amaotonovel Chapter 1257 Hope
Chapter 1257 Hope
Chapter 1257 Hope
As literary giants such as Lu Xun, Qian Xuantong, and Hu Shi successively published apology letters in newspapers and periodicals such as "New Youth" and "Morning Post," the entire city of Beijing was shaken.
While the public was amazed, they were also extremely curious about Qin Hao—how exactly did he manage to simplify more than 3,000 commonly used Chinese characters in just a few days? Did those simplified characters really retain the spirit of Chinese characters and become easier to write and learn, as Lu Xun and others said?
Students from universities in Beijing were the first to be unable to contain themselves.
Students from prestigious universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Beijing Normal University wrote to the Ministry of Education, demanding that simplified Chinese characters be incorporated into the education system as soon as possible. However, the Ministry of Education ignored these letters and didn't even bother to reply. This bureaucratic attitude thoroughly enraged these passionate young people.
"The bureaucrats are high and mighty and don't care about education at all!" a Peking University student shouted angrily.
“Since they won’t listen, let’s go ask them face to face!” Another student slammed his fist on the table and stood up.
So, in the biting cold wind, the first group of students gathered in front of the Ministry of Education. They wore thin cotton robes, their breath condensing into frost in the cold wind, yet they still stood tall, holding banners that read "Promote Simplified Characters, Popularize New Education," and protested loudly.
Initially, education officials simply stood by and watched, with some even scoffing, "It's just a few students making a fuss; they'll be done in a couple of days."
However, they underestimated the determination of these young people.
Two days later, the number of protesting students not only didn't decrease, but actually increased. Students from various universities rushed to support them, and the group quickly grew from an initial dozen or so to over a hundred. The banners grew longer and longer, the slogans grew louder and louder, and they even attracted the attention of newspaper reporters.
"Extra! Beijing university students protest against the Ministry of Education's inaction!" Newspaper vendors' cries echoed through the streets and alleys.
The Ministry of Education officials panicked and immediately called Education Minister Jiang Menglin, who was in Nanjing. Upon hearing the report, Jiang Menglin slammed his fist on the table and roared, "A bunch of good-for-nothings! You can't even calm the students? Do you know how much public pressure we're under?!"
The officials fell silent, forced to ask, "Then... Minister, what do we do now?"
Jiang Menglin took a deep breath, suppressing his anger: "Go and invite Mr. Heqing to take charge! He is a leading figure in academia, and the students trust him!"
When Mr. Cai rushed to the Ministry of Education, the scene before him filled him with both heartache and relief.
Hundreds of students stood in the wind and snow, their cheeks red from the cold, yet their gazes remained resolute. Some rubbed their hands together to warm them, others stamped their feet to keep warm, but no one flinched.
"Mr. Cai is here!" someone shouted, and the students immediately surrounded him.
"Mr. Cai, why has the Ministry of Education been so slow to respond to our demands?"
"Simplified Chinese characters are clearly beneficial to the country and its people, so why aren't they promoted?"
Mr. Cai raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet and said gently, "Students, I have heard your requests. Simplifying Chinese characters involves every aspect of teaching and cannot be accomplished overnight. Please give the Ministry of Education some more time."
His attitude calmed the students down a bit.
“Mr. Cai, we are not being unreasonable. We just hope that simplified Chinese characters can be used in education as soon as possible so that more people can benefit,” a female student wearing glasses said earnestly.
Mr. Cai nodded: "I understand. In this regard, I assure you all in my personal capacity that the Ministry of Education will convene a seminar on simplified Chinese characters in three days, inviting scholars from all walks of life to discuss this matter together."
Upon hearing this, the students finally smiled.
At this moment, a Peking University student asked loudly, "Mr. Cai, will Mr. Bai Zihan participate?"
Mr. Cai smiled slightly: "He is the initiator of simplified Chinese characters. If he doesn't participate, what's the point of holding a seminar?"
The students immediately cheered.
Another student followed up, "Mr. Cai, after the seminar, could you please invite Mr. Bai to give a lecture at Peking University?"
Mr. Cai thought for a moment and smiled, “I need to ask Han for his opinion. He has always been indifferent to fame and fortune and may not be willing to show his face in public. But don’t worry, I will do my best to persuade him.”
Upon hearing this, the students from Peking University excitedly clapped and celebrated, while students from other universities cast envious glances.
……
Three days later, a large crowd gathered in front of the Ministry of Education's conference hall. A light snow was falling in Beijing that morning, the gray sky hanging low, but it couldn't dampen the students' enthusiasm. Qin Hao had just stepped off the rickshaw when he was surrounded by a group of young people wrapped in cotton robes. They clutched notebooks, their breath condensing into frost in the cold wind, but their eyes shone with fervent light.
"Mr. Bai! Can I get your autograph?" A girl wearing round-framed glasses squeezed to the front, her fingers, red from the cold, gripping the pen tightly.
Qin Hao had a fleeting illusion that he had traveled back to the future. He took the pen and wrote the four characters "The sea of learning is boundless" on the notebook's title page. The girl held it to her chest as if it were a precious treasure, eliciting envious exclamations from her companions.
More arms reached out from all directions, offering him notebooks, textbooks, and even handkerchiefs.
"Dear students," Qin Hao was about to speak when he was drowned out by a chorus of questions.
"Mr. Bai, how much do you think simplified Chinese characters can reduce our country's illiteracy rate?"
When will the new edition of textbooks use simplified Chinese characters?
Mr. Cai stood on the steps watching this scene, his coat already covered in a layer of snowflakes. As Qin Hao struggled to his feet, he winked mischievously, "Zihan's quite the hot commodity these days."
The conference hall was nicely heated, but it couldn't dispel the tension of the debate. Around the oval mahogany conference table, more than thirty scholars sat on either side. Qin Hao noticed Lu Xun sitting by the window, his black cotton robe stained with ink on the cuffs, and the cigarette between his fingers piled high with ash. Across from him, Qian Xuantong was gesturing excitedly, his mustache trembling with each word.
"Gentlemen, time is of the essence, so let's skip the formalities and get started." Jiang Menglin's special trip back from Nanjing to attend this seminar is enough to demonstrate his emphasis on simplified Chinese characters.
The first to speak was Professor Zhao from Beiping Normal College. This elderly gentleman, wearing tortoiseshell glasses, stood up shakily and took a thick stack of cards from his briefcase: "I spent half a month meticulously checking Mr. Bai's simplified character scheme word by word." He unfolded the top card, which was densely covered with annotations: "Simplifying 'dragon' to 'dragon' is acceptable, but simplifying 'turtle' to 'turtle' completely loses the texture of its shell; wouldn't that sever the origin of the character?"
A murmur of conversation filled the conference room. Qin Hao noticed the stenographer in the corner scribbling rapidly, the pen nib scratching across the paper. Just as he was about to respond, Mr. Cai gently pressed down on his wrist.
“Old Zhao,” Zhang Taiyan, sporting a goatee, suddenly stood up, the pages of his book, *Shuowen Jiezi*, rustling as he read, “the character for ‘turtle’ in oracle bone script is originally a top-down shape; Mr. Bai’s simplification is precisely a return to its original simplicity.”
The debate quickly escalated. Young professors advocating Latinization cited literacy statistics, while conservative old scholars drew upon classical texts. One scholar in a suit even pulled out a set of lead type molds and demonstrated on the spot how time-consuming it was to type in traditional Chinese characters.
Qin Hao saw Lu Xun stub out his cigarette in the saucer, write a few large characters in his notebook, and then tear off the page with a "whoosh" and crumple it into a ball.
This time, Qin Hao didn't even need to say anything. The fighting power of literary giants like Lu Xun was no joke. The more fiercely they attacked Qin Hao before, the more fiercely they attacked those who disagreed.
On the afternoon of the third day, as the setting sun cast an amber glow on the stained glass windows of the conference hall, Jiang Menglin announced the start of the voting process.
The sound of the vote count echoed under the dome, and the final number of votes in favor was 28, while there were only 9 votes against.
"It's approved!" Mr. Cai slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly, not even noticing the teacup he knocked over.
Qin Hao was surrounded by the sudden applause. Even the most stubborn Professor Zhao reluctantly clapped. Qian Xuantong and Lu Xun still had tense faces, clearly still in a state of intense battle and had not relaxed. They even clenched their molars while clapping.
After the meeting, Mr. Cai suggested that everyone have a good drink to celebrate this hard-won victory.
This proposal was unanimously approved by everyone.
The Oriental Hotel's crystal chandeliers illuminated the banquet hall. Waiters carried silver trays and moved about, champagne glasses reflecting dappled sunlight.
As soon as Qin Hao stepped through the door, Lu Xun pulled him to sit down next to him.
After several rounds of drinks, the banquet hall gradually became noisy. Zhang Taiyan tapped his chopsticks on the rim of his bowl and began to sing Kunqu opera, while Mr. Cai clapped along. Lu Xun was clearly quite drunk, and he grabbed Qin Hao's hand, rambling incoherently: "Zihan, I, Zhou Shuren, have never admired anyone in my life, but you are someone I admire halfway. In my articles, I have used humor and satire to expose the worst aspects of the national character, but I have never thought of changing anything. It is you who have shown me the responsibility that a writer should have."
Qian Xuantong was even more drunk, staggering as he pushed open the window. The biting December wind, swirling with snowflakes, rushed in. He leaned half his body out the window and shouted into the distance, "Our China is full of talented people; how can we not revitalize it!"
Mr. Cai had also drunk quite a bit, but he still managed to maintain his last bit of sobriety and grabbed Qin Hao's hand: "Zihan, you have to promise me one thing no matter what."
"Take some time to give a lecture at Peking University. I know you are indifferent to fame and fortune, but please, for the sake of those students who brave wind and snow to advocate for education, promise me."
Qin Hao chuckled. Indifferent to fame and fortune? Don't be ridiculous, his trip to Beijing was precisely to make a name for himself.
"It's my wish, but I don't dare to ask for my ear."
……
The news that Qin Hao was going to teach at Peking University spread like wildfire throughout the academic circles of Beiping (Beijing). It started as casual conversation among a few Peking University students, but the very next day, the education section of the *Morning Post* published the news. By the third day, even street vendors selling candied hawthorns were talking about it: "Have you heard? Mr. Bai, the editor of the new textbooks, is coming to Peking University to give lectures!"
The bulletin board of the School of Humanities was crowded with students. A boy wearing round-framed glasses stood on tiptoe and loudly read aloud the newly posted notice: "Tomorrow at nine o'clock, Mr. Bai Zihan will be in the large lecture hall of the Second Academy..."
Many Peking University students were so proud that they bragged to their friends at other universities. As a result, the news spread like wildfire, and students from other universities took leave that day. The Peking University students were dumbfounded. The next morning, while Beiping was still shrouded in a thin fog, long queues had already formed in front of the Peking University gate.
When the doorman, Old Zhang, rubbed his sleepy eyes and pushed open the side door, he was almost startled to the ground by the sight before him—a dense crowd of people, numbering at least several hundred.
Mr. Cai was having breakfast when he received the call; his porcelain spoon clattered into his porridge bowl. He hurriedly put on his overcoat and rushed to the school gate, where he could hear shouts from afar: "We want to hear Mr. Bai's lecture!"
"Open the school gates!"
The large classroom that had been prepared seemed out of place at this moment.
Mr. Cai stood beside the stone lion, wiping the sweat from his brow, and said with a wry smile to the rushing dean of academic affairs, "Quickly, move all the seats out of the auditorium. Also, send someone to borrow some benches from next door—no, let's just move them to the playground!"
As the sun rose higher, the early spring sunlight shone on the Peking University sports field. The makeshift podium was packed with people, stretching as far as the eye could see.
The Peking University students in the front row were no longer the smug students they had been. One girl muttered under her breath, "If I had known there would be so many people, I shouldn't have written to my classmates at Yenching University yesterday."
Suddenly, the crowd parted to both sides like a tide.
As Qin Hao walked in accompanied by Mr. Cai, thousands of eyes turned to him with eager gaze. He was wearing a dark blue long gown today, which made him look handsome and dashing.
The moment he stepped onto the podium, a deafening roar of voices swept over him:
Good morning, sir!
"Good morning, students."
After exchanging greetings, Qin Hao took a deep breath: "Before coming here, I originally planned to talk about the simplification of Chinese characters, because, apart from that, I don't seem to have much else to say..."
“Until just now, I saw you, I saw the light in your eyes…”
"I've decided to talk about another topic—hope."
The students erupted in applause, but Hu Shi was a little worried for Qin Hao: "Isn't Zihan being a bit too confident? Changing the lecture notes at the last minute like this, what if..."
Mr. Cai smiled and shook his head: "Zihan has always been a man of great vision and would not do anything without certainty."
On the podium, Qin Hao looked down at those pairs of sparkling eyes and spoke.
"Fellow students, we live in a terrible era. Foreign powers are rampant, warlords are carving up the country, and the bureaucracy is corrupt... Sometimes, it can even make people feel desperate: How can I save you, my motherland!"
Below the podium, some of the more emotional female students already had tears in their eyes.
The male student clenched his fists, a surge of heat rising in his chest that he couldn't release.
Lu Xun shook his head with a wry smile: "Zihan is even more outspoken than I am."
Mr. Cai was also worried for Qin Hao. This topic was too sensitive and too big; if things went wrong, it would be impossible to control.
At that moment, Qin Hao changed the subject.
"Students, perhaps this is not the worst time yet; perhaps we will encounter even more desperate situations in the future..."
Qin Hao paused here, and his voice trembled slightly.
"But I want to ask everyone not to give up hope, and to do everything in your power to do what you believe is right."
"I firmly believe that one day, the Chinese nation will once again stand at the top of the world!"