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

Chapter 644 Dada
After Liang Qichao's message was sent back, it was published in newspapers in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and other places.

Domestic public opinion has always advocated standing firm and not signing treaties that undermine national rights. It would be unreasonable for a victorious country to humiliate its country by losing its power.

The Beiyang government saw that Paris had come up with the secret treaty and had no choice, so it announced the treaty, agreement, exchange of letters, etc. between China and Japan on the Shandong issue.

All walks of life were in an uproar, and the responsibility issues of Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang and others were quickly pointed out.

They did fail. The Republic of China produced many outstanding diplomats. What the Beiyang government cared most about was Sino-Japanese relations, but it repeatedly caused big problems in this regard, which left people speechless.

Since the Yuan Shikai era, the Beiyang government has understood that it must handle its relationship with Japan well. Japan has become a strong neighbor and an ambitious neighbor, making direct conflict inconvenient.

Therefore, the Beiyang government's diplomatic strategy towards Japan has always focused on personnel aspects. If there is some misunderstanding, with proper cooperation in personnel aspects, it may be possible to reduce major problems to minor ones. Almost all those who hold the post of Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs have a background in Japan; one of the main counselors in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must also have studied in Japan.

Their duty is to keep abreast of Japan's diplomatic pulse and nip it in the bud.

The idea should be said to be pretty good, but this work has been extremely unsuccessful.

The country is very worried that the delegation will really sign a treaty that will undermine its rights and humiliate the country. Almost every day, telegrams are sent to the delegation, stating over and over again: "The people will fight to the death and hope that the public will persevere to the end. The citizens of the country will support the public."

During this period, the best reply the delegation received from the United States was that all German rights and interests in China would be temporarily taken over by the Peace Conference, and then returned to China after Qingdao and other places opened their ports.

Many of Duchamp's similar works were thrown away as trash.

Li Yu was preparing to leave for Germany. Before departure, he went to the bookstore to buy a few books to read on the road.

Representatives of Britain, France, and Italy did not comment on Japan's proposal, which was actually acquiescence; the United States could only shelve it in the end.

However, Japan insists that the treaty that has been concluded should be handed over to Japan first and then to China. ——As a person, you can understand that the little devil doesn't mean what he means. He talks about returning it, but in his heart he definitely doesn't want to return it, and even wants more.

The two spoke almost at the same time.

Li Yu said: "Not only do I know you, but I also know that you sent an artwork called "Fountain" to the American Independent Art Exhibition two years ago."

"It's a pity that I couldn't see the original work," Li Yu said, and then asked, "Aren't you in New York?"

Duchamp smiled and said: "Oh! That was a work that I had a flash of inspiration. I didn't expect that the art exhibition would violate their own promise. You can participate in the exhibition by paying six dollars, but they still refused to exhibit it. I just I was able to find a photographer to take photos and keep them.”

-

"War is a continuation of politics. If you hate war, Mr. Duchamp must also hate politics, right?" Li Yu said.

"Fountain" is Duchamp's famous inverted urinal.

Although it cannot be taken back directly, it is much better than dealing with Japan, and the delegation can accept it.

"Paris is the capital of art, and I have to live here for a while," Duchamp said. "And I've wanted to come here for a long time, but the damn war has lasted so long. I really don't like war, no matter what form of war it is. I hate it all, so I can only choose to avoid it, but I will never make any statement or condemnation of the war."

The "Fountain" that can be seen by future generations is this photo. As for the urinal itself, it has long been missing. It may have been randomly discarded in the basement by the photographer after taking pictures.

"Are you Duchamp?"

"Are you Academician Li Yu?"

Duchamp said: "I have known Mr. Academician for a long time, but I didn't expect you to know me."

Li Yu glanced at it and said, "Mona Lisa with Beard".

Gu Weijun and the others felt tremendous pressure, but they could only wait.

French bookstores are of course useless, but fortunately there are English books in Paris. Li Yu walked into a store and saw a thin man sitting at a table, holding a pen and a postcard and smiling to himself: "It's so interesting, so interesting!"

"Yes, I have no interest in politics at all, but what is discussed most every day in Paris is politics. Not only the politicians at the meeting, but also the guests in the cafes and pubs are talking about world affairs, but I have no idea about this. I don’t know anything about politics,” Duchamp paused and added, “And I think politics is a very stupid thing.”

Li Yu thought of the anarchist thief Jacob, and asked: "What if someone told you that in order to live in society, people need politics?"

Duchamp said: "Perhaps there must be politics, but I don't think there is any way to judge political ideas any more than you can judge art."

Li Yu said: "However, the politicians in Paris now believe that what they are doing is the most remarkable and they are arguing endlessly."

"They are always like this! So it is better to avoid it," Duchamp said. "In fact, I am interested in anything that may make people crazy, involved, dedicated, and obsessed with, regardless of religion, politics, literature, Art or intellectual science, it’s the same attitude.”

"Where is God?" Li Yu asked again.

Duchamp said: "God? For me, this question does not exist. God is a creation of man. When people invent something, there are always people who support it and people who are against it. To make up the idea of ​​a God is crazy stupidity."

"I understand," Li Yu said, "You are neither an atheist nor a believer, you just don't want to care about God at all."

Duchamp said: "That's what it means."

"Can I see this work of yours?" Li Yu pointed to the Mona Lisa postcard with a beard in his hand.

"Of course." Dushan handed it over.

Li Yu looked at it and saw that it was just a print that could be bought everywhere. Duchamp drew two mustaches and a goatee on the Mona Lisa, and signed a few letters: "LHOOQ"

Li Yu's French level is not high, but when a person learns other languages, he often learns curse words first. If these letters are pronounced in French, it is a curse word: Elle a chaud au cul! Mon dieu!
Translated, it's similar to "Her ass is hot", or simply "She has a sexy asshole"...

Li Yu laughed and said, "It really smells like anti-authority."

Duchamp said proudly: "Leonardo Da Vinci is an unparalleled painter. The Mona Lisa is known to the world and loved by everyone. It is so exciting to use it to create a scandal! And I found this poor girl He became very strong after being painted with a beard, which is really suitable for Leonardo's homosexuality. "

The term "homosexuality" mentioned by Duchamp first came from Freud's analysis in 1910. He used complicated and complicated methods to prove that the enigmatic smile of Mona Lisa was related to a childhood relationship recorded by the artist in his notes. Dream related. Freud said that the smile was the smile of his mother in Leonardo's memory, and it was transformed by the artist into his own repressed desire - a fascination with himself, or in other words, a fascination with the same sex. .

Duchamp added: "The surprising thing is that after adding a beard, you look at Mona Lisa and she becomes a man, not a man dressed up as a woman, but a real man. This is what I An unexpected discovery.”

"Are you going to publish it?" Li Yu asked. "It's best to publish it after leaving Paris."

Dushan shook his head and said: "I have no such intention, this is just a random work of mine."

He did not plan to publish it, but his friend included it in an art magazine. Unexpectedly, it caused an uproar in the art world. Duchamp is a typical art "player".

In 1912, he created the very famous painting "Nude Descending the Stairs", but after 1913, Duchamp gave up painting.

Before and after World War I, Duchamp turned to Dadaism and became its representative.

The so-called Dadaism is actually an art form born out of the cruelty of World War I. It is anti-authority, anti-art, and anti-war. Duchamp's "Fountain" is a typical example.

However, the existence of Dadaism was very short-lived. It faded within a few years after the First World War and was replaced by Surrealism.

Duchamp took out a stack of the complete works of Star Wars and Alien from the bookstore, and said to Li Yu: "I am rarely interested in science fiction works, but these two works of yours really fascinated me. The wonderful imagination in them Beyond many artists.”

"You want me to sign?" Li Yu said with a smile.

"Yes," Dushan nodded and said, "But it's best not to use a conventional pen. Do you have any Chinese brushes?"

Li Yu said: "It's hard to find a brush at the moment, but I carry a seal with me. It is from a Chinese seal engraver named Qi Baishi. I think you will like it."

"Seal engraving? Great!" Duchamp said.

Li Yu immediately signed and stamped it, and then said, "Mr. Duchamp, can you also give me a piece of art?"

"can."

Duchamp thought for a moment, picked up a pen and drew a check on a piece of paper: "This is called "The Bigger Check"."

It is indeed much larger than a normal check, and the painting is very delicate.

Li Yu took it and said, "I like it very much."

Duchamp had many interesting ideas. Later, he filled a bottle with 50cc of Paris air and gave it to a friend in New York, because Duchamp felt that "they didn't lack anything, so I brought them 50ml of Paris air." Air".

Anyway, he just gives people the impression of someone who is not like a traditional artist, but who is playing with art.

It was noon while chatting. Li Yu and Dushan went to a French restaurant for dinner. This restaurant is in a very good location, located on the left bank of the Seine River. Many European literary and artistic people like to come here.

Dushan ordered several dishes skillfully, and it was obvious that he had been here more than once.

The waiter had just served two dishes when there was a sudden commotion outside. Someone shouted into the restaurant: "Asan, come quickly! They said Clemenceau's motorcade is coming soon. Let's go march with slogans! Hurry!"

The waiter who served Li Yu and Du Shang hurriedly put down the dishes: "I'm sorry, gentlemen!"

After saying that, he ran out of the restaurant without even having time to change his clothes.

Li Yu and Du Shang had seen this kind of thing many times and didn't act strange.

After seeing their sign saying "Annan", Li Yu realized that the waiter just now turned out to be Ho Chi Minh.

In Paris at this time, a brick falling from the sky could hit a celebrity.

Vietnam was not among the 27 countries participating in the Paris Peace Conference, so Ho Chi Minh recognized himself as a representative of the "Annam Patriot Group in France" and wrote to the Peace Conference requesting Vietnam's independence.

However, Vietnam was a French colony, and the peace conference had no time to pay attention to the independence of the colonies, so it ignored his request.

In Paris, Ho Chi Minh gained a reputation and accumulated some experience. After that, he really succeeded in becoming independent.

-

After bidding farewell to Duchamp, Li Yu took the train to Göttingen.

The process was not as difficult as imagined. In the past two months, the bombed railway has basically been repaired.

The inspection is relatively strict when passing through the French-German border. After all, France is so angry with Germany that it wants to dismember Germany and then become the overlord of the European continent.

On the issue of reparations, the French lion opened its mouth and wanted to set an amount for Germany that would make it impossible for them to recover, just like the reparations Bismarck imposed on France.

Naturally, Britain did not want France to dominate the European continent, so it expressed its opposition and demanded a reduction in the amount of reparations.

Britain, France and the United States finally agreed on a compensation amount equivalent to more than 110 billion pounds (nearly 400 billion U.S. dollars). This is an astronomical figure, exceeding the "Xin Chou Treaty" by countless times.

The annual GDP of the United States, the most powerful industrial country, is only over 800 billion. It is simply impossible for Germany to compensate for half of the United States' output value.

Even the budding economist Keynes couldn't stand it and commented against it.

Foch famously said: "What kind of peace is this? It's just a twenty-year armistice."

Germany itself was confused after seeing the contract: Just beat me to death, I don’t want money, I just want my life!
In the early stage, Germany basically refused to return the goods, and France also wanted to take this opportunity to occupy Germany's most important Ruhr industrial area. As a result, Britain and the United States came out to mediate, and the French army withdrew in disgrace. This incident caused a huge loss of face.

Later, the United States provided Germany with a large number of loans to support industrial recovery.

Then Mustache came on stage. How could he acknowledge the "Contract of Versailles" and simply not return it!
Most of these reparations were perfunctory anyway.

But before that, the Germans had blamed all economic disasters on war reparations.

In addition, what is even more unacceptable to Germany is the reason for reparations: Germany should be responsible for this war.

The Germans have always believed that the war was imposed on them by their enemies, and their sacrifices in the past four years were all for a noble cause!

And most Germans do not feel that Germany has been defeated, but that they have been deprived of the victory that should belong to them.

——Quite a tough talk, just like you can say that a man has no money or is not handsome, but you can never say that he is not good.

The Germans felt they had been deceived, so they signed the terms of the armistice. It was their enemies and the Jews who deceived them...

Anyway, this compensation really became a "bad debt".