The last award to be presented was the Huang He Individual Award.
This was an award that the media discussed and highlighted frequently, as the individual award was extremely broad. Both scientific research and good deeds were qualified to receive the Huang He Individual Award.
There had been much public discussion and heated debate about who would receive the individual award.
Therefore, when this award was finally presented, all the reporters widened their eyes, curiously looking at the leader, wanting to know who this last honored hero would be.
"Next is the Individual Award!" the leader said with a smile, holding an envelope. "Before I present the award, Mr. Huang asked me to share something with you all. He has carefully considered and believes that the Individual Award should not be too distant from life and history. It should commend people and stories that are closest to everyone's lives!"
"Therefore, in the future, the Huang He Individual Award will have a prerequisite: that the recipient must be a Chinese citizen who has made outstanding contributions to China and its people between the previous award ceremony and the current one."
"Mr. Huang He said something that deeply moved me: he said that we cannot make heroes of our era wait; we must recognize their contributions with the utmost speed, so that all Chinese people know of their achievements. We must never let our heroes bleed and then shed tears."
"I announce that the recipient of this year's Huang He Individual Award is Mr. Zhong Nanshan!"
For various reasons, the award speech for Mr. Zhong Nanshan will not be written here. After all, there is no one in China who doesn't know of Mr. Zhong Nanshan's contributions.
Upon hearing the result, the audience showed expressions of sudden realization.
Many had predicted that Mr. Zhong Nanshan would win the medical award, given his immense contributions during the recent emergent event.
So, when the medical award was ultimately given to the collective group of barefoot doctors, many were surprised and found it difficult to understand.
However, they now understood. It turned out that Mr. Zhong Nanshan more closely fit the criteria for the individual award, and thus, the medical award would be presented to someone else.
With this, the list of winners for the second Huang He Awards was fully revealed. Soon, the entire nation's citizens were aware of the award recipients, and various heated discussions ensued among the media.
Firstly, the media generally expressed that the second Huang He Awards had significantly increased in public recognition compared to the first. Not a single one of the six awardees or organizations would elicit controversy after receiving the award; they were all deserving of it.
This was unlike the first session, where the mysterious physics award recipient, Tong He, still caused much debate. Many felt it was merely the Jiangnan Group trying to boost its own image, believing Tong He was undeserving of the award, as no one knew the basis for his recognition.
However, there were similarities this year.
The first Huang He Awards had brought scientist Tu Youyou into the spotlight.
In the second session, the group of barefoot doctors, who had been dormant for over 20 years, once again entered the public consciousness.
Concurrently, the previously obscure Mr. Yu Min stepped into the limelight, igniting widespread public discussion and respect.
After the conference concluded, following the precedent of the first session, Huang He personally presented the prize money and medals to the award recipients. Fortunately, all six awardees were still alive and could personally receive this honor.
Huang He first met with Mr. Wei Wei, and they chatted for the entire morning. He also had a meal at Mr. Wei Wei's home. Unexpectedly, Mr. Wei Wei returned his prize money of 10 million RMB to Huang He.
However, this was not a gift, but rather a personal investment. He hoped Huang He's Tangren Film and Television could produce a film or television series depicting the Korean War, allowing Chinese people to once again understand this poignant history.
Naturally, Huang He accepted this responsibility without hesitation. Fortunately, Mr. Wei Wei had a novel titled "The East," which specifically described the Korean War, and it became the best script. Tangren Film and Television quickly began preparations for the corresponding television series production.
Subsequently, Huang He smoothly met with and presented awards to the other recipients, although there were some difficulties.
For instance, the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine insisted that Huang He write an inscription for a new building, which startled him. Ms. Wang Guizhen, on the other hand, had no idea she had won an award. She was still practicing medicine in the countryside and did not have a mobile phone. Huang He sat in her small shop for an entire afternoon, waiting for six hours, before finally waiting for Ms. Wang Guizhen to return home at night. To her bewildered expression, he presented her with the prize money of 3.34 million RMB.
The greater trouble, however, came from Mr. Yu Min. Mr. Yu Min refused to accept the award, believing he was not qualified to receive it. It was only after Huang He requested Mr. Yuan's intervention to speak on his behalf that the situation was resolved.
Mr. Yuan explained that if Mr. Yu did not accept the prize money, others might be reluctant to accept it in the future, which would negate its role in encouraging subsequent recipients.
Mr. Yu Min then allowed Huang He into his home, but he declined all media interviews, chatting briefly with Huang He before closing his doors to visitors. The prize money was donated to the Institute of Physics that same day, and he kept not a single cent, earning everyone's deep respect.
However, the most difficult to manage was Mr. Zhong. It wasn't that Mr. Zhong was unwilling to accept the award, but rather that he was still in quarantine, and outsiders were not permitted to contact him. Ultimately, Huang He had to deliver the relevant prize money and medals to Mr. Zhong's relatives.
Of course, these are all later developments.
Returning to the main topic, after the list of award recipients was announced, the meeting officially entered its true agenda: the establishment conference of the China Electronics Technology Industry Alliance.
Naturally, Huang He began with a speech, reiterating the points he had made at the banquet. He explained the alliance's purpose: to promote the development of China's electronic technology industry, enabling the unimpeded circulation of all enterprises' technologies, production, and patents among various companies nationwide. Simultaneously, it aimed to provide an opportunity for companies that were adept at research and development and willing to invest in it, but lacked manufacturing and monetization capabilities, to realize the value of their technologies and directly profit from their research achievements.
These words had already been subtly communicated through many influential figures beforehand, and everyone knew the purpose of this alliance. Otherwise, so many business owners would not have attended; they were all drawn by the benefits the alliance offered.
Through Huang He's two-hour speech and explanation, the alliance's operational mechanisms and various avenues for advancement were described in a more systematic and comprehensive manner.
Frankly, many in attendance were filled with excitement because they realized the alliance could indeed bring immense benefits.
Most of those present were entrepreneurs in the electronics industry, and anyone with dreams and ambition wanted to grow their companies.
However, the electronics industry is a high-tech sector; growth isn't solely dependent on desire. It requires substantial technological accumulation and support. Without these, success is impossible through individual effort alone. These companies would be relegated to producing low-tech products their entire lives, unable to truly rise.
How did China's electronics industry rise in later generations?
It was entirely through contract manufacturing.
Following China's accession to the WTO, major global high-tech companies discovered that outsourcing production work to China offered the greatest benefits.
Furthermore, China possessed a significant advantage in rare earth materials, which are crucial for electronic products. China is the world's largest supplier of rare earth materials.
Therefore, establishing production bases in China allowed for local sourcing of the abundant rare earth materials. Additionally, certain support policies were introduced, enabling domestic companies to purchase and use rare earth materials at lower prices, significantly less than the export prices. This further reduced costs.
Consequently, large contract manufacturing enterprises like Foxconn began building factories in China, and orders for various electronic products flowed into the country. Many foreign companies began entrusting lower-end technologies to Chinese contract manufacturers, enabling them to produce low-cost products on their behalf.
This gradual development of China's electronics industry saw it progress from producing small components to manufacturing complete integrated circuits and electronic components.
Ultimately, over 80% of the world's electronic products were imported and procured from the Chinese market, leading to the prosperity of Chinese domestic mobile phones.
This resulted in situations where even an English teacher who was a Japanese culture enthusiast, wanting to build a smartphone, managed to assemble a Hammer smartphone from scratch within ten months. This phone inexplicably became immensely popular, capturing a significant market share in the mobile phone industry.
While this might appear to be a testament to the teacher's personal brilliance, it was actually the result of China's developed electronics industry. Otherwise, the miracle of "anyone, regardless of skill, making phones" and the emergence of tens of thousands of domestic mobile phone brands within a year would not have occurred.
However, at present, China's electronics industry has not yet risen; the contract manufacturing orders have not yet arrived, and the few domestic electronics companies are in a state of desperate, pitiful expectation.
The emergence of the alliance now serves to replace the role of foreign contract manufacturing orders. Instead of acquiring technology and orders from foreigners, joining the alliance provides access to the various technologies and orders within it. This is an irresistible temptation for any electronics company.
Therefore, after Huang He's speech concluded, the entire venue erupted in thunderous applause. The intensity of the applause left Lei Jun and others resigned; their dream of only one-third of people joining the alliance was clearly unattainable.