Chapter 1034 1033 [Omissions]

In China in 1943, apart from the Anti-Japanese War, there was another war without gunpowder, that is, the battle between Britain and the United States for cultural influence on China.

Last year, U.S. Special Envoy Fairbank called Roosevelt, hoping that the U.S. government would improve Sino-U.S. cultural relations, conduct scientific research on Chinese education, and send American scholars to Chinese universities for exchanges, etc., and received Roosevelt’s full support. As for helping Chinese scholars solve their living difficulties, it was only part of Fairbank's plan.

Before Fairbank proposed this plan, Bufield, the cultural counselor of the British embassy, ​​was already working on it, and this was the main reason why Roosevelt expressed his support for Fairbank.

Up to now, the British have directly established the Sino-British Science Cooperation Museum, which has greatly strengthened the cultural influence of the UK on China. Fairbank couldn't sit still anymore. Only one week after the official establishment of the Sino-British Science Cooperation Museum, he suggested that the US ambassador to China, Gauss, act as soon as possible, and was authorized by the US government to invite a large number of Chinese scholars to the US for exchange activities.

The first batch of six scholars invited to the United States are Jin Yuelin, Fei Xiaotong, Cai Qiao, Liu Naicheng, Zhang Qiyun and Xiao Zuoliang. Among them, Jin Yuelin is a philosopher, Fei Xiaotong is a social anthropologist, Cai Qiao is a physiologist, Liu Naicheng is a jurist, Zhang Qiyun is a geographer, and Xiao Zuoliang is a political scientist, covering all aspects of Chinese academic circles.

This cultural influence strategy was designed for the long term, and was later extended to the field of culture and art. For example, the fourth batch of invited scholars included writer Lao She, playwright Cao Yu, cartoonist Ye Qianyu, and dancer Dai Ailian.

The Yankees even included the Communist Party in the invitation scope. The Communist Party planned to send four scholars to the United States, but due to various complicated reasons, they failed to travel in the end.

Zhou Hexuan was not invited, because he himself had various exchanges in the United States before, and Roosevelt couldn't afford to waste that money.

Although Chang Kaishen did not agree to Fairbank's payment of living expenses to Chinese professors, he attached great importance to Fairbank's invitation of Chinese scholars to visit the United States. He asked his secretary Chen Bulei to be in charge of this matter, and solemnly conducted five days of training for the invited scholars. The content of the training is very simple, that is, to teach the scholars basic diplomatic etiquette, and stipulate that things that damage China's image cannot be said, and things that damage China's image cannot be done, etc.

At the end of the training, Chang Kaishen personally hosted a banquet for the six scholars and presented his own autographed photo.

In July, Fairbank brought the first batch of visiting scholars to the Zhou Mansion.

Zhou Hexuan was naturally entertained with good food and wine, and spent two days discussing with these scholars.

Fairbank said: "The Sino-US scholar exchange program is to strengthen mutual understanding between China and the United States in the field of culture and technology. Now most Americans don't know much about China, and some Americans even think that Chinese people still have braids. We The first step of the exchange plan is to let the United States know China. Here, I would like to choose Mr. Zhou’s "Fifteen Years of Wanli" as one of the books exchanged between Chinese and American scholars."

"Of course there is no problem. I will let Mike Lauer Books publish the English version. I have already done the translation of the manuscript." Zhou Hexuan said.

Fei Xiaotong suddenly said: "Mr. Zhou, I have some rough opinions on "Fifteen Years of Wanli"."

Zhou Hexuan said: "Please tell me."

"With all due respect, your masterpiece focuses too much on the civil service system, while ignoring the influence of local self-government forces on Zhang Juzheng's reform," Fei Xiaotong added, "Of course, this is just my humble opinion. Too concerned."

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "The local autonomy of the Ming Dynasty is also a subsidiary product of the civil service system?"

Fei Xiaotong shook his head and said: "Of course the local autonomy of the Ming Dynasty was related to the civil service system, but it was not created by the civil service system. In fact, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial power could go down to the counties and to the countryside. According to Zhu Yuanzhang's The idea is that the local government collects land taxes and servants according to the Lijia household registration system. Most of the land taxes are handed over to the central government, and a small part is left to the local government. The local government in the early Ming Dynasty had relatively loose powers, and the power of the local gentry much smaller."

"Please continue." Zhou Hexuan listened carefully, and he didn't read all history books.

Fei Xiaotong continued: "The local governments in the early Ming Dynasty had power and money, so they could do many things, such as water conservancy, education, transportation, charity, public security, etc. Due to the increasing annexation of land, the taxes that local governments can receive Fewer and fewer, when there is no money, they can only give up part of their rights and functions, and turn to the power of the gentry and clan to undertake local public affairs. This method saves money and trouble for the local government, so it is actively recognized and encouraged, and the gentry and clan gradually Taking over the control and management of the grassroots society, even the government has to rely on the gentry to collect taxes."

"I see." Zhou Hexuan suddenly understood.

Fei Xiaotong also said: "Actually, Zhang Juzheng did not initiate the 'One Whip Method', but because the local taxation was too messy, and the county governments in the south adjusted it spontaneously according to the actual situation. Zhang Juzheng summarized this tax adjustment method as a national tax adjustment method. It can be seen that many capable local officials at that time still wanted to take back the power of grassroots management. Zhang Juzheng’s reform was not unsupported, but his reform methods were too radical, which caused a collective reaction from officials and gentry. "

"Thank you for your advice. I am going to revise "The Fifteen Years of Wanli", and a revised version will be published in a few months." Zhou Hexuan said.

Fei Xiaotong didn't expect Zhou Hexuan to accept dissent so humbly, he quickly said: "There is no need to revise. There are no major mistakes in Mr. Zhou's original work, just a few omissions."

"If you can change it, you can change it. What you said is a big problem." Zhou Hexuan has already changed Huang Renyu's original version a lot, but the experts still pointed out the shortcomings. Moreover, Fei Xiaotong is not a professional historian, but a sociologist and anthropologist.

Zhang Qiyun praised: "Mr. Zhou is worthy of being a master, and his rigorous academic attitude is enough to be a model for me."

Zhang Qiyun is the originator of China's "human geography" and "historical geography". He studied under Liu Boming, a master of philosophy, Zhu Kezhen, a master of geography, and Liu Yizheng, a master of history. Minority studies such as Manchu studies, Mongolian studies, etc.

Zhou Weilie's geography textbook in high school was edited by Zhang Qiyun. He also co-edited high school physics textbooks with Dai Yungui, and co-edited high school English textbooks with Lin Yutang. These three textbooks were adopted by most of China's high schools during the Anti-Japanese War.

At the beginning of 1949, Chang Kaishen didn't know where to go, so he asked Zhang Qiyun for advice.

Zhang Qiyun hesitated for a long time, and finally said a word: "The best policy is to retreat to Taiwan!"

Chang Kaishen was startled, and immediately called Zhang Qiyun to the secret room for a detailed discussion.

Before that, Chang Kaishen had three choices, namely retreat to the southwest, Hainan or Taiwan. However, most of the bureaucrats and generals of the Kuomintang tend to retreat to the southwest, and the bottom line is to occupy Sichuan, stick to the advantages of mountains and rivers, and wait for good opportunities.

In fact, this is easy to understand. The Japanese invaders were so powerful that they could not invade Sichuan, and the Communist Party naturally could not do it. The officials of the national government think so, and the big deal is to rule the "Bashu Kingdom" in the future.

Only Zhang Qiyun urged Chang Kaishen to retreat to Taiwan, and analyzed the consequences of various choices in detail. Chang Kaishen was persuaded by Zhang Qiyun on the spot.

Because of his meritorious speeches, Zhang Qiyun has been on the rise all the way since Chiang Kai-shek withdrew to Taiwan. He has successively served as the director of the Secretary Group of the National Party President's Office, the Minister of Publicity of the National Party Central Committee, and the Minister of Education of the Taiwan authorities. Before that, Zhang Qiyun was only a specially appointed professor of the National Government's Ministry of Education.

Without Zhang Qiyun's advice and suggestions, Lao Jiang would have been entrenched in the Sichuan separatist regime to resist, and there would be no cross-strait problems.