Chapter 272: The Appetizing Teacher Fang (2-in-1)
April 29, afternoon.
In the small auditorium of the University of Iowa, today we welcomed the collective speech of the Chinese group.
The order of speeches was Ru Zhijuan, Liu Wuxiong, Pan Yaoming, Wang Anyi, Bo Yang...
Fang Yan was arranged at the last stage, but Bai Ruoxue did not participate in the speech. Instead, we shoulder the burden of translation.
Except for Bo Yang who strongly requested that he speak in English, everyone else basically asked Bai Ruoxue to read the manuscript translated into English.
Pan Yaoming's English level is such that he can pronounce it by himself, but because his pronunciation is not good enough, he is afraid of affecting the effect, so he has to give up.
After all, the audience was full of people at this time.
There are crowds of people with different skin colors.
The international writing program’s group speeches have attracted more and more students to attend.
When the news of the Chinese writer's speech spread at the University of Iowa, more than 200 overseas Chinese and international students from all over the school came one after another. In less than a moment, the seats were full and even the aisles were filled with people.
Nie Hualing couldn't help but regret seeing this scene. He had known that he should have asked the school for a larger auditorium.
At a glance from the corner of my eye, I saw Xiao Qian and Wen Jieruo coming, accompanied by Paul Angel’s boss, Sean Michael, dean of the Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences and professor of the Department of History, and Jeffrey Walter, associate professor in the department and director of the Asia Center, among others.
The scene was so huge that Wang Anyi and others could not help but feel nervous.
Fortunately, it was Bai Ruoxue who recited for me, and it went very smoothly. That is to say, there were occasional small mistakes during the question and answer session.
But the flaws do not hide the good points. Most of the Chinese students were very supportive and applauded the most actively and fiercely.
That was until Bo Yang came on stage and gave a speech titled "Chinese People and Sauce Vat Culture" in English.
I can barely understand the dialect, but because I understand it, I feel even more uncomfortable.
But compared to the previous "ugly Chinese people", they have restrained themselves a lot. Apparently, they were forced to restrain themselves.
However, some remarks and questions and answers still caused an uproar.
It was like a flame thrown into a barrel of dynamite, instantly causing the entire auditorium to explode, especially among the Chinese community.
“Ruoxue, it’s time for us to play.”
Fang Yan glanced at Bai Ruoxue.
Bai Ruoxue took the manuscript, nodded solemnly, and followed him to the podium.
“I strongly disagree with some of the views expressed by the speaker just now!”
"The arguments I refute are all in the content of my next speech!"
Fang Yan cleared his throat, "Before that, let me tell you a historical story."
>"About 400 years ago, the emperor of the Aztec Empire in America sent the navigator Columbus After crossing the Atlantic, a new continent called Europe was discovered. In the next two hundred years, the Aztec Empire sent colonial troops and launched a bloody colonial massacre in Europe..."
A few sentences directly The students were confused and began to reflect on whether they had learned fake history.
You know, there is a statue of "Columbus" on the campus!
A black man in the crowd interrupted rudely: "You are wrong. Columbus was a European. What he discovered was the New World of America. It was Europe's colonial massacre of the Americas."
"Oh, really? ?”
Dialect asked: “Then why did Europeans go to America to colonize and not Americans to colonize Europe?”
A white man immediately asked. He replied: "Because Europe is more advanced than the Americas. When Europe embarked on its great voyages, it was about to enter the era of industrial civilization, while America was still a primitive agricultural society." , the starting points of civilization of ancient humans scattered around the world should be similar, but why didn’t the Americas enter industrial civilization first? ”
"Because..."
The black man was stunned for a moment. He had never encountered such a problem before.
"Then let me ask again." Fang Yan continued, "If human history were to be repeated, is there any possibility that it would be the Indians or Africans in the Americas who were the first to develop industrial civilization and have Colonial rule in Europe and Asia?”
The black man hesitated: “It’s possible.”
“No! It’s impossible!”
"Even if we could go back in time, it would only be Europeans or Asians who were the first to enter the industrial age, and then carry out colonial massacres in the Americas, Australia and Africa." Fang Yan said decisively, "This is one of the main points I want to talk about today!"
“Do you think Europeans and Asians are smarter?”
The black man did not sit down immediately, but asked: "So you mean, Europeans can enslave and colonize America and Africa?"
"Of course not, I don't think there are any differences between races. Difference, everyone is equal!"
Fang Yan knocked on the table and spoke decisively.
As soon as these words came out, he immediately won the favor of most people and dispelled the suspicion that he was a "racist".
Fang Yan looked around with a smile:
“Comparing all races in the world from the moment they were born, there is actually not much difference in IQ.”
“But Why did the world develop into what it is now? "
"And it will inevitably develop into what it is now? Writing, institutions, technology...these factors are not important, the most important thing is the development of agriculture."
The students in the audience showed puzzled expressions.
Fang Yan continued: "If human society wants to develop and reproduce, the prerequisite is to survive, and the only way to survive is by means of fishing, farming, hunting and nomadic herding."
"In ancient times, humans rarely settled in a certain place To survive and reproduce for a period of time, migration was necessary to obtain more abundant food sources. But agriculture changed all this. The development of agriculture brought about settlement. Settlement was a very important foundation and greatly improved the ability of primitive humans to fight against nature. . In addition to settling down, it is tame. Plants and animals were domesticated, plants were domesticated into grains, and animals were domesticated into poultry and livestock. This is the basis for the development of human society."
"Why do I say that even if we go back in time, it will still be Europe and Asia. Who took the lead in developing industrial civilization?”
“Let’s look at animals first. There are 14 species of large domesticated animals known today, 13 of which appear in Eurasia, including cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, etc. As for the Americas, it’s very Too bad, there is only one kind, called alpaca ”
"By the way, there are no horses in the Americas. The horses now in the Americas are the descendants brought by Europeans."
"Cows can be used for farming, and horses can be used for war and transportation, which greatly improves For Americans, they do not have horses and cattle, so they are inherently inferior to Europeans and Asians. , followed by plants. Domesticating plants is so critical.”
“Now, both in the East and the West, the staple food is plants. America and Africa are also very bad in this regard.”
“In primitive cultivation. Under certain conditions, domesticated plants in Eurasia can spread very quickly.”
"The Americas and Africa are vertical continents with very different climates at different latitudes. Mexico and the United States are now close to each other, but it took three thousand years for Mexican corn to spread to North America, and it also relied on the development of agricultural technology. In In the primitive agricultural era, it was impossible for corn to be grown on a large scale in North America. From this, we It can be concluded that Eurasia has inherent advantages. "The domestication of animals and plants allowed Eurasian humans to settle and develop complex social systems. A large number of people were freed from primary labor and had the energy and time to develop technology. , words, create guns and steel, and reach the lead step by step.”
“In addition, I would also like to mention bacteria, because they are related to animals.”
“The ancestors of Eurasian humans domesticated various animals and stayed with these animals for a long time. , accustomed to the germs on animals, the resistance to this kind of bacteria is greatly improved, and the immunity of this kind of bacteria is also inherited. Come down. When the European colonists conquered the Americas, they relied not only on advanced weapons, but also on the germs they brought with them. These germs were intractable to the Americans. They had never encountered them for generations, and they would immediately fall ill upon contact. It's often death..."
He talked in dialect for half an hour.
If you can speak, just speak more!
The students in the audience found it more interesting the more they listened.
Many people even have a feeling of clearing the clouds and seeing the sun.
Bai Ruoxue gradually felt tired. She spent too much energy on behalf of Wang Anyi and others, and her throat became hoarse.
As a result, the speed of translation has been greatly slowed down.
Seeing this, Nie Hualing was ready to replace her, but Xiao Qian did not expect that Xiao Qian would take action himself and be willing to be the translator for Dialect.
"Wow."
The students present applauded when they saw the guest professor coming on the stage.
Fang Yan felt flattered: "Mr. Xiao."
"That's very good, keep talking."
Xiao Qian said happily.
"According to you, both Europeans and Asians have advantages. Why will China lag behind Europe in the future?"
At this moment, a student suddenly asked.
Fang Yan said with a smile: "This is a good question. The advancement of Eurasia is a historical necessity, but the backwardness of the Chinese people is an accident of necessity. This involves China's geographical location, culture, and system. and other factors ultimately affected China’s decision on sea power and land power.”
Xiao Qian studied at Cambridge University and spoke with an authentic Cambridge accent.
“For thousands of years, because of the Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road, the needs of the East and the West have been highly complementary.”
"Silk, tea and porcelain are specialties of China. Due to the influence of the geographical environment, the entire West naturally lacks these animal and plant raw materials, and does not have the relevant production technology. For example, the production of silk requires mastering the technology of raising silkworms and reeling silk."
“ In addition, sericulture requires planting a large number of mulberry trees, which, like tea trees, are suitable for planting in low latitude areas. "
"The production of porcelain is more complicated. First, it requires kaolin raw materials, and second, it is necessary to master high-temperature firing of porcelain. technology, the third is to master the glazing process, silk The three major product industries of China, tea and porcelain are the most significant features of Chinese civilization surpassing Western civilization in the agricultural period."
"That's why Marco Polo in the 13th century said that the east was covered with gold."< br>
The topic of dialect changes , "But in fact, due to geographical environment, China is a country poor in gold and silver. It produces very little gold and silver. The reason why the Ming and Qing dynasties later adopted the silver standard as their currency system was mainly due to the European There was a massive inflow of gold and silver.”
"However, Europe is not rich in gold and silver."
"As a result, there has been a long-term trade deficit, silver outflows, gold and silver shortages, and barter-for-barter situations have even occurred in Europe."
< br>“Therefore, Europe was forced to make up its mind to cross the oceans, explore to the East, and frantically search for gold and silver.”
“So, then, What followed was a new era of global maritime trade in the process of human civilization. "
"The arrival of the Age of Discovery officially kicked off the development of sea power. When the Spanish came across the ocean. When they arrived in Mexico, they discovered an astonishing silver mine, and with the work of tens of thousands of Indian workers day and night, countless amounts of silver were mined.”
"Every year, tens of thousands of tons of silver travel across the ocean to Spain, and then flow throughout Europe."
"However, due to differences in the degree of domestication of animals and plants, as well as differences in related techniques, A large number of daily necessities such as silk, tea, and porcelain were still imported from the East. "
"In 1573 AD, the first Manila ship was loaded with American silver. The large sailing ship set sail from the Mexican port of Acapulco and headed straight for the Philippines. At that time, the Philippines was an international trade center, where products from the Far East were distributed. "
"It was the product unearthed in the Americas. The massive amount of silver enabled the world to have a universal currency when it first experienced economic integration.”
“That’s silver!”
"The textile industry, cotton spinning industry, printing industry, ceramics industry, shipbuilding industry, mining and metallurgy industry and many other handicraft industries in the Ming Dynasty have reached unprecedented heights. The huge demand for overseas trade has spawned a large number of handicraftsmen specializing in the textile industry, and also promoted The development of commercial towns has led to the emergence of capitalism in various countries in Eurasia. br>
“………”
“But!”
“When there were more and more porcelain in European courts, there was less and less silver available for circulation on the market. , for a time Spain, Portugal, Italy, Britain and even the Ottoman Empire, wherever they were contaminated with American silver, once again experienced silver shortages.”
Dialect changed the topic and combined it with the content of "General History of China".
“Around 1640, the decrease in silver flowing into China suddenly intensified. Silver imports from the Americas were reduced by half, and silver imports from Japan were reduced by nearly two-thirds. Silver had already triggered a turmoil on the other side of the world. The financial crisis across Europe. "
"The financial crisis in Europe caused the Manila galleon trade to shrink until it completely ceased. China lost its most important source of silver. The shortage of silver became a problem that plagued Europe and the Ming Dynasty, and it also brought the East and the West to a historical point of life and death. "
"The West continued to move towards sea power, so there was the Dutch sea coachman. Britain is an empire on which the sun never sets. "
"In the east, the Ming Dynasty, where sea power was budding, collapsed due to a financial crisis and was replaced by the Qing Dynasty, which respected land power..."
"Wow!"
Hearing this, Sean Michael was surprised: "This young man has knowledge and insights beyond his years!"
"He is one of the current Chinese youths. ”
Paul Angell introduced dialect to his colleagues and superiors.
Fang Yan said with a smile: "Despite this, China will eventually revive and will surely rise again, because China has a very profound accumulation of heritage, and not just anyone can lose everything in one or two hundred years."
"However, because the topic discussed today is the superiority and inferiority of nations, I will not make too many extensions to avoid going off topic. I will consider writing all the specific discussions in my new book."
"What!?"
Everyone who was listening to the intracranial orgasm immediately screamed "Ah" in shock, not satisfied with it at all.
No!
Isn’t it?
How can it be stopped here?
Bai Ruoxue looked at Teacher Fang who was whetting their appetites, the corners of her mouth twitched, her old habit was back! Out of context again!
Every time I watch it with excitement, it stops at the most exciting part, and the whole mood is aroused.
(End of this chapter)