The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 368 "National Integration"

"Boss, where is this place?" Mavigor Bovolenta saw the hunting team's leader Tong Xinchun looking down at a crumpled map with a frown, so he walked up carefully and asked.

"We are now about 300 kilometers southwest of Yongding and 400 kilometers northwest of Kaiping (now Mar del Plata). Well, this place is temporarily marked as Bison Beach by the Civilian Government. ... Damn it, you wouldn't understand even if I told you." Tong Xinchun saw that everyone was looking at him, and said with a smile: "Why, are you afraid of getting lost on the grassland? Damn it, they are all rough guys. Even if you drop something here, no one will come to pick it up! ... What are you afraid of!"

"Boss, that's not necessarily true!" said a gaucho. "There might be a lot of Tehuelche tribes gathered in this remote place. If they see us alone, they will capture us and make us slaves."

"Well, it would be best if a group of women captured us and then helped them give birth to more babies!" A man with a European face smiled very obscenely.

"Tony, with your small body, if you are caught by a group of women, I'm afraid you won't be able to survive for a few days. Hahaha..." A sturdy man who looked like a Han Chinese patted him on the shoulder and said jokingly.

"Zhang, you can't go against your conscience and deliberately belittle me." The European man muttered, "More than a month ago, I don't know who was in the brothel, but he didn't even last ten minutes and fled the room in a panic."

"You're talking bullshit!" The sturdy Han man was a little furious. "That Italian woman smells like a fox, and she's covered in thick layers of cheap rouge. The smell is enough to suffocate people!"

"Zhang, I have to say that your taste is really unique. Men like us who haven't seen the smell of fish for several months are still picky and dislike people's smell. ... So, what kind of woman do you want?"

"What kind of women?... I naturally prefer Han women!" The Han man looked at his companions with disdain, "The most beautiful women in the world are Han women. When I save enough money, I will marry a real Han woman."

"Oh, that's not easy. ... In our Qing country, if you want to marry a real Han woman, besides being rich, I'm afraid it's not enough. Yes, you need to have a good identity and a respectable position. Zhang, I suggest you set this goal for the next generation, you have no hope."

"You know nothing! I can't marry her in my country, so why don't I spend a little more money to buy one from the Qin Kingdom in the east?" The Han man said complacently, "As long as you are willing to spend money and pay a deposit to those overseas traders, in less than a year, I can bring you a beautiful Han woman from the Qin Kingdom. Hey, there is nothing in this world that money can't buy."

"Oh, really? Now that you mention it, I'm tempted."

"Why, you also want to marry a Han woman?"

"Isn't it possible?"

"Even if you marry a Han woman, the child you give birth to will most likely still look like you and won't become one of our Han people."

"Humph, you act like you are a real Han Chinese. ... Don't you have half indigenous blood in your body? We are all that... bastard!"

"Damn it, you're the bastard!" The burly man who looked like a Han Chinese was obviously enraged. He swung the butt of the gun in his hand and knocked his companion off his horse. Then he jumped up, sat on his body and started beating him up.

When their companions nearby saw this, they did not step forward to stop the fight. Instead, they circled around the two men on their horses, whistling and making strange noises to watch the fun.

"boom!"

A gunshot rang out, and everyone started to pick up their weapons and look around vigilantly.

"Marco, Lao Sun, pull them apart!... Damn it, you bastards, have you no place to use your strength?" The leader Tong Xinchun held a short-handled flintlock in his right hand, with a wisp of green smoke coming out of the muzzle, and stared at everyone fiercely: "We are all good men, don't use your status to cause trouble!... On this grassland, who is more noble than who!"

At the beginning of the founding of the Qing Dynasty, due to the extremely complex racial and ethnic issues in the region, while strengthening the ruling power dominated by the Han people, it has been committed to implementing ethnic assimilation education and foreign immigrant naturalization policies. This policy is based on the "Han-centered" theory, which believes that Chinese-Han culture is the most excellent and should become the mainstream culture of the entire society.

The purpose of this theory is to make citizens with a "minority" background integrate into the mainstream culture of the Qing Dynasty as much as possible, abandon their own customs, habits and language, accept the language and behavior of the mainstream culture, and identify with and accept the rule of the Han people.

Under the guidance of this theory, the Qing government used both a stick and a carrot. First, it implemented a strict assimilation policy towards the Indians and other indigenous peoples in the country. For example, in schools in towns and villages controlled by Qing, children from various Indian tribes were prohibited from using their own languages ​​and could only learn and use Chinese.

This policy reflects the strong desire of the Qing government and society to assimilate and integrate the local indigenous people, that is, to quickly expand its own base in order to enhance the strength of Qing.

However, as the number of immigrants from various countries in the "civilized world" increased, the Qing Kingdom subsequently changed its ethnic policy from "Han people conformity" to "melting pot reshaping", that is, to "melt" those "diverse" races and nationalities into a new nation.

Well, we are all citizens of Daqing. Let’s not divide us or make distinctions anymore.

At the same time, the assimilation education policy was extended to non-indigenous ethnic groups. To this end, the "Immigration and Naturalization Law" of Qi was copied, requiring immigrants from Europe, North Africa and the East to be able to master simple Chinese writing and dialogue before they could be formally naturalized and become legal citizens of Qing.

However, given that immigrants from various countries have strong ethnic identities and cultural backgrounds, the Qing government, in order to reduce resistance to the implementation of assimilation policies, also fully respects the differences among ethnic groups and cultural diversity, thereby easing domestic ethnic conflicts.

However, in order to unite the nation and strengthen the centripetal force of various ethnic groups, Qing's assimilation education policy has always been promoted throughout the country with all its efforts, in order to use Qing's system, customs and ideas to "melt" newcomers of all races, and ultimately achieve the goal of dissolving and assimilating the large number of foreign immigrants who have poured into Qing.

However, Qing was ultimately a country ruled by Huaxia-Han culture, and from the moment it was established, it established a political and social system that prioritized the Han people.

On the political level, the Han people almost monopolized all middle and senior positions in the government and the military; in terms of economy, the Han people accounted for more than 70% of the national wealth, and the country's major trading companies, factories, mines, and many plantations were also controlled by the Han people; and in many aspects such as national education and social welfare, efforts were also made to tilt towards the Han group.

It can be said that the rights of other non-Han ethnic groups in the areas of economy, politics, land, employment, education and public services are more or less restricted, or more accurately, suppressed.

To some extent, this has also led to widespread "disharmony" phenomena such as racial discrimination and ethnic oppression in the entire society of Qing State.

After more than seventy years of development, the racial issues in Qing Kingdom were basically similar to those in neighboring Spanish America and Portuguese Brazil. The three major races intermarried and mixed, and many types were formed, namely Han, European, black, Indian, mixed-race Han, mixed-race black and white, mixed-race black and yellow, mixed-race white and yellow, and mixed-race of more than three bloodlines.

Although the ethnic identification in Qing is not like the Spanish and Portuguese, who are very particular about ethnicity, and give different professional names to different proportions and parents of mixed blood, it is still carefully demarcated and distinguished at the social level. Generally speaking, in Qing, pure Han blood has the highest status, followed by Han mixed blood and non-Han Oriental ethnic groups, followed by European and European-Indian mixed blood, and the lowest status is the Indian natives and black slaves.

However, Qing was slightly better than Spain and Portugal in terms of ethnic issues, and no large-scale violent conflicts occurred.

Relatively speaking, in the Spanish colonial areas, because there were many Indians, they had established many powerful countries and had stronger national self-esteem, so the violent resistance was larger in scale and bloodier.

The situation in Qing Kingdom was relatively not so bad.

First of all, the number of Indians in the country was small, and they had been almost consumed and slaughtered, so they could not cause any big waves.

Secondly, the treatment of Indians is relatively better than that in Spain and Portugal.

Because, after decades of continuous expansion, the Qing Kingdom has pushed its territory to the Paraná River and the Uruguay River. In this vast land, the population is only over one million (Indians in areas not actually controlled and a large number of slaves are not included in the count), making the entire country seem sparsely populated.

It can be said that the number of Han Chinese, Europeans and Indians is not large. In order to keep this large piece of land, the Han Chinese cannot just rely on the European immigrants to gather strength, but must also rely on the strength of a large number of Indians.

Therefore, in Qing, there have been people of insight at the government and private level who have been desperately calling for Indians not to be treated too harshly, and to be absorbed and assimilated, turning them into complete "Qing people."

Some scholars even proposed the theory that "barbarians who entered Xia became Xia people", which called for treating the native Indians equally and treating them as "barbarians who entered Xia people".

Therefore, under this situation, although the indigenous Indians in Qing Dynasty were also suppressed and discriminated against, their situation was much better than that in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and much better than that in North America.

The English in North America had a stronger sense of superiority and were more discriminatory towards other races, which resulted in relatively few interracial people in the region. Because, in the eyes of North American slave owners, if a person had a black ancestor, he was considered a black person and could only be born a lowly slave.

But in Qing Kingdom, as long as you have a drop of Han blood in your body and identify with Chinese culture, you will be regarded as one of our own.

The man surnamed Zhang's father is of mixed Han and European descent, while his mother is of mixed European and Indian descent. However, he considers himself a Han Chinese based on his paternal ancestry, and has a vague sense of superiority in front of his European companions.

When he heard the other party mocking him for having indigenous blood and being a "bastard", he immediately flew into a rage and punched the other party, vowing to teach this "barbarian" a painful lesson.

Under the order of the leader Tong Xinchun, after he was pulled away by his companions, he was still angry and was about to turn around to get the long knife from the horse's back, wanting to make the other party bleed.

Tong Xinchun was furious. He swung the whip in his hand and whipped him hard.

"Hoo ho ho..."

"Boss, a large group of cavalry is coming!"

A clever hunter pointed to the northeast and called out loudly.

"...Everyone on alert!" Tong Xinchun turned his head and saw a group of cavalry coming from the northeast, rushing towards them like thunder. He took the musket from the horse's back and began to load ammunition quickly. At the same time, he called on his companions to surround several carriages in a circle, preparing to fight the enemy.

Could it be that some hunting team wanted to come and rob them?
"Were you guys shooting just now?"

The cavalry team ran closer and slowly stopped their horses. A man who looked like an officer stepped out of the line and stared coldly at Tong Xinchun and others.

"Sir, we were the ones firing guns just now." Seeing that it was the army coming, Tong Xinchun breathed a sigh of relief and rode his horse to meet them. "We found a rabbit, so we thought about shooting it and roasting it for food."

"Have you ever committed murder or robbery?" The officer glanced at the hunter who was still on guard across from him, with a look of disdain on his face.

"Sir, we are all good citizens who abide by the law." Tong Xinchun defended, "Except for hunting bison on this grassland, we have never done anything illegal?"

"Tsk!" The officer looked at him mockingly. "If you are all good citizens who abide by the law, then could it be that all the Teveche tribes on this vast grassland disappeared out of thin air? And those piles of bones scattered everywhere were all eaten by wild beasts? Damn it, there is not even one native to be caught to serve as a laborer in the grassland within a radius of hundreds of miles!... This is probably all your fault!"

"..." Tong Xinchun's expression changed, and then he said in a friendly way, "Sir, are you going to arrest coolies?"

"Why, can you help us find a few indigenous tribe camps?"

"A few days ago, we encountered several large tribes at a lake more than 50 kilometers southeast of here. There were about 400 to 500 people in total."

"Very good!" The officer showed a hint of joy on his face, "Are you interested in joining us in destroying those native tribes? ... Don't worry, we won't treat you unfairly!"

"The commander has given orders, and we shall follow them." Tong Xinchun agreed with a smile, "May I ask, commander, what project are you going to build by capturing those natives?"

"What project? ... Of course it's city building and road repair." After receiving the other party's promise, the officer's attitude obviously improved. "Maybe I can tell you something. Daqing is planning to move the capital from Zhongjing to Xingqing (now La Plata City) and rename it Beijing. To build this new capital, won't we need a large number of indigenous slaves?"

(End of this chapter)