In 1980, China Merchants Group implemented a reward system to speed up the construction progress of Shekou Port, which caused a controversy. Inspired by this incident, Yuan Geng, then director of the Shekou Management Committee, put forward the slogan "Time is money, efficiency is life" in order to encourage the acceleration of the construction of the Shekou Industrial Zone. However, after the slogan was put forward, it immediately caused an uproar and was strongly opposed by some people. Some people even labeled it capitalism, but Yuan Geng still resisted all objections. At the end of 1981, a giant placard reading "Time is money, efficiency is life" stood for the first time in the most conspicuous place of Shekou Industrial Zone