Chapter 52: Bao Xingwei, the Fake Academician

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Chuan-Yu, Tianfu.

Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.

The university was originally founded in 1925 in Huadu as Guanghua University. In 1938, Guanghua University relocated to Tianfu and established the Tianfu Branch. In 1946, it was renamed Chenghua University.

Then, in 1952 and 1953, the finance departments of seventeen institutions across southwestern China were merged into Chenghua University, forming the Chuan-Yu Institute of Finance and Economics. Finally, in 1985, it was renamed Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.

It was hardly an exaggeration to say that the finest finance faculty in the entire southwestern region had gathered at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.

Yet at that moment, in an investment studies class, Shu Tianyi, dean of the School of Finance, stared at the 194 graduating students in the lecture hall and spoke bluntly:

“You are the worst class I have ever taught. Not one of you managed to break a forty-percent return in the Huaxin Simulated Trading Competition. To speak from the heart, if circumstances allowed, I would keep every one of you here for another year, just to spare Southwestern University of Finance and Economics the embarrassment of sending you out to disgrace us.”

His merciless reprimand made it obvious that Shu Tianyi was furious.

In previous years, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics had never merely aimed to secure second place while contending for first; it had consistently ranked among the top three. Yet this year, it had actually fallen behind Jiangzhe University.

Of course, he did not look down on Jiangzhe University. Different fields had different strengths.

In terms of overall strength, Jiangzhe University was far superior to Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. But when it came to finance faculty and the quality of its students, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics had always held the upper hand over Jiangzhe University—and even over Qingbei University.

It was much like the difference between a general hospital and a specialized one. A general hospital could treat every kind of illness, but a specialized hospital—whether for men’s health, ophthalmology, or dentistry—focused exclusively on one field. Its medical resources were naturally richer, and its experience more extensive.

Not one student below dared raise their head, terrified of meeting Shu Tianyi’s eyes.

The reason their returns were so low was that the A-share market had recently become utterly wild.

When the Huaxin Simulated Trading Competition began on March 9, the Shanghai Composite Index stood at 2,205 points. That very day, it plunged 3.39 percent to 2,118 points. Even so, it remained more than three hundred points above the market’s bottom in December 2008.

Ordinarily, a rise of that magnitude should have been followed by a correction. Even if there were no correction, the market should at least have entered a period of sideways consolidation. After all, overhead lay the trapped positions accumulated when the market had fallen from six thousand points in 2007.

But the A-share market had ideas of its own. Over the course of thirty-three trading days, it charged straight up to 2,579.22. Although it eventually retreated to 2,461.35, the surge remained astonishing.

The market had bottomed in December, sounded the charge in January 2009, and over a little more than four months had risen from 1,814 points to a high of 2,579—a full 765-point gain. Who could have predicted that the A-share market would be so ferocious?

It was not only the dean of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics’s School of Finance who was berating his students. The deans of finance at every other university specializing in economics and finance were doing the same, unable to understand how their schools had been overtaken by Huadu University of Finance and Economics.

The dean of the Central University of Finance and Economics was somewhat different. He simply stopped showing his face altogether, leaving others to deal with the securities firms’ internal-recruitment representatives. He could not bear the humiliation.

Apart from Huadu University of Finance and Economics, none of the other finance universities were satisfied with the results of the forty-five-day, thirty-three-trading-day Huaxin Simulated Trading Competition. Yet they had no choice but to accept them.

…

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Huadu University of Finance and Economics.

A modified Coaster bus sped straight toward the First Teaching Building. In principle, vehicles were forbidden in the teaching area, but the Coaster itself was an exception to principle.

Before long, it reached the building.

An elderly man with graying hair, dressed in a plain blue-and-gray striped polo shirt and possessing a lean frame, quickly stepped out of the vehicle.

Judging by his appearance alone, one might have taken him for an ordinary retired man.

Only the staff of Huadu University of Finance and Economics knew that this was none other than Bao Xingwei, dean of the School of Finance, known by the nickname “the Fake Academician.”

Why was he called that?

In Huaguo, academicians belonged either to the Academy of Sciences or the Academy of Engineering.

Academicians of the Academy of Sciences achieved distinction primarily in the natural sciences, while academicians of the Academy of Engineering specialized in engineering science and technology.

Huaguo’s financial system had been established relatively late. Thus, when academicians in finance were selected, the field generally fell under financial mathematics. The Academy of Sciences had yet to create a category for academicians specializing in value investing.

In 1997, Wall Street capital led by Soros swept across Asia with a trillion in funds. Wherever it went, nothing survived. The financial system of Hong Kong Island appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

At the time, Bao Xingwei was a member of the national advisory think tank. He proposed releasing word that the country would use 140 billion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves to rescue the market. That audacious idea frightened Wall Street capital into fleeing in disorder, marking the first defeat suffered by Jewish capital.

After that battle, although Bao Xingwei was not an academician of either academy, his reputation far surpassed that of any academician.

Unfortunately, without the additional weight of an academician’s title, Huadu University of Finance and Economics’s investment studies program had never been able to achieve an A-plus academic rating like its accounting program.

“Elder Bao, the classroom is just ahead.” The assistant secretary spotted the number on the classroom door from a distance and entered the lecture hall ahead of him.

Wang Xingbang noticed someone coming in. The instant he turned toward the entrance, his eyes met those of Bao Xingwei, who had just stepped through the door.

“Elder Bao!”

He straightened abruptly, then covered the distance in two strides that became one and hurried down from the lectern.

The senior students who had returned from the major securities firms—originally standing with their heads high and their chests out, calm and composed—lowered their heads the moment they saw Bao Xingwei, all to show their respect.

“Elder Bao, what brings you here?”

Wang Xingbang had heard from several respected veterans of the industry that, because of his advanced age and poor health, Bao Xingwei had spent the past two years recuperating in Yanjing.

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“I heard a few days ago that this year’s students had achieved returns far higher than those of previous classes, and that one student had come close to a sixty-percent return. So I hurried back to take a look.”

Bao Xingwei explained the reason for his visit.

Although he was the dean of Huadu University of Finance and Economics’s School of Finance, he had not visited in recent years. He was, in a sense, an honorary dean.

The instant Zhang Yang saw Bao Xingwei, a rare flicker of excitement crossed his eyes.

He had heard countless legends about the old man. Yet in his previous life, the two of them had apparently never been fated to meet. Today, at last, he had fulfilled one of his long-held wishes.

Unlike Zhang Yang, who kept his emotions in check, the other students were so excited that their faces flushed red, and they all took out their phones to record the scene.

Perhaps many people did not understand the meaning of attending university. They regarded it merely as a place to obtain a diploma. In truth, however, a university was more like a pure land carved out between the various social classes.

At university, you could become friends with students from families possessing hundreds of millions in assets. You could chat and laugh with professors who were authorities in their fields. You could even come into contact with figures of academician rank.

Medical students understood this most deeply.

After all, you might ignore a lecturer while you were still on campus, but once you left the university, that same person could be an authoritative specialist whose appointment would cost hundreds—or even thousands—of yuan, assuming you could get one at all.

“This is the first time I’ve seen Dean Bao in my four years at university!”

“Hey, what do you think he came here for?”

“Do you really need to ask? He must be here to share his experience with us. He was the ‘Master Zhuge’ of the think tank during the battle to defend Hong Kong Island’s financial system.”

“Do you think there’s any chance Dean Bao will recognize my extraordinary talent and compete to take me on as his final disciple?”

“Still dreaming?”

“If you haven’t woken up yet, I happen to have a bit of internal heat these days. Want me to wake you up with some concentrated iced tea I brewed myself?”

As the students whispered among themselves, Wang Xingbang exchanged a few words with Bao Xingwei, then turned his head toward He Jing.

“Student He Jing, please come out for a moment. Dean Bao would like to speak with you.”

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