Wild North America 1846

Chapter 658 Soft Power

For twenty days in a row, Emperor Richard traveled between the provinces of Central America, gaining an in-depth understanding of the region's overall economic development level, development bottlenecks, difficulties, and limitations.

The history of the development of ancient Indian civilizations in Mesoamerica, from the early Almec civilization to the mid-term Mayan civilization, to the Aztec civilization in modern times and the Spanish colonial rule, left many relics.

The area has a long history of agricultural development, with relatively complete urban distribution and farmland irrigation and farming areas. After a large number of Chinese immigrants moved here, the recovery of agriculture and planting was very fast, and quickly surpassed the historical heyday.

Today, the roads in Central America extend in all directions, the main roads are paved with asphalt, the tall trees along the road are dense and neat, milestones and drainage ditches are set up, and the infrastructure is quite complete.

Some gravel roads can reach every village and town, and there are railways passing by not far away, so that agricultural and sideline products can be easily transported and sold by land, railway and water.

Heavy-duty horse-drawn carriages and a small number of automobiles are widely used in agricultural production, as well as many inland ships ranging from tens to hundreds of tons, forming a relatively developed transportation system.

The Chinese immigrants who settled in Central America generally have a higher sense of happiness. Compared with the natives, the income here is relatively low, but the prices related to the basic necessities of ordinary people are also relatively low.

Therefore, the residents generally have enough food, warm clothes, and a few years of work can buy a woman to start a family, maybe a Colombian woman, maybe a Cuban woman, maybe an Indian woman or a native white woman, and the price ranges from [-] to [-] Tang. It ranges from one yuan to five or six hundred Tang yuan.

The only regret is that there are few Chinese women, and the prices are generally quite high, starting at least 500 yuan, and most of them can only be imported from mainland China through mail-order brides.

The bride price for Chinese women from local families is very high, often more than a thousand, and there are various conditions to choose from.

For example, the man’s family is required to be rich, and he must be a big woman after entering the door. Planters and farmers’ families are more popular, preferably retired officers and soldiers, with a stable government work background, etc. There are a lot of requirements.

Emperor Li Cha couldn't laugh or cry after getting to know it deeply, but he didn't intend to influence the local wedding customs, and he wouldn't rigidly say whether it was good or bad. There must be an internal reason for its formation.

Too many men and too few women has always been one of the pain points of the empire's demographic structure, but this problem has been considerably alleviated by decades of aggressive colonial expansion, the looting and trading of native white women, Central American Indian women and Mexican women .

It is precisely because of such a strong colonial policy that it has greatly promoted national integration and social stability, and formed the basic social outlook of the current Datang Empire, which is stable and prosperous. It can be said that it has achieved unprecedented success.

This is only from the perspective of the upper class. If you change the angle, look at it from the perspective of the people at the bottom;

In the social news that is often reported in the newspapers, there are gossip about wives and children being tortured to death, about Caucasian women who cheated out of the wall and were soaked in pig cages, about escaped wives who were found in the next village after being separated for several years, and so on. Countless.

But these conflicts are limited to the family, or the village, town and street level, and do not affect the overall situation of social prosperity, stability, and unity.

In this era, there is no talk of equality between men and women. The traditional concept of "husband guides wife" is prevalent in Chinese society, and the social environment and laws are more inclined to protect the man, ignoring the demands of the woman.

No matter what kind of woman, as long as she can provoke the burden of the family and have children, she is a good woman.

Adhering to such a simple concept, most Chinese new immigrants choose women and are not picky. Central American Indian women are cheap and good, and they are very popular, which is the choice of most new immigrants.

Native-born white women are relatively expensive, so as long as you have a certain financial foundation, of course you can choose well!
The most expensive ones are of course Chinese women. Since the empire strictly prohibits the buying and selling of Chinese women, there are too many monks and too little food, so they are all married in the name of dowry, costing thousands of Tang Yuan or even more.

The formation of this trend is inevitable in the marriage market. As a large number of Chinese children from the second and third generations of the empire enter the marriage period, the abnormally high prices will inevitably be suppressed.

This has greatly improved the status of Chinese women on the other hand. Anyone who can marry an authentic Chinese woman back home will almost grit his teeth and spend most of his net worth. How can he not treat them well?
say something bad
Even if the Chinese-American wife Hong Xing cheats on women, her husband’s family is reluctant to soak in the pig cage, because this is the real "daughter"!

inspected a circle

Emperor Richard summed up several points that need to be improved. The first point is to protect the remains of ancient Indian civilization, reduce damage and strengthen the collection of cultural relics, so as to maintain the local characteristics of ancient Inca civilization for thousands of years. This is the highlight of the future development of tourism.

The proportion of Chinese population in the provinces and villages in Central America is generally more than 8% to 9%. They are not interested in some strange Almec civilization altars, Mayan civilization temples and hideous sculptures. Many locals even take the initiative to demolish these things.

Or on the basis of ancient altars, Buddhist temples and Taoist temples were established, and village and community temples were built, which greatly changed the local historical and cultural environment.

in Central America
The relics of ancient Indian civilization have reached the stage of rescue and protection. It is necessary to introduce some protection policies in due course to prohibit random destruction and demolition of ancient relics.

Whether it is to build temples or Taoist temples, there are abandoned lands everywhere in towns and cities. Even though the construction is just a matter of choosing a site, why do we have to raze the ancient Indian altars and temples?

The second point is that under the conditions of relatively complete infrastructure in Central America, the appropriate development of light and heavy industries has become an issue that must be paid attention to in the next step.

No agriculture is unstable, no work is not rich.

The bottleneck of the economic development in Central America today is that the agricultural development facilities are relatively complete and the farming methods are relatively advanced. Guano and chemical fertilizers have been used in many agricultural productions, as well as artificial composting and manure. There is no possibility of further agricultural technology in a short time. .

To further increase income, the development of suitable light and heavy industries has become the only way.

For example, the shipbuilding industry and building materials industry in Huwan City are one of the engines leading the rapid economic development.

The Central American region should survey geological resources in detail, select suitable locations to build steel plants, develop copper, lead, zinc, aluminum, and coal resources, and promote new economic growth points.

Tobacco, coffee, cocoa and other economic crops are also the focus of the next development. Cuban cigars are world-famous.The conditions of the Central American provinces at the same latitude are not bad. There are mountains, waters and sunshine, which are suitable for growing high-quality tobacco and coffee.

The third point is to strengthen Chinese education, because most of the Chinese immigrating to Central and South America come from the coastal provinces in the central and southern parts of China.

It is necessary to strengthen the scope of Chinese education, starting from young children, this is the fundamental solution.

In the cities of the Central American provinces, some officials and employees who are not proficient in using the Chinese language must be eliminated, and some police officers and teachers who are not proficient in using the Chinese language must be eliminated.

Promote the national emphasis on the status of Chinese education, consciously urge their children to learn, and lead the correct direction.

When inspecting various places, Emperor Li Cha discovered that some local officials' accents were so heavy that he couldn't understand them.

No matter how capable such officials are, they can't even do basic communication, so what else can they talk about?
It is obviously unrealistic to expect adults to change, we can only start from a baby.

Nowadays, the higher education in the Tang Empire is developing quite well, with tens of thousands of outstanding graduates every year, and there is no need to worry about lack of talents.

The next step is to send out outstanding graduates every year in a planned way to Central America and South America, and to promote Chinese education in depth.

Not only here, but also the North and South of the United States, Canada and South American countries. The local Chinese expatriates also need high-quality Chinese teachers to promote standardized Chinese education.

1878. 9, 12

The royal train arrived in Panama City. At this moment, Panama City and guests from all over the world gathered. The top [-] match of the Pan-American League Football Tournament was also held in Panama City at the same time.

The Panama City has brought a long-lost high popularity. The arrival of tens of thousands of fans and dignitaries from various countries gave this big city in recession a shot in the arm and maintained its glamorous appearance.

Throughout the Americas, the most successful professional sports is professional baseball, especially the North American Major League Baseball, which is the most well-run and most standardized, representing the top level of professional baseball in the world, and is widely loved by the public.

The North American Major League Baseball now has a total of 6 regions. The empire is divided into the Western Region, the North Central Region, the Southern Region, and the Andes and Overseas Region, a total of 4 regions.

In addition, the United States of America region and the Confederate States of America region make up a total of 6 regions. Each region determines the top 4 professional baseball teams to participate in the annual finals.

Except in 1872, when the championship was taken away by the New York Pirates, the other 15 professional baseball championships belonged to the Datang Empire, which is also the most popular sport among the people of the Datang Empire.

It is a pity that the promotion of professional baseball in Central and South America has not been smooth. The people here are more complicated about this kind of rules, and the sports with higher threshold are not very cold, and the enthusiasm for participation is not high.

On the contrary, it is the little-known English football, which has been popularized and promoted very quickly, and has quickly become the most popular sport among people in Central and South America, and the influence of football games has rapidly expanded.

As long as a ball, a group of men can play happily for most of the day.

Two trees, two stones, and two stacks of wheat are all right without a goal, and it doesn't affect everyone's enthusiasm for playing football.

Seeing that the east is not bright and the west is bright, the Ministry of Culture, Health and Sports of the Empire has a planned organization to distribute free footballs every year, and organize coach training courses and various competitions.

Every year, 1 to 2 footballs are distributed to South American countries for free, which greatly promotes the popularity of football in Central and South America, making it a sport that is popular across the Americas.

Of course, the popularity in North America is far less than that of major league baseball and basketball games, and can only rank third.

The reason why football is vigorously promoted is that the Ministry of Culture, Health and Sports of the Empire shoulders the important task of promoting culture and sports.

As an aspect of soft power, what could be more appropriate than sports to embody the unity atmosphere of a game of chess across the Americas?
The Tang Empire pursued a "carrot plus stick" policy. Conquering and flexing muscles in the military field was the "big stick", and the cultural, health and sports fields were part of the "carrot".

In this area
The Ministry of Culture, Health and Sports of the Empire has been unremittingly exporting Chinese culture, fashion etiquette and unique oriental music, tea ceremony and calligraphy to American countries, subtly establishing a Chinese cultural circle.

Various initiatives include the establishment of Chinese schools in North and South American countries. Many charitable schools will admit the children of local poor residents to enroll, exempt tuition fees, and even provide a lunch.

In this era, North American and South American countries generally do not pay attention to education. Children play in the streets when they are young, and the proportion of illiteracy is more than [-]%. Going to school is a luxury that is unthinkable.

Being able to learn knowledge and have a lunch at noon is simply a pie in the sky!
Therefore, Chinese schools subsidized by the imperial government and royal charitable funds have sprung up in various countries in the Americas, and now there are more than 760 schools, more than [-]% of which are primary schools.

This is because the free education in charity schools is mainly at the elementary school stage, and if you want to continue your studies, you have to pay tuition fees.

in these schools
Extensively carry out Chinese etiquette education, cultivate music, dance, tea ceremony and calligraphy hobbies, instill the oriental concept of "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness", and help these children to establish a correct outlook on life and cultivate pro-Tang potential forces during the important period of their growth.

The Imperial Ministry of Education, Health and Sports will also organize some foreign medical institutions to practice medicine in major cities and towns in North America and South America to save lives and heal the wounded. Of course, this is mainly Chinese medicine.

In addition, donating some football, basketball and other sports equipment, organizing football or basketball games on campus, and promoting sports in the society are also within the scope of responsibility.

In the policy effect feedback survey, the Ministry of Education, Health and Sports of the Datang Empire discovered an interesting pattern;

For example, countries that have been severely beaten by the Tang Empire have a higher acceptance of the empire's cultural health and sports fields, better results, better reputation, and smoother promotion.

For example, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia, not to mention Paraguay and Uruguay, the younger brothers of the Tang Empire. These two countries have been fully transformed into the Tang Dynasty, and the proportion of Chinese population is higher than that of many of the empire's native provinces.

All the cultural education and traditions of the Chinese society can be seamlessly integrated in these two countries, and they are as silky as they should be.

The official languages ​​are Mandarin and Spanish. In fact, very few people can speak Spanish anymore, because the government is basically monopolized by the Chinese from the top to the bottom, and many of them are excellent graduates of Taoyuan School of Administration.

The military commanders are from the various military academies of the Tang Empire, the president is also from the Tang Dynasty, and most of the parliament is also from the Tang Dynasty, which is no different from the overseas provinces of the empire.

And those South American countries and regions that have not been taught a lesson, such as Venezuela, such as Chile, such as Dutch Suriname, French Paraguay, British Paraguay, Belgian Paraguay and other places, the effect is not satisfactory.

People in these countries and regions generally have a strong sense of resistance. Even the most popular charity schools are often questioned by the local society and churches, subject to various restrictions by the administrative authorities, and it is difficult to promote them.

(End of this chapter)