Zhou Hexuan didn't want to shout random slogans and said to the crowd of onlookers: "You can raise your hands and ask questions, one by one."
As soon as he finished speaking, the students all raised their hands, fearing that they would not be able to take their turn if they were too late.
"This classmate comes first." Zhou Hexuan pointed at the little fat guy in the front and said.
The little fat man didn't expect that he would be chosen. He scratched his head and said embarrassedly: "Well, I... I haven't thought about what to ask yet."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The crowd burst into laughter.
Zhou Hexuan pointed to another tall man, the one who said before that he would use his own blood and sweat to write "The Rise of a Great Power: China".
"Mr. Zhou, my name is Chen Da, courtesy name Minzhi, and I am a student in the mining class of Nankai University." The man introduced himself first, and then asked a very popular question nowadays, "Many people now say that Chinese people are not as smart as Westerners.
, is an inferior nation, what does Mr. Zhou think of this?"
Seeing everyone looking at him expectantly, Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "To say that the Chinese are an inferior nation, one is because we have low self-esteem, and the other is the Westerners' contempt for us. Where do the inferiority and contempt come from? It comes from ourselves.
The history of humiliation since the late Qing Dynasty. The comprehensive backwardness in science and technology, military, economy, and culture. We cannot compare with the Western powers in anything. Therefore, we have low self-esteem, so we are looked down upon by others. Am I right?"
Chen Da nodded and said, "That's right."
"But are the Chinese really an inferior nation? I don't admit it," Zhou Hexuan said. "From the Qin and Han dynasties to the Song and Ming dynasties, China has been ahead of the West for thousands of years. Marco Polo praised China as a paradise full of gold, which made him
Westerners yearned for it and came to China one after another to do business and study, which indirectly contributed to the rise of the Great Navigation. Voltaire was a leading figure in the Enlightenment and was known as the King of French Thought and the Conscience of Europe. How did he view China?
He praised China's history, astronomy, political system, scientific laws, ideology and morality, and said that China is a great civilized nation."
"Is this really true?" everyone asked in surprise. Many people present had heard of Voltaire's name, but they didn't know that he praised China so much.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "I didn't make up these words. Interested students can read Voltaire's "On Customs"."
Chen Da said blankly: "Then why has China become what it is now?"
"From Voltaire's works, we can draw two conclusions," Zhou Hexuan analyzed. "First, China is not an inferior nation, and Westerners also admire and learn from us; second, before the Enlightenment, Westerners
There are many places that are not as good as China. Western civilization has surpassed Chinese civilization only in the last three to four hundred years. Today's great powers such as Britain, France, and Germany were regarded as barbarians more than 1,000 years ago. They drank hair and drank blood.
Ignorant of writing and etiquette. In the Middle Ages, they became even more ignorant and backward. When they were sick, they were treated with bloodletting. If they dared to say that the earth was not the center of the universe, they were burned to death. Papermaking, gunpowder, and the compass were all passed down from China. Can we say that China is
Inferior race?”
Everyone was silent and deep in thought, and some people began to have confident smiles on their faces.
Lu Jingyan suddenly asked: "Mr. Zhou, why is China lagging behind now?"
"Because Westerners are progressing while we are regressing," Zhou Hexuan said. "After the Renaissance, Westerners got rid of the shackles of thought and advocated rationality and science. Starting from the Yuan Dynasty, Chinese rulers tried to use Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism
Imprisoning people's thoughts reached its peak in the Manchu Dynasty. The Japanese learned from China during the Tang and Song Dynasties, and from Europe and the United States in the past hundred years. They caught up, while China is still faltering. This is why China lags behind, not because we are inferior.
nation, but we have delayed that golden period of rapid development of science and technology."
Chen Da asked again: "Does Mr. Zhou think that China should comprehensively learn from the West? For example, abolish Chinese characters, Latinize scripts, abolish Chinese, and use Esperanto instead?"
"This is unreasonable. How can Chinese characters be abolished?" Liang Suming, who had been silent until now, was furious and shouted, "If we really abolish Chinese characters and the Chinese language, China will be destroyed as a nation!"
Some young students, including Chen Da, immediately glared at Liang Suming. They thought Liang Suming was one of those stubborn old men who didn't know how to make progress.
The movement to abolish Chinese characters has run through the entire modern history of China, and has never stopped from the late Qing Dynasty to the twenty years after the founding of New China. Whether it is the Roman Pinyin, the modern Chinese Pinyin promulgated by our party, or even the simplified Chinese characters, they are all promoting the
Prepare for the abolition of Chinese characters.
The reason here is not just as simple as ****, but also a more practical issue.
For example, with today's typewriters and printing and typesetting, Latin letters can be easily completed, but Chinese characters are extremely troublesome, which greatly hinders the spread of culture and science.
The movement to abolish Chinese characters after the founding of the People's Republic of China was supported on the one hand by the Soviet Union, and on the other hand because Chinese characters were really inconvenient to use. Especially after the invention of electronic computers, Chinese characters could not be input and displayed, which made the Chinese people feel that Chinese characters had lagged behind the times.
It's an old thing that will eventually be eliminated.
Who would have thought at that time that Chinese character input on smartphones would be far more convenient than Latin letters?
Mr. Lu Xun said in an interview before his death: "As long as Chinese characters are not destroyed, China will perish." In the eyes of later generations of Chinese people, this statement was too ridiculous, and they even went so far as to ridicule and slander Lu Xun, but who can understand what Lu Xun was saying?
Are you feeling worried, angry and depressed when you say this?
Can you ridicule Newton for not understanding the theory of relativity?
When mentioning the abolition of Chinese characters and Chinese language, Zhou Hexuan burst into laughter: "My point of view is the same as Mr. Liang Suming's. If Chinese characters and Chinese language are abolished, China will really be destroyed."
"Sir, I didn't expect you to be such a conservative person!" Chen Da looked at Zhou Hexuan with disappointment.
Zhou Hexuan was not in a hurry and asked slowly: "Once Chinese characters are abolished, the whole of China will become illiterate. How will the government work? How will the company operate? How will the newspaper convey information? Have you ever thought about this?"
"Here, these can all be done slowly." Chen Da said.
Zhou Hexuan shook his head and said: "I always believe that China is the greatest nation, Chinese characters are the most beautiful writing, and Chinese is the most elegant language." Seeing the disdain on the faces of many students, Zhou Hexuan added, "I am proficient in English, French, and German.
, Italian, Japanese, and Russian languages, I know their roots, and I also understand our own culture. Do you understand Japan’s Meiji Restoration?”
Chen Da immediately said: "I know, Japan can develop rapidly just because it left Asia and joined Europe!"
"That's wrong," Zhou Hexuan said with a laugh, "Japan's Meiji Restoration is actually the Chinese Westernization Movement's set of 'Chinese learning as the body and Western learning as the application'. 'Hehun Yangcai' is the highest program of Japanese education. To put it bluntly, it is Japan
Western-minded people, they integrated Shinto teachings, Confucianism and nationalism. Some people in Japan did advocate ***** but it was eventually abolished. In order to preserve its own traditions, the Japanese government also emphasized that all religions must be based on God.
Under the leadership of Taoism, even their weddings recommend marriage before gods. In addition, Confucianism still plays an important role in Japan, and their official documents are basically written in Chinese characters. Do you think Japan is lagging behind the times?"
These words made the students even more confused. Chen Dasi argued: "It is precisely because Japan uses Chinese characters that it is not as developed as the West!"
"You have mistaken the relationship between cause and effect," Zhou Hexuan said. "China lags behind Japan, and Japan lags behind Britain and France. That is because there is not enough time to catch up, not because of Chinese characters, Chinese and Japanese. The United States also uses English, and Americans
They also speak English, but it took them more than a hundred years to catch up with Europe. How long did it take for China to catch up?"
Chen Da was finally speechless. He was not convinced by Zhou Hexuan, but he just didn't know how to refute.
At this moment, all the passengers in the carriage gathered around.
Several people who did not know the truth whispered:
"Who is that person?"
"I don't know, maybe he's a big shot. You see, all those students listen to him."
"What you say makes sense."
"Of course, learned gentlemen are different. Our ancestors have been speaking Chinese for generations, how can we stop learning from foreigners?"
"Sir, that's well said. Let me say a few more words!"
"..."
Zhou Hexuan stopped arguing with these passionate young people and continued:
"The train is about to pull into the station. Let me say a few final words. A thousand years ago, we had the most splendid civilization, the richest country, and the most powerful army in the world. However, today, a thousand years later, we must
Face the tragic fact that China lags behind the world.
Since the late Qing Dynasty, the great powers have used cannons to knock on China's door. The Opium War, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, the Gengzi Revolution... We were defeated time and time again, and the government signed traitorous treaties again and again. Our dream of a heavenly country was finally shattered. But.
We cannot belittle ourselves, we must be confident and self-reliant, rather than feeling inferior and cowardly, we must work hard, rather than feel depressed...
I have a dream.
We dream that one day, the valleys will rise, the mountains will fall, and the bumpy and tortuous roads will become smooth, so that the glory of freedom, equality, and democracy will shine on the earth. This is our hope. I returned to China with this dream. With this dream,
We will carve out a stone of hope from the mountain of despair. With this belief, we will change the harsh quarrels in this country into a beautiful music filled with happiness.
I have a dream.
I have a dream that one day, China will stand tall among the world's great powers again. Let the voice of prosperity and strength ring from the waves of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers! Let the voice of prosperity and strength ring from the fertile soil of North and South China! Let the voice of prosperity and strength ring from the Gobi grasslands of northern Xinjiang.
Ring! Let the voice of wealth and strength ring in the mountains of the northeast and southwest! Let the voice of wealth and strength ring in every hill and every hillside inside and outside the Great Wall.
I have a dream.
I have a dream that one day, every province, every state, county and every village in China will become a civilized world with tall buildings and factories everywhere. Our children, our descendants, whether they are Han, Manchu or Mongolian
, Hui people, and Tibetans will all hold hands and sing a great hymn of the Chinese nation: We are free, we are strong, we are rich, we no longer bear the pain of war, and we no longer bear the misfortune of poverty.
.Our children can sit in bright schools and learn the most advanced cultural knowledge; our children and grandchildren can talk, laugh and drink with foreigners without having to look at anyone's face; our country will no longer be laughed at.
There is no need to sign a humiliating contract. Any overseas Chinese can straighten his back and shout loudly: I am Chinese!
I have a dream.
For this dream, I will work together, fight together, study together, work together, and sacrifice together. Because I know that one day, our dream will come true. This is our great motherland, and we are a great nation. We
When worshiping ancestors, we can say gloriously to our ancestors: We did it, we are strong! Instead of complaining to our ancestors, you left behind a poor and weak China, and you left behind a humble nation.
I have a dream……"
Zhou Hexuan was deceiving him at first, but as he spoke, tears filled his eyes unknowingly, and his loud words were filled with tears. He even moved himself.
Everyone in the carriage, whether they were students, businessmen, wealthy gentry, politicians, or reporters, all listened to him silently, looking forward to the day when their dreams would come true, and the day when China would become powerful, with their eyes filled with intoxication and tears.