The entertainment tycoon of the Republic of China

Inside the huge theater, Wu Yaya was full of audiences. Even when the theater business was at its peak, he had never seen such a posture.

The temporarily replaced wooden stools were a bit hard, and for some audiences, the experience was not very comfortable, but no one left because of the discomfort, but it seemed that they could not feel it.

After Mr. Shun's words spread, in just over an hour, the theater was filled with audiences who came to hear the news. Shopkeeper Liu made a rough estimate. Counting the boxes on the second floor in the theater, at least There are nearly ten thousand people.

Before the book was opened, there were still people flocking to the theater one after another. Shopkeeper Liu kept Xie Yan's order in mind and advised them to come back tomorrow. At the same time, he arranged for the staff to inspect the area and be careful of water leakage and stampede incidents.

When it was time to open the book, Mr. Shun came to the center of the stage step by step, and put a trumpet-shaped thing in his hand on the table.

This is a gadget made by Ding Hai and a few friends. Compared with the electric speakers of later generations, the style is a bit bulky, but the sound amplification effect is already very good.

Telling a book with a loudspeaker is really a bit nondescript. If it weren’t for the special situation today, there are too many people in the theater, and the people in the back row may not be able to hear clearly, and the audience can understand it, and the people sitting in the theater at this moment can’t wait to listen to the presenter. No one cares about what the husband wrote new.

Mr. Shun slowly looked around the audience, felt the expectant eyes from all directions, and sighed in his heart, unknowingly, the name of the presenter had already had such a great influence in Hankou. Can attract so many listeners to come in person.

Mr. Shun picked up the horn and put it to his mouth, coughed a few times, and the loudspeaker coil transmitted his voice accurately throughout the theater.

"All the customers are here, and our story will begin. But this time, we need to use a new way of telling the story. Compared with me, it is more important for you." Mr. Shun bought a pass, and then pointed out Pointing to the horn in his hand, "Before that, I would like to ask, does anyone recognize the object in my hand?"

People sitting farther in front can see better.

"Is it a trumpet?" The person who spoke first was not sure.

"God, what kind of speaker is this, why is it so loud?"

"It's an electric speaker. I saw it when I was studying abroad." An international student wearing glasses said uncertainly.

"Little gentleman, can you tell me what an electric horn is?"

……

Conversations like this happened one after another in the theater, because there was no ticket sales and seating was based on a first-come, first-served basis. Many people of different identities and status sat together, including young students, workers, and housewives who developed their minds.

After the opening of the theater, except for the lighting of the stage and a few emergency lights, all the lights in other places were turned off. People could not see the clothes and appearance of the people around them, and could only communicate by listening to the sound. Infected by this situation, Some people who insist on their own identities or have low self-esteem also put aside their scruples and chat with the people around them naturally.

With only one small question, Mr. Shun initially broke the barriers between the audience in the theater.

"Everyone is right. What I have in my hand is an electric horn. If you go back ten years and see such a horn, many people, including me, will definitely think that it is a manifestation of a god. Otherwise, what is the sound of this horn? Will it be so big? Can it spread so far?"

"But now, even if you haven't seen it, you can still think that this is something made by foreigners, not by gods, right?"

When Mr. Shun spoke up to this point, he gave the audience time to think.

Many people thought about these things under the reminder of Mr. Shun.Electric lights, telegraphs, power plants, trams... These electrified things appeared on a large scale in Hankou, only a short period of ten years ago.Some older people still remember the initial shock when they saw electric lights and the panic when they saw trams, but now, even if they don't have the conditions to use electrical appliances, they are used to the existence of these novelties.

Mr. Shun is right. Now when they see good things beyond imagination, their first reaction is that they are made by foreigners, not gods, but why does Mr. Shun say this?

The audience in the theater was lost in thought, and some highly educated young students were even one step ahead, and had already begun to speculate on the intention behind Mr. Present's new story.

Mr. Shun raised the electric horn in his hand, "What I just said is right and wrong. The electric horn in my hand is real, but it is not made by foreigners, but made by us Chinese ourselves. .”

"The people who built it are not some pedants, just a few young students."

"Maybe they just bought your fried dough sticks today, asked you for directions yesterday, and took your car two days ago, maybe they live next door to you, maybe they are sitting next to you now."

"However, if no one speaks out, no one would have guessed that they have the magical ability not to lose to foreigners. What do you think is the reason?"

……

There was an uproar in the theater. What Mr. Shun said just now was very substituting. Many people unconsciously started to associate, and finally even looked around frequently, as if the student who made the trumpet was really sitting next to him.

A person sitting in the front row couldn't help shouting, "Mr. Shun, is what you said true? We can really make things made by foreigners? Isn't it only foreigners who can?"

Mr. Shun smiled, "Since it is a man-made thing, there must be a way to learn it. Foreigners can learn it, why can't we learn it?"

"But..." the man's mind became a mess, "but I heard that these things can only be learned by foreigners, we are not born to learn..."

"Who said that we not only learn well, but also learn better than them." Before Mr. Shun could speak, some students who had studied abroad in the theater couldn't sit still.

Heizi, the man arranged by Shopkeeper Liu, was very clever. He chose a young student who looked gentle and was explaining to the people around him, and handed him an electric horn tied with a red string.

"This is?"

"Mr. Present means that every audience in the theater today may be a storyteller. If you have something to say, you may wish to use an electric speaker to let everyone hear it."

The young student had been speculating on the intentions of Mr. Inventor before, and when he saw the prepared speakers, his guess became clearer.That being the case, he didn't shirk, and cupped his hands to take over the horn.

"Hello everyone, I am a student who has studied abroad. I have a few words to say about what Mr. Fang Caishun said about learning the skills of foreigners. You don't need to know my name, as long as you know that I am a Chinese. good."

Mr. Shun knocked on Xingmu with the horn, "This is the end of the book, and I have to change someone to talk about it."

The operation of Mr. Shun and the current theater is shocking. No one has ever heard of an audience member being asked to continue talking in the middle of a performance.However, out of curiosity about the overseas students, and out of trust and expectation for the name of the presenter, the audience did not protest.

Although Huaxia began to send foreign students to study abroad since the Qing government, the foreign students have not really entered the public eye. Except for the foreign students themselves or progressive people who have a close relationship with the foreign students, most people only know that the foreign students are covered with gold, but I don't know what they have learned and what abilities they have when they go abroad.

On the one hand, this is because many overseas students, especially those majoring in science and engineering, do not have a platform to show their abilities after returning to China;

Because of this, there are many mainstream ideas such as that Chinese people are born unable to learn things from foreigners, and Chinese people are born unable to develop as well as foreigners.

The well-mannered young student used himself as an example to talk about what he had learned and thought in the process of studying abroad in an orderly manner. Although his narration was definitely not as interesting as Mr. Shun's, it was better than the explosion of information. Even if it was just a simple narration, everyone listened to it. Have relish.

Just like what he said when he stood up, everyone doesn't need to know his name, they just need to know that he is a Chinese, and what he tells is what a Chinese can do.

After briefly speaking what he wanted to say, the student handed the trumpet to a female friend not far away.My friend is also an overseas student, and her narration is more vivid than the young man's succinct and straightforward one. She not only tells what she has learned from another angle, but also provides supplementary explanations for some concepts that the young man said are difficult to understand.

After the two of them finished speaking, Mr. Shun took over the conversation and raised questions again through what the young people said just now.Maybe Mr. Shun knows very little by himself, maybe Xie Yan can't guarantee that he knows everything.But in this theater full of Chinese people from all walks of life, there are always some people who can answer some people's questions or give them the direction of thinking.

The dim environment let go of the boundaries in people's hearts, and the atmosphere of speaking freely encouraged every listener. People not only listened carefully to what others said they didn't understand, but also began to think about what they knew, what they could tell, and began to realize their own. Ability and different.

Later, after Mr. Shun asked the question and signaled the audience to start the narration, people even began to rush to raise their hands, rushing to pick up the electric horn tied with a red string.

Mr. Shun's questions are not limited to overseas students and foreigners, workers, merchants, farmers, back houses, teachers... He guides people to pay attention to all walks of life in Hankou, and the theme around them is the changes in the past ten years.

The atmosphere became more and more heated, but no one got up to make trouble. Everyone's minds were full of explosive knowledge, and they just wanted to concentrate on listening to every word of the person who got up and spoke.

The trumpets tied with red strings were passed in the hands of people from all walks of life in the theater, just like passing in every corner of Hankou City.A woman in her thirties and 40s took the trumpet, covered her face with a handkerchief, and mustered up the courage to use her own experience to talk about the changes in marriage conditions in the past ten years. After speaking, she was affirmed by the people around her and she put down her handkerchief directly. Son, exuding the light of self-confidence.

……

Even Mr. Shun and shopkeeper Liu didn't know that Xie Yan was sitting in the corner of the present theater at this time, with ordinary clothes and an ordinary position. The emergency light did not reach his face, and the lights in the theater But it lit up his heart.

The present is the guidance brought by the modern soul to this era, and the voice of the people is the cry of countless people living in the present.

"If you don't know the people's voice, you can't continue." The editorial department of the People's Voice Daily was mobilized and hidden in various places in the theater, conscientiously recording what each speaker said.

The voice of this miniature Hankou society deserves to be passed on to a wider world.

Xie Yan saw the excited workers complaining about the treatment of different shipping companies in detail, the sad shopkeeper lamenting that traditional business is getting harder and harder to do, and seeing the blind self-confidence of young students being refuted with reason and evidence to the point of blushing, Seeing the shy peasant girl seriously answering other people's questions...

A guy with a red rope electric horn walked by, Xie Yan reached out to stop him.

"Sorry, we—" Heizi choked up in the middle of his words, and immediately lowered his voice, "Dong, Dongjia?"

Xie Yan waved at him and brought the electric horn over.

He stood up, put the horn to his mouth, and the emergency lights from behind illuminated his silhouette. People tried to see his face, but they couldn't find it.This figure is so ordinary, and it seems to have fallen from the sky.

"Hi everyone, I'm a man from a place you've never heard of. You don't need to know my name, just remember the place I'm talking about."

"In that place, the territory of the Huaxia people is only decided by the Huaxia people."

"In that place, the Chinese developed a lot of things that foreigners are eager to learn, and they have knowledge and technology that ranks among the best in the world."

"In that place, everyone has the right to education and is free to choose their own future."

"In that place, people live a prosperous life, get medical care for their illnesses, and rely on their old age."

……

"If you are willing to believe, that place is the land under our feet."

Xie Yan closed her eyes, and Wen Heng's figure naturally appeared in her mind.

It's too late to tell you about my past, so let you hear it in this way.This is the most unique farewell I have prepared for you. I believe that in this time and space where we met, the land under our feet will one day be so full of flowers.

……

As the young man's voice fell, this short but long special story-telling event came to an end. People who recovered from the shock wanted to know who the speaker was, but where the young man was standing just now, there was only one Empty seats.

Mr. Shun listened to the familiar voice and slowly painted a dream-like picture. He couldn't get back to his senses for a long time. It was not until the assistant whispered a reminder that he picked up the horn belatedly to control the atmosphere in the theater.

In this event called storytelling performance, Mr. Shun didn't even tell a complete story, but everyone who participated in it felt more fulfilled and excited than hearing ten new stories.

"Before leaving the venue, Mr. Xian Zhe has a picture that he wants to give to everyone."

Mr. Shun unfolded a picture of unframed characters. The handwriting on the rice paper was not made by famous masters. Just looking at the font and shape, it was only average, but each stroke was extremely firm. Standing in front of the characters, a powerful momentum rushed to his face. Come.

Mr. Shun conveyed the words on the rice paper to everyone in the theater through the electric speaker, and the slightly electric voice seemed to travel through time, connecting unknown time and space.

"All beings are equal, man will conquer nature."

Since then, the historical event known as the Hankou Gathering officially kicked off, which was considered by later generations of historians to have started a new thought movement in modern times that took communication and practice as its code of action.