Yesterday, I explained that there are 20 million tons (estimated) of gold in the ocean, which cannot be collected due to cost reasons. Many readers then asked where these 20 million tons of gold came from.
First, everyone should remember a basic fact: gold is a metal that can only be produced in an environment of extremely high temperature and pressure. Earth does not have this kind of high temperature and high pressure environment, so every gram of gold on Earth comes from outer space.
Even the extreme temperatures and pressures of the sun are far from sufficient; most gold in the universe is produced by the collision and explosion of binary neutron stars. Large amounts of gold are ejected into various parts of the universe, and some fragments happen to fall to Earth—that's how gold is formed.
Oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface, and a significant amount of gold fell into the sea during that time. Another important channel was the continuous erosion of mineral veins by rivers, carrying tens of tons of placer gold into the ocean every year. This is the most regrettable aspect, as it essentially washed away gold that humans could have mined, making it impossible to retrieve.
I often see videos on Douyin (TikTok) of gold prospectors digging up gold-bearing soil in riverbeds, taking it home to filter, sift, and separate it, eventually extracting small gold nuggets. I'm not sure if they're staging it, but it's theoretically possible. I've heard that some mining deposits in Shandong and Heilongjiang provinces offer opportunities to find gold downstream. However, it's important to remember that mineral resources are legally state-owned. You might be able to get away with just one person playing in the river with a small basin, but if it causes a significant disturbance, the government will definitely take action.
Having said all that, you should understand why gold is so rare. For centuries, people have been trying to create gold artificially, and some have even succeeded on a small scale in laboratories, but the cost is simply too high to be worthwhile. As for this round of gold bull market, it is mainly due to the weakening of the US dollar's credibility and the outflow of global wealth from the dollar.
Yesterday I had dinner with a friend who manages tourism in Linhai. He told me some data: in recent days, the daily number of tourists from other places visiting Linhai has exceeded 300,000.
I was curious about how this data was calculated. He said it was mainly based on the number of out-of-town phone cards counted by the telecommunications company. They even did some data filtering, excluding out-of-town numbers that stayed in Linhai for more than 6 days a month. Only the remaining out-of-town numbers were counted as tourists, which added up to more than 300,000.
I did a quick calculation: if each of these 300,000 tourists spends 300 yuan on food and lodging, that's close to 100 million yuan a day. That's a considerable income for the local people. I'm truly grateful to those friends from other places who come to visit.
Yesterday, I took my wife and kids for a stroll in the old town. When we wanted to go home, we couldn't get a taxi at all. There were 87 other people trying to hail a cab at the same time, so I gave up and took my wife and kids to wait for the bus in front of the Taizhou Cinema. As a result, 3-4 different groups of readers saw us there, and I saw their comments in the backend. They were probably also socially awkward, or maybe they weren't sure at the time, but anyway, no one greeted me, avoiding an awkward situation. 
I know many of you have been following my WeChat official account for a long time, and you might get excited to meet me in person offline and want to interact and commemorate the occasion. But in reality, I'm just an ordinary middle-aged person. As you saw yesterday, I struggled to even pull two metal racks. What could I do after saying hello? I couldn't exactly pull out my phone to chat about stocks on the street… And some people asked for my autograph. Don't be ridiculous. I write less than 10 Chinese characters a year now, and my handwriting is so bad I don't even want to look at it myself.
The identity of a self-media blogger is extremely dependent on a protective barrier. On my public account, I ramble on to millions of people, and they think I'm quite impressive, a very knowledgeable person. But what am I left without that barrier? I can't exactly wear a glowing sign above my head that says, "The Influencer with xxx million followers," can I…?
That's why I haven't posted any photos of myself from recent years on my public account. I don't want to be recognized by readers offline, and I don't want them to feel the huge difference between online and offline. This also allows me to be a nobody in public without any pressure.
Of course, if we really meet, I'm okay with shaking hands, taking a photo, or adding each other on WeChat, I just hope we keep it quiet and don't attract the attention of strangers around us.
Today is the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, and I've come to Hangzhou. Every year on the sixth and seventh day, I get together with my college buddies, rent a gaming hotel, and play games together. We initially bonded over gaming, and even after graduating from university, we still frequently play games together, something many of our peers envy. Hehe, not only are we not suffering from electronic device impotence, but we also still have gaming buddies who haven't lost their way. 
During dinner, they chatted about their past experiences buying houses and shops. Although Hangzhou's property prices have fallen considerably in recent years, they bought early and still made a profit. I felt at that moment that life is often driven by fate. If we hadn't graduated in Hangzhou, but in Zhengzhou, Wuhan, or another inland city, their investments would have had a different outcome.
Some success is achieved through one's own efforts, while some success is a reward from fate.
They're already setting up the machine, so I'll clock in earlier to make up for the time.
Original Article: View Chinese Version
