Chapter 285 Cultural Export Plan

On July 17, 1910, Arthur ended his visit to Europe and boarded the battleship Australasia to return to Australasia.

When he went to Europe, in order to catch up with the funeral of Edward VII, Arthur arrived in London in just over 20 days under the full escort of the battleship Australasia.

But this was a hardship for the remaining supply fleet, which could only catch up slowly under the escort of the battleships Australia and New Zealand.

When returning, there was no rush, so the fleets could be combined into one and slowly rushed to Australasia.

In late August, after more than a month of rushing and slow journey, Arthur finally arrived at the port of Sydney.

Prime Minister Walter and Minister Andrew went to prepare for government affairs and work respectively, and Arthur, who had nothing to do for the time being, returned to the palace to tease his children.

William and Anna are now almost one year old and can crawl and walk on their own. However, their mothers, Princess Louise and Queen Mary, loved the two little guys very much. Except for letting them crawl for a while to exercise, the two little guys were basically held in their arms at other times.

This also made it impossible for Arthur to hold the two little guys. Princess Louise loved her grandchildren very much, and Queen Mary also had a special liking for the two little guys. Anyway, Arthur felt a little neglected.

However, Arthur didn't care about these. He shook his head and threw himself into the busy government affairs.

After resting for a few days, Arthur summoned the head of the Royal Dockyard to inquire about the current progress of the Royal Dockyard.

The news was still very good. At present, the construction progress of the two unified-class battleships has been completed for the most part, and it is expected to be completely completed around the end of this year and enter the naval test stage.

If the test goes smoothly, it should be able to officially enter the navy organization at the end of 1911 to the beginning of 1912 to strengthen the naval power of Australasia.

The Russian order will also start construction around the end of this year to the beginning of next year. By the end of 1914, it is completely no problem to complete the construction of four Russian warships.

When Arthur learned that the two unified-class battlecruisers had not yet installed cannons, he immediately issued an order to the shipyard to postpone the installation of the main guns after completing other construction of the hull.

After all, they had obtained the 50-caliber 305mm artillery technology from the British, so it would be better to directly replace the guns of the two unified-class battlecruisers with 305mm 50-caliber guns to make the firepower of the battlecruisers more powerful.

If nothing unexpected happens, British aid including relevant experts should be able to arrive within a month.

Theoretically, it is in time to replace the guns, and it will basically not delay the completion of the two battlecruisers by the end of this year.

After arranging the affairs of the shipyard, a few days later, on August 24, Arthur welcomed guests from the Qing Dynasty.

For this country, the situation in recent years has not been very good, with various natural and man-made disasters.

In early August, heavy rains caused disasters in some areas, and floods spread across several provinces. Although it was not as serious as the previous disasters that affected the whole country, it was still a big loss for a country.

And they came to Australasia for two purposes. One is to buy more food from Australasia to quell the various famines caused by floods and man-made disasters in the country.

The second is to invite Australasia to send envoys to visit. The reason is that under the guidance of Australasia experts, constitutionalism has achieved certain results, and even the Council of State Council, which was built at a great cost, is about to open.

The Council of State Council was built by the Qing Dynasty and prepared for the parliament. It is a central advisory body established in accordance with the legal system of Australasia.

The reason for establishing the Council of State Council is that the authorities considered that the upper and lower houses could not be established for a while, and the construction of the Council of State Council laid the foundation for the establishment of the parliament.

Apart from anything else, the Council of State Council is the Parliament Building of the Qing Dynasty, and the construction is quite impressive.

It inherits the consistent style of the Eastern Empire, which is luxurious, high-end, and high-profile. Apart from the obvious disadvantage of being extravagant and spending a lot of money, it must be said that the size and construction of the Qing Dynasty's Council of State have surpassed that of the Council of State Administration in Australasia.

But this is normal. After all, one is a country with a population of only more than 8 million, and the other has a population of 420 million (the number of the Qing Dynasty's own census a month ago). The income and economy of the two sides are completely incomparable.

Hearing this news, Arthur shook his head. If they can use this money to build the army and navy, then at least they can build the first navy and army in Asia, right?

In the final analysis, the country has been rotten to the root, and it is definitely not something that can be changed by a little superficial reform.

Arthur has no idea of ​​expanding the Council of State Administration in Australasia in the short term. At present, it is barely enough to accommodate the cabinet government, the governments of various departments, and other departments of the national government, and it is not very crowded.

At least before the crowding affects the office, Arthur thinks that it is enough for everyone to squeeze into the current Council of State Administration.

As for the country's finances, it is better to save as much as possible. Isn't it good to use it for other construction or the expansion of the army and navy?

As for sending envoys to attend the opening ceremony of the Council of State, Arthur decisively handed it over to Foreign Minister Andrew.

Before their top leaders made up their minds to carry out thorough reforms, this was destined to be a superficial reform with a beginning but no end.

Arthur felt that there was no need to participate. Of course, if they wanted to order battleships, Arthur would welcome it.

As for the request to buy food, Arthur agreed decisively. The current floods in East Asia are quite serious, with millions of refugees, which has also had a significant impact on the price of food.

Apart from anything else, it is normal to increase the original food price by 10%, right? Don't underestimate this. This can bring a lot of income to Australasia, and it is just the right opportunity to replace the old grain in the strategic food reserve.

In addition to these news, there was another good news at the end of August, that is, Edison successfully invented the sound film, which brought the film into a new era.

Of course, the so-called invention is actually the invention of sound film technology that can be used commercially.

In fact, as early as ten years ago in 1900, the world's first sound film was shown in Paris.

But after all, the technology was not mature at that time, and sound films could not be used commercially at all, so the influence was naturally not great.

Arthur paid more attention to sound films. After all, since its birth in 1910, it has only been more than 20 years since its development. Sound films have become a global phenomenon and made Hollywood in the United States the most influential cultural and commercial center in the world.

Of course, what made the United States successfully surpass European countries in sound films was actually the skepticism of many European filmmakers and critics towards new technologies.

They were worried that too much dialogue would weaken the special beauty of silent films, so sound films were not as important in Europe as in the United States, which made Hollywood successfully become a symbol of world cinema.

The birth of sound films marked the coming of an era of great development of the film industry.

Arthur naturally knew the importance of film. This is not only an extremely important means of making money, but also an important means and way of external propaganda, cultural transmission and international influence.

In terms of cultural output, nothing can compare to film. Traditional books, music, and art can only influence a small number of people who love these, and the progress is still very slow.

But movies are different. Movies can easily influence the whole world in just over an hour.

A few years ago, Australasia had a film studio and played silent films.

But Arthur was not really interested in this kind of silent film, so he stopped paying attention to it after watching it for the first time.

After the birth of sound films, Arthur learned about the current development of the Australasian film industry by asking Kent, the butler, which was generally good.

Unlike Arthur, Kent was very interested in silent films, so the royal consortium also invested a lot of money in several film studios.

At present, there are three major film studios in Australasia, namely the Royal Film Studio, the Victoria Film Studio and the Australasian National Film Studio.

From these names, we can also hear that all three film studios have the background of the royal consortium, and the holdings are basically more than 60%.

In fact, this is also easy to understand. After all, the total population of Australasia is more than 8 million, which can support three film studios. It is impossible without the help of the royal consortium.

The development of movies in this era is not as large as that of later generations. Before the birth of sound films, if these silent film studios did not have good works, it would be easy to lose money or even go bankrupt.

Now that sound films have been born, Australasia's external cultural exports can also begin.

Of course, there is another more important purpose, which is to form an inherent impression in the hearts of Australasians through various movies, that is, all immigrants are Australasians, and Australasians should unite.

Using a new nation to include all immigrants in Australasia is the best way to resolve the Australasian immigration dispute.

There is good news. The Australasian region was a colony before, and it was even a barren land before.

This also led to Arthur's intention to tamper with the history of Australasia through various movies. In fact, it is quite easy.

For example, the Australasian nation, no one will compete with Arthur for the right to interpret, which also led to Arthur's ability to let all immigrants join the Australasian nation and try to unite the people in the country.

Whether you are from Britain, Germany, France, or Russia, now, there is a common name, that is, Australasians.

Don't underestimate the influence of these literary works, movies, etc. on the subconscious of the people.

With the help of the film, Arthur is confident that within ten years, all Australasians will have full faith in the concept of the Australasian nation, and at least most of the Australasian immigrants will be united in the Australasian national framework.

For this reason, some European writers, writers, and novelists are also within Arthur's scope of attracting talents.

Previously, Australasia had already attracted hundreds of literary talents from Europe. In addition to the more than ten literary talents attracted by Arthur's trip to Europe, as well as the talents trained by the literature majors of all universities in Australasia, it is enough to write various stories about the nation for Australasia, and then select the better ones to be adapted into scripts, made into movies, and broadcasted throughout Australasia.

The public is blind. Under such a large-scale influence, I believe that in a few years, when people outside say that some immigrants are not Australasian, those immigrants will not be willing.

The good news is that the technology of early sound films is relatively simple. With the current technology in Australasia, it is not difficult to develop sound films.

To put it bluntly, the simplest sound film is to play the sound while playing the film, so as to achieve the effect of sound and picture synchronization.

This technology is not difficult to implement. The simplest way is to use a phonograph to play the sound, but it requires a certain coordination of the sound and picture.

A slightly more complicated way is to use two negatives with different photosensitive properties, one to record the picture and the other to record the sound track. Then through a series of process processing, the sound track and the picture can be printed on a positive film to make a film copy for projection.

During the projection, the projector is also equipped with a sound restoration device, which can restore the vitality to sound while projecting the picture, so as to achieve the effect of a sound film.

Objectively speaking, these two technologies are not difficult, and they are also sound film technologies that can be used commercially.

Arthur handed over both of these sound film technologies to the three major film studios, and then gave them a budget of 100,000 Australian dollars each.

Arthur had only one request, which was to research the sound film technology as soon as possible, and then write a large number of historical scripts about the Australasian nation, shoot them into sound films and broadcast them throughout Australasia.

To this end, Grant's Propaganda Department will cooperate with the actions of the three film studios. The Propaganda Department is responsible for domestic and foreign propaganda, and the newspapers and media in Australasia are under the control of the Propaganda Department.

It is completely possible for those people in the Propaganda Department to work with those literary writers and novelists who are good at making up stories to write the history of Australasia.

In addition, the three film studios are working hard on the side to try to compile the written stories into scripts and make them into movies as soon as possible, and then put them on the big screen.

At present, the main output is still in Australasia. But some films can also be considered for screening in Europe and the United States.

As for other regions such as Asia and South America, they were temporarily abandoned by Arthur.

After all, even if it is just a very simple movie at present, you still need to spend money to buy movie tickets to watch it.

Most people in the abandoned areas do not have spare money to watch movies at present, so it is better to leave the opportunity to watch movies to Europe and Americans.

There is good news. The current restrictions on movies are not that severe. As long as they do not openly satirize the local government and spread ideas and cognitions that are not recognized or prohibited in the local area, there are generally no restrictions on movies.

Perhaps it is good news for some directors in the island countries. Because the current movie classification for age is not strict, in theory, the movies they make can be played anywhere.

It's a pity that they can't enjoy such a prosperous age, otherwise the movies of the island country can go to the world, but the reputation is not very good.

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