"What happened to China? No one told me the answer. I can only look for it in books."
"After the missionary who took me in died, I wandered around the United States. Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, it was difficult for me to find a serious job. Under normal circumstances, I lived by petty theft, and I also used old porcelain as a
I sold the antiques to Americans to defraud them of money, and later I pretended to be Japanese and submitted articles to magazines and newspapers, barely earning some royalties."
"I attended history classes at Harvard, and secretly studied politics and economics at Princeton. I often pretended that I was a Japanese or Chinese student. They were more polite to foreign students, but were very disgusted with Chinese workers stranded in the United States. By the way, I also
I helped write a graduation thesis for a Harvard master's degree student, and I earned a full $200 that time."
The students silently looked at the man on the stage who was talking and laughing freely, that is, their new principal, a tramp, a fraudster and a thief. However, they could not feel any hatred for him. They felt more sympathy, pity, and even admiration for him.
Apart from anything else, Zhou Hexuan was self-taught by auditing and could actually write his graduation thesis for a Harvard master's degree. He has real talent and knowledge in his heart.
Zhou Hexuan's story continues: "Later I smuggled to Europe and found that it was much easier to live there than in the United States. Although they still discriminated against the Chinese, it was just a narrow prejudice. At least they did not deprive the Chinese of their right to work. The French are romantic
And naive, the British are gentle and arrogant, the Germans are rigorous and rigid, the Russians are straightforward and rude... Every nation has its own characteristics. If you pay attention often, you will find many interesting things. Of course, I pay more attention to books from various countries.
Museum, I tried my best to sneak in and peek at those forgotten historical materials. I want to understand these countries, why they can become great powers, and why we, China, are weak and incompetent?"
"What is a country? It is nothing more than land, citizens, culture and government."
“Since the late Qing Dynasty, China’s territory has been largely destroyed, its people are generally ignorant, and its culture is outdated and backward. As for the Chinese government, haha, it’s indescribable.”
Zhou Hexuan went around in a big circle and finally got to the point: "I know, and you also understand. China's current situation makes people look at it and worry about it. That's why you started a student movement and student unrest, hoping to contribute to the revitalization of China.
Contribute. I understand this very well, but I do not advocate violence. For example, the burning of the house of the Director of Education and the "Morning Post" newspaper office last year is already illegal and criminal. You advocate freedom of speech, but use violence to deprive others of their speech.
Freedom, what does this mean? Are you slapping yourself in the face?"
The students were hesitant to speak, not knowing how to refute, because the demonstration last year was indeed too much.
Moreover, many of the most active revolutionaries among the students had already run away at this time, and most of the people present were relatively calm and would not explode if they caught a spark.
Zhou Hexuan added: "In the eyes of many people, Peking University is a mess, and I am willing to take over this mess. I hope everyone can study with peace of mind. After all, school is a place to learn knowledge. If you really want to make a revolution, I support him to go south.
If the travel expenses are not enough, I can provide assistance. When I am the principal, I am not allowed to publicly shout revolutionary slogans, publicize revolutionary ideas, or openly form revolutionary societies. Violators will be fired immediately! If you really don’t like me as the principal, please go to the Ministry of Education.
Protest, the number of protestors exceeds 100, I will immediately take the blame and resign. With that said, see you all again."
After Zhou Hexuan finished speaking, he left without stopping for a moment and went straight to the gate of Peking University.
The teachers and students were all in a state of confusion, not knowing how to evaluate this principal. There are many weirdos in Peking University, and everyone should have been surprised for a long time. Now it seems that their new principal is also a weirdo.
Anyone who dares to claim to be a lackey of a reactionary warlord in front of the teachers and students of the most progressive university in the country would have been spitted to death by someone else. He might even be dragged off the stage by the angry students mid-sentence.
Zhong Guanguang called several student representatives and whispered instructions for a while, and those students immediately ran excitedly to deliver the news.
On the way to the classroom, the students were still discussing Zhou Hexuan's speech just now.
One student said angrily: "It's really abominable. We are not allowed to shout progressive slogans and promote progressive ideas. Is this still a free-thinking and inclusive Peking University? Zhou Hexuan just took office and ruined the school spirit of Peking University."
"Principal Zhou also has difficulties," another student helped to explain. "He is actually progressive in his thinking, but he is controlled by the warlords and has to do this, otherwise he will have to continue to suspend classes."
"If classes are suspended, classes will be suspended. It doesn't matter if you don't go to a university that restricts freedom." said the student from before.
At this moment, the student representative responsible for conveying the message to Zhong Guanguang ran over and whispered: "Everyone, be quiet. Please listen to me. What President Zhou just said was a trick. He explicitly prohibited us from establishing progressive societies, but privately
The discussion below is still possible, we just need to change the name. For example, to propagate redism, we can establish agricultural societies and industrial societies, and turn everything from light to dark. In addition, in order to paralyze the reactionary warlords, we must scold Principal Zhou. The more we scold, the more
The more ruthless he is, the safer he will be, and it would be best if he can write an article in the school magazine to criticize him."
The group of students heard this in disbelief, but they soon came to their senses.
"I just said that Mr. Zhou is a good person who can write works like "The Rise of a Great Power" and "The Goddess". How could he be willing to be a lackey of a reactionary warlord?"
"That's right, there are also "Generation" and "Answer". The night gave me black eyes, but I used them to find the light. It teaches us to explore the way forward in the darkness!"
"Speaking of which, Principal Zhou also came from a difficult background. He wandered abroad since he was a child, and suffered so much humiliation and suffering that he even became a thief and liar in order to make a living. In this kind of growing environment, he was able to become self-taught and write the thought-provoking "The Rise of a Great Power"
"What a strong heart you have!"
"I'm going to write an article to scold Principal Zhou, and scold him hard!"
"Let's go together, let's protect Principal Zhou together, and let go of scolding together."
"..."
This was all a strategy that Zhou Hexuan and Zhong Guanguang had discussed. They would first tell their own experiences to win students' sympathy and understanding, then throw out reactionary remarks to arouse students' rebellious psychology, and then explain the facts to create a glorious image of enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens.
In this way, students will truly regard Zhou Hexuan as one of their own, and heartily accept and support him as their principal.
As for leaking secrets, Zhou Hexuan is not afraid at all. He can completely say that the students are directing and acting on their own, and are carrying out those progressive activities without telling him. As long as he does not personally participate, Zhang Zuolin will not raise the butcher's knife high, and he can just resign and apologize when the time comes.
As a result, something strange happened at Peking University. From the end of 1926 to the middle of 1928, for a full year and a half, students took pleasure in scolding the principal.
At first, he was scolded in the school magazine, but soon developed to being scolded in social newspapers. And the scolding was very artistic. There was not a single curse word in the whole article, but Zhou Hexuan was portrayed as a bad guy with sores on the soles of his feet and pus on his head.
There was even a poetry club on campus that held a "Poetry Contest to scold the principal." The beautiful new poems filled with insults expressed the students' desire to defend the principal.
And secretly, whenever the students mentioned President Zhou, they all respected him very much, thinking that Zhou Hexuan was protecting Peking University despite the infamy.
Zhou Hexuan doesn't care about this. He knows when Zhang Zuolin will be finished. When the time comes, countless students will naturally stand up to clear his name and make the truth known to the world. And he will take the opportunity to resign as the principal. He will accept the order in the face of danger, endure the humiliation and bear the heavy burden, and retire with great achievements.