Chapter 268 The Future of Borneo (Fourth update, please subscribe)
Borneo is different from any other place.
At this time the land was vast and the population was sparse.
If you want to develop, you must introduce a large number of immigrants. After all, whether it is a plantation economy or an industrial economy, you need a lot of manpower.
However, introducing immigrants can only solve temporary problems. If you want to fundamentally solve the problem, you still have to rely on self-reproduction.
How to reproduce a population?
This problem seems complicated, but in fact it is not complicated at all. It can even be said to be very simple. It is nothing more than a man and a woman forming a family and then having children.
It sounds simple, but in fact it is not that easy. Historically speaking, most of the Tang people who went to Nanyang were men, because the traditional thinking in Tangshan was that men traveled everywhere and women educated themselves at home. Children, and this also means that the immigrants introduced by Bornaya are the same as in the past, and most of them are men.
Even if in order to ensure gender balance, two-thirds of the immigrants are couples by giving salary increases to couples, there are still one-third singles.
So many bachelors are not only potential dangers, but will also affect the future of Borneo, because bachelors cannot reproduce, and Borneo will definitely make great economic progress in the future. It may even become a developed country, but if this problem cannot be solved, it will all be empty talk.
Finally, when these immigrants grow old, Borneo is likely to fall into the dilemma of insufficient labor and population.
Insufficient population, compared to industry and agriculture, is the biggest crisis that Borneo faces now and in the future.
Population is directly related to the future of Borneo!
“How to increase the population, how to ensure that our population is getting larger and larger?”
In the conference room, Li Yian looked at several officials from the Office present,
"Today's meeting has only this topic."
Participating in the meeting were Cheng Jide, Director of the Labor Department, Tian Yongzhe from the Reclamation Department, Zhao Rui from the Education Department, and Ding En from the Security Bureau. Looking at them, Li Yian said.
“If you want to increase the population, it’s not just immigration, nor just how many children a couple has, but ensuring that every worker can find a wife.”
mentioned” When every worker finds a daughter-in-law," Li Yi'an continued to ask in a deliberately emphatic tone.
“I have a figure here. Taking North Borneo as an example, in the past half century, about 245,000 Chinese workers were introduced, of which about 50,000 died of disease, and about 195,000 were left. Of these workers, only 50,000 have returned to the country. In other words, at least 140,000 overseas Chinese have stayed in Borneo. According to our statistics, there are currently only 56,000 households and 187,000 overseas Chinese in North Borneo. , in addition to the teenagers born locally in these years, there are about 10,000 indigenous women married to Chinese! Then the question is, after excluding local births, there are less than 80,000 first-generation immigrants, so what is left? Where did the 60,000 yuan go?”
While talking, Li Yian took out several photos, which were photos of the cemetery. Each tombstone had square characters written on it, writing the place of origin and age of the deceased.
“Because they had no heirs, they finally died of poverty and illness in the guild hall when they were old and lost their labor force.”
As the root of the “hui party”, the guild halls in various places are not without any role. It also has the function of providing for the elderly. In fact, many overseas Chinese join the party for another purpose. In order to provide for themselves when they are old, when they are young, they pay a few cents or one yuan in membership fees to the party every month. When they are old, When they are weak and unable to work, they will live in the guild hall and take care of themselves in the guild hall. After their death, the guild hall will send the bones back to their hometown for burial. At this time, the guild hall plays the role of a nursing home.
The reason for this is because not everyone has the opportunity to earn money and return home in fine clothes. Those who return home in fine clothes are always in the minority. Even the ashes cannot be transported back to the country. They can only be buried in a foreign land and buried in a guild hall. In the cemetery.
From this point of view, the guild hall has a positive role in allowing the elderly and frail overseas Chinese to have some kind of care for themselves. This is also the reason why Li Yi'an strictly prohibited party formation while allowing the existence of guild halls.
All of you here are no strangers to the "Yu Chong". In fact, when we were expanding Sandakan, we encountered the "Yu Chong" blocking the road. In the end, Li Yi'an made the decision to "not disturb the spirits of the ancestors." The decision was made and the plan was revised. Of course, this was only limited to the Overseas Chinese Cemetery.
“So, I invite you here today because I hope that everyone can work together and think about how to solve the problem of labor wives. If this problem is not solved, this kind of thing will still happen. We can’t continue to do it forever. The introduction of immigrants into the country ultimately depends on oneself and the self-reproduction of immigrants.”
After posing the problem to everyone, Li Yian leaned back in his chair and waited for their suggestions.
Why did he specifically mention the problem of Chinese workers? Because the numbers are so shocking - almost half of the Chinese workers have just disappeared in the long river of history. "If we can't solve the problem of our daughters-in-law, then, "Yi Tomb" It will only get bigger in the future, and what about the population problem? ”
"Well, this problem is not easy to handle."
Cheng Jide said,
"After I took charge of the Labor Department, I visited the guild hall and learned from the guild hall host and the old overseas Chinese. I learned that in fact, they have tried every means to solve women's problems, usually by buying, but buying... is always limited. It is a reality that there are more men than women in the country. Unless women are desperate, otherwise Who is willing to sell themselves overseas?”
Actually, Cheng Jide did not say that many of the women he bought became prostitutes-the Hui Party was more willing to marry them than to marry Chinese workers. Women have become cash cows, and they will even rob the wives of overseas Chinese and send them to brothels. This is another evil side of the party. This is why Li Yi'an strictly prohibits the presence of compatriots in the teahouse, just to fundamentally put an end to all this.
“Well,”
Nodding, Li Yian did not speak, but looked at them, waiting for the solution they gave.
Soon everyone started talking one by one.
“I thought I could set up textile factories, garment factories and other factories, recruit female workers from China, and fundamentally alleviate the gender ratio. Our salaries are still very competitive in China!”
“Yes, this is a fundamental solution to the problem.”
“Although it is difficult to recruit female workers, it is better to recruit them than not.”
"Also, these factories or female workers' dormitories should not be too far from male workers, so as to create more opportunities for contact..."
Everyone's suggestions were soon adopted one by one. In fact, these The work has always been done, but it has not been included in the special topic. Now it has not only become the focus of everyone's discussion, but will also become the central work of labor in the future. In short, it is to balance the sex ratio as much as possible to ensure the fertility rate.
After everyone's suggestions were almost finalized, Li Yian glanced at Ding En. He had always trusted Ding En very much and even put him in the position of the director of the Security Bureau, and asked .
"Ding En, what do you think?"
Faced with Chief Li's inquiry, Ding En said.
"What everyone said is very good and can solve some problems. Maybe we can recruit a lot of female workers here. That's for sure. After all, people always have to eat. The income here is high, so there must be people who are willing to come here. Although there are not many, after all, women are different from men. They do not need to support their families, and the risk of a woman going to Southeast Asia is so high. How many people are willing to take the risk? Even if they are willing, they only need to wait at home for the men to arrive from Borneo? Just marry them when you return to your hometown in good clothes. So, what if the women are still not worthy enough?”
Ding En’s question is to the point. In fact, even if they are given high wages now, not all women are willing. I left my hometown to come here, because for most women, just marrying a man is enough, and they don't think too far ahead.
The reason why a man is willing to leave his hometown is because he wants to give his family a better life, including his future wife. Well, that means women only need to wait at home for these men to return home in fine clothes.
In this case, why bother leaving home?
The sharp answer made the atmosphere in the conference room a little dull.
This answer is really a bit too heartbreaking.
But everyone knows that he is telling the truth - women are indeed different from men.
At this moment I heard him continue.
“I read in the newspaper a few days ago that there have been several weddings held at St. Michael and All Angels Church almost every day recently, and many nurses have married company employees or soldiers...”
(End of this chapter)