Uncle Ma first read in "The Times" that China and Vietnam signed the "Hue Treaty" and France suffered a big loss in Vietnam.
Before 1840, the European newspapers' evaluation of China was "mysterious China." From 1840 to 1860, the European evaluation became more contemptuous. After 1860, at least British newspapers began to treat China with hostility rather than contempt.
China set up embassies in Europe and also carried out some cultural promotion activities. Chinese students went to European countries to study, and Chinese businessmen arrived in Europe on steam ships built by China. The entire European view of China also changed a lot.
For example, France was attacked by China this time. The general view in Europe was that France tried to invade China's vassal state of Vietnam and was attacked head-on by China. The purpose of France's expansion in the East failed. The fall of the French cabinet was a foregone conclusion, but European countries generally suspected that France would continue to intensify the war with China.
If France lost two thousand people in other continents outside of Europe, it would be a huge sensational news. But France was attacked by China and lost two thousand people, so Europe didn't think much of it. There were even some newspapers with a very right-leaning position that put forward the magical view of "when will the civil war between the white race end."
In this last crazy period of colonialism, it was accompanied by the prosperity of racism. So the initial question in Europe's discussion of China was actually "what kind of race is China." In the eighteenth century, the ethnography that divided humans into "red, white, yellow and black" was born in Europe. White in Europe had a good meaning of purity and nobility, while black was the opposite, so Europeans were classified as white, Africans were classified as black, and East Asians, who were considered to be in between Europe and Africa, were assigned the "yellow race" – yellow had a meaning of melancholy, greed, morbidity and so on. China didn't hate the title "yellow race", the biggest reason was that China actually didn't understand the true meaning of European ethnography. And yellow was a noble color in Chinese culture.
When Europe actually saw the large number of Chinese, they found that, except for the relatively small number of Northern Europeans, the skin of Chinese was generally fairer than the people of Southern Europe and even France. In addition, the Chinese's skin quality was much better than that of Europeans, which caused a discussion in Europe. "Should Chinese be considered Caucasians?"
Since the Europeans believed that the Caucasians belonged to the industrialized countries, China, which was no less industrialized than Europe, and the Chinese, who had fairer skin than most Europeans, were, in a sense, the Caucasians. Otherwise, Caucasians would become an existence even lower than Asians. By 1870, the more racist press had already begun to say that the Chinese were actually "light-skinned whites."
Of course, the French were white in the eyes of the Europeans, but when China was also considered to be light-skinned white, the war between China and the European countries became a "civil war between the white people." Not only was there a conflict between China and France, there was also a conflict between China and Russia. The war between the industrial countries would make the people of the industrial countries feel real danger.
Of course, Uncle Ma didn't believe in the nonsense of ethnography. He could see the essence through the phenomenon. As China's industrialization process advanced by leaps and bounds, the whole of Europe felt the impact. Because of the problem of shipping capacity, the European countries that directly faced China were attacked or threatened by China. Their reaction to China was more realistic. As for the countries that had no special connection or conflict with China, their imagination of China was very romantic.
Uncle Ma actually owed China a big favor. Even as a German, he knew that if he had the chance to meet Vézé, he had to thank him. After the failure of the Paris Commune, Uncle Ma asked China for help. China did help. In the middle of June 1871, Uncle Ma personally met the Paris Commune losers who escaped from France. Only then did he realize that China was not without influence in Europe. These losers escaped from France under the arrangement of the German army. A considerable number of them were rescued by the German army from the hands of the French reactionary army. Many of them were even rescued from the execution ground by the Germans.
Although the members of the Paris Commune were filled with patriotism and had a deep-rooted hatred for the Germans, they at least maintained the minimum level of politeness in front of the Germans who saved their lives.
China didn't hide the fact that they had rescued the Paris Commune members. With China in front of them, it was convenient for Sweden to take action. Of course, Germany didn't want to keep these republicans in their country. If these radical republicans were German, they would be imprisoned by the German government.
Since China had made a statement, there were countries that were willing to accept these people. Switzerland, on the other hand, was very willing to accept these people. In order to disgust the British, France forced many of the Paris Commune members to England. There was no food on the transport ship. The French escorts used the excuse of "preventing the passengers from freezing" to force them to drink. When these ragged Commune members were thrown onto the English docks, their faces were dirty and their clothes were tattered. Because of the alcohol, these Paris Commune members acted like drunkards. It was disgusting to look at. Although the British protested against the French, they also accepted the Paris Commune members.
With Switzerland and the United Kingdom as examples, and with Sweden taking the lead, the Nordic countries also accepted many Paris Commune members. Even Italy, which had just been unified, expressed its willingness to accept some of the Paris Commune members.
After the failure of the Paris Commune in history, the French National Defense government then suppressed the Commune members. The executions without trial lasted for more than a month. It was estimated that about 20,000 people were shot without trial. Including those who died in battle, the Commune's death toll was about 30,000. In the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussian army lost less than 30,000 soldiers.
At the time, a reporter wrote, "… the bloody suppression was very thorough. The bloodshed that killed all those who dared to resist would delay the outbreak of the next revolution … The old society at least bought itself another 20 years of peace …" Now that China had intervened, the number of Commune members who died was greatly reduced. Although China had its own ideas based on the national interest of China, this was a very big favor.
China also made a request to Uncle Ma, asking him to write a special report on the economic crisis.
So what if it was a financial crisis? The speculative bubble burst, and all sorts of debt problems followed. Then there were closures, bankruptcies, and unemployment. For the average worker, this was a terrible time. The capitalist system had existed for a long time, but it was only when it was combined with industrialization that the system seemed to shine. Capital had only one goal, and that was to multiply. As for the means used, capital did not care.
The industrial level of this era was low, and most of it relied on labor-intensive industries. In order to maximize profits, the best way was to reduce the wages of the workers. Uncle Ma's "Declaration of Freedom" had a precise description.
"… Because of the promotion of machinery and the division of labor, the labour of the proletariat has lost any independent character, and therefore has lost any attraction to the worker. The worker has become a mere accessory to the machine, and all he is required to do is extremely simple, monotonous, and easily learned operations. Therefore, the expenditure on the worker is almost limited to the means of subsistence necessary for the maintenance of the worker's livelihood and the continuation of the worker's descendants …
… The less skill and strength required for manual operations, in other words, the more developed the modern industry is, the more the male workers are pushed aside by female and child workers. For the working class, the differences between sex and age no longer have any social significance. They are just tools of labor, but they require different costs because of their age and sex …
… When the exploitation of the workers by the factory owners comes to an end, and the workers receive their wages paid in cash, immediately another part of the bourgeoisie — landlords, small shopkeepers, pawnbrokers, and so on — pounce on them … "
Uncle Ma was not a half-hearted person. Regarding the economic crisis of 1873, Uncle Ma clearly saw that it was different from the past. Previous economic crises were mainly caused by the speculative industry, and light industry suffered the most. The lives of the workers, who only received a subsistence wage every day, were miserable after they lost their jobs. The economic crisis of 1873 was the first crisis of heavy industry.
The trigger of the crisis was the fact that China did not buy the products of the British Railway Company for the whole of 1872. This information was concealed by the British Railway Company for nearly a year before it was revealed. If it was just this incident, it would not have been able to trigger the economic crisis of Europe. The investment bubble of the American Railway Company was extremely serious. What the small needle in China pierced was a pig's bladder that was about to explode.
The collapse of the American Railway Company's speculation triggered a full-scale crisis in the United States. In July 1873, one of the wealthiest banks in the United States, the Jay Cook Financial Company, went bankrupt because of the railway speculation. The New York stock market plunged, and 5000 commercial companies and 57 stock exchange companies went bankrupt one after another. The New York Stock Exchange was closed for the first time for ten days.
The United States had already adopted high tariffs, and now they raised them even more. Uncle En's letter to Uncle Ma described in detail the situation in Germany, which also adopted high tariffs. Bismarck, in order to promote the development of his country's heavy industry, also adopted higher tariffs. At the same time, the loss of China, the United States, and Germany, the three major markets, caused a great crisis in Britain's heavy industry.
Heavy industry workers required more physical strength, and the demand for skills was higher. The previous economic crises did not affect them too much, and these people were able to maintain a relatively decent life in the working class. These workers were used to a relatively stable life, and unemployment was particularly difficult for these people to accept.
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