Fu Donghua was holding a black leather bag in his hand, and Shi Shiran walked into the Central University. On the campus path, he stopped a student who was walking in a hurry and asked: "Is this classmate, Mr. Zhou Hexuan Zhou, at school?"
The student said: "Are you also here to listen to Mr. Zhou's speech? Let's go together."
"Speech?" Fu Donghua was stunned, then smiled and said, "Yes, I'm here to listen to Mr. Zhou's speech."
The students walked quickly with Fu Donghua, constantly urging: "Hurry up, hurry up, if you are slow, you won't be able to get a seat!"
Fu Donghua had no choice but to jog with his bag, and arrived at the auditorium more than ten minutes later. He saw that the entrance to the auditorium was packed with people. From the looks of it, it was hard to tell whether he could squeeze in, let alone occupy a seat.
Suddenly, all the students in the auditorium rushed out, not knowing what happened inside.
The student who brought Fu Donghua to the auditorium quickly came forward and asked, "Classmate, why is everyone leaving?"
The man replied: "There are too many people and the auditorium cannot accommodate it. The speech was temporarily moved to the playground."
"The auditorium is not enough?" The students were extremely surprised.
Central University has the largest auditorium in the country, with more than 2,700 seats, but the construction has not been completed yet. The main reason is that there is insufficient money, and construction has been stopped. Only after the new president Zhu Jiahua takes office can he get a government loan to continue the construction.
The auditorium of Southeast University in later generations.
Fu Donghua came to the playground with the students. In just a moment, thousands of people gathered in the playground, densely packed with black heads.
"There are too many people, it's just a speech." Fu Donghua muttered to himself.
Zhou Hexuan was also frightened. He smiled and said to Duan Xipeng: "Principal Duan, there are so many students in your school."
Duan Xipeng said: "Not all students from Central University. I just asked, there are also students from other schools in Nanjing. They heard that Mr. Zhou was going to give a speech, so they skipped class one by one and came to listen."
Skipping class to listen to lectures?
Zhou Hexuan was sweating violently and didn't know what to say.
Students in the Republic of China liked to engage in activities, and giving speeches was one of them. They not only liked to give speeches themselves, but also liked to listen to speeches by celebrities.
This summer, when Lu Xun gave a speech at Peking University, he temporarily changed the venue because the auditorium could not accommodate many students from several schools in Peking.
Duan Xipeng asked someone to get a tin loudspeaker, handed it to Zhou Hexuan and said, "Mr. Zhou, use this. I didn't prepare a microphone."
Zhou Hexuan walked up to the podium, raised the loudspeaker and said: "Hello, classmates!"
The noisy playground suddenly became quiet, but only paused for a few seconds before suddenly becoming noisy again.
"That's Mr. Zhou? He's really tall."
"Mr. Zhou is so young, he looks like he is not yet 30 years old."
"He is handsomer in real life than in the newspaper."
"..."
Facing the students' comments, Zhou Hexuan did not continue to speak, but stood silently on the stage, smiling and holding his hands.
After about two or three minutes, the playground gradually became quiet, and Zhou Hexuan said: "I also have two arms and one head. I don't have three heads and six arms. Have you seen enough?"
This joke made the atmosphere much more relaxed, and a small group of students actually responded in unison: "I haven't seen enough!"
"Then I'll give you two more minutes to take a good look!" Zhou Hexuan said, raising his hands and turning around to let the students look at the side and back.
"Hahaha!"
There was a burst of laughter in the playground.
Zhou Hexuan raised the loudspeaker again and said: "This is the first speech I have given in Nanjing. I am very happy to have so many students come to listen. It seems that some people skipped class because of this. I have to remind those students who skipped class to listen to the speech.
One sentence, remember to bring your teacher with you next time."
"Hahahaha." There was another laugh.
After using a few opening remarks to get closer to the students, Zhou Hexuan started to talk about the topic:
"What are we going to talk about today? It's not about scholarship. Mr. Chen Yinke from Tsinghua University has already spoken thoroughly about scholarship. He said, 'Only this independent spirit and free thought have lasted for thousands of years, and have been with the world for a long time.
"Three lights but eternal light". Independent spirit and free thought are very high pursuits. I encourage you all to share them.
Fourteen years ago, when Mr. Cai Jiemin was the president of Peking University, he also gave a speech. He encouraged students to study hard and not waste time, so as not to be forced to make a living if they have no ability in the future. Being a teacher will ruin your children, and becoming an official will even hinder your career.
Country. It is well said that the most important task of a student is to learn. As long as you learn the skills well, you will be able to show your talents in the future whether it is to support your family, serve the country, or pursue scientific truth.
These two gentlemen have said everything that needs to be said, and I am not ignorant of their wisdom.
Today I will talk about something else, about nation and country.
A few days ago, I had a meeting with some experts in linguistics. One of the important topics we discussed was whether Chinese characters should be abolished. Why is there such a discussion? Because China is ignorant, poor, and backward! It is so backward that the Chinese people completely deny themselves.
How bad does a country have to be to think about abolishing its own writing?
There is a big country to the west of us called India. The official language of this country has become English. I don’t want China to be like that. In the future, when everyone files a lawsuit and writes a complaint, they will have to use English.
Some people may say that China's current situation is due to its weakness and poverty since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Confucianism has restricted the development of science, and the emperor's dictatorship has hindered democracy and the rule of law. Therefore, some people are clamoring to overthrow the Confucian family store, and some are calling for
Abandon all old traditions. It seems that the poverty and weakness of China today are all due to the bad things left by our ancestors. As long as these old dross are thrown away, China can suddenly become a great and powerful country.
Is this really the case?
When a person is poor and suffering, should he blame his parents for being incompetent? When a country is extremely poor and weak, should he blame his ancestors for causing trouble to his descendants?
Let me tell you, it’s time for us to work hard and make the country stronger. Otherwise, in a few decades, our descendants will say, look, it was the group of people from the previous generation who caused such harm to the country and made the country so miserable.
We continue to be the people of a weak country!"
Zhou Hexuan's tone became more and more passionate. No students made any noise, and they all looked at him intently.
Zhou Hexuan continued:
"Some people may ask again, why is China so weak and always oppressed by foreigners? My answer is that there are many reasons, but it is not because we Chinese are stupid, nor is it because we Chinese are inferior.
But it is a pity that in reality there are many people who hold this view. They bow their heads when they see foreigners, and cannot straighten their backs at all. They regard foreigners as superior from the bottom of their hearts, as if white people are superior, while yellow people are
Born inferior.
We in China have been wealthy before. I won’t talk about the prosperous times of the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, but everyone must know it. Even in the cowardly Song Dynasty, the Song people also regarded themselves as the people of the Shang Dynasty and looked down on the Liao people from the bottom of their hearts.
Jin people and Xixia people.
We must first be spiritually self-reliant and self-reliant, and do not think that Chinese people are inferior to Westerners. We must work hard to catch up, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves all day long.
Some people may think that the gap between countries is too great, and it will take a hundred years for China to catch up with the United States and the United Kingdom. I disagree with this view. I firmly believe that China will surely revive, rise again, and stand among the world's great powers.
The United States is currently experiencing an economic crisis. Hundreds of people starve to death every day on the streets of these big cities such as Washington, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. This is by no means an alarmist, nor is it just talking. In the entire 1930s, the number of people in the United States who starved to death must have been
More than 100,000 people.
The economic crisis in the United States has spread to Europe and Japan. Germany and the United Kingdom are especially miserable. According to Germany's current situation, it will definitely have to rely on war to pass the crisis. The same is true for Japan. I dare to predict that within ten years, Germany will inevitably attack France, and
Japan will invade China. It will be a world war at that time. The Second World War is an unavoidable crisis for China. The danger, the danger of national subjugation and genocide, is also a nirvana of rebirth. As long as China can survive it.
, you can seize the opportunity to revive again!
You and I will witness the rise of China with our own eyes, and we must also contribute our own strength to China's rise!"
Zhou Hexuan's words went further and further, and both students and teachers were dumbfounded.
What the hell is World War II?
Faintly, everyone felt a little excited again. If, as Zhou Hexuan said, China seizes this historical opportunity, it may really become stronger.
Zhou Hexuan almost yelled the next words: "As students, what you have to do is study hard. Those who study engineering will make machines and weapons for China in the war; those who study science, whether it is physics or
Chemistry is the cornerstone of a country's strong rejuvenation; those who study law and diplomacy, you also have a heavy burden. After China wins the war, it will still need you to try enemy war criminals in the international court! Those who study agriculture and medicine, you
You must be responsible for developing the national economy and people's livelihood! Those who study normal school, those who study literature, those who study history, you must... all of us must be twisted into a rope, let us study and fight for the rise of China!"
"Read for the rise of China!"
“Strive for the rise of China!
I don’t know who shouted it first, as if it was contagious, the whole playground was filled with enthusiastic slogans.
Fu Donghua was a translator. He was entrusted by the Commercial Printing Office to come to Nanjing from Shanghai to contact Zhou Hexuan about the translation and publishing work of "Titanic".
At this moment, after hearing Zhou Hexuan's speech, Fu Donghua's blood boiled inexplicably. He raised his fist high and shouted with the students around him: "Read for the rise of China, and fight for the rise of China!"
Zhou Hexuan calmed down his emotions and said slowly: "Students, I am not guessing, let alone nonsense. If you know friends studying in Japan, you can ask them about how bad Japan's economy is now, and the Japanese people
How rampant are the militaristic ideas of the Chinese people? They are already blatantly propagandizing and clamoring to conquer China by force. Before China can rejuvenate and rise, it must face the baptism test of blood and fire. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1894, China has already lost once. Next,
China cannot be defeated again. Please remember! As long as China can survive this, there will be a bright and broad road ahead!"
Zhou Hexuan bowed deeply, turned around and left with the iron tube in hand.