A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 180 Letter to the President
After Li Yu's article was published in Pulitzer's "Le Monde", it still has some effect. After all, it is the conclusive evidence sorted out by later historians.

It's just that Kang Youwei's Royalist Association now has hundreds of thousands of members, and the membership fees and donations alone exceed one million US dollars, and the exact amount is hard to estimate.

Kang Youwei should really go and see how hard the Chinese laborers recruited by the United Railways, and he didn't feel a little bit guilty about cheating people's money.

But it's a pity that many Chinese can't read this newspaper. After all, many Chinese don't know English very well, or they can only communicate in simple spoken English, and they can't speak well when they read articles.

Fortunately, the elites still know English, at least they can keep Kang Youwei away when it comes to donations.This is at least half of the proportion, and the proportion will become higher and higher in the future.

Kang Youwei was very angry when he saw the newspaper, "This Li Yu! Shameless! Nonsense!"

Kang Youwei was really angry, not only Zhang Taiyan, who was so powerful, continued to criticize him, but even his apprentices, such as Liang Qichao and others, were dissatisfied.But he just didn't change, he thought from the bottom of his heart that he was right!
Kang Youwei also wrote in The New York Times:

"It's hard to imagine that a Chinese who cut off his braids could become the emperor's teacher, and he can still slander the old man with all kinds of lies. What have I done? What has he done? What I have done is the great cause of Jingtianweidi. Li Yu is a yellow-mouthed kid. What is the use of only delving into strange and obscene techniques?"

The New York Times was founded after some Pulitzer employees left, and there has been a long period of competition between the two.Pulitzer later took the lead in withdrawing from the malicious competition criticized by everyone, and returned to the true spirit of running a newspaper.This incident is also one of the reasons why he can be so highly regarded in the press afterward.

However, Kang Youwei's article had the opposite effect. When he mentioned "Emperor Teacher", many Chinese directly felt that Li Yu was an extraordinary figure.

But it is estimated that "Gu Hongming" in this sentence will soon become "Li Yu".

Even in the 21st century, elite education in the United States is no less difficult than that of China, Japan and South Korea, and students work very hard.

Of course Li Yu understands that he is doing this in the interests of the United States, but it must be a win-win thing for foreign students to study in the United States.

James said happily: "The president is so right! I have told my students that excessive exploitation is only for short-term benefits, which is not in line with our spirit. Since the president also intends, I can write another letter to the president, Urge him to finish it."

"I am Edmond James, the president of the University of Illinois. I was surprised to see some of your great discoveries in the newspaper recently. Many of my students also want to meet you."

Well, he is indeed full of confidence.

Li Yu nodded: "It is true."

Since then, Gu Hongming's exports have been transferred to domestic sales, and he has quickly become a big celebrity in China by virtue of his foreign fame.

Li Yu said, "That's right, I don't know who Mr.

"There are so many ancient Chinese sayings," James said with a smile. "Is it possible that everyone who has studied in China knows so much ancient knowledge?"

Li Yu said: "There are so many Chinese classics, there are too many, I only know a little."

Just after getting off the train, a stranger came to greet him. He took off his hat and asked, "Your Excellency is Li Yu, right?"

Principal James said again: "I heard that you also met with Mr. President and mentioned the matter of sending overseas students?"

James smiled and said, "At that time, you can come to our University of Illinois to give a speech."

"If the United States had succeeded in attracting the flow of Chinese students studying in the United States 30 years ago and made it flourish (at one time it seemed to be close to success), then today we can understand China culturally, intellectually and spiritually. A new generation of elites exerts a profound influence and shapes its course in the most satisfying and subtle ways."

"Isn't this a no-cost business? I'm making too much money." Li Yu laughed.

But James said: "It's not wise, because I don't want to hide it from you, and I also have my own selfishness in doing so."

Principal James asked, "What's the president's opinion?"

Especially in international relations at the beginning of the twentieth century, there was no such thing as morality.

And James also gave Roosevelt a way to bypass the previous Chinese Exclusion Act, "We can not accept Chinese labor, but we can treat Chinese students decently and provide them with our educational facilities. We just need to let them pay attention (American educational resources stronger) these facts, to secure their coming, and favorable results must naturally flow from this occasion, which will affect all their thoughts and feelings."

100 years later, Indians still worship or even kneel and lick the colonists, but inexplicably regard China as an imaginary enemy. Even if there are political considerations, it is really embarrassing and speechless.

An American who is thousands of miles away can understand the situation in the Qing Dynasty, but there are still many people who are still obsessed with it.The simple sentence "just because I am in this mountain" can't explain it.

So James can also be regarded as a meritorious person.

"Of course I understand," James said, "I have known the history of China, it is too long. And I have always believed that China is facing a revolution. It's just that China has a large population and a vast land. As far as I know, it is not even Less than ours in the United States of America. So if for no other reason, I don't think China will happen as quickly as the Japanese revolution. Even if there are temporary setbacks, this revolution that has begun will not fail."

Long before Gu Hongming, there were foreign missionaries who translated the Four Books into foreign languages, but their level was too low, their sentences were unclear, and they made frequent mistakes.It wasn't until Gu Hongming made a move that these classical Chinese classics from 2000 years ago were translated more clearly.

"China has sent hundreds, even thousands of young people to study abroad. It is said that 300 are in Japan, hundreds in Europe - [-] in the tiny country of Belgium alone. This means that these people will return to China. Lead China to emulate Europe instead of the United States, and emulate Britain, France, Germany instead of the United States of America; this means that they will recommend British, French, and German teachers and engineers for high positions in China instead of recommending Americans; it means that China People will buy English, French, and German goods instead of American goods; various industrial concessions will be given to Europe instead of America."

"President Roosevelt should have agreed, and he also intends to return the Boxer indemnity." Li Yu said.

Now India has been occupied by the British, and the British have domesticated the Indians really well.

American universities are known as the Ivy League, including Harvard, Yale and other eight prestigious schools, all of which are private universities.

Kang Youwei never expected this to happen, and Li Yu's counterattack immediately made him really difficult to deal with.

Just like many people in China think that as long as you are a Beijinger, you can go to Qingbei if you study casually.For example, Tsinghua University, even though the proportion of candidates admitted to Tsinghua University in Beijing is much higher than that in Shandong and Henan, but it only recruits about [-] out of [-] to [-] students. ——The author is also a candidate from Shandong. I just want to say that you must not ignore the larger subjective reasons because of the objective reasons that you cannot change. Otherwise, you will lose the will to struggle, and your future life may be even worse.Just like China, which was struggling to climb out of the quagmire of the late Qing Dynasty at the beginning of the twentieth century, it has a lower starting point than Europe and the United States, but it is also unswervingly walking down.

James also did what he said.

Li Yu looked at Sierra, and Sierra shrugged: "It doesn't matter, we don't lack time anyway."

Therefore, there is nothing wrong with it.

Kang Youwei's face turned red when he saw it. He didn't even understand photography, and he didn't dare to delve into this topic with Li Yu. He had to write another ambiguous article, but the level was indeed too low. Willing to publish.

Since then, there have been so-called "public Ivies", which are also very powerful, including the University of Illinois.

Fortunately, Li Yu's ears were clean, and he continued to set off for Chicago.

But I don’t know why, many Chinese people think that American education is a happy education. They don’t learn anything every day and play all kinds of things in class. There is no homework, no pressure, and they can still go to prestigious universities. It feels great.

Li Yu did not expect that Principal James would take the initiative and said, "The principal is really a wise man. On behalf of all the students in China, I would like to pay high tribute to you."

However, this kind of self-confidence has always run through the culture of Laomei, which is a point worth learning: it is not okay to belittle yourself all the time.

James said: "I once read "The Analects of Confucius" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" translated by the great Chinese scholar Gu Hongming, and said that these are the most valued classics by Chinese scholars."

It’s a little bit biased. When it comes to happy education in the United States, they are actually the lower class people in the United States. Of course, they are very confident after studying for a few years.Although many interviews show a world map, many American adults can't even point out where the United States is.

President James said: "Mr. Li Yu's academic quality is probably the best today. As the president of a university, shouldn't I treat outstanding scholars like you with courtesy? I know that Mr. has something to do, but the journey is hard, it is better to be nearby. Shall we chat in the coffee shop for a while?"

Li Yu said with a smile: "It's such a joy to have friends coming from afar. The principal knows this, it's not easy."

Li Yu said: "The Four Books do represent Chinese culture, but it is still difficult to understand China through them."

Li Yu said: "Certainly not! Although China is a moderate country, the Chinese cannot be driven by arbitrary occupation."

Sierra had been waiting for a long time, and the two boarded the train together.

"Mr. is really talented and learned. No wonder he was able to obtain the extremely difficult qualification of foreign academician of the Royal Society." James sighed.

Li Yu said in surprise: "Principal James actually came to greet him in person, which really flattered me."

That's why there is a saying abroad: "When you come to China, you don't have to see the Three Great Halls, but you must see Gu Hongming".

Principal James said: "But I think it's time to combine East and West, because I don't want to see the next India."

It's impossible to think about it!

But people are confident!
It's just blind confidence...

I have to admit that it is really convenient to build railways in this area of ​​the United States. The large plains can quickly see economic benefits, effectively connecting the coal and iron production areas with several large cities.

James said: "It's better to use your Chinese language, courtesy and reciprocity. And I have always believed that our institutions of higher learning today are far more able to satisfy Chinese students' desire to understand advanced civilization than those in Europe and Japan."

Li Yudao: "Mr. is able to see the subtleties of knowledge, instead of blinding Mount Tai, I really admire it."

Historically, he did write this letter to President Roosevelt, and it still had a great influence on Roosevelt. To a certain extent, it contributed to the return of the boxer indemnity by the United States and investment in education.

Li Yu said, "I really don't know how to thank the principal."

It's just that what Li Yu is doing is science that Westerners are good at.

Li Yu wrote: "For now, regardless of whether you understand what science is or not, I will only talk about the two issues you avoid, that is, your falsification I mentioned earlier. The things are obvious. First, you can't show the emperor's Authentic, secondly, I can’t show the original photo. If it’s a fake, I will, I can also make a photo of me playing cards with the Jade Emperor and the Buddha!”

Moreover, they were influenced by Kang Youwei's propaganda that Emperor Guangxu was a "Ming Jun", and they all felt that Li Yu was a key figure who could influence Guangxu.

James said, "Like the alchemy furnace in your mythology?"

He is so famous abroad, and it is also very related to this. Many foreigners at this time even thought that Gu Hongming was the person who knew Chinese culture best.

Americans have been extremely fond of coffee since a long time ago. Li Yu had drank Americano coffee in KFC many times before, but the coffee in his mouth felt really bitter this time.

Although Americans still have a little gap with Chinese in terms of literary expressions such as parallelism, the effect has indeed been achieved.

Look at Kang Youwei, and then look at what the principal said, the level of judgment will be judged immediately.

Li Yu laughed: "It makes sense."

Of course, later American education evolved into two types, one is elite education and the other is happy education.

The two exchanged views on physics, astronomy and mathematics for a while. James was really surprised by Li Yu's knowledge. As a principal who had met countless outstanding students, he had never seen such a thing among his peers. knowledgeable.

For example, James clearly stated that the effect of using cultural export is better than military occupation, "Which country can successfully educate this generation of Chinese youth, and the efforts made by that country will have a moral, cultural and commercial influence. to get the maximum return.”

James was very frank, and Li Yu said with a smile: "It doesn't matter if you have more output points. Now China is a big melting pot. The more ideas you throw into it, the better the effect."

Although most of the letter is devoted to the interests of the United States, smart people should also be able to see that if the benefits that the United States can obtain are not included in it, how can the top leaders of the United States agree?
International relations, to put it bluntly, are driven by interests.

James said: "Then I should write this letter more carefully, and I can no longer allow thousands of Chinese students to flow to Japan every year."

Principal James said: "I agree with you, I have actually been asked many times by missions from China that they want to hire young Americans who are willing to take up positions in China. I think this is a way of our cultural communication , but I also solemnly declare that in this process, it will be our cultural output.”

Li Yu took the opportunity to add fuel and jealousy: "There are many people like me in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in China."

President James said: "At first I wanted to write to you jointly with the President of the University of Chicago, but suddenly I learned that you are coming to Chicago. I heard Confucius, a sage in the Chinese cultural circle, say that it is a joy to have friends from afar. We are so happy Very good!"

Since then, the United States has adopted a more relaxed study abroad policy.

This kind of trust cannot be viewed in the usual sense, but can only be viewed in terms of international relations, which means mutual use and mutual game.

It's just that China doesn't have much leverage at this time, and many things can only be passively accepted, and then slowly seek opportunities.

Otherwise, if we don't send overseas students abroad and no talents emerge, the situation will definitely become more difficult.

(End of this chapter)