The preparatory class for young children studying in the United States later evolved over the years into today’s Guangdong Provincial Experimental Middle School, which is also one of the top middle schools in Guangdong.
Zhan Tianyou studied here for a period of time as one of the first batch of young children studying in the United States. There are four batches of 120 young children studying in the United States. The first batch can almost be said to be the most successful because the study time is relatively long and the most students have entered prestigious American schools.
At that time, the United States had a very good attitude towards these Chinese students. 22 of them entered Yale University, which is very difficult to enter among private universities in the United States. Another 8 entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3 entered Columbia University, and 1 entered Harvard University.
They are all well-known universities in the United States. They can offer so many places. It can be seen that the American education community is very welcoming to this matter, and can even be called friendly.
However, this very meaningful move to study abroad was stopped by the Qing government in 1881, and all young children studying abroad were forcibly recalled.
Counting from 1872, it was less than ten years. The original plan was to study and travel in the United States for fifteen years. In such a short period of time, only Zhan Tianyou and two others completed their studies and obtained formal university degrees.
It’s hard to imagine what would happen if everyone successfully completed their studies. Even if they couldn’t have much impact on the general trend, there would at least be dozens of beautiful waves.
As for the reason for the recall, it is because the children studying in the United States were too young when they went to the United States. It is equivalent to growing up in the United States and accepting the modern Western lifestyle. Not only did they start partying with their American classmates, they even The braids were cut.
The poor Manchus only had this ridiculous bottom line. After all, it was the strongest means they used to control all Han people.
So the Qing court couldn't bear it anymore. If they rebelled, they would all be summoned back to me! After the young children studying in the United States returned to their home countries, they were not only ignored at all, but were even condemned by all walks of life.
The "Shenbao" directly stated: "The state spared no expense to condemn the apprentices to go abroad. Who would have expected that they would not know how to recover after going abroad? The first time China went abroad, there was no aristocratic family. The children of giant merchants, those who were recruited were like The sons of Duozhuilu are of various origins. How can such people be able to learn from the West or learn about naval warfare and other matters." At that time, Rong Hong had a very difficult time gathering young children studying in the United States. Many of them were unwilling to go out at all, so he chose All of them were children from civilian backgrounds, so unexpectedly they became the ones being scolded.
Public opinion and reports scolded them because they felt that these people came from humble backgrounds, had no moral education, and were not worthy of much use.
For a long time, only some Han ministers and frontier officials such as Yuan Shikai, Zhang Zhidong, and Li Hongzhang were using them.
It wasn't until the Qing Dynasty was gone that it could really shine, but it had been too long. Huang Feihong took Li Yu to inspect the building where the preparatory class for young children studying in the United States was located. Twenty years later, the place had become very deserted, and the place was obviously not big enough.
After all, there are only 30 children in each batch of young children studying in the United States, and not all of them are in Guangzhou. For example, there is such a preparatory class in Shanghai.
Since it is called a preparatory class, and the students are all relatively young, so only English is taught, so naturally it does not require a large school building.
But Li Yu felt that this place was very meaningful.
"In the future, the schools run by the foundation will send a group of students to study in the United States. Choosing this place also has the meaning of inheritance." Huang Feihong asked: "I heard that the most powerful countries are in Europe, such as England and France. , why don’t you go there?” In the opinion of many people now, the strongest empire in the world is the Empire on which the sun never sets.
"Bring Ying". The United States, alone in the Americas, is still in the stage of quietly making a fortune and focusing on industry.
When it came to the fore in military and world disputes, it was after World War I, when a few loud slaps in the face initially woke up most of Europe.
Li Yu explained: "European education is of course very strong, and scientific research is also very strong. However, the education and scientific research environment in the United States is not bad now, and only learning English as a foreign language can also help streamline the curriculum. As for Europe, it is too scattered and strong countries Too much. If students spend more time learning French and German, it will take up too much time." Liu Yongfu said: "The emperor is right. I have fought with the French before, and they speak differently from the British. ." Huang Feihong suddenly said: "It turns out that there is still this level of consideration." Li Yu smiled and said: "These are objective reasons, and the most important one is of course because the foundation that provided the money is from the United States." Xie Yuxi was also quite satisfied with this place, but It's definitely a bit small and obviously not functional.
According to their expectations, the schools in each city must exceed one hundred acres, so there is enough land.
According to previous estimates in Tianjin, due to the difficulty of building high-rise buildings, one hundred acres of land, or more than 60,000 square meters, can only recruit 100 to 200 students each year on the premise of ensuring the source of students.
It seems that the place is not small. The stadium occupies more than 10,000 square meters. Even if the primary and secondary schools add up to nine years, it will reach a scale of one to two thousand people.
Teaching, canteens, scientific research buildings, libraries, office buildings, accommodation buildings, etc. all occupy a large area.
At this time, many schools adopted a boarding system. If the houses were built on one floor, the upper limit had indeed been reached.
Unless upgrades are slowly carried out in the future, more reasonable construction of multi-story college buildings will not be possible until China has a better grasp of reinforced concrete structures.
Li Yu also had considerations in choosing Yang Sisheng, Gu Lanzhou and others in Shanghai, and he had to let them grow up technically as soon as possible.
In short, it is to use limited means to make progress in supporting industries as much as possible. However, it may be more difficult for Yang Sisheng and Gu Lanzhou's construction business to enter Guangzhou.
Although he didn't know how to solve it for the moment, Li Yu was not too worried now, because even if Shanghai construction businessmen such as Yang Sisheng and Gu Lanzhou were unable to break the monopoly of local snakes and enter the Guangzhou market, they could still adopt a cooperative approach.
This is more efficient than finding a construction factory from scratch. After all, Li Yu himself is not a civil engineering major, so it would be an attempt to help Yang Sisheng and Gu Lanzhou master the reinforced concrete construction skills as soon as possible.
Some things have to be understood by themselves, and it is unrealistic for Li Yu to solve everything. Moreover, judging from the last contact, Li Yu felt that the professional level of Yang Sisheng and Gu Lanzhou was acceptable, and they could at least gain a foothold in the demanding Shanghai concession construction market.
Most of the areas currently being developed in Guangzhou are on the banks of the Pearl River, very close to the port. The terminals are very powerful and complicated. You must be familiar with the hidden lines, otherwise it will be difficult to intervene.
Fortunately, there is a big tree like Huang Feihong, so there is no problem in building a school. Xie Yuxi quickly finished moving around this small hospital and asked, "Are there any more places available?" Huang Feihong thought for a while and said, "I don't know much about the school. According to the information, there is also a Gezhi Academy nearby. It used to be a missionary school, but it was closed after two years of operation. It has been abandoned for more than ten years." This saves money, so Li Yu and Huang Feihong arrived again I saw this school building on 623rd Road today.
In front of you are two two-story buildings that combine Chinese and Western styles. The overall look is Western style, but the roofs use traditional Chinese pitched roofs.
Perhaps people from the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China looked quite foreign, but from the perspective of a modern person like Li Yu, at least the design was a bit nondescript.
But just from an architectural point of view, the two houses are indeed well built and usable, and they are not far apart.
The area in the middle of the key area is also undeveloped. If you buy it, you can connect it to almost 100 acres. Although the shape will be a bit irregular, it doesn't matter. You can save some money by using existing buildings. .
Li Yu said: "It looks very good, is it true that no one uses it?" Huang Feihong said: "This place was regarded as a Christian university by foreigners earlier, but the founders, Haba and his wife, both fell ill and returned to China, so they only opened Two years later, it was closed in the 16th year of Guangxu's reign." In fact, the Christian Church rebuilt Gezhi Academy in Haizhu District, but the name was changed to Lingnan University.
But the school building in front of them was indeed abandoned because Haba and his wife left. After all, the church did not expect that they would never return, and this area was delayed for too long.
Li Yu said: "It has been so long, if you want to obtain this land, you must have obtained the approval of the government?" Huang Feihong nodded and said: "That's true." The two pieces of land in Shanghai and Tianjin were both passed through before. It was bought by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau of the Concession. Now it will be a lot more troublesome to deal with the Qing government.
Li Yu suddenly felt a headache and asked, "I wonder if it can be done smoothly?" Huang Feihong knew Li Yu's concerns. After all, he was a veteran in Guangzhou. He had been in Guangzhou for a long time and knew the local situation. It's a bit troublesome, but I have a way." Li Yu quickly said: "Master Huang, please speak!" Huang Feihong said: "As the emperor's master, you can go beyond Guangzhou Prefecture and directly contact Cen Chunxuan, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, who is an official He is upright and upright, and he is a person who values new learning. I am sure he will be very interested in your approach to running a school." Cen Chunxuan was indeed a ruthless man with a very strong backing. When Cixi fled to Xi'an, he made a lot of contributions and was regarded by Cixi as a
"My own family". Cixi attaches great importance to this. Only one of his own people can be valued by him. It can also be said that
"Nepotism". However, Cen Chunxuan is a good official. As soon as he took office in Guangdong and Guangxi, he began to vigorously punish corrupt officials and was even crowned
The reputation of "official slaughter". He also attached great importance to reform. As early as when he was the governor of Shanxi, he and Timothy Richard founded the Shanxi University Hall, the predecessor of Shanxi University.
Now in Guangdong, where the atmosphere is more open, even more efforts are spared in promoting new learning. But when I came up to see him, it seemed that he still had some connections. Although Li Yu was called
"Emperor's Master", but without any official position, it is somewhat difficult to meet an unfamiliar feudal official. But he still had to give it a try. Li Yu said, "Where is the Governor's Mansion?" Huang Feihong smiled and said, "If you want to see the Governor, you need an intermediary to connect the lines." Li Yu said awkwardly, "It's so troublesome." Huang Feihong said, "But I I think this person would also like to see you." Li Yu asked: "Who is it?" Huang Feihong said: "Zheng Guanying, Master Zheng of Zuojiang Road." It turned out to be him, Li Yu said: "Please introduce Master Huang to you." Huang Feihong said the next day I contacted Zheng Guanying, who is still the person in charge of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway Land Purchase Company.
This company is not a company in the traditional sense. The construction of the Beijing-Hankow Railway is now in full swing. Zhan Tianyou is very busy and the progress is very gratifying. Except for some bridges crossing the river, most of the lines have been completed.
The construction of the Beijing-Hankong Railway immediately stimulated major cities to build railways one after another. It makes sense that Wuhan is called the thoroughfare of nine provinces. It is located in the middle of the map, so Guangzhou requested the construction of a Guangdong-Han railway to connect Wuhan and become an artery running from north to south in the future.
It just so happened that the Qing government also had this idea in the capital. Since ancient times, the Guangdong and Guangxi areas had not been very controlled. The sky was high and the emperor was far away, and a modern railway could strengthen the connection.
Of course, there is no technology to build a bridge across the Yangtze River now, so the Guangdong-Hankou Railway can only go to Wuchang on the south side of the Yangtze River.
The Beijing-Hankou Railway actually goes to Hankou Railway Station on the north side of the Yangtze River. It was not until 1957 that the two were connected via the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, and the name became the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway in later generations.
However, the construction process of the Guangdong-Hankong Railway was more complicated than the northern section of the Beijing-Hankong Railway. The Beijing-Hankong Railway would be fully opened to traffic in two or three years, while the Guangdong-Hankou Railway was not officially opened to traffic until 1936, thirty years later.
First of all, it was because the Qing government was too naive at first and gave up the right to build roads to an American company without even thinking about it.
However, the United States quickly transferred part of the road construction rights to Belgium. This was obviously a violation. In modern construction law, it is called illegal subcontracting. How could the main project be subcontracted?
At the beginning, Railway Minister Sheng Xuanhuai borrowed money from the United States through Wu Tingfang, the then Minister to the United States. The condition was that China could repay the debt 50 years later before taking back the railway management rights.
Doesn’t this mean that the United States can cut off China’s arteries at any time? The gentry and merchants of the three provinces of Guangzhou, Hunan, and Hubei that the railway passed through immediately quit and strongly demanded to regain the right of way.
Now we, including Japan's Shinkansen, have always wanted to develop overseas. We even want to build railways for others by providing interest-free loans and so on. In fact, our minds are busy.
Don’t think that we are being taken advantage of by building railways in Africa. But you can’t say too much about this kind of thing... Anyway, it’s just that you’re making a lot of money.
Zhang Zhidong also sided with the gentry and merchants of the three provinces and felt that the Guangdong-Hankong Railway could not be handed over to the Americans. Just now the United States had breached its contract again. After signing the contract, the construction period was delayed again and again.
In fact, they did not have the ability to build, so Zhang Zhidong and others asked for the right of way to be taken back from the perspective of safeguarding rights, and finally took back the right of way at a high price of US$6.75 million.
Although it costs a little more money, it will definitely be beneficial in the long run. There were not many railways at this time, but everyone knew the importance of railways. Later events caused by the road protection movement have always influenced the course of China's history.
