The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

When talking about various constructions during the Republic of China, one word has to be mentioned: Geng money!

The full name of "Gengzi Indemnity" is "Gengzi Indemnity", which is the war indemnity paid by the Eight-Power Allied Forces to invade China and sign the "Xinchou Treaty".

In 1904, Mr. Liang Cheng, the Chinese Minister to the United States, discovered that the losses reported by the U.S. government during the "Gengzi Rebellion" were mixed with various elements and suspected of being false reports, so he lobbied U.S. lawmakers everywhere to return those false reports. payment.

Because the United States wants to increase its influence in China and ease relations with the Chinese government and people, coupled with the efforts of the American education sector, President Roosevelt agreed to return part of the Geng money and use it for Chinese students to study in the United States - Geng This is how foreign students appeared.

Tsinghua President Mei Yiqi was the first batch of international students with Geng Geng Grants, and Hu Shi, Zhao Yuanren, Zhu Kezhen and others were the second batch of international students. Even Tsinghua University was originally established with U.S. Geng Geng funds and was specifically used to train international students in the United States.

Later, China became the "victorious" country in World War I and was qualified to negotiate with the great powers on the Geng Geng Payment.

Germany gave up the remainder of the Boxer Indemnity directly after the Paris Peace Conference. Later, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Japan also promised to return part of the Boxer Indemnity and followed the example of the United States in using the Boxer Indemnity for international students.

Japan did the most disgusting thing. Not only did it withhold money, but even if it did pay some, it did all kinds of mischief. It took the opportunity to vigorously support pro-Japanese elements and carry out cultural aggression against China. Every Geng grant student studying in Japan must fill in an oath before receiving the subsidy. The general content is: "Starting from xx, xx, I will receive a monthly supplementary tuition fee of 70 (Japanese) yen. I am very grateful. For this I swear to study hard with all my heart. After graduation, I am willing to follow the purpose of the right letter and work diligently to repay my kindness and support. I hereby swear to do the same as above."

Well, you Chinese students receive monthly allowances from Japan. After graduation, you must repay the emperor's kindness.

Why are there so many pro-Japanese elements and even traitors in China?

It was largely caused by Japan’s Geng Geng money, which they used to fund various Chinese folk cultural groups. These cultural groups only need to promote the goodness of Japan, and they can receive huge subsidies every month. In the long run, they have deceived the minds of many Chinese people.

Not only that, Japan also used Geng Geng funds to establish the General Committee for Oriental Cultural Affairs, and cooperated with the Chinese government to establish scientific research institutions such as the Peking Library, the Peking Institute of Humanities, and the Shanghai Institute of Natural Sciences. These institutions are nominally scientific research units, but most of their directors and researchers are Japanese. They are not only used to promote Japan's friendship, but also use these scientific research institutions to collect information on China's agriculture, forestry, industry, and mining. They are completely spy agencies!

The British are much better off. They don't need to ease relations with China, so they use a small amount of Geng funds to run schools and most of the Geng funds to China's transportation construction - wherever Chinese railways are built, British goods can be sold. where.

After the British did this, other countries followed suit and used Geng Geng money to invest in China's railways.

The last section of the Longhai Railway in the north, which is about to be fully opened to traffic, was built with the money returned by Belgium. As for the Zhushao section of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway in the south, which is currently under construction, most of the funds come from Germany and the United Kingdom. Song Ziwen said that he raised funds from various sources, which was actually a way of embellishing his own face.

As for the Nanjing government's money, it was basically used to expand the army and fight the civil war.

Not only that, the Nanjing government also misappropriated Geng funds in various ways. If foreigners had not kept a close eye on them, many of the railways built with Geng funds would not have been built.

It can be seen that the Manchu and Qing government paid a lot of money back then. Only part of the Boxer compensation from the "Xinchou Treaty" was enough to develop education and transportation for 20 years in the Republic of China.

Well, what the author really wants to say is, stop asking Zhou Hexuan to fund the construction of the Longhai Railway. The construction of the last section of the railway has already started, using Belgian Geng-type steel, and the entire line will be completed and open to traffic next year.

As for the transportation construction in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, it is useless to seek cooperation from the Nanjing government now. Even Chiang Kai-shek had nothing to do against those southwest warlords. If Zhou Hexuan wanted to build southwest transportation, he would have to go and deal with the warlords himself, and he would probably be eaten to pieces.

Especially in Sichuan, the project is extremely difficult, not to mention that there are many warlords, big and small. To build a slightly longer railway, you have to pass through the territory of several warlords, so it is impossible to build it!

At the end of April, Zhou Hexuan came to Hangzhou and met the legendary bridge expert Mao Yisheng.

Mao Yisheng wears a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and has a three-quarter hair style. His biggest appearance feature is his extremely thick lips. He is now the designer and director of the engineering department of the Qiantang River Bridge, responsible for the construction of the Qiantang River Bridge, the first modern steel bridge designed and constructed by the Chinese themselves.

Unfortunately, in history, just three months after the bridge was completed, Mao Yisheng personally presided over the bombing of the bridge to prevent the Japanese army from attacking Zhejiang.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou!" Mao Yisheng shook hands warmly.

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Mr. Mao, I have long admired your name. Like Mr. Zhan Tianyou, you are the pride of the Chinese people."

"Where, where," Mao Yisheng immediately introduced the people around him and said, "This is Mr. Qian Changgan, the general manager of Far East Engineering Company. He is the general manager of the construction party of the Qiantang River Bridge and one of the designers of the bridge. .”

"Hello, Manager Qian!" Zhou Hexuan shook hands.

Qian Changgan said quickly: "Hello, hello! Mr. Zhou, I was a loyal fan of your books when I was studying in the United States."

Qian Changgan definitely belongs to the rich and handsome people during the Republic of China. He graduated from Tsinghua University and further studied in the United States. Now he is the general manager of a joint venture company, and he is also married to a beautiful American girl as his wife. By the way, he has three sons. The eldest is called Allen, the second is called Philip, and the third is called George. The names are very foreign.

Zhou Hexuan had never heard of Qian Changgan's name at all, because he died too early and did not leave much fame in history.

In fact, Qian Changgan will become the general person in charge of bridge construction on the Burma Highway after Japan fully invades China. Since road bridges were often bombed, Qian Changgan's plane was shot down by a Japanese fighter during a trip to inspect the damage to the road bridge. Unfortunately, Qian Changgan died at the age of 36.

If Qian Changgan had not died so early and stayed in the mainland, his reputation would not be any lower than Mao Yisheng.

After a brief greeting with the two, Zhou Hexuan said straight to the point: "Mr. Mao, Mr. Qian, I came to Hangzhou this time to invite you to take charge of the design and construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge."

Mao Yisheng regretted: "The Ministry of Transport has notified me about the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. I also want to go, but there are many difficulties in the Qiantang River Bridge project, so I have to stay in Hangzhou and take full responsibility. Of course, regarding the bridge design, In terms of design, I can participate, but the chief designer can only hire someone else."

Qian Changgan was very interested. He said: "Mr. Zhou, our Far East Engineering Company is the best bridge design and construction company in China. As long as we are given the task of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, Far East Engineering Company will go all out. You will definitely not be disappointed!”