Chapter 505 Chinese Level 4 and 6

Christmas Eve of the year 1773 came quietly in a heavy snowfall.

As early as four days ago, the entire Scandinavian Peninsula was wrapped in thick snow. This winter was particularly cold. The Baltic coast was like the frost giant in the Norse mythology, who raised a blizzard like smoke in the sky. It roared for four consecutive days and nights. The snow in many ports was more than a meter deep, and some small houses were even covered by heavy snow.

The bad weather dispelled the idea of ​​anyone doing any activities outdoors. Including the Christmas Eve celebrations, the celebratory decorations that the residents had spontaneously arranged in the streets and alleys several days ago were completely destroyed by the heavy snow, and it seemed that even on Christmas tomorrow, the snow would not stop.

Stockholm is located on the east coast of Sweden, bordering the Baltic Sea and the mouth of Lake Mälaren. It is a beautiful place with beautiful scenery. But now, whether it is the port, the street, the square, or the residential buildings surrounded by trees, or the government agencies, the city is covered with white.

The huge Christmas tree standing in the central square is 27 or 28 meters high. It was picked from the Uppland Forest and decorated with hundreds of glass colored lights and gorgeous decorations. Every night, it will emit extremely bright colorful lights. Since the day it was erected, it has been a wonderful scene in Stockholm at night. Christmas is the biggest festival in the Western world, especially in Sweden, which is the hometown of Santa Claus. [Finland is now ruled by Sweden]

Now the entire tall Christmas tree is also covered with snow, and the colored lights and decorations that were shining brightly every night last week have all been taken down.

The church and bridge in the distance are quiet and peaceful in the twilight, quietly waiting for the arrival of Christmas Eve.

On a snow-covered path, a thin middle-aged man wrapped in thick winter clothes, holding a large package, stepped on the snow with difficulty, and walked towards his home in the distance. On the windows facing the street, there are stars of different sizes and colors, which are the traditional Christmas decorations in Sweden. The warm and bright lights in the house shine through the windows, exuding the unique warmth of the family during the festival.

Ekdal, a former mathematics teacher at Larsson Middle School, is now an Eastwarder on the Oriental Registration List of the Swedish East India Company. He just passed a difficult exam yesterday and improved his signature on the list from the lowest level to a higher level. Ekdal, holding a big package, knocked on the door of his house with a snowy body. As soon as he entered the house, a warm wave of wind and waves hit him in the face, and the snow residue on his head, beard, and face melted at a very fast speed.

The home with a burning fireplace is warm, as red as burning charcoal. Ekdal's home is poor, with only a layer of cheap pine boards and felt that is not a carpet. There is nothing on the wall except hyacinths used for Christmas decorations. Anyone can see that Ekdal's life is not rich.

But this is not a contradiction, right?

"Oh dear, you are finally back. I was so worried about you! It's a long way to get to the store from here!"

Ekdal's wife Rebecca quickly closed the door from one side, blocking the whistling snow outside the door, and the sharp whistling sound of the snow stopped abruptly.

"Dad!"

The four children who had been drawing on a large sand table ran out happily. They knew that their father went out to buy gifts for them. Their father signed up for the East India Company's recruitment two months ago. It was a large group of scholars, technicians, teachers, doctors and other industries, but the destination of this large group was the distant East.

The distance of more than 10,000 miles was daunting, but Ekdal still signed up because the meager salary in Larsen was not enough for Ekdal to support his family.

And yesterday, Ekdal, who received the transcript, successfully passed the elementary Chinese test in the last Chinese exam this year. Because Ekdal had a certain curiosity and research about China during his teaching in Larsen, it only took him two months to succeed.

Today, Ekdal received the full resettlement fee at the East India Company's office in Stockholm with his achievement slip, which was 550 Swedish kronor, worth 100 silver dollars. This is a huge income for the Ekdal family, which has been without financial resources for two months!

Ekdal and his wife Rebecca gave birth to six children in total, four of whom survived fortunately, two daughters and two sons. Now they all gathered around Ekdal, or more precisely around the big package. Ekdal's eldest daughter is only ten years old this year, and the youngest son is only four years old.

"Haha, dear children, Christmas is coming, and Dad will give each of you a gift!"

Put the heavy package on the long table in the living room, unseal it, revealing many daily necessities inside, and four tightly wrapped boxes.

"Alicia, go and distribute the gifts to your brothers and sisters, one for each!"

The eldest daughter Alicia is the eldest of the four children, followed by the second daughter, the eldest son and the youngest son. There were sparkling lights in the eyes of the four children. Alicia walked forward and hugged the four boxes tightly. "Thank you, Dad." She took her younger brothers and sisters and ran to the bedroom.

"Rebecca, come and see what this is?" Ekdal took out a small box from the package and opened it. A dazzling golden light shone brilliantly under the reflection of the light.

It was a finely crafted gold hairpin!

No woman could resist this kind of beauty. But..., the price. "Dear, we should be frugal. You have quit your job as a teacher, and our family can only live on the remaining money for the next few months. Moreover, we are going to the far east. God doesn't know what the specific situation is there. We need to leave some funds just in case." The ship to the east of the Swedish East India Company will not start until April. Ekdal smiled and shook his head, "Don't talk about this, today is Christmas Eve."

A chicken, pork, smoked sausages, snow-white bread, delicious wine, these things are the benefits found by the East India Company, which are enough for Ekdal's family to have a happy Christmas. But Ekdal still spent money to buy another chicken, as well as large pieces of bacon, beef and tender lamb.

In Bellica's opinion, this is really too rich. The things taken out of the package covered half of the table, just like the New Year's Eve dinner of ordinary people suddenly had ginseng abalone and monkey head bird's nest. Her heart was about to jump out.

"Don't worry. I will continue to study next year and will definitely pass the intermediate Chinese test before April. By then, we will get more resettlement allowances." Ekdal believed from the bottom of his heart that the East was beautiful, because the capital invested by the East India Company was too generous. Anyone who applied and was admitted, as long as he could pass the elementary Chinese test, could get a resettlement allowance worth 550 Swedish kronor; and if he could pass the intermediate Chinese test, he would get another 50 Chinese silver dollars, which was as valuable as the Spanish Eagle Dollar and had great purchasing power. Although this policy was not targeted at the identity of the applicant, whether you were a university professor or a craftsman of status.

The fact that the East India Company spent so much money proved that their "those words" were credible, because the cost they invested was too great. If the Chinese had not backed them up, it would not be worth it even if the East India Company sold all the scholars, technicians, teachers, doctors and their families who wanted merchant ships to the Middle East as slaves.

The East India Company would make a profit, but the profit ratio was too small. It would be better to invest that money in normal business. So Ekdal believed in the promise of the East India Company, and he was even more convinced that if he could pass the intermediate Chinese test, the Swedish East India Company would make more than fifty silver dollars.

An hour later, it was finally time for dinner, and the family gathered around the dining table to eat heartily.

In addition to the two older daughters, Belica had to take care of the two younger sons' eating habits at the same time. The youngest son's scarf was covered with soup, and his mouth was covered with a mixture of grease. Today's meat is different from the pickled meat of the past. The food made from fresh meat tastes much better than before. Not only the children, but also Ekdal and Belica were a little full.

Soft white bread with honey tastes much better than bran bread. In the past, the Ekdal family would only make this bread on holidays or birthdays, and it didn't contain honey. Sugar is not as precious in Europe as it was hundreds of years ago, but honey is still valuable.

After two months of living in fear, they finally got rid of poverty. This night was the most wonderful time for the Ekdal family, and it was a day that they would remember forever.

There are many people who have the same experience as the Ekdal family. In this era, a man's salary may keep a family from starving, but how many men out of a hundred can make a family live a good life?

Ekdal is just a middle school teacher, not a university professor. But his salary can also account for the average level, right?

So throughout Europe, there are tens of thousands of Ekdals who are spending this Christmas miserably. They either don't know about it yet, or they know but can't make up their minds. Even for those who are determined, not all of them can pass the elementary Chinese test before Christmas, and the proportion is even less than 10%.

And those who show no "language talent" can only get half of Ekdal's resettlement allowance.

"Elementary, intermediate, advanced, special, and specialized. The foreigners' Chinese test will be temporarily divided into these five levels." It was snowing heavily in Beijing, and Li Xiaomei had been away with her children for many days. Chen Ming's life became monotonous again. Without the children around, it would be monotonous.

Some things in Nanjing were passed to him one after another. Some of these things needed to be cut off by Chen Ming, and some did not need to be cut off by Chen Ming. For example, Chen Han's enthronement of Korea failed, and although his strength was not weaker than Enyan Jun Li Qi, the issue of status was a stumbling block.

China has always stood on the side of "orthodoxy" in this matter. As long as Li Qi was still alive and had not committed any unforgivable crime, Li Zhen would not be able to take over. Even if he sidelined Li Qi, he would not be able to become the King of Joseon.

Chen Ming did not care much about the affairs of Joseon. After the news reached Joseon, even if Li Zhen did not take action, Chen Ming would take action for him. Moreover, the people who took action were all Li Zhen's people, and they all thought it was Li Zhen's order.

In fact, the two kings of North Korea did the same thing. They sent people to each other, recruited people, and instigated people to defect. The two sides didn't know how many people were the other side's secret lines, and they couldn't even figure out the secret camps that had infiltrated North Korea.

So when doing this, you must be careful.

Chen Ming is now very interested in the Chinese grading test. "Regarding the future naturalization of foreigners, you must make a systematic review standard, such as the Chinese level. Any foreigner who wants to obtain Chinese nationality must pass the Chinese test above the intermediate level." Chen Ming said while reading the test papers of Chinese exams at all levels. Damn, Chen Ming was very excited. In his previous life, he was so miserable by John Bull's bird language. Now it's his turn to torture foreigners.

This made him feel like a student who had grown up and punished the teacher for "copying homework", not just for China's current strength. "An additional special regulation must be formulated." Just like the special genius clause in English football. Special special handling!

The emperor takes turns to be the emperor. This year, it is my turn. Although outsiders will not know the joy Chen Ming feels at this moment, Chen Ming is so happy in his heart. The only problem is: "It's bad. How can this level of level understand the profoundness of Chinese literature?" Chen Ming shook his head. This special exam paper was too bad. It was far worse than the questions he saw on the Internet in his previous life, which made even Chinese people scratch their heads. Chinese is the most complex and difficult language on the earth.

"Revise it, and make a big revision." Chen Ming threw down the paper and shouted to Xiong Bingzhang beside him. The test paper was quickly taken away.

Chen Ming called Zhao Yi, who was transferred to the secretariat, "You come and draft a formal letter and send it to the Ministry of Culture and Education." The test paper must be of good quality, and don't do some tricks. At the elementary and intermediate levels, they must clearly understand the meaning of "the Chinese team defeated the American team" and "the Chinese team defeated the American team"!

"Foreigners' Chinese exams are the face of the country and should not be underestimated." The importation of any culture into the outside world is essentially a spiritual conquest and invasion of the outside world.

The superiority of Western culture, which was fabricated in the previous life, has seriously corroded the thoughts of some so-called elites since the late Qing Dynasty. The most extreme manifestation is that even Chinese characters have to be abandoned. How low is their self-esteem? Self-deprecation and criticism of one's own national culture have become a fashionable trend in the Chinese world. After the reform and opening up, this trend has surged again, which can be said to have endless troubles. Those people whose brains are full of rice fields seem to have to take a thorough critical attitude towards their own traditional culture in order to show that they are a pioneer of reform and opening up. It seems that only by taking a contemptuous attitude towards their own national culture to the greatest extent can they prove that they have worldliness. In the eyes of some people, their own national culture has become a tattered piece of clothing, something that must be discarded, and a stumbling block that prevents them from moving towards the "new society".

Chen Ming's biggest indignation is the compulsory English test. He thinks that is the most typical example.

To some extent, the country attaches more importance to English than to Chinese language education. How many Chinese students in the previous life would attend Chinese language tutoring classes in their spare time? To learn Chinese classical poetry? On the contrary, there are many English tutoring classes.

Compulsory English education and CET-4 and CET-6 exams have in fact played a certain role in "de-Sinicization", weakening the role that the national culture should play during the growth of young people. This is an undeniable fact.

The most ridiculous thing is pop songs. A few half-baked English words are embedded in each song. I wonder if this represents the advancement of the Chinese? Or does it show the inferiority complex of the Chinese people?

When the Western world's policy of military conquest does not work, cultural conquest and aggression, this invisible form of civilized aggression, has become the most effective weapon.

In the time and space of the previous life, the Chinese did not completely lose their national destiny on the battlefield where they were desperately bleeding, but later they were likely to cut off their roots on the soft knife of "culture".

Moreover, many Chinese who thought they were very patriotic unknowingly became some kind of accomplices in this process. Compared with the naked force, cultural invasion and conquest are easier to achieve the goal. Because cultural invasion and conquest will not directly cause direct emotional confrontation. This is a kind of invasion and conquest similar to mental opium. Its subtle effect is to make more and more Chinese consciously and unconsciously become accomplices and running dogs of the West. Moreover, these accomplices and running dogs will not realize the fact that they are enslaved by the West. On the contrary, they often think that they are advanced elements among the Chinese people, and they are the only ones who are drunk and sober!

Of course, there are indisputable practical reasons for China's poor performance in this aspect in the previous life. Most of the world is white. If the rabbits in the weak period want to integrate into it, they can only accept the white people's rules of the game. And when the rabbits' strength rushes to the front row, the reality is already like that.

Chen Ming does not allow this world to repeat the mistakes of the previous life. China in this time and space will be more powerful than John Bull in his heyday. Only by connecting with the West will it not weaken and belittle its own national culture.

"It has to be of a high standard. We have to make the foreigners who pass the exam feel happy."