The office building of the Civil Affairs Yamen is a four-story masonry block building. There are twenty or thirty large and small departments upstairs and downstairs, and the offices are several times that number. When Shao Tianhu visited this place for the first time, he didn't know which department he should go to for consultation.
Fortunately, there is an information desk in the lobby on the ground floor to provide services to people who come here for business. Shao Tianhu stepped forward to ask which department he should go to for immigration-related matters.
After the receptionist asked him who he was and why he was here, he immediately gave him directions: "Sir, please go to the second floor, turn left, look at the sign at the door and look for the Department of Immigration Affairs."
After Shao Tianhu thanked him, he went up to the second floor and quickly found the Immigration Affairs Department according to the instructions.
However, the office of the Immigration Department is quite large. Standing at the door, you can see at a glance that there are dozens of desks inside. There are people working at most of the desks. Who should I look for next?
However, Shao Tianhu is not a timid person. He has been here since he was here, so he naturally has to do his best to achieve his goal. Dang Ji went up to the guy closest to the door and told him his purpose.
"From the Xingdao office? Are you here to consult on immigration matters?" The man looked him up and down, and then pointed him the way: "Go inside, across the screen, is Director Yu, the person in charge here. ”
Shao Tianhu followed the direction he pointed and walked to the depths of the office. As expected, there was a space separated by a screen. The person working inside was a middle-aged man with short hair.
Shao Tianhu took the initiative to step forward and reveal his identity and purpose. The director didn't have much airs about him. He stood up and reached out to shake hands with him, then asked him to sit down and talk.
"I have just arrived in Sanya to take up my duties, and I don't understand many things about immigration matters, so I came here to visit you today. I hope you can forgive me for my rudeness."
Shao Tianhu also knew that his rash visit might cause inconvenience to the other party, so he apologized to the other party after sitting down.
Director Yu responded: "Master Shao, you don't have to be polite. Before Master Luo and Master Tan went south, we were old acquaintances with me. Since Master Shao is from Xingdao, he is one of our own."
Director Yu, who is in charge of immigration affairs, is one of the first naturalized people to join the Chuanzhong, Yu Xiaobao, a son of a fisherman from Yulin Bay in Yazhou.
On the day the Travelers landed at Yulin Bay, father and son Yu Dashan and Yu Xiaobao were recruited as guides, which changed their lives.
Yu Xiaobao was sixteen years old, an age that was eager to learn, and he was lucky enough to receive a systematic education. In addition to learning a lot of knowledge that transcends the times, he also has many connections within the Yuanzhong, and has been reused as a result.
The boy who was a fisherman thirty years ago is now a high official in the imperial court who controls the immigration affairs of the empire. Yu Xiaobao is lucky, but he is only one of many successful examples during this period. Today, a considerable number of officials at his level are appointed by first-generation naturalized citizens.
But when it comes to Yu Xiaobao's personal relationship with Luo Jie and Tan Juren, it is actually far from what he calls "old acquaintances", that is, they just know each other. There was another reason why he said this to Shao Tianhu in such a situation.
However, Shao Tianhu didn't know the secret. Since the director was an old acquaintance of his boss and expressed his willingness to help, he could feel free to ask questions.
"Sir Yu, as far as I know, Xingdao has not been successful in recruiting immigrants in the country for many years. Apart from the office's own capabilities, is there any other reason for this?" Shao Tianhu decided to get straight to the point and rule it out first. The factor of office depends on how Yu Xiaobao will answer.
He has briefly discussed this issue with colleagues in the office before. The general view is that recruitment work will be restricted by many objective conditions, which will lead to poor results. But whether this was actually the case, he would like to hear more professional opinions.
Yu Xiaobao asked: "Master Shao, can you tell me first, what are the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness?"
This rhetorical question caught Shao Tianhu off guard, and he had to answer forcefully: "I looked at the relevant records of the office. Instead of seeing a significant increase in the number of immigrants introduced from the country every year, there has been a downward trend in recent years. Last year, the number of immigrants introduced from the country has not increased significantly. The number of immigrants recruited through the office is only between 400 and 500 households, with a total of about 2,000 people. This level should definitely not be called, right? ”
Yu Xiaobao nodded and said: "So Mr. Shao is judging the quality based on the number of people?"
Shao Tianhu responded cautiously: "Although it is a bit one-sided, it can at least be used as one of the reference standards."
Yu Xiaobao said: "Let's use this as the standard first. Among the overseas regions, the number of immigrants in Xingdao is indeed ranked low, but it is not the least. Judging from the data held by the Immigration Department, it is 100 kilometers away from Hainan. The farther away the overseas regions are from the island and the mainland, the fewer immigrants are recruited, so it is not the Star Island, but the North American region on the other side of the ocean.”
Shao Tianhu said: "The penultimate one is not much better."
Yu Xiaobao said: "But among the immigrants recruited by Xingdao from the country, the proportion of craftsmen, literati, sailors, and traders in these occupations is much higher than that of other regions. The quality is actually not bad. But in other regions, Most of the immigrants recruited are farmers.”
Shao Tianhu heard about this for the first time. After thinking for a moment, he responded: "This may be because Xingdao's agriculture is underdeveloped and the effect of recruiting farmers from the country is not ideal. However, Xingdao gives higher treatment to literati and technicians, and it is It is a place where sea trade flourishes, so it is more attractive to several other professions.”
Yu Xiaobao added: "Most of Xingdao's agriculture is based on collective farms and plantations. There are agricultural technicians to guide farming. As long as pure labor is introduced, other ethnic groups are fully qualified, so there is no need to spend a lot of money to start farming." Farmers are introduced into the country, but ethnic groups from various countries in the South China Sea may not be able to do other professions.”
Shao Tianhu said: "What Mr. Yu means is that Xingdao has a certain focus on recruiting immigrants from the country. It prefers to introduce people with technical background rather than farmers who are easier to recruit."
Yu Xiaobao nodded and said: "This is another interesting phenomenon. The farther away the overseas regions are from the mainland, the more focused the recruitment of immigrants will be on occupations that are scarce in the local area. This is the case with Star Island, and the farther away regions in North America Same thing.”
“But considering the favorable treatment and limited funds provided to attract such people to immigrate, the number of immigrants that can be recruited will not be too many.”
Shao Tianhu said: "But I heard that in addition, Xingdao needs to go through separate procedures to recruit immigrants in domestic areas, and there are many restrictions. Is this true?"