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

Chapter 663 Weather
Cai Yuanpei knew that abolition of traditional Chinese medicine, like abolition of Chinese characters, was an extreme act. Just as Li Yu cleverly brought the issue to religion, he said: "I agree with what Mr. Li Yu said, even religious issues are a matter of greater concern than traditional Chinese medicine." .

For example, since freedom of religious belief is advocated, then it is also freedom not to believe in religion. If the movement of non-religious alliances hinders 'freedom of belief', then doesn't the movement of religious alliances hinder 'freedom of belief'? Various religions nowadays use bizarre rituals and exaggerated propaganda to lure underage students into blind obedience. Isn’t it a violation of human rights to use external force to invade an individual’s spiritual world?

"I would rather Chinese people believe in medicine based on experience than believe in foreign religions. That would be even more detrimental to our promotion of science and democracy."

Lu Xun lit a cigarette with itchy hands, and then said: "It is not easy to improve the scientific literacy of the Chinese people. It is difficult to even pass the level of ignorance!"

As of 2019, only 8.47% of Chinese citizens had basic scientific literacy!

This is a very surprising number, and there is still a long way to go.

Hu Shi said: "To improve the people's scientific literacy, democratic literacy, and civic literacy, we should continue to increase newspapers and periodicals. How about I run another newspaper?"

Li Yu said: "People in the journalism field are already working hard. I think for those in the academic field, it is the best way to concentrate on learning, and at the same time teaching knowledge, running a newspaper is the worst way."

Hu Shi shook his head and said: "I have been studying for several years, but I feel that my voice is too small just hiding in an ivory tower."

He did not want to be a scholar, but ran a newspaper. Later, many professors at Peking University estimated that it was because he could no longer study and could not achieve anything famous in literature.

Hu Shi's most famous work is "History of Chinese Philosophy", which only has the first volume (strictly speaking, there is also a middle volume, but it only has more than 50,000 words). Hu Shi's book is indeed groundbreaking and has been regarded as required reading in many schools in the early years of the Republic of China.

But the problem is that it only writes about the pre-Qin scholars, which is indeed too short compared with the long history of China. For readers, there is always a regret that it is incomplete and difficult to see the whole story, and it cannot be called a complete history of ancient Chinese philosophy.

Therefore, Huang Kan, the great madman of the Republic of China and Zhang Taiyan's great disciple, once joked in a university class: "In the past, Xie Lingyun was the secretary supervisor, but today Hu Shi can be said to be the supervisor of works."

Xie Lingyun was a great scholar of the Jin Dynasty. He came from the Xuanhe family and worked as a secretary and supervisor. "There is only one stone in the world, Cao Zijian (Cao Zhi) only got eight dou, I got one dou, and we share one dou from ancient times to the present" is what he said.

When I first heard it, I thought Huang Kan was praising Hu Shi and comparing him to the great scholar Xie Lingyun. Unexpectedly, he went on to say: "The eunuch is the eunuch. The eunuch is the lower part."

More than ten years later, Feng Youlan wrote "History of Chinese Philosophy". Chen Yinke and Jin Yuelin took the opportunity of reviewing the manuscript to point out, explicitly or covertly, that there were serious problems with Hu Shi's Chinese and Western studies. Jin Yuelin directly said, "Western philosophy is not what Mr. Hu is interested in." long."

This is about philosophy. Liu Wendian, a professor at Peking University and known as "Modern Zhuangzi" commented: "Hu Shi is good at everything, but he doesn't know much about literature."

Then there is someone who summarized: "Mr. Hu's rule is based on general learning. General scholars will always be criticized by experts, and it's not just that they don't understand philosophy and literature."

Objectively speaking, Hu Shi's achievements are "a comprehensive creation". He has a good vision and can always do some initial work in some fields that have not been pioneered by predecessors, thus leading the trend.

When it comes to any aspect, whether it is old learning or new learning, Hu Shi can only dabble in it. His attitude towards Western learning was almost like "I only drink from one gourdful of water".

Shao Piaoping did not want Hu Shi to run a newspaper, and advised: "I always have a prejudice that culture is more important than politics. In the past, many people who abandoned culture and focused on politics have now turned around. Why must Mr. Take this road?"

Cai Yuanpei knew what Hu Shi wanted to write when he started the newspaper, so he said: "For the sake of society, Peking University should have a lecturing atmosphere at this time, not just a criticizing atmosphere. I guess I can't help but write some political articles to participate in today's confused politics. Bar?"

"Yes," Hu Shi spread his hands, "I said before that I would not talk about politics for twenty years, but now it seems impossible. I thought that improving politics should start with improving ideology, literature and art, but I was wrong. Good political talents It is a necessary condition for all peaceful social improvement.”

Li Yu knew that Hu Shi would definitely enter politics in the future, so he said: "Even if Dr. Hu runs a newspaper and pursues an official career, he should not forget the New Culture Movement."

"Of course! This is a very good weapon, and I will continue to stick to it," Hu Shi said. "By the way, I just recently wrote a poem to commemorate the four martyrs who assassinated Yuan Shikai, for everyone to see."

Several people came over, and Hu Shi's notebook wrote:

"Their weapons: bombs! bombs!

Their spirit: Do it! Dry! Dry! "

Li Yu smiled and said: "Dr. Hu is really straightforward."

Lu Xun puffed out his cigarette and said calmly: "It's interesting, it rhymes with it."

Shao Piaoping coughed and asked, "Which newspaper will Dr. Hu publish it in?"

Hu Shi said: "Publish it in the newspaper I created."

Shao Piaoping and Shi Liangcai were relieved: "I want it! I want it!"

-

Ignore the debate between Chinese medicine and the literary world for the time being. Anyway, the more this kind of thing happens, the less likely it will be to argue over it.

A few days later, Gao Lu went to Japan to attend a meeting of observatory directors and returned with great honors. The paper Li Yu gave him shocked most of the Japanese scientific community.

When returning from Japan, he arrived in Shanghai by boat, and then went north with Zhu Kezhen.

When Gao Lu saw Li Yu, he took out a letter jointly signed by the Japanese astronomical community: "Japanese astronomical and physics scholars and professors asked me to hand it to you personally, and I implore the academicians to take the time to go to Japan to give lectures on astronomy. physics."

Li Yu said casually: "Let's talk about it when we have time to pass by Japan."

Zhu Kezhen said: "Mr. Academician, we are preparing to establish the Chinese Meteorological Society."

Their actions were several years earlier than they historically were.

Li Yu definitely supported: "Very good! I have a ship and can sponsor you to conduct several maritime observations every year."

"Thank you, Mr. Academician," Zhu Kezhen said, "We believe that the Meteorological Society should be affiliated with your Chinese Science Society, just like countries in Europe, the United States, and Japan, so we will report to you."

Gao Lu smiled and said: "This way we can also get the support of scientific research funds."

"Of course, no problem," Li Yu said, "Would you choose to be located in Beijing or Shanghai?"

Zhu Kezhen said: "What we are most interested in is Qingdao, but the Qingdao issue has not been negotiated with Japan yet, so Shanghai is tentatively selected."

"Yes," Li Yu said, "Qingdao will definitely return in a few years. It's not too late to go."

Qingdao was not fully recovered until 1922. The little Japanese were arrogant and domineering at the Paris Peace Conference, but in the end they failed to achieve their goal of occupying Qingdao and even the entire Shandong.

The little devils are very immature in terms of diplomatic conspiracy and are far inferior to the European and American powers. They only know the primitive method of bullying, but they do not know that this is the lowest tactic in international diplomacy.

If this is true, China's national power in a hundred years will be able to turn all major Japanese cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya into scorched earth. And there is no need for countries in the world other than the five permanent members to exist. Therefore, bullying can be used appropriately in international diplomacy, but it cannot be used without limit.

The subsequent invasion of China and the Pacific War were the last resort, and those little eyes were completely blinded by militarism.

——I get angry when I mention the little devil.

Gao Lu said: "After some time, we will go to Mr. Feng Ru's aircraft factory to learn the technology of flying high-altitude observation balloons."

Li Yu said: "High-altitude observation is indeed necessary for meteorological research, and balloon operation is not difficult."

Zhu Kezhen said: "When we established the Meteorological Society, our first task was to reduce disasters. Along the way, we saw many refugees. If there is another natural disaster in the future, we can always do our part. For example, we can carry out a research project on artificial rainfall. If there is a severe drought, When the time comes, you won’t be helpless.”

Before Li Yu traveled through, he was almost indifferent to artificial rainfall. After all, it was commonplace. However, this was the beginning stage of artificial rainfall research. It was indeed very difficult and theoretically it was not completely over.

But Li Yu still expressed his support: "If dry ice and silver iodide can be used to intervene in the formation of clouds and rainfall, it would be a good way. I will ask Fengru Aircraft Factory to rebuild a meteorological aircraft for use by the Meteorological Society."

Gao Lu said excitedly: "If this thing can really be done, why go to the Dragon King Temple to ask for rain? Just come to the Meteorological Society to ask for rain!"

Li Yu smiled and said: "Ordinarily, we should turn to science for help."

Of course, I don’t know when artificial rainfall will be realized, so let’s study it first.

During the Republic of China, Shandong, Henan, Hebei and other places suffered from severe droughts many times, which even triggered tragic famines. In 1927, Zhang Zongchang, the most fond of poetry among the warlords, controlled Shandong. In order to pray for rain, he wrote a limerick:

"Grandpa Jade Emperor is also named Zhang.

Why is it difficult for me, Zhang Zongchang?

It won't rain for three days,
First destroy the Dragon King Temple, and then bombard it with cannons. "

As a result, this weird thing was really bombarded with cannons at Qianfo Mountain in Jinan.

It really rained a little, and the "great poet" Zhang Zongchang became excited and wrote another poem:
"The cannons are firing and blasting his mother,

Wei Jia Hai Neixi returns to his hometown,

Countless heroes come to Zhang Zongchang,
And the giant whale swallows the fusang"

Gao Lu said: "The Meteorological Society not only pays attention to droughts and floods in the north, but we also need to learn from Europe and establish observation stations and radio facilities on the southeast coast to promptly broadcast typhoon information and reduce disasters."

They don't have to worry about wireless facilities, which Li Yu is most in need of.

Zhu Kezhen said: "Fortunately, when I was studying abroad at Harvard, I studied typhoons and wrote some papers about them."

Li Yu remembered an interesting thing: "I heard that Australian weathermen like to name typhoons after some less popular political figures?"

Zhu Kezhen said: "It seems so, but it's not that blatant. Most of them are outdated characters."

The naming rules for typhoons were changed many times. Later, the American Meteorological Society named typhoons after women. The original intention was to hope that typhoons would be gentler and not cause so much damage. However, due to opposition from feminists, it was changed to half the typhoons using female names and half using male names.

"If you want to study typhoons, I can also sponsor you some books on Fractal and Chaos." Li Yu said.

Zhu Kezhen said: "I studied it carefully when I was studying at Harvard, and it was very helpful for the study of meteorology. Especially the new version of "Fractals and Chaos", with the addition of the theory of the Russian mathematician Markov, is more useful for the study of typhoons. significance."

According to meteorological research, typhoons have been full of chaos since their birth. The formation of a typhoon is when the sea surface evaporates, heat accumulates in a certain area, and then even a slight disturbance, such as a seabird flying over, may cause a typhoon. It can also be tentatively called the "seabird effect".

Due to the Coriolis force generated by the rotation of the earth, typhoons have a general direction of travel, but it is impossible to accurately calculate it.

Because even the typhoon's route in the next second is just a matter of probability, or a random process. To be more precise, it is a Markov process
The so-called Markov process means that the probability of a typhoon appearing in the next second is only related to the current state; it is not related to where it came from before or where it passed through (Brownian motion is also a Markov process).

Meteorology is not simple at all anyway.

Gao Lu's mathematical foundation was not as good as Zhu Kezhen's, and he didn't know much about profound mathematics, so he said: "Research things slowly and establish an early warning mechanism first."

Zhu Kezhen nodded and said, "That's the only way."

It is not easy to do this.

Li Yu said: "Even so, you still have a lot of work to do. Not only do you have to teach observers to use radios, but you also need to establish an all-weather observation system. I'm afraid it requires the participation of the governments along the southeast coast."

Zhu Kezhen said: "Tang Shaoyi and others of the Guangzhou military government are definitely interested. Anyway, they only need to nod and do not pay, so there is no reason to refuse."

Li Yu said: "I will specially approve a part of the radio's manifest for you."

"The radio equipment is very nervous now?" Zhu Kezhen asked.

Li Yu nodded and said: "Recently, warlords from all sides have been purchasing on a large scale, especially the direct general Wu Peifu has ordered a lot."

Gao Lu said vigilantly: "Listening to what you said, I always feel that the smell in the air is not right."

Li Yu smiled and said: "This is much simpler than the weather forecast. Mountains and rain are about to come, and the wind is everywhere. Maybe the Gyeonggi area will not be peaceful in the near future."

Zhu Kezhen said: "Students from all walks of life appreciate Wu Peifu as a patriotic general. There is no need to worry too much about him."

Gao Lu sighed: "But Feng Guozhang has just passed away. I don't know how much face he can leave."

"They beat them, we do ours." Li Yu said.

"It's right to temporarily locate the Meteorological Society in Shanghai," Zhu Kezhen said. "How about Mr. Academician also move the observatory there."

Li Yu smiled bitterly and said: "Such a big thing cannot be transferred in a short while, and an observatory must be built first. Zhiwan and I have some friendship, so they will not destroy scientific instruments."

In fact, during the two years of war, the warlords were busy fighting each other and had no time to manage the cultural world and control public opinion. Many new newspapers and periodicals came out, and the academic world became more active.