Chapter 505 504【Return】
In mid-September, "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" will be serialized in the UK, and Zhou Hexuan, who has dug a big hole, boarded the ship and returned home in style.
In addition to Vivien Leigh, the British Labor Party leader Arthur Henderson and Bernard Shaw, the leading figure in the British drama industry, accompanied him.
The British Independent Labor Party has completed its general election. The new leader is George Lansbury, but he will not officially take office until October. In other words, Arthur Henderson, the former British foreign secretary, has lost all his party and government positions, and has become an ordinary little old man who can visit China without restraint.
During the ocean journey, Arthur Henderson chatted happily with George Bernard Shaw. They are old friends and share the same political ideology, constantly discussing the future of the Labor Party and how to implement progressive socialism in Britain.
During the three months or so since Zhou Hexuan left China, many major events have happened.
For example, Chang Kaishen convened a military meeting in Lushan, and made the basic national policy of "suppressing the outside world first", and mobilized 630,000 troops to launch the fourth military encirclement and suppression of the Red Zone.
Another example is that Japan officially started armed immigration to the Northeast. The immigrants were organized in the form of an army, issued weapons, and practiced farming while fighting. None of the Japanese immigrants who stayed in the Northeast after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War was innocent, because they were soldiers or military family members!
Just when Zhou Hexuan left the UK, the Northeast Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army severely damaged the Japanese Kwantung Army and won a beautiful victory. The Kwantung Army retaliated against this, killing more than 3,000 villagers in Lijiagou, Pingdingshan, and Qianjinbao, creating the inhumane "Pingdingshan tragedy".
When Zhou Hexuan arrived in Shanghai by boat, the investigation team of the League of Nations issued the "Report of the Investigation Team of the League of Nations", recognizing that the Northeast is an integral part of China's territory, denying that Japan launched the September 18th Incident as "legal self-defense", and confirming that the puppet Manchukuo was Japan's violation of the Northeast. A tool forcibly concocted by the will of the people. Judging from these contents, the League of Nations seems to be upholding justice for China. However, this report also added a content-advocating the establishment of a special system with a high degree of autonomy protected by foreign countries in the Northeast.
In other words, the League of Nations attempted to turn the three northeastern provinces into an international condominium area, thereby replacing Japan's monopoly on the northeast.
It's like one's own house was occupied by bullies, and then a group of bullies were invited to administer justice. The group of bullies said that this house is not exclusive to anyone, it should be shared with everyone.
Once this report was released, it immediately met with strong opposition from the Chinese people, as well as from the Japanese Kwantung Army.
The situation in the two countries is more delicate. Both the Chinese and Japanese governments tend to accept the ruling of the League of Nations. However, the Chinese government did not dare to publicly express its support due to the boiling public opinion, while the Japanese cabinet was restrained by the military and behaved repeatedly and submissively.
In half a year, the Japanese cabinet will succumb to the threat of the military and publicly announce its withdrawal from the League of Nations. The "Report of the League of Nations Investigation Team" will therefore become a waste of paper.
Of course, the country is not without good news. For example, the Nanjing government announced the implementation of the compulsory education policy, and promulgated the "Outline of the First Phase of Compulsory Education Implementation Measures" and "Short-term Compulsory Education Implementation Measures".
The "Outline" stipulates that the period from August 1932 to July 1935 is the "first period", and all localities are required to set up "compulsory education experimental areas" during this period, and compulsory education will be adopted for school-age children-not reading is illegal. The "Measures" supplemented the problems left over from history: In order to relieve the elderly out-of-school children, short-term compulsory education can be implemented, and "short-term primary schools" can be established to eliminate illiteracy.
Throughout the period of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, the Ministry of Education was probably the one who worked the hardest. No matter how fierce the factional struggle between Cai Yuanpei and Li Shizeng was, their goals and ideals are the same, that is, "saving the nation through education"!
In order to achieve the goal of saving the country through education, Cai Yuanpei, Li Shizeng and their followers carefully formulated various educational regulations. And according to China's dire situation, various remedies were devised, such as setting up "short-term primary schools" on a large scale to eliminate illiteracy. As a result, there was a serious shortage of teachers, so they quickly set up simple normal schools free of tuition to train primary school teachers.
In 1931, the number of students in simple normal schools across the country was only 20,875. When it was vigorously promoted in 1932, the number had soared to 59,006 by 1933. Many of the students who graduated from this simple normal school became primary school teachers and made great contributions to the eradication of illiteracy in New China.
From 1929 to 1936, the investment in education by governments at all levels in China was relatively stable. Not to mention the central government, local warlords with a little sense of brain would attach importance to education.
What the Republic of China education funds must account for 30% of fiscal revenue, this kind of statement is deceptive, and only fruit fans who have pumped their brains will believe it. Although there is no 30%, there are 3.3% (data from "The First China Education Yearbook", 1991 edition). The Nanjing National Government has done a better job in education than the Beiyang government. Even if the development is slow, at least it is developing .
It was not until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937 that China's education situation fell to the bottom again. It is common for university and middle school teachers to be in arrears of wages, and elementary school teachers hardly receive wages. Many elementary school teachers can only work part-time to make ends meet while teaching with enthusiasm. Like the situation in the movie "Donkey Gets Water", it is almost impossible to use donkeys to eat empty wages? Oh, don't think about it!
Education is a top priority for a country and a nation, no less than the development of industry and military.
One of the most important reasons for China's rapid development after the reform and opening up is the popularization of nine-year compulsory education. Even for ordinary migrant workers, there is a world of difference between literacy and non-literacy. This is the super wealth hidden in the Chinese people.
Doesn't India want to surpass China? Please make education popular first.
The ship sailed slowly towards the Shanghai pier. Vivien Leigh stood on the deck and looked at it. She said happily: "China is more prosperous than I imagined. I thought it was another India."
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said, "What you see is the most prosperous city in China."
Arthur Henderson and Bernard Shaw also stepped onto the deck. George Bernard Shaw said: "I have received letters from Chinese readers and discussed Chinese dramas in the letters. I heard that Chinese Peking Opera has caused a sensation in the United States?"
"You can communicate with Mr. Mei Lanfang in China, he is a top drama master." Zhou Hexuan said.
"Woo~~~~"
The whistle sounded, and the ship began to dock.
Zhou Hexuan found that the pier was full of people, most of them came to greet Bernard Shaw and Arthur Henderson. One is a well-known British drama master in China, and the other is a former British foreign secretary. Personages from cultural, military and political circles will definitely flock here, and the grand occasion will be no less than Einstein's visit to China.