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

Chapter 346
The track and field of this Olympic Games is the track and field of Washington University in St. Louis, and the office is also located on the campus, which is simple and convenient.

It's just that the power of the Olympic Committee is very small at present. The schedule of the Olympic Games and how to hold them are completely decided by the president of the World Expo.

Coubertin expressed his helplessness, but there was nothing he could do.

The status of the World Expo was too high at this time, and many landmarks were built because of the World Expo, the most famous one being probably the Eiffel Tower.The Olympic Games, which have only been held for the third time, cannot compete with them.

After looking around, Li Yu said to Coubertin: "Sir, why didn't you see the Olympic flag?"

"Flag? You reminded me by saying that," Coubertin said, "There should be a special flag."

Li Yu casually drew the five-ring flag that was later known to the world: "What do you think of this design concept?"

It's a pity that Li Yu's art skills are not high, and he has forgotten the color of each of the five rings. Fortunately, he has a general shape.

Coubertin looked at it for a while, and liked this design very much: "The five rings are connected, which just symbolizes the unity of the five continents, and the fact that athletes from all over the world meet at the Olympic Games in a fair, frank competition and friendly spirit. It couldn't have been a better design sketch."

Li Yu laughed and said, "It's really just a sketch, and you still need to continue to design it."

Coubertin carefully put away this sketch, and then said: "My view of you has improved a step further. You are not only a mysterious, great, and extensive giant of oriental science, but also a person with a real world view."

"There are too many attributes." Li Yu said with a smile.

Coubertin said: "But I don't think any of them are wrong."

All Coubertin's current energy is attracted by the five-ring pattern in front of him. He didn't intend to come to St. Louis, but it was really a pleasant surprise to come.

Soon the China Village in the World Expo was built, and Li Yu and others received tickets, which were written in both English and Chinese, but interestingly, the Chinese was written in traditional characters from right to left: "Visiting the Great Qing Congress Hall" Proof," followed by some handwritten signatures.

At the bottom is the English word for "Chinese Village", but it is written from left to right: "imperial Chinese pavilion".

When Li Yu first arrived in St. Louis, he sent a telegram to Tesla, Zou Zhou and others, and they would also come to the venue with LY's exhibits.

Li Yu and the others first went to the venue for a casual stroll.

The ticket price for the venue is 50 cents, or $0.5.

As soon as he entered the venue, Li Yu saw something interesting. He said to the three ladies, "Come on, you're sure to like it."

In front of a machine, two Americans were hawking: "Come and taste it, this is a magical candy that you have never seen before, a candy that is as smooth as silk!"

Li Yu walked over and asked, "How do you sell your cotton candy?"

At the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, machine-made cotton candy made its global debut for the first time.

William, who sold cotton candy, said, "Are you from Eastern Japan?"

Li Yu said, "I'm from China."

"Oh, it turned out to be the mysterious ancient oriental country," William said, "but you called it by the wrong name. My candy is called 'Fairy Tale'."

"Okay," Li Yu said, "How much is your 'Fairy Tale'?"

William said, "Twenty-five cents a piece."

Not cheap, half the price of the ticket.

Li Yu said, "Give me three copies."

Another confectioner, Wharton, somewhat recognized the person in front of him: "Are you Li Yu and Bicheng, the authors of the Star Wars series?"

Li Yu said, "Good eyesight."

William also exclaimed: "It turns out to be a mysterious, great, and extensive giant of oriental science!"

This long attributive was read again, virtually reminding Li Yu of his English reading comprehension in the college entrance examination.

Confectioner Wharton didn't care about making marshmallows, so he took out a Star Wars book first: "If the two of you can sign for us, we can give candies to a few of you for free."

Lu Bicheng smiled and said, "You can get candy in exchange for signing your name, why not do it."

William took out a pen and said: "We have made a lot of money. From now on, I will also decide to change the name of the candy to cotton candy. I really love the name of this image. You don't know, I am reading it when I am in the doctor's office. Your Star Wars collection."

Li Yu signed his name casually and asked, "Seeing a doctor? Are you a doctor?"

William said, "Yes, I'm a dentist."

"Dentist..." Li Yu said awkwardly.

"What's wrong?" William asked.

Li Yu said, "No, nothing."

It's kind of weird that dentists invented marshmallows.

Confectioner Wharton quickly made three servings of marshmallows and gave them to the three ladies. It was the first time for them to eat this kind of strange candy, and they liked the feeling of melting in the mouth.

Historically, the name Cotton Candy will not appear until 20 years later, and Li Yu also unintentionally let it appear in advance.

There are many venues in the World Expo, but when the ladies arrive at the production hall, they can no longer move their legs.Although the name "production hall" looks like an industrial type, it is actually a shopping mall inside.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were few places that could have all kinds of exotic goods from all over the world at the same time, and even a lot of jewelry, art, and decorations.

Several tea merchants, porcelain merchants, and silk merchants brought by Pu Lun also sold here.

Tea, porcelain, and silk from China can be called killers. Even though the prices are high, they are sold out in a short time. American businessmen even signed a long-term order contract.

Seeing that the stalls of the Chinese merchants were empty, other people turned to look at the black tea from India.

After seeing several booths selling clothing from Central Asia, several women wanted to wear those unique clothes.

Li Yu felt quite bored, so he went out for a stroll first.

As soon as he walked out of the production hall, Li Yu saw an old acquaintance: Situ Meitang.

"Good brother!" Situ Meitang walked over and said happily, "I heard that you have arrived in the United States, so I came to see you without stopping."

Li Yu cupped his fists and said, "Brother Situ."

Situ Meitang pointed behind him again: "Together with us are Mr. Huang Sande, the boss of our Hongmen, and Mr. Sun Wen."

Huang Sande is currently in charge of Hongmen in the United States. Today he saw Li Yu face to face for the first time, and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Your Excellency is the pride of us Chinese."

Li Yu shook hands with him and said, "I have met Huang Mengchang."

Huang Sande also mentioned Sun Wen behind him: "Brother Zhongshan has joined our Hongmen this year and worshiped as 'Honggun'."

Sun Wen said: "I have met the emperor before, Meitang, you have an amazing brother, even I am very envious."

Situ Meitang laughed loudly: "I don't want to be modest about this at all, I am really very happy."

Huang Sande said: "It happened that we were worried about not being able to find a guide. It is a great honor to have a great emperor guide us."

Situ Meitang quickly added to him: "It is a mysterious, great, and extensive giant of oriental science."

Li Yu said with a smile: "You don't need to say so many attributives, my ears can hear cocoons today."

They were more interested in the Machinery Hall, the Transport Hall, and the Education and Sociology Hall.

The Machinery Hall and the Transportation Hall have the largest areas, and they are also what the United States most wants to show the world.

On the roof of the machinery hall stands six 90-meter-high minarets, which are very eye-catching.The World Expo also specially repaired a railway to an energy building next to the Machinery Pavilion, and 500 tons of coal were transported every day for energy use at the venue.

Mr. Zhongshan said with emotion: "If we can also have more than [-] miles of railways, why worry about the country not being strong!"

Laomei is a typical example of "when the railway rings, ten thousand taels of gold", and it is not spending money, but earning money.

They were able to overtake Britain and Germany to become the world's largest industrial power in a few decades, in fact, they also relied on infrastructure...

Laomei, the first-generation infrastructure madman, had built almost 1900 kilometers of railways by 40, which is simply frantic.

However, many of them were abolished because of excessive construction. In later generations, the effective railway mileage of Laomei is about 25 kilometers.

We are around 15.

But you certainly don't feel that there are not enough railways, because 15 is already a big number.

Moreover, due to the characteristics of the third-level terrain, it is much more difficult to repair the railway than in the old United States.

As mentioned earlier, the United States adopts a government subsidy system for railway construction, and this subsidy is quite strong.

It costs $1.6 per mile in plain areas, $3.2 per mile in hilly areas, and up to $4.8 per mile in high mountain areas. At the same time, each mile of railway on both sides of the railway line will give 6 square miles of land use rights and resource exploitation rights.

Of course, these are all railways aimed at the west, for Laomei's own "Western Development".

Mr. Zhongshan's so-called "[-]-kilometer railway" should come from his "Industrial Plan" and "National Construction Strategy".

Even Mr. Zhongshan wrote a letter to Song Jiaoren in August 1912 after the Revolution of 8: "I want to give up political affairs and concentrate on the construction of railways. In ten years, I will build a line of 20 miles. between departments."

He even did not hesitate to give all the rights to Song Jiaoren, and he dedicated himself as the railway supervisor to repair the railway.

If it is not said that he has a high realm, he is a person who really wants to revolutionize and become rich and powerful.

Some of his plans overlapped with the later routes, but some were superfluous, but there was no need to be harsh on him because he was not a professional railway designer after all.

Several people visited several other pavilions, and in the Sociology Pavilion, they saw a common practice of exhibitions in the early twentieth century: the exhibition of human beings.

Many indigenous peoples from all over the world were placed in different booths. There were nearly 30 indigenous peoples and more than 500 people.

McKee, the head of the "Anthropological Village", even sorted them in order of evolution.

In terms of time and place alone, the most shocking thing should be the Indian exhibition.

It was too miserable to be robbed of the site, almost exterminated, and even used as an exhibition.

Not only will there be human exhibitions at the World Expo, but the St. Louis Olympic Games, which is affiliated with the World Expo, will also hold a so-called "Anthropology Day" to allow indigenous people to participate in order to test their physical abilities.

McKee also compared the results of the aboriginal people in the games with the results of the whites who won the Olympic champions. Naturally, there is a big gap.

In the end McKee concludes: "...the burden of humanity has largely become the burden of the white man—because, from the present state of the human world, white and strong are synonymous."

This Nima is simply blatant racism!
The tool used to arrive at this point of view is the equally ridiculous Social Darwinism.

At that time, many people strongly opposed McKee's point of view.

Li Yu and the others didn't like this project very much, so they took a hasty look and left.

In the transportation hall, it is basically a train and automobile exhibition. Li Yu met Henry Leland, the founder of Ford and Cadillac.

Henry Leland is now in full swing. Cadillac sedans are selling very well in the United States, and they have completely established themselves in the luxury car field.

Henry Leland happily said to Li Yu: "Mr. Li Yu, with your electronic ignition system, the price of my car has increased by more than 10%!"

Li Yu was taken aback. 10% was about seventy or eighty dollars. Li Yu sold it to him for $30, and Henry Leland earned more when he changed hands.

After the production line was rolled out, the cost was almost US$10 or even lower. Li Yu felt that he was already black-hearted enough, and he made a lot of money.But anyway, the cost is not only the hardware cost, but also the intellectual property rights, so Li Yu's pricing is quite reasonable.

Or the real capitalists are even darker, just changing hands and earning an extra forty or fifty dollars.

Henry Leland said, "You can speed up the production schedule, and I'm going to order a lot."

Not only Cadillac, but all major automakers are now eyeing Li Yu's products.

Li Yu had no choice but to say: "I will expand the production line as soon as possible, and I won't keep you waiting. And I have also made improvements, integrating the car lighting system, and the price will be increased accordingly."

Ford said: "Mr. is so fast! You can make the light system perfectly integrated, OMG! Even if you add $50, it's not much!"

Fortunately, he answered the call.

In fact, this is just a small design, and the cost is less than a dollar, mainly in the technical level of system design.

Li Yu originally wanted to say $35, but Ford directly increased it to $50.

That's $50.

Anyway, cars currently belong to the ranks of semi-luxury goods, and rich people don't care too much about the difference of tens of dollars, what they want is to improve the experience.

Calculated in this way, just the small electronic ignition system alone brings hundreds of thousands of dollars in net profit every year.

I have to say that in Europe and the United States at the beginning of the [-]th century, industry was really easy to make money.

The era of science and engineering men's dreams.

Li Yu accepted the order requirements of Ford and Mr. Henry Leland.

Mr. Zhongshan and the others were even more amazed when they saw it behind, and suddenly felt that the attributive words were still missing.

Now they are even more convinced that what Li Yu is running in the United States is a real first-class high-tech enterprise.

Zhongshan praised: "Mr. is truly a talent beyond the ages."

Li Yu said with a smile: "It's too much to say."

After finishing the exhibition, Mr. Sun Yat-sen decided to go to some big cities in the east of the United States to have a look, and give speeches by the way.

Before leaving, Mr. Zhongshan said to Li Yu: "This exposition is an unprecedented event since the opening of the new century. It also gave me a clear idea of ​​where I am headed. I am entangled in trivial matters and need to leave St. Louis temporarily. Please forgive me."

Li Yu knew that he was also a very busy person, so he said, "I wish you all the best."

(End of this chapter)