allonlinenovel Chapter 437 Are the common people of vassal states unworthy to learn the Ming Dynasty's script?
Chapter 437 Are the common people of vassal states unworthy to learn the Ming Dynasty's script?
Yang Shaofeng said with a smile, "This set of the Hongwu Dictionary is a gift from me to Vice Envoy Park."
Park Sung-sung quickly bowed and said, "This humble subject thanks Your Highness, the Prince Consort."
Yang Shaofeng laughed and said, "It's just a mere dictionary."
Park Sung-sung secretly pursed his lips.
A mere dictionary?
The last son of the Duke Yansheng, more than a thousand Confucian scholars, twelve volumes, more than three thousand pages, more than forty thousand words.
Merely?
When will Goryeo be able to compile such a powerful dictionary?
When will I, as a Goryeo envoy, be able to say something as nonchalant as "just a mere dictionary" like Yang, the imperial son-in-law?
Park Sung-sung felt a pang of bitterness, but Yang Shaofeng smiled and said, "Vice Envoy Park, do you know why I have repeatedly emphasized this dictionary?"
Park Sung-sung was slightly taken aback.
Yang Shaofeng said, "Vice Envoy Park should know that His Majesty the Emperor of our Great Ming Dynasty has issued an edict requiring all prefectures and counties in the country to widely establish community schools, prefectural schools, and county schools."
Park Sung-sung nodded.
Yang Shaofeng continued, "His Majesty has decreed that all state and county schools throughout the land should prepare a copy of the Hongwu Great Dictionary."
“Each student in every school and community across the land should receive a copy of the Hongwu Dictionary, based on the number of students.”
At this point, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but feel somewhat convinced.
When I first encouraged Zhu Yuanzhang to compile the "Hongwu Dictionary" and the "Hongwu Great Dictionary," my original intention was to cause trouble for the officials in the court.
While we're at it, let's also give the Duke Yansheng and his family a piece of our minds.
But I never expected this.
That old scoundrel Zhu Chongba actually wanted to give all the students a copy of the "Hongwu Dictionary".
Yes, the Hongwu Dictionary, which only includes 3,000 commonly used characters, is far less difficult to print and bind, and in terms of cost than the Hongwu Great Dictionary, which contains more than 40,000 characters.
The key is all the students.
As Premier Wen Jiabao once said: "No matter how big the problem is, it becomes a very small problem when divided by 1.4 billion, but no matter how small the problem is, it becomes a very big problem when multiplied by 1.4 billion."
No matter how cheap or how well printed the Hongwu Dictionary is, it still consists of two volumes, totaling several hundred pages.
With over a thousand prefectures and counties in the Ming Dynasty, and assuming each prefecture and county has ten community schools, there would be at least ten thousand community schools.
If a community school has 20 students, then the demand is 200,000 sets.
Even if each set of the Hongwu Dictionary costs one string of cash, 200,000 sets would require an expenditure of 200,000 strings of cash.
Given how impoverished the Ming Dynasty's treasury is now, an expenditure of 200,000 strings of cash is definitely not a small amount.
The key point is that this is only calculated according to the minimum standard.
The actual expenditure may be well over two million guan.
But Zhu Chongba was willing to spend so much money.
Tsk tsk.
No wonder there's a saying about Tang poetry, Song lyrics, Yuan drama, and Ming novels.
As Yang Shaofeng pondered this haphazardly, he smiled and said to Park Sung-sung, "I'm wondering if Goryeo should also build more community schools?"
"If we want to build more community schools, then the Hongwu Dictionary and the Hongwu Zhengyun are also necessary, right?"
Park Sung-sung was completely numb.
After all this back and forth, you, surnamed Yang, still want the entire Goryeo to learn Chinese and Chinese characters, right?
Park Sung-sung shook his head slightly and ultimately rejected Yang Shao-feng's suggestion.
"I am deeply grateful for Your Highness's kindness."
"However, the situation in Goryeo is not the same as that in the Ming Dynasty."
"The people of the Great Ming are the subjects of the superior nation."
"The people of Goryeo are truly the commoners of a lowly country."
“They are not worthy of learning the Ming Dynasty’s writing system.”
"I hope Your Highness will forgive me."
After a slight pause, fearing that his refusal might anger Yang Shaofeng, Park Sung-sung added, "In fact, this applies to all foreign vassal states, whether it be Korea, Japan, Annam, Champa, Siam, or Ryukyu."
Yang Shaofeng was somewhat bewildered by Park Sung-sung's words.
What does it mean that people from small, isolated states are not worthy of learning Chinese characters and the Chinese language?
What does it mean that all foreign vassal states, such as Japan, Annam, and Champa, are like this?
So, Chinese language and characters are still a monopolized resource among the upper class in your country?
Park Sung-sung glanced at Yang Shaofeng discreetly, then continued, "Although Jin Tao and the other two are indeed ungrateful, it is also a fact that they don't understand the official language of the Ming Dynasty."
"If they could write Chinese characters and were fluent in the official language of the Ming Dynasty..."
"They had already held high-ranking positions in Korea long ago."
"Does Your Highness know that Japan once had a tradition of racial intermarriage?"
Degree of cultivation?
Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "Of course I know."
The so-called "improvement of the Japanese race" refers to Japanese women traveling by ship to the Central Plains, having sex with men there, becoming pregnant, and then returning to Japan to give birth to their children. The idea was to improve the Japanese race through this practice.
There is a relevant record in the notes of Zhou Hui, a Song Dynasty scholar, in his book "Qingbo Magazine".
"When Hui was in Taizhou, a Japanese ship drifted into the area. The ship carried about 20 to 30 people... The women all had their hair down. When they met people from the Central Plains, they would choose the most beautiful women to sleep with, a practice called 'crossing the lineage'."
This phenomenon began in the Tang Dynasty and reached its peak in the Song Dynasty.
Moreover, this phenomenon is not limited to short people.
During the Song Dynasty, young Uyghur women who lived with Song men before marriage and conceived a Song man's child were more popular than those who did not.
Park Sung-sung continued, "Does Your Highness know that the Han Chinese who settled in Japan in those days had a much higher status than ordinary Japanese people?"
Yang Shaofeng said dismissively, even taking it for granted, "Isn't this what should be done?"
Park Sung-sung gave an awkward smile and said, "Yes, it's only right."
"But does Your Highness know that among the many vassal states, not everyone can learn Chinese characters and speak Chinese?"
Yang Shaofeng roughly understood.
Although Park Sung-sung did not say it explicitly, the implication was that Chinese characters and the Chinese language were monopolized by the nobility in many foreign vassal states, and ordinary people were not allowed to learn them.
This made Yang Shaofeng somewhat unhappy.
You foreign nobles treat Chinese characters and language as a monopolized resource. Isn't that going against the First Emperor's wishes?
Standardizing the written language, you bastards!
More importantly, these ordinary people from the outer vassal states do not know Chinese characters or speak Chinese. How can they develop a sense of identification with the Ming Dynasty from the bottom of their hearts?
This isn't some later era, damn it.
For those interested in remote aquaculture, books are a crucial element.
Books, in turn, must rely on words and language as their medium.
Therefore, only by promoting Chinese characters and the Chinese language, even on a small scale, could the Ming Dynasty possibly develop long-distance aquaculture.
Yang Shaofeng pursed his lips slightly and said, "Confucius said, 'In education, there should be no discrimination.'"
"Goryeo is an outer vassal state of our Great Ming Dynasty, and the people of Goryeo are also subjects of our Great Ming Emperor."
“Those who need education should still be educated.”
"Whether Goryeo is willing to promote Chinese characters and the official language of the Ming Dynasty in Goryeo is not just a matter for Goryeo."
At this point, Yang Shaofeng pointed in the direction of the market.
"At the very least, Goryeo merchants who come to the border market in the future will still need to be able to speak the official language of the Ming Dynasty and be able to read the Ming Dynasty characters."