Chapter 25 Chapter Six

In 1904 at the beginning of the twentieth century, two great figures were born in Sichuan, the land of abundance in China. One was named Huang Degan, later Huang Jiqing; the other was Deng Xianxian, our Chairman Deng Xiaoping.Huang Degan was born 140 days earlier than Deng Xianxian. There was not much difference between the two Sichuan boys when they were teenagers. They were both sent to private schools by adults to recite the Four Books and Five Classics.However, at that time Deng Xianxian was said to be particularly interested in arithmetic, while Huang Degan was fascinated by Liang Qichao's Chinese soul.

Deng Xianxian was called a good student at the age of 14 and was admitted to the county middle school. Huang Degan entered Chengdu at the age of 13 and became a well-known student of the Provincial No. 1 Middle School. After graduating from middle school, Huang Degan was admitted to Beiyang University in Tianjin. At the place where the boxers were sent out, this Sichuan boy showed a strong interest in politics. At the beginning of 1924, there was a movement against President Feng Xiyuan's ban on student assemblies at Beiyang University.Huang was the backbone of the movement, for which he was expelled from the school.

At this time, Deng Xianxian had changed his name to Deng Xiaoping, and was sent to Chongqing by Mingxian's father to study in the preparatory school for work-study studies in France before he graduated from middle school. The Leypon arrived in Ding Marseilles and began his great revolutionary career. Huang Degan also changed his name to Huang Jiqing at this time, but at this time Huang Jiqing was full of worries about his future.Due to the loss of Beiyang University, Huang once thought of applying for the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou, and wanted to abandon his studies and join the army to avenge Feng Xiyuan.

Just because you are so small, you want to carry a gun? After hearing this, Huang Jiqing was so discouraged that he gave up the idea of ​​joining the army.As a result, in this century, China lost a warrior and gained a famous scientist. Jinmen is very close to the capital, and Huang Jiqing set his mind to enter Peking University, the Royal Academy of Jinghua, where he majored in undergraduate studies in the Department of Geology.The year is 1924. The word "geology" was not as worthless and unfamiliar as it is now.At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, many intellectuals who aspired to serve the country with science chose geology majors that could find mineral resources for the country.You may not be able to believe that the first monograph on geological science in modern China, "A Brief Introduction to Chinese Geology", was written by the great writer Lu Xun.One can imagine the scientific enlightenment power of the word "geology" in the early 20th century.

Shaw Alfred Akers, a well-known contemporary American historian, once asserted that what constituted the foundation of international relations in the twentieth century was the global competition for mineral resources.Although the scholar's words have not become the classic truths that people spread orally, they truly reflect an important context of world development in the 20th century. When the twentieth century is approaching, on our earth, there is a situation of extremely unbalanced development everywhere.At that time, Western capitalist countries had entered the stage of imperialism, and the economies of all developed countries were soaring at an unprecedented rate. Therefore, they all felt that the original territory was not enough, so they were eager to expand the market, occupy more raw material production areas, open up new investment places, and look for direction. Outer colonies.A country with a vast land and rich resources and very backward resources like China has naturally become a big cake coveted by the great powers.The cream on this big cake is our rich mineral resources.

The development of mineral resources must rely on geological science work.Therefore, under the influence of the Western Industrial Revolution at that time, many people of insight all believed that in order to be prosperous and strong, China must vigorously develop geological science, and then through the geological scientific revolution, promote the comprehensive mining of mineral resources, thereby driving the entire national production, achieving salvation and The purpose of revitalizing the Chinese nation.This principle was regarded as the truth in the old China, and it was still the same when the new China was just established. Otherwise, why did Mao Zedong call geological work the pioneer of the national economy!It's just that in today's rapid modernization process, our society has almost left geological and mining work far away. This is really a sad and extremely harmful phenomenon.

An example can also illustrate the social importance attached to geological work at that time.In the second year when Huang Jiqing entered the Geology Department of Peking University, Sun Yat-sen, the pioneer of the Chinese revolution, unfortunately passed away in Beijing. The superstar fell, and the people were sad.According to the decision of the national government, Mr. Sun Yat-sen's body will be transferred to Nanjing for burial. One day in March 1923, the crystal coffin of the founding father was carried out of the Zhongshan Hall in Zhongshan Park in Central Park.The six people who carried the coffin at that time were all personally selected by the national government who had close relations with Sun Yat-sen and who made outstanding contributions in the Revolution of 1911 and were known as people who had a major role in promoting social development at that time.One of the six people was a geologist. He stood first on the left front of the coffin carrier. That geologist was Li Siguang.At that time, he was a professor in the Geology Department of Peking University and one of Huang Jiqing's teachers.

Sun Yat-sen, the father of the nation, also actively advocated the development of Chinese geology during his lifetime.As early as at an alliance meeting in Japan, he shouted to his allies in this way: It is impossible to save the country without learning geology and engaging in mining.Li Siguang, a famous geologist of a generation, first studied shipbuilding. It was under the teaching and influence of Sun Yat-sen that he later went to England to study geology. At that time, there was another situation: the barbaric plundering of China's precious mineral resources, which Lu Xun called foreign bandits, aroused great indignation and grievances among a group of patriots, and inspired their long-cherished desire to develop Chinese geological science.

Such a thing happened in Yunnan: A French missionary found a tin mine in a certain mountain area and hired local people to mine it. Within three years, the missionary made a fortune.With his wealth, he oppressed and exploited the Chinese people arbitrarily, and used the church as a hotbed for his sexual pleasure. Every night, he hired a group of people to go around and grab a beautiful Chinese girl to sleep with him. The next day, they sent someone to throw her into the 100-meter mine and suffocate her to death.Its brutal and wanton plundering of the wealth of the Chinese nation finally sparked a pro-democracy movement that burned churches and killed missionaries.After the missionary's death, a group of local people spontaneously organized to mine. As a result, due to lack of knowledge of geology and mining technology, the tin mine was not opened. Once the mine leaked and caused groundwater backflow, more than 300 migrant workers went up the mountain to participate in the mining. All were difficult, the youngest was under 9 years old, and the oldest was 74 years old... The bad news spread, and the whole country cried.

Things like this were not uncommon in old China.The Chinese don't understand science, so they can only watch the robbers snatch the treasure from their own doorsteps, and if they fail, they may even risk their own lives.It is impossible to watch such a tragedy, and our intellectuals at that time were stimulated by far more than these.