"Mr. Zhang, your point of view is relatively new, but it does make sense."
Lu Qi thought for a while and replied, then glanced at Yuan Zheng and said, "Yuan Zheng and I are just going abroad because we have the opportunity. It doesn't mean that we are really any better than the domestic talents!"
Zhang Yida felt that Lu Qi had misunderstood his words, and quickly explained: "Dr. Lu, Mr. Yuan, please don't misunderstand me. My words do not mean to disparage the Chinese people in Silicon Valley.
What I mean is that in terms of the proportion of brain drain, India has a much more serious brain drain than our country.
Chinese people in Silicon Valley are all excellent. Due to ideology and even discrimination, it is much more difficult for Chinese people to get positions in Silicon Valley technology companies than for white people, and even more difficult than for black people and Indians.
But judging from China’s huge talent base, the proportion of Chinese in Silicon Valley is only a very small part.”
Lu Qi nodded and sighed: "That's true! I went to college in the 1980s. College students of that era, especially the most elite group, all yearned for life abroad and felt that the air abroad was sweet.
of."
At this point, Lu Qi burst out laughing, looked at Zhang Yida, and asked, "Doesn't it sound stupid, disgusting and unpatriotic?"
Zhang Yida shook his head, "The backgrounds of the times are different and they cannot be compared.
Zhou Zhengyi founded Nongkai with the first pot of gold he earned from carrying corpses in Japan; Wang Zhongjun returned to China with $50,000 earned from washing dishes in New York and founded Huayi Brothers; Zhang Lan took the $220,000 he earned from washing dishes in Canada.
Founded South Beauty with US$10,000...
So, in the 1980s and 1990s, wage levels abroad were indeed higher than those in China.
These people who returned to China to start their own businesses with the money they had saved from working abroad for several years have all caught up with a wave of golden opportunities."
Yuan Zheng also interjected: "This is also the truth! I chose to come abroad at that time, in addition to pursuing a higher level of academic education.
More people also have the idea of "dreaming about getting rich". They think that after making money in the United States, they can return home in fine clothes!"
"It's similar to "Going to Nanyang". In the past two years, I have been exposed to many Chinese plutocrats in Southeast Asia. Their parents and grandparents also had similar ideas.
After getting rich in Nanyang, they return home in fine clothes. They always regard themselves as Chinese, and Southeast Asian countries are just places where they do business."
Lu Qi smiled and shook his head, "There is something different. The group of people who went to Nanyang did not have enough to eat because of the turmoil in the country at that time, so they had no choice but to survive.
But we had choices back then. We all graduated from prestigious schools, so we had a lot of choice.
After graduation, you can either go to party and government agencies or state-owned enterprises, and you can always have a full stomach.
To put it bluntly, there is still a certain degree of vanity involved."
Zhang Yida discovered another characteristic of Lu Qi, that is, he is very honest. He even spoke for him, but he exposed himself as "ugly" and had to be looked down upon.
“Another thing about the Chinese is that they are not keen on politics and have never been able to integrate into the local society.
Whether it’s those in Southeast Asia or those in the United States, they only have economic status but no political status.”
Lu Qi's comments hit the nail on the head. The fact is that money alone is of no use. For example, if there is any war or turmoil, the first ones to suffer are 100% Chinese.
"After entering the new century, the motherland's economy has taken off, and the situation has greatly improved."
Lu Qi said with a smile: "Those who chose to stay in China or return to China from overseas, Robin Li, Charles Zhang... all of them seized this wave of opportunities and became the trendsetters of the times.
In contrast, Chinese professional managers who stay in Silicon Valley may never reach that status."
Lu Qi looked at Yuan Zheng again and said with a smile: "Yuan Zheng, you have a good chance of becoming the next Wang An and Yang Zhiyuan."
"Haha!" Yuan Zheng clasped his fists and said, "Thank you for your good wishes! Anyway, try your best!"
“The pyramid hierarchy in Silicon Valley is: Chinese engineers are at the bottom, Indian managers are in the middle, and white leaders are at the top.
Except for a rare case like Yuan Zheng, this is the case for most people."
After speaking, Lu Qi looked at Zhang Yida again and asked, "What do you think, Mr. Zhang?"
"As far as I know, that's generally the case. However, the two companies Green and Musical.ly are still more Chinese-oriented.
I will never allow capable Chinese to be inferior to whites, blacks and Indians."
Lu Qi nodded, "Then I would like to thank Mr. Zhang here on behalf of the Chinese in the United States. This kind of fairness is often beyond the reach of the Chinese in the United States.
Ten or twenty years ago, the country could treat overseas returnees as a treasure. But in recent years, the dividends for domestic engineers have been so generous that overseas returnees are just one of the many living beings."
"Yes, there are too many talents, and naturally the competition will be greater. But those who study hard and work hard overseas will have a place no matter where they are."
Lu Qi laughed and nodded: "In recent years, there have been more and more wealthy families in China, and all of them have sent their children to study abroad.
They are all children who have never endured much hardship, and their spirit of hard work is indeed much worse than that of the people in the 1980s and 1990s."
Lu Qi looked at Zhang Yida and said, "Mr. Zhang, you may not know that many overseas Chinese students in the United States regard you as their entrepreneurial idol and admire you very much."
"Yeah?"
Zhang Yida said with a smile: "I am ashamed of myself. I am just lucky, and I caught the last train of the mobile Internet.
If I were asked to start a business now, I wouldn’t even have the confidence to create a listed company.”
"No need to be so modest!"
Lu Qi waved his hand and added: "There are many campus entrepreneurs in the United States, and the famous ones include Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, etc.
China has never had a similar figure until you appeared.
In particular, the two major products Musical.ly and Green are popular across the United States, but they have greatly stolen the limelight, and the entire Chinese ethnic group is proud of it.
They are all looking forward to, five years from now, ten years from now, will you become the world’s top technology giant?”
After speaking, Lu Qi looked at Zhang Yida with bright eyes, waiting for his answer.
Zhang Yida knew that he was testing himself and wanted to be the global vice president of Microsoft.
“Whether Ruixiang, Huimin Travel, or DouShi, from the very beginning, our goal has been to target the whole world, not just China.
I do have this ideal of becoming a global technology giant and I have been putting it into action."
Lu Qi and Yuan Zheng nodded while listening. Both Musical.ly and Green have established a firm foothold in the United States and are operating very well. I heard that their business has expanded to Europe.
This is definitely rare among Chinese overseas companies.
In addition, they also heard that Ruixiang was doing very well in Southeast Asia and it was almost becoming their own backyard.
“Limited by ideological issues, Ruixiang’s business was unable to enter the United States for a long time.
We can only start from Southeast Asia and India and expand outward little by little.
I put the European and American markets last because they are the two hardest bones to crack.
As for Green, the ceiling is obvious. He cannot surpass Uber. If he can make profits as soon as possible, it will be considered a success for me.
The short video field where Musical.ly is located is a sector that I attach great importance to.
Because it may be even faster and more successful than Ruixiang’s internationalization.”
Lu Qi adjusted his glasses. He didn't expect Zhang Yida to attach so much importance to Musical.ly and place greater hopes on it than Ruixiang.
So Lu Qi asked: "Mr. Zhang, I have never used Musical.ly, but I have heard many people tell me about it.
It’s a very interesting APP! Do you want it to become Netflix or YouTube?”
"No!"
Zhang Yida said: "None of us are learning, short videos are a brand new field.
Its biggest advantage is that it is interesting and can attract users to use it for a long time.
Therefore, its advertising value is very great. In addition, it can also divert traffic to my other businesses."
Lu Qi said with a smile: "If it can reach 1 billion or even 2 billion users, it will definitely be a company with a market value of tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars."
Yuan Zheng listened on the side and felt that he was taking it for granted. How could it be so easy to achieve one billion or two billion users?
Zhang Yida said: "But these are innovations at the application level. As for the underlying technology, my companies are still a little behind."
"I wonder what Mr. Zhang thinks of AI?" Lu Qi asked.
"There is no doubt that this is a technological revolution. The simplest way to understand it is that AI is more efficient than the Internet.
The improvement of efficiency will bring about industrial changes.
From the age of handicrafts to the age of steam engines, to the age of electricity and the age of the Internet, this has always been the case."
Lu Qi asked again: "Do you know Microsoft Xiaoice?"
"I know that it was Dr. Lu who led the artificial intelligence project at Microsoft.
I have used it, and it’s very good! But it’s still a bit unsatisfactory. Due to technical limitations, it cannot achieve an absolute high degree of anthropomorphism.”
Lu Qi smiled and said: "The seeds have been sown, and 'she' will grow into a towering tree sooner or later."
“Ruixiang’s Smart Finance Research Institute has been conducting research on cutting-edge technologies such as AI, blockchain, big data, and cloud computing.
With our annual R&D investment of billions of dollars, we have achieved some R&D results and started commercialization.
But the AI that I have the greatest expectations for has always been of little use. Currently it can only be used as an auxiliary tool in the anti-fraud risk control system.
For example, from the risk control review phone call, we can identify the borrower's speaking speed, tone, and intonation, classify the borrower's personality, and conduct anti-fraud identification.
If we want to achieve more advanced applications, the current scientific research results are not enough to support it."
Lu Qi was listening carefully. The investment of several billion yuan in R&D every year was definitely a large sum for ordinary companies.
But compared to Silicon Valley technology companies led by Microsoft, it is too shabby.
Microsoft's R&D investment the year before last was US$10.4 billion, and last year it was US$11.4 billion, which is one to twenty times that of Ruixiang.
AI research and development is quite expensive! Most companies can only do some marginal research and development.
In addition, he heard what Zhang Yida said about AI applications, which were indeed very low-level and in a very initial stage, and could not even be interacted with.
Microsoft Xiaoice is amazing. Its product forms include social conversation robots, intelligent voice assistants, artificial intelligence content creation and production platforms, etc.
"Mr. Zhang, in your vision, what level do you want Ruixiang Group's AI application to reach?"
Lu Qi raised this question because he still wanted to see how ambitious Zhang Yida was?
At his current position, pure money is no longer what attracts him the most. He is already fifty-five years old, and choosing to join a company may be the last career move in his life.
He wants to find a company that best suits him, apply what he has learned throughout his life, and see if he can leave a mark in the technology world!