Image source: Screenshot of the video of the TV series "The Age of Awakening"
Wen | HuaShang Tao Luo Feng Xinyan
Inside the military port, the Liaoning ship lies quietly and hangs high with a flag, and it is majestic and heroic, which is the pride and solid backing of all Chinese.
Behind the bright and beautiful, there is its unknown bumpy "predecessor" - "Varyag".
Today we will focus on the man behind the Liaoning ship - Xu Zengping. He bet on his company just to buy an aircraft carrier for China!
Xu Zengping was born in 1952 in Weifang, Shandong. After 14 years of service in the Guangzhou Military Region, he retired at the age of 31 and immediately began his business career.
Xu Zengping started from scratch, with his flexible business acumen and entrepreneurial vision, which allowed him to rise to multimillionaire in just five years.
Tracing back to the source, everything has to start from the end of the 90s.
In 1997, China learned that Ukraine had an aircraft carrier to sell and wanted to buy it to enhance its maritime defense capabilities and comprehensive national strength. But the Ukrainian government strictly prohibits any country from buying, and with many complicated reasons in front of it, China still does not want to miss the opportunity.
At this time, Xu Zengping, a patriotic rich businessman, stepped forward, and he wanted to buy the half-finished aircraft carrier in the name of buying a ship, in the name of "merchant's hand".
A path that was never conceived! The whole process of buying an aircraft carrier is difficult and difficult.
Image source: Screenshot of the video of China Military Network
He first registered Macau Chuanglu Tourism and Entertainment Co., Ltd. in Macao, announced that the company would take entertainment and tourism as the main development direction, and revealed to the Ukrainian side that he bought an aircraft carrier to build a "maritime entertainment castle".
In order to gain the trust of the Ukrainian side, Xu Zengping personally went to Ukraine to contact relevant matters, in order to persuade the Ukrainians, he directly drank 6 kilograms of liquor on the wine table, full of sincerity and finally conquered the Ukrainians. Eventually, the two sides reached a cooperation, and he would buy the Vagrayan and the design for $20 million, although the Varyag was only a semi-finished product of the core power technology that had been dismantled at the time.
When preparing for a formal deal, Ukraine repented.
The United States quietly intervened, behind the scenes to instigate Ukraine to auction the aircraft carrier. In order to obtain more benefits, Ukraine took the initiative of the United States to launch the auction.
Thankfully, fate was given! Xu Zengping still won the Varyag aircraft carrier for 20 million US dollars.
Unexpectedly, in July 1999, Xu Zengping was just about to transport the aircraft carrier back to China, and new difficulties followed - the Turkish government banned the aircraft carrier transportation, blocked the Calethor two-pronged approach, and the Varyag was forced to stay in port for a year, during which it also paid huge fees such as berthing fees and tugage fees.
The double whammy of the long-term one-way expense and the financial crisis left Xu Zengping's company with a deficit in accounts and debts, leaving only the Varyag aircraft carrier.
It dragged on until 2001, when the Varyag finally sailed out of the Black Sea, but was nearly sunk by a sea storm near Skyros Island.
Finally, in August 2000, when China was unified to open tourist areas to Turkey, the Varyag aircraft carrier obtained a passage permit.
With all the hardships and trekking through mountains and rivers, Xu Zengping has always forged ahead and brought the Waglian back to the motherland.
After the efforts and reform and innovation of many scientists and engineers in the professional field, in 2021, the "Liaoning" appeared on the sea surface of China. Seven years later, China's completely independently developed domestic aircraft carrier "Shandong" was born; China's 003 aircraft carrier is also under construction! Our maritime aircraft carrier dream has really come true.
Everything is for the motherland. China's rapid development is inseparable from the efforts of thousands of Chinese.
An indomitable patriotic businessman like Xu Zengping has helped the country and touched us.
Reference materials:
1, invested 100 million, he helped China to buy the aircraft carrier "Varyag", under great pressure _ Xu Zengping,
https://www.sohu.com/a/319306666_99905111
2, scattered family wealth, Xu Zengping dried 6 kilograms of liquor in one breath, for China to "drink" back an aircraft carrier _ Tencent News
https://new.qq.com/omn/20210630/20210630A0DH0G00.html
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