Liang Cheng was one of the fourth batch of young children studying in the United States and studied in the United States for six years. He was recalled to the country just after graduating from a middle school. Therefore, Liang Cheng’s academic qualifications were actually only high school, but he still studied in the United States.
Acquire a lot of modern knowledge.
Moreover, Liang Cheng has a very flexible mind and speaks English well, otherwise he would not be able to be a diplomat.
San Francisco is now the city with the largest Chinese population. The first Chinese workers to come to the United States were basically attracted by the gold rush in the first half of the 19th century.
Li Yu and the others boarded a train bound for the East Coast and drove along the Union Pacific Railway to Washington.
Li Yu had never taken a train in the United States, and he said with emotion: "It turns out that this is the great railway that condensed the lives of many Chinese workers."
For the United States, when it first started to build this railway connecting the east and west oceans 40 years ago, it was also a test for them. Super projects of this scale are rare in the world.
Initially, the railway company did not want to recruit Chinese workers, but there were too few whites recruited, and the project progressed very slowly.
Then we started to introduce Chinese workers. These Chinese workers were already in the United States, such as those who came to the gold rush, or those who escaped because of the Taiping Rebellion.
However, the labor shortage was too large and only a few thousand Chinese workers could be recruited locally, so intermediary companies recruited tens of thousands of Chinese workers from China.
A total of almost 20,000 Chinese workers have invested in the construction of this major American railway, and the Chinese workers are responsible for more than 1,000 kilometers of the very difficult project.
160 years ago, there were no construction machinery such as excavators, rock drills, and drilling machines. They all relied on human power. For this reason, Chinese workers paid the price of more than 1,300 lives.
This railway is also known as "there is a skeleton of a Chinese worker under every sleeper".
When the railway was completed, major newspapers rushed to report on it and promoted American technology and civilization, but the photos invariably showed white men.
According to the regulations at the time, Chinese were not allowed to appear in front of the camera and were not allowed to participate in the completion ceremony. This made everyone think that this mega project was entirely the work of white people, and no one remembered the dead Chinese workers.
Moreover, the influx of a large number of Chinese workers also largely contributed to the introduction of the "Chinese Exclusion Act" in the United States. After all, this discriminatory bill was largely intended to directly restrict the immigration of Chinese workers to the United States to participate in railway construction.
Liang Cheng also knew the situation of the Chinese workers, but said: "Sacrifice is inevitable. I hope to see when we can see so many railways in our country."
In this era, basically after the Chinese left, the Qing government ignored them and even treated them as foreigners, with basically no protection at all.
However, even if they knew they would pay the price with their lives, many Chinese laborers were still willing to come. Because the Qing government was really incompetent. If they stayed in the country, they would be tortured to death by the unreasonable land taxes set by the county magistrates.
You can at least fight once when you come out, and during the large-scale construction period, although the treatment given to Chinese workers by the railway company is far worse than that of white people, it is basically one dollar a day, excluding four days of rest, which is 26 dollars a month, which is almost equivalent to more than 10 taels of silver.
This was too attractive to poor Chinese workers.
Li Yu still has respect for these Chinese workers, even if they sweat in other countries.
After all, what can they do? If the Qing government could provide such treatment, who would be willing to go abroad?
I have to say that at the beginning of the 20th century, there were really too many railroads in the United States.
The total mileage of railways in the United States now exceeds that of Europe combined, accounting for half of the world's total, which is very scary.
The construction of railways has indeed directly spawned the rise of a large number of industries. The most direct beneficiaries are steel companies. Now the United States' steel production ranks first in the world.
It can indeed be called the first generation of infrastructure madness.
After arriving in Washington, the group first stayed in a hotel, and Liang Cheng had to do some handover work before he could formally submit his application to meet with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
During this time, Li Yu was free. Fortunately, he had something to do when he came to the United States.
The current observatory in the United States is quite advanced and has been here for a long time. It would be best if we could use it.
The first thing that came to Li Yu's mind was the American Astronomical Society (originally called the Astrophysics Society), which was just established in 1899, and this organization happened to be located in Washington.
To be precise, the American Physical Society was also established in 1899, and the Astronomical Society was one of its branches.
Anyway, they were very close, so Li Yu came directly without invitation.
Li Yu's English is not bad, so he easily found the place. Washington is not very big now, and the main reason is that the association is not far from the White House, so it is easy to find.
Following the directions, he came to a small building, which was probably where he was. Li Yu happened to see a young man in his thirties about to go in, so he went up to stop the man and asked in English: "Sir, is this the Astronomical Society?"
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The young man looked at Li Yu and said, "Chinese?"
Li Yu nodded.
The young man said: "This is the Astronomical Society, what are you doing here?"
Li Yu introduced himself: "I, Li Yu, would like to seek help from the Astronomical Society..."
Before Li Yu could finish speaking, the young man interrupted directly: "Carp?! Yu Li?! Are you the Chinese who discovered Pluto?"
The discovery of Pluto is a big deal in the entire astronomical community. They know that Li Yu is normal. Li Yu said: "It's me, but it should be pronounced 'Li Yu' in Chinese, not 'carp'."
"I'm so surprised!" the young man said excitedly, "I didn't expect Mr. Carp to be here!"
Well, it seems that it won't be corrected for a while, so it's better to let him call himself Yu Lide.
The young man also introduced himself: "I am a member of the Astronomical Society. My name is Haier. Come in quickly, Mr. Carp. If the president knows that you are here, he will be very happy."
This name is easy to remember, Haier Brothers.
Hale also made many contributions to astronomy, and he discovered solar flares.
As soon as Li Yu entered the gate with Haier, he shouted loudly: "President Newcomb! Look, there is a great person coming!"
The door of an office at the end of the corridor was pushed open, and an almost 70-year-old man came out: "I told you to keep the office quiet, why don't you listen!"
Haier ignored his accusation and pointed at Li Yu and said, "Look, it's a carp!"
Newcomb opened his eyes wide: "The same Li Yu who discovered Pluto and wrote "Fractals and Chaos"?"
Newcomb was the first president of the American Astronomical Society, and had previously served as the president of the American Mathematical Society. He had in-depth research on astronomy and mathematics.
Haier said: "That's him!"
Newcomb really didn't expect to see Li Yu. Now his name is very famous in the scientific circle. "I'm so surprised. How could you suddenly cross the ocean and appear here!"
Li Yu smiled and said: "It's not very sudden. This trip took more than twenty days."
"Come into my office and sit down!" Newcomb said. "Since the founding of the Astronomical Society, it's rare to have such a distinguished guest as you!"
It can only be said that Pluto's status was too high at the beginning of the twentieth century.
It is always difficult to find planets that do not emit light, and in the solar system, it is indeed a very dazzling thing.
In later generations, telescopes were launched into space, and it was still extremely difficult to discover extraterrestrial planets.
Newcomb said: "Your arrival is really sudden, and we have no preparations. Otherwise, we should have organized a seminar for the whole society."
Li Yu said: "President, you're welcome. I won't be leaving the United States in the short term. There are plenty of opportunities."
"That's great," Newcomb said. "Why didn't I see the report in the newspapers? Everyone didn't know you were coming."
Li Yu came here with Liang Cheng's delegation this time, and he was indeed relatively low-key. He smiled and said: "You know it now. I have just arrived in Washington."
Newcomb then chatted with Li Yu about how to discover Pluto and its orbit calculation. Like physics, the development of astronomy has long been inseparable from mathematics.
After chatting for a long time, Li Yu had the opportunity to express his intention of coming this time: "President Newcomb, I want to borrow an observatory. I wonder if I can help?"
"Observatory?" Newcomb thought for a while, "Most of the observatories in the east are now located in several universities. I can help you inquire."
Li Yu said: "Thank you very much, President!"
After that, several people chatted about the development of astronomy for almost half an hour. Although the time was not long, Haier and Newcomb were already amazed by Li Yu's profound knowledge and profound insights.
After Li Yu left, Newcomb still murmured: "I can't believe that a Chinese can do this. He is still so young. I really don't know what terrible things will happen next."