Volume 2: The crown and the hat are all over the capital, and the spirit is full of energy and enter the foggy city Chapter 136 Public School
Subtitle of this chapter: This Xiao Yuan is unusual
Zhang Dongsun flipped through the manuscript in his hand, raised his round-framed glasses and asked, "Brother Xuefan, do you know who this Mr. Hongjian is?"
"I know." Chen Wangdao replied, "Brother Dongsun, Zhongfu has asked someone and found out that among the students at NYU, the only one with the courtesy name Hongjian is Yuan Junyanshu. He is from Wuxi County and once studied at Hujiang University..."
In fact, the University of Shanghai is also a church school founded by the American Baptist Church.
One advantage of attending this university for Chinese students who aspire to study in the United States is that its degrees have been awarded by the state of Virginia since 1917 and are therefore recognized by universities across the United States.
Our Master Yuan went to New York University to study for a master's degree in economics with a bachelor's degree from Virginia and a letter of introduction from a priest professor. He didn't even have to take the entrance exam.
Speaking of which, among his alumni there was not only the famous Xu Zhimo, but also Li Gongpu and Mao Renfeng... a perfect match. Unfortunately, these two entered school too late and had no chance to meet this senior Yuan.
Editor-in-Chief Chen continued, "Last year, he was imprisoned on suspicion of involvement in the Wall Street bombing. He was tortured by the U.S. police and contracted sepsis, which nearly killed him. But good things happen to people. Not only did Yuan recover, he was cleared of all charges and became a well-known writer."
"As Brother Xuefan said, Mr. Yuan is indeed famous for that big case and the new writer. But..." Zhang Dongsun nodded first, then shook his head and said, "Your news is a bit old. Mr. Hongjian is not only a very popular writer, but also a great screenwriter of a movie with a budget of three million US dollars, and a great hero who defeated the British in a duel!"
"Three million dollars?! Defeat the British?!" No matter how well-mannered Chen Wangdao was, he was almost shocked by these two pieces of news.
What was the concept of three million dollars at that time? The imperial courtyard house purchased by the Zhou brothers was only equivalent to more than 1,700 US dollars, and the apartment building in the center of Magic City was only a few hundred US dollars... This number was really too exaggerated as a filming budget for a movie.
As for the duel and victory over the British, that was even more incredible, so the editor-in-chief Chen instantly concluded that Mr. Hongjian must be a master of Chinese martial arts.
Zhang Dongsun couldn't help but smile when he saw his expression. In fact, he was also thinking back to the time when he first learned the news. He was shocked.
Compared with Chen Wangdao, he had many more sources of information, especially news from the United States. At this time, Zhang Junmai and Lin Changmin were both in Europe.
"That's not all, Brother Xuefan. Mr. Sun read his article and personally praised Mr. Yuan for his high attainments in political science. He also asked someone to pass on a message to invite him to Guangzhou to take up a position. Oh... by the way, he also became the son-in-law of the Wei family in Nanyang."
The descendant of the demon said that Lao Zhang was full of scholarly spirit. That was why he was involved in the "treason case" after the founding of the country, and the descendant of the demon did let him go.
People at that time also praised him as a scholar-official of ancient times. So he repeatedly claimed to be out of politics since the May Fourth Movement, but he was always involved in the political situation throughout his life.
People like this, upon hearing about Master Yuan's wonderful deeds of "spreading literary talent overseas and promoting chivalrous spirit in foreign lands", would naturally yearn for him and wish to meet him immediately, shake his hand and take a photo with him. They are no different from the crazy fans of later generations.
That was why he paid so much attention to Yuan Yanshu's translation. Otherwise, with his current status, why would he come in person to get it?
In addition to this reason , Zhang Dongsun had another plan. He wanted to take this opportunity to get close to Yuan Yanshu, and then have the opportunity to invite him to be a professor at Shanghai China Public School.
In November 1905 (the 31st year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), in order to oppose the "Regulations Prohibiting Qing Students from Studying in Japan" promulgated by the Japanese Ministry of Education, more than 8,000 Chinese students studying in Japan in Tokyo went on strike in protest, and more than 3,000 students dropped out and returned home.
In February 1906, a large number of students who had studied in Japan returned to Shanghai and had no place to stay. Yao Hongye, Sun Jingqing and other students raised funds and rented a house at Yokohama Bridge, North Sichuan Road, Shanghai, to set up the Chinese Public School. Duan Fang, the governor-general of Liangjiang, allocated 1,000 taels of silver per month and sent Zheng Xiaoxu, a fourth-rank official in Beijing, as the supervisor.
In fact, the school was controlled by the Revolutionary Party and the Constitutionalists at that time. Hu Shi and Qiu Jin were both students of the school.
On April 10, 1906, the China Public School officially opened in Shanghai. In the same year, Hu Shi was admitted to the school.
In September 1908, due to the student movement, Hu Shi left the public school with some radical classmates and continued his studies at the New Public School. At the same time, he also served as an English teacher for the junior classes of the New Public School and also corrected essays. Later, the New Public School was short of funds and could not continue, so it negotiated a merger with the old public school, and most of the more than 160 students of the New Public School returned.
In October 1909, the New Chinese Public School merged with the Chinese Public School. In the same year, the Wusong Chinese Public School building was completed in Wusong Pao Taiwan (now Wusong Pao Taiwan Wetland Park).
In 1915, Liang Qichao became the chairman of the board. In the same year, Peking National University merged with Shanghai Wusong Chinese Public School and was named the Chinese Public School University Department.
This is the origin of Shanghai Chinese Public School.
Liang Qichao returned from Europe in 1920 and said, "I want to set up a university in Shanghai. It would be great if someone is willing to help me." So he and his colleagues took over the establishment of this university as a base for training talents.
After the reorganization, Xiong Xiling, the first democratically elected prime minister of the Republic of China, known as "Xiong Phoenix", served as the chairman of the board of directors, and Zhang Dongsun became the dean of the university department. At this time, there were also many famous people among the teachers of the school, such as Zhu Ziqing and Ye Shengtao.
Liang Qichao and others were very concerned about this matter. Liang Qichao himself said, "I will make this my lifelong career and will surely make great contributions to China." However, "What I feel most painful is the lack of talent in my party."
So, Lao Zhang discovered such a brilliant talent like Xiao Yuan, and when our Master Yuan learned the news , he must have been... hehe.
At this point, Zhang Dongsun thought of something and asked, "Brother Xuefan, please forgive me for being so presumptuous. May I ask how much you pay Mr. Hongjian for his writing?"
Chen Wangdao was stunned when he heard this, and after a pause, he said, "To be honest with you, Brother Dongsun, Zhongfu is the one who made the decision. The remuneration for "Wives and Concubines" is based on the highest standard of our magazine... 10 yuan per thousand words!"
Is ten yuan per thousand words high?
Let's put it this way. In 1920, the Commercial Press paid Liang Qichao 20 yuan per thousand words, the highest fee at the time. In comparison, Hu Shizhi's fee was only 4 yuan per thousand words.
The total number of words in the novella "Wives and Concubines" is more than 36,400, so the remuneration Master Yuan received was 360 silver dollars.
This was of course very high compared to the income of ordinary people at that time. For example, the librarian of Peking University only earned eight silver dollars a month.
But at that time, the purchasing power of one dollar was roughly equivalent to 50 RMB. If calculated in this way, Yuan Yanshu is now only paid 500 RMB per thousand words, not to mention being compared with top online writers like Wu Bai, and not even being considered a god.
When compared like this, it really makes one sigh.
