Chapter 560 559 [Fairbank]

Amidst the laughter of the crowd, three more people entered the living room. They were Jiang Tingfu, Fei Zhengqing, Fei Weimei and his wife.

The relationship between Fairbank and Jiang Tingfu was very good. It was through Jiang Tingfu's help that Fairbank had the opportunity to enter Tsinghua University to teach. Moreover, the courses taught by Fairbank were groundbreaking. He took the lead in offering three courses in Tsinghua: Economic History, European Renaissance History and Chinese Customs History.

Note that it is economic history, not economics!

Fei Zhengqing's wife, Fei Weimei, had close contacts with Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin. Because Fei Weimei also studies architecture, and even went to Shanxi with Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin to inspect ancient buildings last year.

"John, this is Mr. Zhou Hexuan Zhou." Liang Sicheng introduced.

Fei Zhengqing's eyes lit up, and he held Zhou Hexuan's hand and said respectfully: "Mr. Zhou, my wife and I admire you very much, and we are very happy to meet you!"

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said, "Mr. Fei, your Chinese is pretty good."

Fairbank said playfully: "Of course, I can speak a few Shanxi and Henan dialects."

Lin Huiyin explained next to him: "Mr. Fei and Mrs. Fei often go to various places with us for investigation."

Zhou Hexuan asked, "How does Mr. Fei feel about China?"

Fairbank shrugged and said: "The political situation in China is unfathomable. It has gone beyond my comprehension, and even beyond my attention."

"For example?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

Fairbank thought for a while and said: "For example, Yang Quan (Yang Xingfo) was assassinated last year. I studied the cause and effect of this case very carefully. It involved too many factions in China, and even the shadows of the United States, the Soviet Union and Japan were involved. .”

"Your research is indeed deep enough." Zhou Hexuan said.

Fairbank said: "The assassination of Yang Quan reminds me of Lincoln's assassination. An assassin who participated in the assassination of Yang Quan committed suicide on the spot, and the police were also at the scene. The assassin who assassinated Lincoln also committed suicide afterwards. Yes, the police were also present. Whether the assassin committed suicide or was killed, I have serious doubts. Since the founding of the Republic of China, it seems to have had a significant theme: that is, to arrest potential opposition leaders. As a warning, or directly kill a hundred. Song Jiaoren integrated the National Party and passed the 1913 congressional election. President Yuan Shikai assassinated him, and the National Party immediately became a mess. The same is true for the current National Party government After Yang Quan was assassinated, the Civil Rights Protection League was almost paralyzed, and Cai Yuanpei, one of the founders of the alliance, almost completely stopped political activities.”

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Mr. Fei, I think you still take things too simply. The assassination of Mr. Song Jiaoren back then is still an unsolved case so far. No one can be sure whether it was Yuan Shikai's work. I personally I don't think Yuan Shikai would do such a thing. First, the Beiyang family has no tradition of assassination. Second, Yuan Shikai has no need for assassination. He can achieve his goal through more legal means. In the end, Yuan Shikai is too suspicious, as long as he is a normal person. They will not choose to assassinate."

Fei Zhengqing was surprised: "It's not Yuan Shikai, could it be someone else? This is different from the information I read."

"Information can also be deceiving," Zhou Hexuan said. "One of the suspects, Zhao Bingjun, died too strangely. The possibility of being silenced cannot be ruled out. The murderer was caught too quickly. Not only did he not escape after the murder, but He waited for someone to arrest him, but was inexplicably silenced afterwards. Moreover, the mastermind of the assassination was a leader of the Youth Gang who betrayed the Revolutionary Party and turned to Yuan Shikai. After joining Yuan Shikai, this person had close contacts with the Shanghai Revolutionary Party..."

"Ahem," Hu Shi suddenly coughed a few times, and interrupted, "It's better not to discuss this kind of old past, it's useless to talk about it."

Zhou Hexuan shrugged: "Okay, I won't talk about it."

Fairbank looked at the two playfully, smiled and said nothing.

Jiang Tingfu also helped to change the subject and asked, "John, you came to China this time to write a doctoral dissertation. Do you have any clues about the content?"

Fairbank said: "I am currently researching the legality of the opium trade in the late Qing Dynasty."

"Is there any need to ask?" Zhu Guangqian said thoughtfully, "Since the Humen eradication of cigarettes, the opium trade has been illegal in China. Although it has been banned repeatedly, it is impossible for the government to publicly recognize the opium trade."

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "On the contrary, the result of the Second Opium War was that the Qing government openly allowed the opium trade."

"There is such a thing?" Zhu Guangqian was very surprised.

Zhou Hexuan explained: "During the Second Opium War, the Qing government was forced to sign the "Commercial Regulations and Aftermath Treaty Customs Tariffs" with Britain, France, and the United States, allowing foreign businessmen to sell opium at treaty ports and taxing them in the name of foreign medicines. Since then, opium has become a legal import commodity in the late Qing Dynasty.”

Zhu Guangqian didn't have any research on modern Chinese history. He seemed to have been overturned, and was shocked: "How could this be? The Qing government legalized the opium trade."

Zhou Hexuan said: "The main route of the opium trade at that time was 'Guangzhou-Shanghai-Wuhu', and then sent from Wuhu to the whole country. In the 34 years from 1878 to 1912, Wuhu imported 90,000 tons of opium, and outflowed a total of 5,000 silver. More than 10,000 taels. Due to the huge profits of opium trading, domestic dealers often rely on smuggling to evade the lijin tax, and the Qing government actually contracted the opium tax to private individuals in order to collect taxes. The contracting effect is very gratifying, and tax evasion has been greatly reduced in just one year The sharp increase in lijin caused strong opposition from opium merchants, and the Qing government abolished the contract system under the pressure of foreigners.”

The insiders who were present could only smile wryly, while those who didn't know were dumbfounded.

A country has openly legalized the opium trade, blatantly taxed opium, and has been so devastated by tax evasion and tax evasion that it has contracted the opium tax to private individuals. This is ridiculous enough, and what is even more ridiculous is that the opium merchants dared to unite against the government, making it clear that Lao Tzu wanted to forcibly evade taxes, and the Qing government actually made a compromise due to the pressure of foreigners!

Jin Yuelin shook his head and sighed: "If the Qing government doesn't collapse, how can there be any reason?"

Fairbank went on to say: "The thesis I am going to write this time is entitled "The Legality of the Opium Trade Before the Signing of the Treaty of 1858". I have read a lot of relevant materials. Before the Qing government legalized the opium trade, the opium trade In fact, it is also semi-legal in China. For example, during the negotiation of the Treaty of Nanjing, Pu Dingcha formally raised the issue of opium trade, and the Chinese official Qiying replied that the Chinese government will not ask whether merchant ships from various countries carry opium. In essence, it is an open acknowledgment Opium smuggling."

Following Fairbank's words, Zhou Hexuan said: "So after the Opium War, although the Qing government banned the opium trade on the surface, it didn't dare to control it at all. That's why the opium trade was later legalized, because after the opium trade was legalized, at least the Qing government The government was able to tax it, which greatly increased the government’s tax revenue.”

Fairbank added: "What Morrison said to the officials of the Qing Dynasty summed up the situation at that time very well. He said: China banned opium in name but in fact, it was called banning smoking, and it was actually tax-free. It is better to tax it than ban it.”

Everyone was speechless. Speaking of the Qing government, everyone naturally thought of the current Nanjing government, which is not much better in comparison.

Fairbank said to Zhou Hexuan: "Mr. Zhou, I am very interested in everything about China. Can I ask you some academic questions in the future?"

"Of course, we can maintain communication." Zhou Hexuan said.

"Then it's a deal!" Fairbank was overjoyed.