(The time in the first two chapters is wrong, please explain. Zhou Hexuan left Shanghai at the end of July, left China a few days after writing to Zhang Xueliang, and arrived in San Francisco in mid-September. As for why it was wrong? It was not a clerical error, it was purely
It was a calculation error, and Lao Wang’s math teacher should take the blame.)
September 20th.
The Chinese Embassy in the United States held a banquet in Washington and hired Chinese chefs to warmly welcome Zhou Hexuan, Mei Lanfang and others.
"Hello Mr. Zhou!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Boss Mei!"
A bald young man about 30 years old shook hands with Zhou Hexuan and others with a smile on his face. This person was Wu Chaoshu, the minister to the United States. He was the son of the famous diplomat Wu Tingfang. He grew up studying in the United States with his father. He graduated from the University of London and worked in London.
Won first place in the bar examination.
During the first World War, Wu Chaoshu, who was under 20 years old, advocated for China to declare war on Germany. At the age of 21, he was eligible to participate in the Paris Peace Conference.
In the past few years, Wu Chaoshu also actively pushed for the United States to return China's tariff autonomy, and successfully persuaded the great powers to recognize the legitimacy of China's abolition of unequal treaties at the League of Nations meeting.
The deputy envoy to the United States next to Wu Chaoshu was called Rong Kui, a younger brother of Rong Hong. He was older, already 68 years old. He was the first among the children left in the late Qing Dynasty to cut off his whip, and he even wrote to his family
He said he wanted to convert to Christianity, and later married an American wife. He was a famous "rebellious son" in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.
Officials from the embassy, Mei Lanfang and members of the Mei Opera Troupe, as well as Zhou Hexuan, Zhang Mouzhi and others, all sat down to three tables.
After the food and drinks were served, Wu Chaoshu raised his glass and said: "On behalf of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Mr. Mei Lanfang, Mr. Zhou Hexuan, Mr. Zhang Mouzhi, and all members of the Mei Opera Troupe. I wish you all a smooth journey and a happy mood!"
Mei Lanfang was very knowledgeable and said: "On behalf of the Mei Opera Troupe, I would like to thank all the ambassadors for their warm hospitality. Cheers!"
Zhou Hexuan just raised his glass and smiled, and Zhang Mouzhi spoke on his behalf: "It is a great honor for me and my son-in-law to meet our compatriots in a foreign country. We would like to thank Minister Wu and Deputy Ambassador Rong for their hospitality, and also thank all the members of the embassy for their reception. I wish you all to bring glory to the country and keep improving."
Sheng, please do it first out of respect!"
"cheers!"
Everyone was laughing and shouting, and the atmosphere of the banquet was quite lively.
Wu Chaoshu personally helped Zhou Hexuan fill up the wine glass, and then said: "I won't persuade Boss Mei to drink wine. He will also sing a song after the dinner."
Rong Kui said with a smile: "Boss Mei's performance can be described as a grand event. I have been living in the United States for decades, and I can finally feast my ears."
"Thanks to the two ministers for helping us make contact," Mei Lanfang said, raising a wine glass filled with water. "I'll replace the wine with water and toast you two!"
In the early years of the Republic of China, although there were many foreigners in China, they believed that entering a theater was a dishonorable and disgraceful thing.
Until 14 years ago, the then U.S. Minister to China Rui Enshi was shocked after accidentally watching Mei Lanfang's performance. Later, when he left office, he said at the banquet: "If you want to deepen the mutual understanding between China and the United States,
To maintain mutual friendship, it would be best to invite Mei Lanfang to the United States to present his art to the American people."
Now that the United States wants to expand its influence in the Far East and actively build good relations with the Chinese government, it officially sends an invitation to Mei Lanfang through diplomats.
After today's welcome dinner, Mei Lanfang will perform a performance at Ford's Theater. The audience includes officials from the U.S. State Department, celebrities from all walks of life in the United States, envoys from various countries and well-known Chinese in the United States. More than 600 people have been invited, all of whom are
Someone with status and face.
After having enough wine and dinner, everyone moved to Ford's Theater.
This theater is still very famous. Abolitionist President Lincoln was assassinated while watching a play here.
When they arrived at the theater, Mei Lanfang and his Mei Opera Troupe went directly to the backstage to prepare, while Wu Chaoshu and Rong Kui took Zhou Hexuan to meet the big-name audience.
The first person to introduce was the US Secretary of State. Wu Chaoshu said with a smile: "Mr. Zhou, this is Mr. Henry Lewis Stimson, the Secretary of State of the United States. Mr. Stimson, this is Mr. Zhou Hexuan, a famous Chinese scholar."
"Hello, Mr. Secretary of State!" Zhou Hexuan looked at the other party curiously.
This Stimson was very active during World War II. He served as the U.S. Secretary of War at the time, advocated supporting anti-fascist countries, was responsible for supervising the development of atomic bombs, and recommended a nuclear strike against Japan.
To the Japanese in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Stimson must have been a demonic existence.
Stimson was also observing Zhou Hexuan, and then smiled and said: "Mr. Zhou, I am very interested in your predictions in "The Rise of the Great Powers". If you have the opportunity, we can talk about it."
"It's a great honor." Zhou Hexuan said.
In fact, the U.S. stock market has developed into the crazy situation it is today, and anyone with a little bit of brains knows that something is going to happen. But everyone is lucky and thinks that at least it will not collapse this year, so they can make another profit before the stock market crashes.
.
Especially those large financial groups and large securities companies, they know that the stock market is going to collapse, and they are still fueling the collapse for their own interests.
It has become a consensus in the industry that the U.S. stock market is about to collapse, but no one takes it seriously. Anyway, it is not that it has never collapsed before. It will be better if it takes a few years to slow down.
As for causing a global economic crisis, no one agrees with this view.
As the U.S. Secretary of State, Stimson still wanted to do business and ordered the introduction of many bills to cool down the stock market. But it had no effect. It was like pouring cold water on a raging fire. Not only did it not extinguish the fire, it actually fueled the fire.
After chatting with Stimson for a few words, Wu Chaoshu took Zhou Hexuan to meet other guests. Ambassadors from various countries to the United States, as well as some well-known Americans, all showed great enthusiasm for Zhou Hexuan, which is the treatment of a top international scholar.
The strongest reaction was from the Chinese people, who all surrounded Zhou Hexuan and shook hands enthusiastically.
until……
Wu Chaoshu pointed at a young man wearing glasses and introduced: "Mr. Zhou, this is Mr. Situ Juncong, supervisor of Wuzhou Hongmen Zhigong Hall and manager of "Gonglun Morning News"!"
"Hello, Mr. Situ!" Zhou Hexuan wanted to ask the other party what his relationship was with Situ Meitang, the boss of the Hongmen in the United States.
Situ Juncong looked at Zhou Hexuan playfully, and suddenly smiled and said: "Mr. Zhou, I heard that you are also a Hongmen member of the United States?"
Zhou Hexuan was sweating violently. Li Gui met Li Kui and said wittily: "All the Chinese in America have left Hongmen. What do you think, Mr. Situ?"
"Interesting," Situ Juncong said with a smile, "I wonder where Mr. Zhou is staying now. I will make a special trip to visit him another day."
Zhou Hexuan said: "The hotel arranged by the Embassy in the United States seems to be called Foster Apartments."
"I've written it down." Situ Juncong nodded and said.
The performance officially started soon, and Zhou Hexuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The main Hongmen church in the United States is located in San Francisco. Maybe it’s time to pay a visit to the pier and confirm the identity I made up casually.
