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

Chapter 233 The Covenant of Confucian Mansion
Now the office of the Governor of Hong Kong is still in the Governor's Mansion, which is today's Government House.

It is a two-storey building located in Mid-Levels, Central, Hong Kong Island.

The governor of Hong Kong, Bliss, received them here.

"Mr. Governor." The two greeted first.

The governor of Hong Kong, Blake, asked straight to the point: "Are you going to run a school?"

Li Yu replied, "That's right."

Bu Li said: "Now there are not many places to choose on the island."

Li Yu said: "Of course not on the island, the area north of Boundary Street in Kowloon will do."

There is actually a concession there, and it is relatively cheap.

At present, the development of Hong Kong is basically concentrated on both sides of Victoria Harbour, that is, the northern part of Hong Kong Island and the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula. There is not much energy to manage the north of Boundary Street.

Moreover, the locals in the New Territories have always resisted the Hong Kong government very fiercely.

If they are willing to build a piece of land there, it will be fine for the British Hong Kong government.

Some people are willing to help build schools and save the cost of the Hong Kong government, so why not do it.

Bu Li looked at the map for a while, pointed to it and said, "These places are fine."

Buli refers to some locations in the northeast.

Li Yu looked at it for a while, and chose a place just north of Boundary Street, which is not too far from the core of Hong Kong.

Bu Li said, "Have you made your choice?"

Li Yu nodded: "That's it."

Bu Li said: "That can't be changed. I want to tell you that the completion of the school must strictly abide by the regulations of the Hong Kong government and must not violate the laws of the Hong Kong government."

Xie Yuxi said, "It's all as it should be."

Bu Li called Superintendent Mei Hanli over, "Take the two of them to have a look."

At the end of this year, Bu Li will step down as the governor of Hong Kong, and this Mei Hanli will take over.

When they came to this land, Li Yu finally knew why Bu Li was so happy.

There is a very eye-catching area in front of you, which has also caused headaches for previous Hong Kong executives, but it is also a very distinctive area: the Kowloon Walled City.

Many comics almost regard the Walled City of Kowloon as a symbol of Hong Kong; some foreign films also mostly choose the Walled City of Kowloon as their prototype when depicting Hong Kong.

If you haven't heard of this name, you can tell by talking about the movie: Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu" takes place in the Kowloon Walled City that is almost copied.

What's interesting is that most people don't know that when Hong Kong was ceded, the Qing government added a special clause, that is, the Kowloon Walled City still belongs to China.

Therefore, in the century-long history of Hong Kong's occupation, there is still such a three-way zone.

Because it went deep into the Hong Kong area, although the Qing government had sovereignty over it legally, it couldn't really manage it, fearing it would be regarded as a provocative act against the British state.

The Hong Kong government is also unwilling to take care of it, so the Kowloon Walled City has become a place outside the law in the true sense.

Many people who broke the law in Hong Kong fled here, and then settled down here, and because it was out of control, drug trafficking, smuggling, murder, and robbery continued. By the 1970s, it was the triads who were in charge here.

The area of ​​the Kowloon Walled City is very small, only 2.7 hectares, or about 0.027 square kilometers, or 2.7 square meters.

It is almost a place with a range of 120*240 meters, more than 40 acres of land.

The population here is very dense. Before the Kowloon Walled City was demolished in 1993, there were more than 50000 residents. The population density of the Walled City was 190 million people per square kilometer, making it the most densely populated place in the world.

The reason why it was demolished was because at that time the overall situation had been decided and Hong Kong was bound to return, so China and Britain decided to demolish it together.

After all, this place is simply a slum, which is incompatible with Hong Kong's status as a modern financial city.

There used to be a saying that there are only two kinds of slums in the world: one is the Kowloon Walled City and the other is the other.

But to Li Yu, it doesn't matter, and there is even a sense of intimacy.

Superintendent Mei Hanli drew very cautiously, and circled the red line little by little, so that in the future there will be no mistakes.

It is completely different from when I was in Guangzhou and Shanghai.

In fact, in Guangzhou and Shanghai, even if you use more than a little, there will be no big problem.

But in Hong Kong, every inch of land is very expensive, so there is no need to discuss it.

The procedures of the Hong Kong government have to wait for them to complete.

Li Yu's coming to Hong Kong to run a school quickly let the Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong know.

Ma Yingbiao, the founder of the first modern department store in Hong Kong and also the first in China, approached Li Yu.

People like Ma Yingbiao are actually very concerned about the safety of the motherland.Since then, Ma Yingbiao has also attached great importance to education, especially in aiding his hometown Zhongshan.

Of course, he had already heard about Li Yu's deeds.

"Emperor Master!" Ma Yingbiao recognized Li Yu when he saw him.

"Sir?" Li Yu asked.

"I, Ma Yingbiao, am a businessman." Ma Yingbiao introduced.

Li Yu shook hands with him: "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ma Yingbiao said: "The emperor's teaching here does not seem to serve foreigners."

At this time, the schools built in the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island were almost noble schools, and the fees were very high.

Li Yu nodded: "That's right, we don't treat education as a business."

Ma Yingbiao glanced at the Kowloon Walled City next to him, and gave a thumbs up, "It can already be seen that the school is built here."

Li Yu said with a smile: "The place is really good."

Although the location of the Kowloon Walled City seems a bit far away from Victoria Harbour, it is actually not far away. After all, Kowloon is such a big place.

Ma Yingbiao invited Li Yu to have a meal, and has been helping out during the design process for the past few days.

There is really a noble person to help.

The supervision of the subsequent construction process in Hong Kong can be entrusted to Ma Yingbiao.

It is said that the land price in Hong Kong has started to rise now, and it will continue to soar all the way in the future.It's just that the so-called four kings of Hong Kong's real estate industry, Li Ka-shing and others, have not risen, and real estate has not yet been fried.

There is nothing to do in Hong Kong. At this time, Hong Kong is completely under the rule of the Hong Kong government, and its vitality is not as great as it has been since then.

On the one hand, it is Xie Yuxi's request to build a school here, on the other hand, it is indeed possible to accept many students who have taken refuge here.

It's just that the stadium and other facilities have to be sacrificed in design, and the building should be built as tall as possible.

-

After the matter was completed, he started to leave and return to the capital.

This trip was not short, about one and a half months, but fortunately, many things were accomplished.

As soon as Li Yu returned to the capital, Yan Fu and Lu Bicheng came to look for him.

Li Yu was quite surprised when he saw Yan Fu personally visit him: "Why is Master Yan here?"

Yan Fu said, "I just heard the news of your return from Bicheng."

Li Yu actually wanted to ask Lu Bicheng how he knew he was back so quickly, but obviously there was no chance, and Yan Fu immediately said, "Everyone is waiting for you to come back."

"Wait for me? What's the matter?" Li Yu wondered.

Yan Fu said: "Many scholars in the capital are urging you to meet Yan Shenggong."

"Ah?" Li Yu asked in surprise, "It's Qufu...the Kong family?"

Lu Bicheng nodded: "Yes, you are now so famous in western studies or science, the "Shenbao" even wants to praise you as a contemporary scientific saint. Scholars of course don't do it, and want you to confront the true successor of the saint. .”

Li Yu suddenly felt a headache, Shi Liangcai really wrote too much about himself.

Although he had expected this day to come, he never expected it to come so soon.

Yan Fu said: "Yan Shenggong has also sent a letter asking you to meet."

Feng Ling said: "Sir, that's true. We have already received a letter from Qufu. You don't know, many literati and bureaucrats rushed to buy it, because it was written by Yan Shenggong himself and stamped with the seal of Yan Shenggong."

Wang Bo was proud: "When I went to the teahouse a few days ago, I was surrounded by big guys, and I wanted to know what it would be like to meet you. It's amazing, sir, to be able to communicate with Yan Shenggong face to face!"

They thought it was a good thing, but Li Yu obviously felt that the visitor was not good.

At present, Yan Shenggong has been passed down to No.70 six generations, called Kong Lingyi.

In other words, Kong Linghui seems to be a descendant of the Kong family, but it is just a side branch. As for why he was born 100 years later than Kong Lingyi, it is easy to understand why he is still in the same generation: this situation is very common in rural areas. It seems that the generation is small; and families without money often get married and have children very late, and if there is less transmission, the generation will naturally increase.

In terms of seniority, the modern Confucian family has been passed down to the No.80 generation, and Kong Linghui is his great-grandfather generation...

Lu Bicheng said: "Everyone thinks that you will be a confrontation between Western learning and Confucianism, and many people are paying attention."

Yan Fu also asked: "There is a lot of speculation in the capital, and people from all walks of life are waiting for your reply. Are you going?"

In fact, in the era when Li Yu lived, the concept of the Confucian family has become very weak. Everyone only knows Confucius, and few people know who the heir of the Confucian family is, and no one pays attention to it.

According to historical evidence, the only families that have been passed down for more than 2000 years are the Confucian family and the Japanese emperor.

The reason why they have been handed down for so long is because they are not harmful to the ruling, and they have been found useful in all dynasties.

The emperor of Japan has no real power at all for quite a long time. In Japan, he is just a flying crane in the sky, and it is enough to come out and shout once in a while.

And the Kong family was also used as a political tool, basically raised in Qufu as idols.

"72 generations of domestic slaves, 25 dynasties of second ministers", this is the comment on the descendants of Confucius' lineage on the Internet.

Except for Confucius and the more recent generations, there have been almost no decent talents in the direct lineage since then.

Moreover, the Kong family is very politically savvy about protecting their own lineage. Once the dynasty changes, they will immediately defect to the new dynasty.

As soon as the Qing army came in, they surrendered, and as soon as the hair-shaving order came down, they wrote the "Shangshoutou Memorial" to express their surrender.

It seems that the knees and bones of the "Xianshenggong" in the past dynasties are relatively soft.

But it is indeed a miracle that the Confucian family can be passed on for so long. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's exclusive respect for Confucianism made Confucius a teacher of all ages.

Being able to shadow his descendants for thousands of years, even if none of the descendants are outstanding, as Confucius himself, he has been quite successful.

After thinking for a while, Li Yu said, "I'll go."

It is difficult to guess the original meaning of this sentence in the modern Internet vocabulary, but it lifted the spirits of Uncle Wang, Feng Ling and others.

Yan Fu also let out a long sigh of relief: "I'm really afraid that you won't go."

(End of this chapter)