Volume One, Chapter 16: Verbal Duel with the Foreign Merchant (Part One)

China and Denmark—two nations situated at opposite ends of the world—though vastly different in culture, were not entirely without connection.

It began with Andersen's fairy tale, "The Garden of Paradise," where the four sons of Mother Wind—the East Wind, South Wind, West Wind, and North Wind—each portrayed the landscapes of various corners of the globe from their unique perspectives.

Among them, the graceful East Wind journeying to the mysterious East recounted a romantic scene in ancient China: dancing lightly around a porcelain pagoda, causing the bells atop to tinkle melodiously. Yet, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a thought-provoking image—a group of officials nearby silently enduring the lash of the whip, yet still crying out, "Thank the Lord for His grace."

This scene perhaps encapsulated Denmark’s earliest perception of China—beautiful, yet bewildering and absurd.

A century later, as the global market chilled, Denmark and China once again found themselves linked by the wind.

Six Danish wind turbine companies all turned their gaze toward the vast expanse of China, seeing it as a precious opportunity to expand their wind power enterprises.

Countless cases had already proven that this distant and enigmatic Eastern country was opening its doors, actively importing and learning advanced industrial technologies from the West.

Numerous economic research institutions and think tanks frequently published reports attesting to the immense market potential and broad prospects of this Eastern giant.

Though the sales figures of these Danish wind turbine companies in the Chinese market were still modest—only a handful of wind turbines had been sold—they spared no effort. They dispatched their finest sales teams to arrive days in advance in Urumqi, meticulously gathering customer needs, analyzing competitor dynamics, and devising precise and effective sales strategies, determined to make a grand showing at the bidding meeting.

On the morning of the negotiation day, the six sales teams, fully prepared and confident based on past dealings with the Chinese, were ready to enter the main conference room of the hotel—only to be stopped outside the breakfast hall by Liu Wenying, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Commercial Hall.

“Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Apologies, due to the large number of companies bidding this time, we have decided to hold the bidding meetings in batches. I will now announce the group arrangements. When your company’s name is called, please send one representative forward to receive your number card and order. Do not worry about getting lost; we will have staff to guide you.”

Liu’s words, transmitted through the interpreter, immediately stirred the hall.

Market representatives exchanged puzzled glances, whispering guesses and sharing intelligence.

Among them, only the sales team of Vestas stood apart, isolated in a corner, neither interacting with others nor showing obvious signs of panic, quietly conversing among themselves.

“Lars, did you hear that? The Chinese government is abandoning the usual multi-party meeting format,” Hanna whispered. “I suspect they want to negotiate with us individually. I have reason to believe they’ve discovered that our collective bid is inflated.”

“So what if they have? Lars sneered. “The final price is still ours to decide. The Chinese have no right to negotiate with us. Our job is to make them willingly buy our outdated inventory at our price.”

“Lars, that goes against headquarters’ directives. They repeatedly tell us to patiently listen to Chinese customers’ needs. Our orders are plummeting, and we face huge losses!”

“That’s why I’m doing my utmost to sell these piled-up stocks to the Chinese. Lars grinned smugly. “Have you considered this is China’s far west? It’s even more backward than South Africa. They simply can’t afford our newest products. I’m doing them a favor!”

Just then, the interpreter reminded them it was Vestas’s turn. Lars realized they were last in their group.

He coolly watched as Bonus Energy, Vestas’s biggest competitor, was led into the conference room.

On the second floor of the Urumqi hotel, rooms 301 and 303, under the personal supervision of boss Eli, had been transformed overnight.

Red carpets were laid, green plants placed to create a welcoming atmosphere.

The original circular iron conference table had been replaced, at the suggestion of Wang Xiquan, with two symmetrical redwood long tables. Elegant nameplates in Chinese, English, and Danish clearly displayed each attendee’s position, with Chinese names carefully added on that side—demonstrating great respect and attention to the meeting.

Following Wang Xiquan’s plan, he would lead the negotiations in room 303, accompanied by Huang Jianghui, Li Chengmin, and others.

Room 301 was nominally entrusted to Xie Shiqi, but the actual lead negotiator was Maimaiti.

To keep appearances, Wang Xiquan had pulled in several well-connected deputy-level officials from the Economic Commission and the Electric Power Industry Bureau to support Xie and Maimaiti.

When the clock on the wall struck the appointed hour, both parties took their seats and began their exchange through interpreters—

“Greetings, I am Morten from Bonus Energy. First, thank you for your trust in our company. Bonus is a veteran Danish wind turbine R&D and sales firm. We have already submitted our latest turbine specifications and price list to your government, which I believe you have reviewed.”

“Honorable Mr. Morten, I am Xie Shiqi, Chief Engineer of the Xinjiang Water Resources Department. As you said, we have carefully studied your price list. We have long admired Bonus’s renown in the global wind power industry. If our hospitality falls short during this bidding meeting, please forgive us. We sincerely hope to deepen cooperation with your company in turbine procurement and design,”

During the interpreter’s brief pause, Morten, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, quickly sized up Xie, who was about his age. The tension caused by the sudden change in bidding format eased instantly.

“Dear Mr. Xie, thank you for your trust. Bonus is eager to provide our latest turbine models and supporting equipment to customers worldwide, especially in the East. May I ask which of our turbines interests you?”

“At present, we prefer the 55KW fixed-pitch wind turbine and the 150KW passive stall wind turbine,” Xie replied, following the template Maimaiti had given him. “This meets the basic testing requirements of the Dabancheng wind power test station. But, Mr. Morten, we have several other requirements to clarify beforehand.”

Hearing this, Morten instinctively thought of the inflated prices. With a slight smile, he gestured for him to proceed.

Xie glanced at Maimaiti, who immediately continued in English: “Mr. Morten, first, based on your previous price list submitted for the Rongcheng wind farm project and our understanding of the global wind turbine market, there is currently an oversupply and demand slowdown worldwide. Your prices seem somewhat high.

We sincerely hope your company will adhere to principles of equality, mutual benefit, and fair international trade, and offer appropriate discounts.

Furthermore, according to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, your after-sales maintenance service is unclear. The standard warranty for imported turbines is one year, including one free maintenance service. However, your price list and service schedule do not specify this clearly. Was this an oversight due to haste?

Lastly, and most importantly, we want not only a few turbines but also to learn some of your turbine component manufacturing technology. We hope the turbine manufacturer can transfer part of the technology to us or enable Chinese component enterprises to participate in production, gaining relevant know-how in the process.”

“It's impossible!” Morten’s eyes widened as he declared firmly, “I can assure you, no wind turbine company would agree to that final request!”