The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Northern France, Somme.

City of Noyelles.

To be precise, it should be called the "town" of Noyelle, and the entire town has less than 600 residents.

It is, however, a "city" and has its own mayor.

Just after New Year's Day in 1930, Zhou Hexuan came to this small town in northern France together with embassy staff, architect Le Corbusier, and representatives of Chinese laborers in Paris.

In the Chinese settlement on the left bank of the Seine River in Paris, there are nearly 2,000 Chinese who were Chinese laborers who aided France. They heard that Zhou Hexuan was going to build a cemetery for the sacrificed Chinese workers, so they spontaneously signed up to be guides.

Everyone first came to Amiens by train, and then transferred to a car to Noyelles.

On the way, Chen Ying pointed to an abandoned railway in the distance and said: "That railway was built by Chinese workers, and it went all the way to the front lines of the European War. Back then, I built the railway for about a month, and German planes came to bomb it every few days. Many Chinese labor brothers died along the railway, and they were basically buried on the spot. If possible, their bones can be collected along the railway.”

The staff of the accompanying embassy shook their heads and said, "The amount of work is too large, and even if the bodies are dug up, there is no guarantee that they are Chinese laborers, and they may also be British and French soldiers who died in battle."

"Then...forget it." Chen Ying regretted.

Zhou Hexuan didn't know much about the history of the Chinese laborers who aided France. He only knew that there was a Chinese laborer named Zhang Changsong who stayed in France. During World War II, Zhang Changsong and several sons (13 children in total) joined the army at the same time, and both father and son fought against the German invasion. After his second son retired from the army, he also became a French football star, joined the French national team, and participated in two Olympic games.

When the French of later generations mentioned the Chinese laborers who aided France, they would inevitably use Zhang Changsong and his son as propaganda, so their stories were widely spread. As for this moment, Zhang Changsong is still working as a blaster in a coal mine in France, and his football star son is not yet 10 years old.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, everyone arrived in Noyelle.

Mayor Henri de Valicour led more than 500 residents of the city to stand in line at the entrance of the town to greet them, and they even held a banner: Welcome Chinese friends!

After everyone got out of the car, Mayor Henry warmly greeted him, shook hands with Zhou Hexuan, and said, "You are Mr. Zhou, right? I am Henry de Valicour, Mayor of Noyelles. I welcome you very much."

"Mr. Mayor, hello!" Zhou Hexuan nodded and smiled.

The Chinese laborer Zhang Dahua who accompanied him as a guide suddenly shouted: "Mr. Heng, do you still remember me?"

"You are..." Mayor Henry slapped his head violently, "I remembered, you are Zhang who is in charge of sweeping the street!"

Although most of the Chinese laborers at that time were locked up in the camps, some still had frequent contact with the residents of the town, for example, there were two street sweepers. In addition, there are also those who burn boilers for the British and French agencies stationed in the small town, and those who deliver food and cook, all of whom live in the small town for a long time.

Zhang Dahua smiled and said, "Mr. Heng, I have learned to speak French now."

"It's really nostalgic to hear someone call me Mr. Heng," Mayor Henry said with emotion. "I still remember that since you came here, the town has become much cleaner, and you have always been so hardworking. By the way, I am planning to gift!"

The residents of the town pushed a small cart full of apples. Mayor Henry smiled and said, "I remember that you like apples the most. At that time, you bought all the apples in the town, and one apple sold for a high price of 3 francs."

That was 3 francs before World War I, equivalent to a day's wages of ordinary Chinese workers (Chinese workers' daily wages were 1.5 to 4.5 francs).

Although the people at the bottom of China are hard-working and frugal, they will inevitably become extravagant in the situation where they can't see the future. Shandong is an apple-producing area. Many Chinese laborers have only seen apples before going abroad, but have never eaten apples.

After arriving in France, the Chinese laborers fell in love with apples crazily. Firstly, they wanted to experience the deliciousness of apples, and secondly, they missed their hometown.

In the end, the apples in the small town were sold out, and many Chinese workers would rather use the wages they earned from working more than ten hours a day to buy apples at a high price to try out the early adopters. There was an apple dealer in the town who got rich because of it, and has now moved to live in the big city.

Mayor Henry personally stuffed the apples into Zhou Hexuan's hands.

Several Chinese workers couldn't wait to gnaw on the apples, as if recalling their experiences back then, tears flowed down their cheeks.

Mayor Henry said to Zhou Hexuan again: "Mr. Zhou, on behalf of this city, I present you with the Medal of Honorary Citizen. Please be sure to accept it."

"My honor." Zhou Hexuan smiled.

Under the witness of the accompanying reporters, Mayor Henry pinned the Medal of Honorary Citizen on Zhou Hexuan's chest. Although this "city" only has more than 500 residents, it is still a city anyway.

In the afternoon, Zhou Hexuan visited the Huagong Hospital and the Lunatic Asylum under the leadership of the Huagong guide.

These two buildings have been abandoned for a long time, the steps are covered with moss, and all the sufferings have been sealed in history.

Zhou Hexuan picked up a pole in the grass. The pole was made of wood, and the whole body was rotten and weathered into black rotten wood. It seemed to be silently telling the situation of the year.

Chen Ying pointed to the woods far away from the wheat field and said: "Mr. Zhou, more than 200 Chinese labor brothers are buried in the woods. Those who erected wooden monuments back then all have names and surnames."

Zhou Hexuan nodded and said, "All of them will be buried here and buried in the cemetery together with other Chinese workers."

Designer Le Corbusier also got to work and began to check the situation on the spot. He turned around twice, came back and said to Zhou Hexuan: "Mr. Zhou, I suggest that the madhouse be demolished. Although the Huagong Hospital has also been abandoned, the main building is still relatively stable. After repairs, it can be used as a Huagong Museum."

"Chinese Labor Museum? This idea is very good." Zhou Hexuan said.

Le Corbusier is not only an architect, but also an architectural planner. He said: "My initial idea is to open up the wasteland in the south as a cemetery, which may occupy a small amount of farmland, and the monument will be built in museums and cemeteries. The location is south of the middle. According to your request, the gate is built facing the east, and a statue of Chinese workers can be set up at the entrance, and one on each side of the road. If you build the cemetery according to this idea, including the museum, the total cost may be 5 million over francs."

5 million gold francs, according to the current exchange rate, is about 200,000 oceans, which Zhou Hexuan can still afford.

Of course, there is also the cost of finding and burying the remains of the Chinese workers, which is also a huge expense.

But, the economic crisis in the United States will spread to France in a few months. At that time, the cemetery will almost start construction, just to save some budget, and cheap workers can be hired casually.

In the next half month, Zhou Hexuan began to give lectures in France. If he wants the French to pay attention to Chinese workers and the French to respect the Chinese in France, he has to accept the invitation of French universities to save face. After each lecture, he would bring up the achievements of Huagong, making Huagong's deeds more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

The effect of this approach is very good. At least many students and teachers in colleges and universities have greatly changed their impression of the Chinese.

From the university in Paris, Zhou Hexuan has been giving lectures to Strasbourg, which is close to the German border.

At the Second University of Strasbourg, Zhou Hexuan met with two historians of the Annals School, Feffer and Bloch, and the three had in-depth academic exchanges. At the same time, Feffer and Bloch also accepted the invitation and agreed to serve as honorary members of the Peking Research Institute and to go to China for academic exchanges this summer.

Although Feffer’s school of yearbooks has been in turmoil, to be honest, it still belongs to the non-mainstream faction in the history circle. The mainstream of European historiography today is the positivist historiography represented by Comte, and the Ranke School represented by Ranke.

In particular, the Rank School had a great influence in China. Chinese historiography research in the 1930s followed the line of the Rank School, and all the historians in the middle of the Republic of China can be called Rank's disciples and grandchildren.

Zhou Hexuan stayed in Strasbourg for three days and was about to leave when the Chinese Minister to Germany and the University of Berlin suddenly sent invitations, hoping that he could also visit Germany.

This was the case during the Republic of China. Due to inconvenient transportation, it was very difficult to travel far.

Therefore, no matter which country the scholars travel across continents, they should travel around as much as possible. Last year, when Zhang Boling went to Europe to give lectures, he traveled to several countries in one go. It seemed that he was losing money and wasting expensive tickets if he didn't travel much.

Zhou Hexuan happily went to Berlin, and unexpectedly met a big man——Einstein.