African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1242 “Illegal” School Operation

August 1916, 8, Bangkok.

Bangkok is the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, the largest city in the country and one of the most prosperous cities in Southeast Asia.

Since the 19th century, facing the invasion and expansion of the West, Siam, the most typical ancient country in Southeast Asia, has also initiated a series of reforms, including ending the policy of "closing the country to the outside world".

Yes, Siam also implemented a policy of isolation. After all, for most backward countries facing the threat of Western forces, isolation is the most effective way to ensure the stability of their rule and maintain their traditional markets in the short term.

However, closing the country to the outside world is obviously not a long-term solution, especially for a backward country like Siam. After all, the powerful ships and guns of the West are no joke.

Therefore, after the 19th century, Siam could no longer withstand the pressure and took a series of measures to keep pace with the times, among which opening up was an important one.

Bangkok, as the royal capital, also experienced great development in the mid-to-late 19th century. The introduction of steam engines, factories, modern roads, etc. made Bangkok unprecedentedly prosperous.

And on a street in the southeast of Bangkok, it is particularly lively today.

This is a Chinatown in Bangkok. The whole street is full of the cultural flavor of the Far East Empire.

"Crackle, crackle..." Following the sound of firecrackers, Lin Jiawen lifted the red cloth covering the sign hanging on the roof of the house.

On the sign, there were six big characters written in silver with an iron pen: "Jiawen Chinese School".

He walked up to the crowd and said, "Welcome everyone to come and support us. I am Lin Jiawen, a Chinese language lover who is committed to promoting the culture of the Far East Empire to the world. For this purpose, I have established a Chinese school in your precious place. So I hope that all of you neighbors and friends who love Chinese at home can come and learn."

For the Chinese in Southeast Asia, education is an extremely important matter, so there are many Chinese schools in the region.

Of course, Bangkok's Chinatown is also a place where Chinese people gather, but people on the street are obviously not very enthusiastic about what Lin Jiawen did.

An elderly man stepped forward and said, "Young man, what you are pursuing is of course a good thing, but how dare you do it so blatantly in such a prosperous place like Bangkok? The government is now strictly investigating, and even if you want to establish such an 'illegal school', most of them will be done privately."

Lin Jiawen politely said to the old man: "Old man, this is wrong. I opened a school for the sake of education. What does this have to do with the Siamese government?"

The old man said, "Young man, judging from your tone, which is mainly in the Far Eastern Empire Northern Vernacular, I guess this is your first time in Siam, right?"

Lin Jiawen neither admitted nor denied it, but asked: "Oh, what's the point of this?"

The old man said, "Well, the Chinese in the Kingdom of Siam are mostly from the south, especially from Guangdong and Guangxi. For example, I am already the third generation here. It is rare to see immigrants from the north of the Far East Empire in Siam."

"Plus, considering that you are now opening a Chinese school, I infer that you have just arrived in Siam and are not familiar with the local policies and do not have any connections. Otherwise, it would be impossible for you to do such illegal things in Bangkok."

"Now, the authorities do not allow the establishment of Chinese schools or the spread of Chinese in Siam. Even if there are any, they are done secretly. Your blatant approach will obviously not work."

"Take this street of ours for example. You should have seen that most of the people here are originally from the Far East Empire. But have you seen any Chinese advertisements on the street?"

Lin Jiawen shook his head and said, "No."

The old man said, "That's right. The king of Siam who is in power now hates the culture of the Far East Empire, so he issued a decree that the spread of culture related to the Far East Empire is prohibited, including traditional culture such as language and calligraphy."

"Under such circumstances, if you openly open a Chinese school in a busy city, it won't be long before the authorities come knocking on your door. By then, not to mention teaching, the school will be closed down." Lin Jiawen said to the kind-hearted old man, "Thank you for your warning, but I am committed to spreading the culture of the Far East Empire. How can I give up halfway because of such a small matter?"

The old man said angrily: "This is someone else's territory. Do you still want to twist your arm over his thigh? Forget about your arm. You can't even compare to a hair of his. So stop it, young man!"

"I see that your school is quite large. Wouldn't it be a good idea to use it to do some business? Why do you have to make trouble with the Siamese government?"

Lin Jiawen said to him, "I appreciate your kindness, but I am a stubborn person. Can the Siamese government really trouble me just for a school?"

"Even if they really cause trouble for me, I'm not afraid. After all, this is my ideal..."

Seeing that the young man was so stubborn, the old man had no choice but to say, "Forget it, you can do whatever you want!"

The passers-by who were watching on the side also said to Lin Jiawen: "You are really an idiot. As the saying goes, people should not fight against officials, let alone officials from Siam. You will definitely not be able to open this school."

Someone else said: "Anyway, I won't let my child go to this school. The situation is so tense right now, and I can't joke with my future and my life..."

What's worse, some of them have already begun to sneak off the streets, preparing to expose Lin Jiawen and obtain rewards from the Siamese government.

Lin Jiawen didn't care at all. He continued to do his own enrollment work. He said to everyone, "Jiawen Chinese School has more than 20 teachers and staff. It offers courses such as calligraphy, Chinese, Far Eastern Empire and world history, world geography, etc...."

It sounds like this school is quite formal, but there are not many responses.

This is certainly not because the Chinese in Siam do not attach importance to Chinese language education, but under the current circumstances, no one is willing to accompany Lin Jiawen to take risks.

There are naturally quite a few Chinese schools in Siam, but they all recruit students and conduct teaching in secret. There is not a single open school like Lin Jiawen.

Moreover, Lin Jiawen's school obviously has not registered with the Siamese government, so any normal person would not choose to study in this school.

When Lin Jiawen opened his school in Chinatown and enrolled students publicly, the Bangkok Police Department also received the news.

Director Naisala said to a whistleblower, "Is your information reliable? Someone really dares to blatantly run an illegal school in my jurisdiction, and it's a Chinese school."

"Officer, the information is absolutely reliable. That person is still recruiting students on the street! His school is located at No. 231, Kunbu Street. It is quite large, and the signboards are all written in Chinese characters."

Director Naisala said, "Very good. If it is confirmed, you will definitely benefit from it."

The man asked, "Officer, let's go over and seal off this school now. Do you want me to lead the way?"

Naisala waved her hand and said, "No need. We can't alert the enemy now. We will wait until the Jiawen Chinese School starts teaching activities, and then we will catch the criminal red-handed. That will be a great achievement. After all, we haven't encountered such a troublemaker for a long time."

In Siam, it is expressly forbidden to spread the culture of the Far East Empire, and the Siamese government has carried out several nationwide crackdowns. Currently, there is not a single open Chinese school in Siam.

The emergence of Jiawen Chinese School made Director Naisara very interested, especially after learning that the school was quite large. After all, it must have cost a lot of money to buy such a large piece of land in the downtown area of ​​Bangkok and employ more than 20 people.

If this case can be confirmed, Naishala believes that he will definitely make a lot of money, so he plans to sit back and do nothing for now. If the news leaks out, the principal will have to close the school, so what Naishala wants to do is to catch the person red-handed.

(End of this chapter)