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Chapter 727 727: Tunnel Boring Machine

After chatting with Wang Xingxing, Chen Yiyang went home and casually mentioned today's events while having dinner with the accountant.The accountant was curious and asked, "Are there so few guide dogs in the country? How come I see news every now and then about guide dogs being banned from entering certain places?"

"Perhaps such news is more eye-catching. Once it happens, it spreads out and forms public opinion."

Chen Yiyang happened to know a bit about the field, so he explained to the accountant, "Actually, guide dogs aren't meant to accompany blind people long-term.

After all, once a guide dog is successfully trained, its remaining lifespan is less than ten years.

In comparison, human life is too long.

If a guide dog were to accompany a blind person for life, then one blind person would need two to three guide dogs throughout their life.

Although guide dogs are a charitable endeavor, the training cost for each one reaches two hundred thousand.

Even if there were enough guide dogs, this price isn't sustainable for the training facilities.

So, when guide dogs were first trained, they weren't meant to serve those who have been blind for a long time but rather those who have recently lost their sight.

Because those who suddenly become blind due to accidents experience a bewildering adaptation period, they must overcome immense psychological and physical pressure before they can live normally.

Therefore, according to regulations, a guide dog can only serve one person for eight months.

The purpose is to help those who have just lost their sight adapt to their future life with the company of a guide dog.

Once the eight months are up, the guide dog is taken back by the facility to prepare to serve the next person."

"But how come I see some online bloggers who, even after being blind for a long time, still always have a guide dog with them?" the accountant asked.

"Excluding special cases. Generally, blind people who have guide dogs with them for a long time aren't using official guide dogs.

Because the selection of guide dogs is very strict. Since the guide dog program was introduced in the country in 2006, only four hundred guide dogs have been trained in fifteen years.

But if the standards are lowered a lot, simply allowing qualified dogs to accompany or provide psychological support to blind people, then it's much easier.

Many canine training facilities have trained quite a few similar companion dogs.

These dogs, though not capable of guiding blind people like guide dogs, have gentle temperaments and can perform some simple actions based on commands.

They are very suitable for accompanying blind people in life.

And generally, people don't check the documents of guide dogs to see if they are genuinely guide dogs.

So, as long as you put a vest with a guide dog label on these dogs, they can accompany blind people out normally."

"I see." The accountant nodded.

"But currently, the most useful thing for blind people is the electronic guide stick, which has a smart voice system and can clearly guide blind people on how to walk when outside. Its cost is much cheaper than a guide dog.

Also, guide dogs only walk fixed routes and can't really recognize the way. When arriving at unfamiliar places, a guide dog can only alert the owner about people or obstacles ahead.

But electronic guide sticks can provide navigation assistance anywhere."

"Then why bother developing four-legged mechanical dog guide dogs?" the accountant asked.

"Mainly to provide more comprehensive services for blind people going out; mechanical dogs can do much more than electronic guide sticks."

After chatting with the accountant, Chen Yiyang was about to play some games when Schaefer called him.

"I met some friends in India before."

Schaefer started the conversation straight to the point, "Then these friends told me their company bought a tunneling machine from Huaxia, but it was detained by customs and not shipped. They asked if I could help."

Schaefer had previously brokered a fighter jet project trade between India and France, so it wasn't surprising he knew some Indians.

India's purchased tunneling machine was detained by our customs?

Chen Yiyang furrowed his brow.

He knows all too well about the nature of Indians.

This matter is definitely not simple.

"I actually don't trust these Indians much either." Schaefer bluntly said, "These people are so unreliable, not a word of truth from their mouths.

But some rewards I was supposed to get as a broker haven't been paid by the Indians.

If this matter can be helped to solve, I could use it to force them and get my fees paid.

But what I know now is only the one-sided story from those Indians; I don't understand the specific reason behind this matter. Can you help me ask? If there's indeed a problem, I'll refuse them."

"Okay, let me ask for you." With Schaefer saying this much, Chen Yiyang could only agree to help Schaefer inquire about the matter.

He then made a few phone calls and quickly figured out the situation.

Just as Schaefer suspected, this matter indeed has issues.

Indians are indeed unreliable.

A tunneling machine is a type of tunneling equipment mainly used in large-scale engineering.

Initially, the manufacturing capability for such large-scale engineering machinery was primarily held by foreign companies, and the price was exorbitant, with a tunneling machine costing tens of millions or even one to two hundred million US dollars.

Yet, the cost of these machines isn't even a tenth of the selling price.

However, the domestic sector soon broke the technical blockade and developed tunneling machines.

But at that time, foreign tunneling machine manufacturers had a prominent reputation and trusted brands; so if the price was similar,

manufacturers in need would still purchase tunneling machines from foreign companies.

After all, for million-dollar items, stability is paramount; one can't risk it for the sake of saving some money.

So, domestic tunneling machine manufacturers directly drastically reduced the price, lowering it to about a tenth of the original price.

This price approached the cost price of foreign tunneling machine manufacturers.

But for the domestic sector, there's still a profit at this price.

Thus, foreign tunneling machine manufacturers were basically crushed by the domestic sector; those who didn't fail shifted their production lines to the country or places with lower costs and sold tunneling machines at slightly higher prices than domestically.

At this point, India was planning to build a high-speed rail that needed to pass through an underwater tunnel.

But they didn't want to buy Huaxia's tunneling machine, so they found a German tunneling machine manufacturer to purchase one.

But they didn't expect that, although this tunneling machine was nominally sold by a German enterprise to India, it was actually manufactured in Huaxia.