Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 614 Art Academy, Social Survey [Please Subscribe]

When Liu Ruoyue brought Zhu Yuanzhang to the outside of the Capital Academy of Arts, she negotiated with the gatekeeper and, without revealing Zhu's identity, led Zhu and Liu Chang'an into the academy.

The Imperial Academy of Arts was newly built on an open space in the outer city. The buildings were mainly made of brick, stone and cement, and most of them had the feel of modern Chinese architecture, but a small part still retained the style of the Song and Ming dynasties in appearance.

Because the college occupies a large area, the campus has everything from artificial hills and streams to pavilions and towers, making it a very beautiful place.

But what gardens hadn't Zhu Yuanzhang seen? Naturally, he wouldn't have given a second glance to the scenery of the art academy.

He hadn't gone far into the campus when the singing coming from a pavilion caught his attention.

"Smoke rises, the land stretches northward, dragon banners unfurl, horses neigh, swords flash like frost..."

Upon closer listening, it turned out to be a group of more than ten people singing together. Each of them had a strong voice and a good tone, but their momentum was clearly inferior to that of the soldiers singing.

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Are you still singing military songs?"

Liu Ruoyue said, "Of course, some of our art college students also join the military's 'art troupe' as propagandists after graduation. Singing military songs well is an essential skill."

"And essential skills are required." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, then asked, "Women can't join the army's art troupe, can they?"

Liu Ruoyue nodded, "Of course not."

After walking a little further, the three of them saw a pavilion surrounded by hundreds of people, while several people on the stage were performing a new play.

Upon closer inspection, they were all female students—some dressed as old women, some as young women, and some as little girls. Standing or sitting, they recited their lines one after another, but it was mostly a literary drama.

Zhu Yuanzhang watched for a while before he understood what the play was about.

The story is about two women from the same village. One was supported by her family and went to school, while the other always helped with chores at home and did not go to school.

After graduating from school, the woman found a job as an accountant in the city and married the son of a merchant, thus helping her family live a better life and even helping her good-for-nothing younger brother find a decent job in the city.

The other woman, who had never attended school, married a farmer from a neighboring village, had two children, and then fell ill from overwork and never recovered.

Her family also encountered some difficulties at this time and came to ask for help, but the woman was powerless to help.

In this situation, she heard that the handkerchief from back then had been returned to the village and had even prospered, so she wanted to borrow some money to alleviate the plight of both families.

The play focuses on the dialogue between the two women after they meet, with the old woman and the little girl playing supporting roles.

The intention was clear: to persuade people to send their daughters to school.

After reading it, Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "How many girls in the capital are being sent to school these days?"

Liu Ruoyue said, “Wealthy families almost always send their daughters to school, and those from middle-class families also do so, but a considerable number of ordinary people are still unwilling to send their daughters to school.”

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Is it because you can't afford the tuition?"

At this moment, Liu Chang'an interjected, "Grandpa, our school sent students to conduct a social survey on this matter—the local people of the capital of the Ming Dynasty are considered to be a group with a relatively high income in the entire Ming Dynasty."

"Firstly, they can make a lot of money by doing small businesses in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Secondly, with the increasing number of people from other places in the capital in recent years, locals can rent out their houses and courtyards to obtain a fairly stable income." "In addition, some people's residential land is valued by merchants who buy it directly to build houses, which can bring in a large sum of money at once."

"In the capital, six years of compulsory education has been implemented. People only need to pay some miscellaneous fees, paper, pens, and tutoring books to send their children to school."

“Some people are unwilling to send girls to school purely because of the influence of traditional ideas. They believe that it is not important for women to be educated. Or, they believe that it is better for women to become proficient in housework and other chores as early as possible instead of going to school to learn those seemingly useless knowledge.”

"However, in recent years, as more and more female students have found a decent job after graduation through schooling, or even married into good families, this trend is rapidly changing."

"According to our school's most recent survey, only about 20-30% of the people in the capital are no longer willing to send their girls to school."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded after listening, then smiled and said, "Your school's social survey is quite interesting—could you tell me how the survey was conducted?"

Liu Chang'an smiled and said, "Let me take the survey on the school attendance rate of girls in the capital as an example. Generally, after the project is set up, several survey teams are assigned to conduct sampling surveys from different groups of people."

“For example, select ten farming households that are purely engaged in farming in the suburbs of the capital, select ten small merchants who live in the city or the outer city, and so on.”

"Finally, based on the survey data, we estimated the approximate situation in the capital. I wouldn't dare say it's completely accurate, but it certainly has some reference value."

Zhu Yuanzhang commented, "This method is somewhat similar to the intelligence gathering methods of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Bright Guard."

During their conversation, the three arrived in front of a five-story building.

Liu Ruoyue explained, "Grandpa, our school's large auditorium, which is used for large performances, and several large classrooms are all in this building. Right now, there might be a well-known teacher giving a lesson. Would you like to go in and take a look?"

Seeing that Liu Ruoyue's invitation was very strong, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Alright, let's go in and take a look."

After the group went inside, they found a large classroom on the third floor where a class was being taught, but it was a painting class.

There weren't many students in the classroom, just over a hundred, but the elderly man with white hair and beard on the stage was speaking with great enthusiasm.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang didn't understand the art of calligraphy and painting, he could still understand what the old man was saying—it turned out that the old man was proficient in both freehand and meticulous landscape painting, and what he was talking about was the difference between the two types of painting and their "uses".

However, after listening for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but wonder what use cultivating painting talents would be to the Ming Dynasty.

In his view, meticulous brushwork still has many uses, but freehand brushwork can probably only be used for artistic creation and then exporting the culture of the Ming Dynasty overseas.

Zhu Yuanzhang spent about an hour browsing the Beijing Academy of Arts before stopping and specifically requesting to go to the College of Commerce and Trade.

Liu Chang'an and Liu Ruoyue naturally wouldn't object and accompanied him to the School of Business and Trade—both of them had classmates there, so they weren't worried about not being able to get in.

And so, the two of them accompanied Old Zhu on a tour of all the major universities in the capital in one day. Not only did Old Zhu broaden his horizons, but Liu Chang'an and Liu Ruoyue also gained a lot of knowledge, since they hadn't visited every university before.

The next day was the third day of the eighth lunar month.

As expected, Zhu Yuanzhang arrived at Liu's residence early again to freeload a meal.

So Liu Kuan had breakfast with Zhu Yuanzhang and rode together in a carriage to the cross-river bridge.

(End of this chapter)