so many years, he did it again like an ordinary person, and he never tired of it.

He found that he had regained his original passion.

The Olympics hosted by China thrilled everyone, but the US subprime mortgage crisis was continuing to ferment, and China's economy had also been affected by the subprime mortgage crisis, encountering some trouble and experiencing some decline.

In 2007, due to weak import demand from the United States and Europe, China's monthly export growth rate had fallen from over 50% in February 2007 to about 20% in December. This rate of decline was very terrifying because many of China's industries were export-oriented economies, mainly engaged in export trade.

The US subprime mortgage crisis caused a decline in China's export growth, which on one hand would cause China's economic growth to slow down to a certain extent. At the same time, because China's economic growth slowed down, the social demand for labor was less than the supply of labor, which would increase the employment pressure on the whole society.

This put the real economy, especially the industrial sector, under huge pressure. And the bankruptcy of a large number of small and medium-sized processing enterprises also exacerbated the grim situation of unemployment.

To cope with the negative impact of the subprime mortgage crisis, the United States adopted an loose monetary policy and a weak dollar exchange rate policy. The sharp depreciation of the US dollar brought huge exchange rate risks to China. Under the circumstances of slowing economic growth in developed countries, continuous economic growth in China, continuous depreciation of the US dollar, and unchanged expectations of RMB appreciation, international capital accelerated its flow to China to seek a safe haven, which would exacerbate the risks in China's capital market.

These were the huge impacts brought by the US subprime mortgage crisis to China. If such impacts couldn't be eliminated, China's economy would suffer a heavy blow. Therefore, the Chinese government was also actively looking for ways to cope.

Among some large enterprises related to Su Xinghui, the Hanhai Group was not much affected because many of the Hanhai Group's products were mainly aimed at the domestic market, and the Hanhai second-generation mobile phones they produced were the smartest mobile phones with the highest technical content and the most popular in the world. They were already in short supply, so sales had been growing steadily.

Some enterprises under Yu Ruizhi, such as the leather goods factory, were affected because the leather goods they produced were mainly exported to European and American countries. The weak economy in European and American countries naturally affected the exports of the leather goods factory. However, the proportion of the leather goods factory among the enterprises under Yu Ruizhi was no longer significant.

Most of Yu Ruizhi's enterprises were also aimed at the domestic market, especially the tourism industry. He had now carried out tourism development in many tourist resorts across the country, and the tourism market had been cultivated to be quite mature, so these tourism markets were not much affected.

Hou Wenhai's Houshi Electric Appliances was more affected because they mainly produced high-end electrical appliances, and the exports of these high-end electrical appliances were also mainly aimed at the European and American markets. Therefore, during this period, the sales of Houshi Electric Appliances declined significantly. However, the Houshi Group was now strong, and such an impact couldn't cause them any bone-breaking losses.

On the contrary, the sales of Ernest Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. were rising against the trend. Ernest cars had the quality of imported cars, but the price was that of domestic cars, and they had always maintained a state of short supply in China. Therefore, with the increase in their production capacity, their sales had also been increasing.

In addition, like Min Tong's mineral water and beverages, as long as this kind of fast-moving consumer goods had a good reputation, the consumption volume would not decline too much, and this kind of product was rarely exported, so it would not be affected. ===== CHAPTER 3976 =====