140 million egg people, and the 100 billion capital behind it
If you want to think well in the Year of the Dragon, you can't miss eggs.
During the Chinese New Year, the first activity of the bosses in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai after dinner is often: egg-making.
But this year the situation has changed.
Not only Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, from Henan to Beijing, from Hubei to Shandong, many places have launched egg beating competitions during the Spring Festival, and the organizers are also official institutions.
According to some statistics, there are currently 140 million egg players in the country!
From the Yangtze River Delta to the popularity of the whole country, why are eggs so popular, and what are the unknown secrets behind it?
The playing card of the egg originated in Huai'an, Jiangsu.
People in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui often like to play a few playing cards before and after eating, which can not only kill the waiting time before eating, but also be regarded as entertainment after meals.
In the private rooms of many restaurants, there will also be two tables and two decks of playing cards, one large and one small, with a large table for dinner and a small table for eggs.
"掼" is a local dialect, the original meaning is to fall, smash, this action is to simulate the "bomb card" when throwing, the player smashes the card to the table.
On the basis of the landlord gameplay, with the cooperation of 2 people, the innovation and improvement of the upgrade level is more strategic.
At the same time, in terms of winning or losing the lottery, it is not as exciting as "fried golden flower", so it has received a lot of praise in recent years.
In order to expand the influence of the city, Huai'an officials also began to hold egg breaking competitions a few years ago, and cooperated with game companies to launch the egg breaking APP.
With the upgrade of the event, this game has also entered the financial circle from the private sector.
In March 2023, Zheshang Securities took the lead in holding the "Happy Egg Hunting, Fun Life" egg breaking competition.
In April of that year, the Suzhou Financial Trade Union appeared as an official organization to host the egg competition, inviting as many as 64 banking, insurance and securities institutions to participate.
In May 2023, the China Development Bank (CDB) held an online egg hunting competition.
According to China-Singapore Jingwei statistics, in 2023, more than 10 financial institutions, from private institutions to the National Bank, will organize egg hunting competitions.
Even among the souvenirs given to customers by the head institution CITIC Securities, there is a "egg gift box".
The Agricultural Bank of China Jiangsu Branch's egg breaking lecture PPT is also widely circulated on the Internet, and in the 50-page PPT, the relationship between the game strategy of egg breaking and enterprise management is introduced in detail.
The author of this PPT is Li Dansheng, a teacher of the egg breaking training project of the Jiangsu Provincial Sports Bureau.
In other words, the whole of Jiangsu is being promoted to the outside world and has raised the egg to the level of sports activities.
Of course, the main reason why the eggs can be vigorously promoted by the government is mainly supported by the power of capital.
As mentioned above, the promotion of eggs first has the financial support of Huai'an, as well as the operation of game companies.
The reason why financiers are competing for the egg game is also because the active funds in the capital circle are concentrated in the places where the egg is prevalent.
In the past, we watched Hong Kong movies, and most of the cards in them were played Texas Hold'em.
This is because at that time, venture capital funds in Hong Kong and even in the mainland were dominated by US dollars, and the playing cards naturally had to cater to the United States.
But now, raising renminbi has become the mainstream, and government investment funds, private equity funds, and venture capital funds are the key to corporate financing.
In this case, if the relevant personnel of the enterprise want to get resources, they must make friends with these important members of the government and the fund.
According to the 21st Century Business Herald, the current environment of China's private equity investment industry has changed, with US dollar investors gradually reducing their investment, and the government has become the main force of market investment.
The economically developed Yangtze River Delta region is the place where the government is most active.
Compared with the whole country, the fund industry in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang has always been in a leading position.
According to the information in the "VC/PE Report for the First Half of 2023" of the China Venture Research Institute, in the context of the continued cold investment market, Jiangsu Province has bucked the trend and struck first, with the largest number of investments.
Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shandong newly established funds rank among the top three in the country.
According to data from the research institute Qingke, in the first quarter of 2023, China's equity investment events were concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, of which Jiangsu Province had the most investment events, reaching 330 cases, with an amount of 22 billion yuan, and in terms of capital contribution, it was also the largest in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.
Where the money is, people go.
Despite the lack of momentum for external investment, government and private investment in Jiangsu Province remain active, thus attracting a large number of start-ups and financial institutions with financing needs.
Wall Street investment guru Peter Lynch says Texas Hold'em can teach you more than the entire Wall Street.
This sentence is placed in Jiangsu, and it becomes:
If you beat the eggs well, it means that you have brains, and if you beat the eggs well, you know the economy.
People who tend to beat eggs, aged 40-50 years old, have a certain social and commercial influence, and their way of socializing is to find a place to drink tea in the afternoon, play a few handfuls of eggs, and then go to dinner.
Since the big guy is like this, is there any reason not to cater to it?
"Where you go to raise money, you have to learn where to have fun. ”
A practitioner in the financial industry in Beijing told China Business Daily that his leaders often bring up eggs in order to run business.
Egg hunting is not only popular in the financial circle, but also in the system, and today it has long become an essential social skill.
Compared with Depo, Egg Whipping has an advantage - it can be completely "without money" and looks more incorruptible.
And the game needs to team up in pairs, test the tacit understanding of cooperation, and between squeezing each other's eyebrows and bluffing, it is easy to produce human feelings between you and me.
This kind of game with human affection also provides a valuable "window" for "upward socialization" within the system.
As mentioned earlier, it is not only venture capital institutions that control the direction of funds, but also the government.
In fact, before the popularity of eggs in the financial circle, it was already popular in the government affairs circle.
It can even be said that it is precisely because of the love of government officials for eggs that there are financial people who obey and follow.
The sketch "Pit" of the 2023 Spring Festival Gala has a bridge:
Shen Teng's inaction official instructed his subordinates:
"Hurry up and sort out the few practical things that lent me, and send them to our egg group. ”
The burden of the "egg group" is obviously the result of in-depth research.
According to a report by Phoenix Deep Tune, as early as 2017, egg cracking became a "fun intellectual sport" promoted by the General Administration of Sports of China.
Then, the egg quickly became popular in all walks of life in politics, business, and academia across the country, and became a necessary social tool in the "circle", and in recent years, it has become the main way to socialize in the system.
Why can the General Administration of Sports of China promote it?
To put it bluntly, there are still some dignitaries who like to play.
The person in charge of a company in Beijing said in an interview to Phoenix:
Eggs have replaced golf as the most common "game start" in the system.
He said that local officials are very cautious about eating and drinking, and generally refuse, but when it comes to egg hunting, a sports and intellectual competitive sport encouraged by the National Sports Bureau, everyone is very willing to participate.
It is not only a good way to break the ice and resolve embarrassment, but also a good occasion to say "words from the heart".
After a game, "adding WeChat is all smooth." ”
In April 2022, the political coordinator of a laboratory of the Rocket Force Command College even published "Egg Dialectics" in the "Political Science and Engineering Journal".
The article mentions:
"It didn't take long for the eggs to be introduced to the troops, and they quickly became popular in addition to training, weekends and holidays. The egg system contains a wealth of dialectics, allowing officers and soldiers to gain insight into the world and cultivate their minds between you and me. ”
If something is good, it will be tended to be at the bottom.
In the past few years, the state has taken away the passports of many department-level cadres, and at the same time, gambling in Macau has been restricted.
This has led to a significant reduction in the number of Texas Hold'em events in China.
But now, alternatives have emerged.
Eggs have become so popular in a short period of time, not only because it is entertainment and socialization, but also a stepping stone for investment in the financial circle, and a good way to socialize within the system.
To paraphrase Huang Hong's sketch lines, it is:
"A small handful of cards, a big social stage. Shengdan is ugly, who understands!"