Northern France, Somme. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Municipality of Noyelle.

To be precise, it should be called the "town" of Noyelle, and the whole town has less than 600 inhabitants.

However, it is indeed a "city" and has its own mayor.

Just after New Year's Day in 1930, Zhou Hexuan came to this northern French town with embassy staff, architect Le Corbusier, and several representatives of Chinese workers in Paris.

In the Chinese settlement on the left bank of the Seine River in Paris, there are nearly 2,000 Chinese who were Chinese workers who aided France back then. They heard that Zhou Hexuan was going to build a cemetery for the sacrifice of Chinese workers, so they spontaneously signed up to be a guide.

The group first took the train to Amiens and then took a car to Noyelle.

Halfway through, Chen Ying pointed to an abandoned railway in the distance and said, "That railway was built by Chinese workers, and it led to the front line of the European war." I was building the railroad for about a month, and every few days German planes came to bomb it. Many Chinese workers died along the railway, and they were basically buried on the spot. If possible, their bones could be collected along the railway. ”

The accompanying embassy staff shook their heads and said: "The amount of work is too large, and even if the corpses are dug up, there is no guarantee that they are Chinese workers, and it is possible that they are British and French soldiers who died in battle." ”

"Then ...... Forget it. Chen Ying said regretfully.

Zhou Hexuan did not know much about the history of Chinese workers who aided France, but only knew that there was a Chinese worker named Zhang Changsong who stayed in France. During World War II, Zhang Changsong and several sons (a total of 13 children) joined the army at the same time, and the father and son went into battle to resist the German invasion. After his second son was discharged from the army, he also became a football star in France, joined the French national team and competed in two Olympic Games.

In later generations, as soon as the French mentioned Chinese workers aiding France, they would inevitably use Zhang Changsong and his son to do publicity, so their stories were widely circulated. As for this time, Zhang Changsong was still working as a blaster in a coal mine in France, and his football star son was not yet 10 years old.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the group arrived in the city of Noyelle.

Mayor Henri de Walicour led more than 500 residents of the city to stand at the entrance of the town to greet them, and they even held banners: Welcome Chinese friends!

After everyone got off the bus, Mayor Henry warmly greeted him, shook hands with Zhou Hexuan and said, "You are Mr. Zhou, I am Henry Dewalikul, Mayor of Noyelle, and I welcome you very much. ”

"Hello, Mr. Mayor!" Zhou Hexuan nodded and smiled.

Zhang Dahua, a Chinese worker who came to be a guide, suddenly shouted: "Mr. Heng, do you remember me?" ”

"You're ......" Mayor Henry patted his head, "I remember, you're the one in charge of sweeping the streets!" ”

Although most of the Chinese workers at that time were confined to the camps, some of them still had frequent contact with the townspeople, such as two who specialized in street sweeping. In addition, there are also those who burn boilers for the British and French offices in the town, and those who deliver food and cook, all of whom have lived in the town for a long time.

Zhang Dahua smiled: "Mr. Heng, I have learned to speak French now. ”

"I miss hearing someone call me Mr. Heng," said Mayor Henry, "and I remember that since you came, the town has been much cleaner, and you have always been so industrious. By the way, I've got a gift for you this time! ”

The townspeople pushed over a whole cart of apples, and Mayor Henry laughed and said, "I remember that you liked to eat apples the most, and you sold all the apples in the town at that time, and one apple was sold for three francs." ”

That's 3 francs before the First World War, which is equivalent to a day's wage for an average Chinese worker (1.5 to 4.5 francs a day).

Although the people at the bottom of China are industrious and frugal, they will inevitably become extravagant in that situation where they cannot see tomorrow. Shandong belongs to the apple producing area, and many Chinese workers have only seen it before going abroad, but they have never eaten apples.

After arriving in France, the Chinese workers fell madly in love with apples, wanting to experience the deliciousness of apples and missing their hometown.

In the end, the apples in the town were bought out, and many Chinese workers preferred to use the wages earned by working for more than ten hours a day to buy apples at a high price. There was an apple seller in the town who got rich from it, and now he has moved to the big city.

Mayor Henry personally stuffed apples into Zhou Hexuan's hands.

A few Chinese workers couldn't wait to nibble on the apples, as if they remembered the experience of the year, and tears flowed down their eyes.

Mayor Henry said to Zhou Hexuan again: "Mr. Zhou, on behalf of the city, I present you with the Honorary Citizen Medal, please accept it. ”

"My pleasure." Zhou Hexuan smiled.

Witnessed by the accompanying reporters, Mayor Henry pinned the Honorary Citizen Medal to Zhou Hexuan's chest. Although this "city" has only about 500 residents, it is still a city.

In the afternoon of the same day, under the guidance of the Chinese workers' guide, Zhou Hexuan went to visit the Chinese Gong Hospital and the Lunatic Asylum in those years.

Both buildings have been abandoned for a long time, the steps are covered with moss, and all the suffering is lost in history.

Zhou Hexuan picked up a flat pole in the grass bushes, which was wooden, and the whole body was decayed and weathered into black rotten wood, which seemed to be silently telling the situation of the year.

Chen Ying pointed to the woods in the distance of the wheat field and said, "Mr. Zhou, there are more than 200 Chinese workers buried in the woods. When the wooden monument was erected, all of them had names and surnames. ”

Zhou Hexuan nodded and said, "All of them were moved over and buried in the cemetery with other Chinese workers." ”

Designer Le Corbusier also got to work and began to check the situation on the spot. He turned around twice, came back and said to Zhou Hexuan: "Mr. Zhou, I suggest that the madhouse be demolished, although the Huagong Hospital is abandoned, the theme building is still relatively stable, and it can be used as a Huagong Museum after repair." ”

"The Chinese Workers' Museum? That's a good idea. Zhou Hexuan said.

Le Corbusier was not only an architect, but also an architectural planner, saying: "My initial idea was to open up the wasteland to the south as a cemetery, which might take up a little farmland, and to build the monument to the south halfway between the museum and the cemetery." According to your requirements, the gate is built facing east, and a statue of a Chinese worker can be set up at the entrance, one on each side of the road. If the cemetery were to be built in this way, including the museum, the total cost would probably be more than 5 million francs. ”

5 million gold francs, according to the current exchange rate, is about 200,000 oceans, which Zhou Hexuan can still afford.

Of course, there is also the money to find and bury the bones of Chinese workers, which is also a large expense.

However, the economic crisis in the United States will spread to France in a few months. At that time, it is almost time for the cemetery to start, just in time to save some budget, and cheap workers can be hired casually.

In the next half month, Zhou Hexuan began to lecture in France. If he wants the French to value Chinese workers and make the French respect the Chinese in France, he must give face to accept the invitation of French universities. After each lecture, he would mention the merits of the Chinese workers, so that the deeds of the Chinese workers would be more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

This approach has worked very well, and at least many students and teachers in colleges and universities have a great impression of the Chinese.

From the university in Paris, Zhou Hexuan lectured all the way to Strasbourg, close to the German border.

At the University of Strasbourg II, Zhou Hexuan met with two historians of the Annals School, Fèvre and Bloch, and the three had an in-depth academic exchange. At the same time, Fevre and Bloch also accepted the invitation, agreed to be honorary members of the Peking Institute, and went to China for academic exchanges this summer.

Although the Annals school of Favre is in full swing, to be honest, it is still a non-mainstream school in the field of historiography. Today, the mainstream of European historiography is the positivist historiography represented by Comte, and the Ranke school represented by Ranke.

The Ranke School, in particular, was extremely influential in China. The historiography of China in the 30s followed the line of the Ranke School, and everyone in the middle of the Republic of China can be called Ranke's disciples and grandchildren.

Zhou Hexuan stayed in Strasbourg for three days and was about to leave when the Chinese minister to Germany and the University of Berlin suddenly sent invitations, hoping that he would be able to go to Germany and walk around.

This was the case during the Republic of China, and it was very difficult to travel far away due to inconvenient transportation.

Therefore, no matter which country a scholar is traveling across continents, he or she must travel as much as possible. Last year, Zhang Boling went to Europe to give lectures, and he went to several countries in one go, and it seemed that not walking around too much seemed to be too much of a loss, wasting expensive ferry tickets.

Zhou Hexuan happily went to Berlin and unexpectedly met a big man - Albert Einstein.