Rebirth of the Wild Age

If you search for Fudan's anniversary on the Internet, you will probably get confused, because there are three kinds of results.

The first one is May 27th, which belongs to the school anniversary publicly recognized by Fudan University and is an adjustment made to commemorate the liberation of Shenghai.

The second and third are school founding days, which are September 4 and September 14 respectively. And there are more search results on September 4th, but it is likely to be wrong, and I don’t know who made the mistake, and then a large number of related web pages are all wrong. The real school building day is the second day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when Fudan Public School officially starts.

Therefore, Fudan's centennial celebration was scheduled on September 24th... probably to take care of the military training of freshmen, and the school also needs time to organize and organize.

The problem is that it's only the beginning of May, why did Song Weiyang go back to attend the school celebration?

Hehe, Fudan's centennial celebration activities have been carried out one after another since New Year's Day. On January 1st, the Oriental Pearl Tower Climbing Competition and New Year's Concert were held simultaneously, kicking off the centennial celebration activities that lasted for more than half a year.

On the way, the China Mayor Forum, 21st Century University Presidents' Annual Meeting, Pacific Rim Mathematical Conference... These are all sponsored by Fudan University, and they all revolve around the centennial celebration.

The event that Song Weiyang came back to participate in this time was called Shenghai Forum (the first session), and it was held at the same time as the Fortune Forum in Beijing. The Fortune Forum is global, with many domestic and foreign leaders participating, and the official atmosphere is stronger. The Shenghai Forum is also global, with a stronger academic atmosphere, and it is the highest-level event in the series of Fudan Centennial Celebrations.

Due to time constraints, Song Weiyang could only choose one of the two, but he chose Sheng Hai's side because of face.

Returning to Shenghai from Hong Kong City, Song Weiyang happened to be in time for the welcome dinner. He was placed in the front position. It is inconvenient for the guests at the same table to talk about it. Let me just mention those who are abroad: Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Executive Vice President of the World Bank, Secretary-General of the Boao Forum, Mr. Li from Singapore etc.

If it was changed to last year, Song Weiyang would definitely not be eligible to sit at this table, and would most likely be placed at table 2 or 3. But this year is different, the richest Chinese in the world and the seventh richest man in the world.

Although in this case, status cannot be completely measured by wealth. But at this moment, China is still struggling to develop. To be able to produce a top ten figure in the world's richest list is far more valuable than producing such a figure ten years later. Rare things are more expensive.

The dinner had not officially started yet, Song Weiyang, as the youngest and richest person at table 1, received the attention of other guests at this table, or actively communicated with him in English or Chinese.

Song Weiyang usually didn't distribute business cards, but this table was obviously an exception. Not only did he distribute them to table 1, but he also distributed them to tables 2 and 3. There is no way, the guests here are all bigwigs, politics, academia, and business each account for one-third, and there are several presidents of top universities at home and abroad.

I have to say that Fudan University has a great reputation for inviting so many awesome people to organize a forum.

By the way, among the guests invited to this forum, Song Weiyang is the only domestic private entrepreneur. Because the forum is mainly about academic exchanges, and they all talk about some macroscopic things, and hardly involve specific business activities. Entrepreneurs don't know what to do when they come here.

The local official boss gave a speech at the dinner, and amidst applause, the eating and drinking began. Xianjiu and Xifeng's various beverages were openly served at the dinner party, and Song Weiyang's sponsorship qualification was given only because of Song Weiyang's face. Unfortunately, except for guests from Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia, other foreigners are not used to baijiu.

The forum officially started on the second day, and the whole process was extremely boring, and each speaker had to speak for at least 20 minutes. And it's all of that kind of macroscopic nature. If you expand it properly, you can use it as a master's thesis.

Some people's speeches were bright, but most of them made Song Weiyang doze off listening to them. Maybe they have certain foresight, but Song Weiyang is a time traveler, this kind of foresight is common sense to him.

The theme of the forum is Economic Globalization and Asia's Choice, which can focus on three aspects: energy, finance and IT. Guests can choose their own focus when speaking.

Although Song Weiyang was very rich, he was not even considered a beginner in the academic world, so he was arranged to speak on stage on the last day. But it doesn't matter, Mr. Li from Singapore also spoke, talking about some caricatures, and after squeezing out the water, there is no nutrition at all.

What is particularly nonsense is that just after Mr. Li finished his speech, the leaders of Fudan came to the stage in person to present Mr. Li with an honorary doctorate certificate.

In the midst of sparse applause, Song Weiyang finally took the stage, and the foreigners put on simultaneous interpretation earphones and waited for him to speak. Song Weiyang bowed first, then smiled and said: Respected leaders, guests, friends, ladies and gentlemen: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to express my views. I don't understand academics, and I don't understand policies. , Discussing cultural policy with leaders and experts is purely playing tricks...

There is no need to play humor on this occasion. One is more serious than the other. If you tell jokes, you will only be despised.

Song Weiyang went straight to the topic and said: The theme of this forum is 'Economic Globalization and Asia's Choice', which mainly revolves around three aspects: energy, finance and IT. When I accepted the invitation, the organizer Fudan University told me : 'You can talk about it, you're an expert on it.' I'm not an expert and I'm not talking about it today, I want to talk about energy.

The issue of economic globalization is very complicated, especially in terms of energy. There are many developing countries in Asia that lack capital, technology, and industrial strength. They can only rely on the sale of natural resources to seek development. Natural resources are the most elementary products, and their prices are often determined. The pressure is very low, and it brings a series of environmental problems. I will not talk about anything else today, but I will talk about rare earths, which are purely personal opinions and have nothing to do with academics.”

The great man said during his southern tour that there is oil in the Middle East and rare earths in China. Rare earths have a wide range of applications in the six major fields of 'information, biology, new materials, new energy, space, and oceans' recognized by the scientific community today. , 35 strategic elements in the United States, 26 high-tech elements in Japan, all of which include all rare earth elements. At present, China accounts for 95% of the proven rare earth reserves, and 97% of the world's rare earth supply comes from China. Petroleum Resources have made the countries in the Middle East very rich, but China’s rare earths have been sold for the price of pork.”

I am very glad that the Chinese government is able to take this situation seriously and banned the export of rare earth raw ores from this year, and raised the export tax on rare earths significantly. But I think we should go further. At present, China's rare earth industry is in a mess, with overcapacity and disorderly competition. , Indiscriminate mining, large quantities of cheap exports, and even smuggling have been repeatedly banned. I think the relevant departments should take the lead to carry out strong industry integration, and the surplus should be collected and stored by the state.”

Now there are more than 1,000 rare earth enterprises in China, distributed in more than 10 provinces and cities across the country, but less than 10 have an annual processing capacity of more than 2,000 tons. Many small enterprises dig indiscriminately, and they cannot be sold after excavation. They can compete with each other at low prices and sell precious rare earth resources into Chinese cabbage. At the current rate of mining, China’s proven rare earth reserves will be exhausted in at most 30 years.”

Since 1983, Japan has established a rare mineral share reserve system, and has sealed up a large number of rare earth mines. At present, more than 80% of Japan's rare earths are exported from China. The United States, which has the second largest rare earth reserves in the world, also started in 1999. Gradually stop the mining of rare earths, and seal up the largest rare earth mine in the United States, and turn to imports from China to enrich strategic reserves...

Economic globalization is not about buying and selling at random. It must be premised on equality and freedom. Many natural resources in developing countries are now overly undervalued, and the value of China's rare earths is seriously underestimated. I think that the current price of rare earths, It is normal to double the price by three to five times, and the current ultra-low price is extremely abnormal. I also have an electronics company. The price increase of rare earths is actually not a good thing for me, and it will increase the cost of my products. But I hope that, including rare earths, The various natural resources in the country can be exploited and sold in a long-term and orderly manner, so that the long-term development of the industry can be realized.”

If this continues, what will happen if China's rare earth mines are exhausted in 30 years? What will happen if the rare earth mines in the United States are exhausted in 50 years? At that time, how will our high-tech products obtain important raw materials? How will human society realize technological development? Progress? Regulating the mining of rare earths and adjusting the price of rare earths are beneficial to the long-term development of the whole world and all mankind. We can't just stare at the present...

Song Weiyang is definitely an outlier. The other speakers all expounded macro theories and said some good and empty words that everyone likes to hear. Song Weiyang came here to talk about rare earths, and made it clear that he hoped that the central government would strictly control and control it. Representatives of some multinational companies immediately had unnatural expressions.

All the speeches in this forum will be sorted out for the government and research institutions to read.

Song Weiyang only hoped that his speech could attract the attention of relevant departments and implement rare earth control earlier than in another time and space.

This thing is actually much easier to manage than coal, because the price is too low, and the quantity is not very large. Take cerium oxide as an example, it costs just over 10 yuan per kilogram, which is cheaper than the price of pork!

From ten years ago to the present, the global demand for rare earths has increased by three times, while the export price of rare earths in China has been falling, and the price is even lower than that sold in the 1990s. In addition to the continuous depreciation of the US dollar over the years, the price of rare earths in China has actually fallen even more horribly. This is completely inconsistent with market laws. But there is only so much demand for rare earths, and Chinese companies are digging hard. If you can’t sell rare earths after digging them up, if the supply exceeds the demand, then there will be a price war, and you will continue to sell rare earths cheaply, resulting in lower and lower prices.

As long as the government forcibly integrates rare earth enterprises, shuts down and converts a large number of small mines, and controls the annual mining volume, the price of rare earths will rise immediately.

What is Song Weiyang's status now?

After his speech was exposed, before the official had time to respond, the domestic media had a collective climax. In particular, the southern department immediately sent reporters to unannounced visits to rare earth companies, and also exposed a large rare earth smuggling gang.