Chapter 1438 Meeting
Luanda.
April is the end of the rainy season in Luanda. Today, there was just a shower in the city of Luanda. Heavy rain poured down amid lightning and thunder, and then stopped abruptly. After being washed by the heavy rain, the whole city seemed particularly fresh. The air was mixed with the fragrance of soil and flowers, and the sky was particularly blue.
On Luanda's seafront avenue, foreign guests from all over the world boarded buses arranged by the East African government and headed towards the Luanda Coastal Convention Center.
Rodnal of the Brazilian government could not help but sigh: "Luanda is indeed one of the most developed cities on the entire South Atlantic coast. In terms of urban construction alone, it is not inferior to the capitals of our South American countries. Moreover, this city has both modern and classical styles and is full of exotic charm."
“Many buildings are very similar to those in Rio de Janeiro. Coming here makes me feel very familiar.”
As a former Portuguese colony, Luanda naturally retains many Portuguese-style buildings, and Brazil was once the most important colony of Portugal, so Rodnal said this.
The East African receptionist, Laster, said to Rodnal: "Mr. Rodnal, speaking of Luanda, as a former Portuguese colony, it does share common features with many cities in Brazil."
"In the last century, when Luanda was the capital of the then colonial Angola, it was already considered a big city in Africa."
"After decades of hard work by our Rhine Empire, Luanda has not only become an important city in Africa, but also one of the top cities in the world."
Luanda has a very long history. At the end of the 16th century, the Portuguese colonists chose to build a port here. In the 17th century, it became the colonial capital of the Portuguese at that time.
Before East Africa occupied Luanda, the population here had already reached tens of thousands. For Africa at that time, a relatively modern town with a population of more than 10,000 was considered rare.
Laster was not shy about telling Rodnal about Luanda's not-so-glorious history, because Rodnal was Brazilian, and Brazil and Portugal were related, but they were also two different countries.
When it comes to Portugal, Rodnal can't stop talking. As a former Portuguese colony, Brazilians have complicated feelings towards Portugal.
Rodnar said: "Portugal used to be a world power, but now the pillar of Portuguese-speaking countries is Brazil. Compared with the decline of Portugal, Brazil's development in recent years can be described as rapid."
For Brazil, surpassing its former colonial master is a matter of great pride and honor. But now Portugal is at most an ordinary European country, while Brazil is a half-world power.
The reason why it is half a world power is that Brazil's potential has not been developed. Its land area of more than 8 million square kilometers and its population of nearly 30 million are both configurations of a world power, but its industrial level is very low and there is a large gap between the rich and the poor in society.
This makes Brazil give people the impression that Brazilians are far less wealthy than Argentines compared to Argentina.
However, even so, Brazil has left its former colonial master Portugal far behind in many areas.
Last followed Rodnar's words and said: "Brazil's development in recent years is indeed remarkable. I think Brazil will definitely become one of the most important countries in the world in the future."
In this era, the countries in South America are doing relatively well, at least above the world average. The countries and regions that are really having a hard time are mostly concentrated in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Moreover, in recent years, with the wooing of South American countries by East Africa, the United States and European countries, the opportunities for South American countries to play both sides have greatly increased.
An important purpose of this German-speaking countries' organization meeting is to deepen East Africa's influence on South America.
So Laster said: "Compared to Brazil and other South American countries, East Africa is one of the fastest-developing countries, and one of the important goals of this international conference is to deepen the cultural ties between us and your countries."
In response to the East African's modest statement, Rodnar quickly said: "Mr. Last is too modest. Although our Brazilian economy has developed well in recent years, it is totally incomparable with East Africa."
"East Africa is the top student in the world, but Brazil's influence is limited to South America. As for the prosperity of Luanda, I'm afraid only the big cities in Europe and America can be compared with it."
“Moreover, I dare say that although European and American cities are developed, their urban design concepts are much worse than those of East Africa. It can be said that Luanda is the most beautiful big city I have ever seen.”
“Although Rio de Janeiro is also a big city, its cultural connotations and designs are more like those of Europe, while cities in East Africa are both beautiful and practical and have their own style.”
"In my opinion, tropical countries should learn more from your country in the future, especially Brazil. After all, Brazil and East Africa have the most similar climates."
"Therefore, many advanced experiences in urban construction in East Africa are worthy of adoption and reference by Brazil."
The fact is that Brazil's overall climate is better than that of East Africa, although Brazil also has two climate types: tropical savanna and tropical rainforest.
However, the most densely populated areas in southeastern Brazil have a subtropical monsoon humid climate, which is less volatile than the subtropical monsoon climate in the southern Far East Empire, and the temporal and spatial distribution of temperature and precipitation is more balanced.
In fact, the southeastern part of East Africa also has a subtropical monsoon humid climate, but it is an almost negligible microclimate area. For example, the port city of New Hamburg belongs to this climate type. You can refer to Sao Paulo in Brazil and Sydney in Australia. The climate characteristics of the three are very similar.
Luanda and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil are both located in areas affected by the tropical savanna climate, so Rodnal proposed learning urban design experience from East Africa.
In this era, Rio de Janeiro is undoubtedly the center of the entire Brazil. The capital of Brazil at this time is still Rio de Janeiro, not Brasilia in the hinterland. Therefore, Rio de Janeiro is the most representative Brazilian city and the pride of Brazilians.
It is worth mentioning that the rainy season in Luanda is almost the same as that in Rio de Janeiro, both concentrated in the end of the year and the beginning of the year, that is, from November to April.
Therefore, when Rodnar and other Brazilians arrived in Luanda, they felt like they were at home and did not feel any discomfort at all.
Rodnar said: "Compared to Rio de Janeiro, Luanda is very similar in climate to Rio de Janeiro."
"However, Luanda's overall urban design and construction are better, there are no large-scale slums, and the road construction, residential area construction, infrastructure and other supporting facilities are more modernized."
“Not only are there green areas along the roadside, but there are also a lot of flowers and plants planted, which further enhances the livability.”
Every foreigner who comes to East Africa will talk about the urban construction in East Africa, because in the early 20th century, few cities paid as much attention to the living environment as East African cities.
After all, for the rich, they can build manors in the suburbs and own residences in high-rise areas of the city. They can enjoy the free air of the countryside and feel the modernity of the city.
The towns in East Africa, on the other hand, have combined the two, significantly improving the urban living environment. Although this has increased the cost of urban construction, it has also allowed East African towns to develop a unique style in the world.
…
In this meeting of the German-speaking countries organization, many countries from East Africa were invited. In addition to the German-speaking countries, most of the South American countries received invitations, followed by East Asia, the Middle East and other regions and countries.
Crown Prince Friedrich of East Africa attended the meeting and delivered a speech at the opening of the meeting.
"Welcome to East Africa, to the first German-speaking countries' meeting in the world, which aims to strengthen the ties between the participating countries..."
Although it was called the Conference of the German-speaking Countries, East Africa invited a large number of non-German-speaking countries, so Friedrich did not emphasize the concept of German-speaking countries.
Instead, it highlights the popularity and importance of German throughout the world, as well as the future development prospects of German.
So Friedrich concluded: "The world status of German is becoming more and more prominent, and its application in the international community is becoming more and more extensive. This is a very important opportunity for countries around the world, especially those developing countries."
"For these countries, the promotion of German means easier access to the world's most cutting-edge technology and knowledge, and facilitates participation in international trade and affairs."
“We in East Africa, as well as Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and others are all important industrial and economic powers in the world.”
"In the early 20th century, the German-speaking world continued to make great efforts in basic science and cutting-edge technology, and even showed a trend of surpassing English and French."
"This also means that learning German can help countries seize the initiative in industrialization and modernization."
Although Friedrich's speech was somewhat blunt, it was also basically realistic, at least many of the participants were convinced.
Today, there are only nine major powers in the world, or great powers: Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Soviet Union, East Africa, the United States, Japan, and Spain. Among them, as many as three have German as their official language, while there are only two English-speaking countries.
This also shows the strong advantages of German today. After all, the promotion of a language also depends on strength. German-speaking powers account for almost one-third of the world's powerful countries. Together with other non-power German-speaking countries, the overall influence of German today is second only to English.
Although German-speaking countries are relatively strong today, they lack the foundation compared to English-speaking countries. Since its establishment, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been developing slowly and its influence has been limited to Europe.
East Africa and Germany basically appeared on the historical stage and rose in the mid-to-late 19th century. Compared with the foundation accumulated by English and French over hundreds of years, it is indeed difficult for them to catch up.
Of course, French is in serious decline nowadays. It is completely unable to compete with English and German. It can basically only sit at the same table with Spanish. It is a language with a strong foundation but is continuing to decline.
Of course, Friedrich did not intend to show off, but the promotion of language itself is a law of the jungle, and the dominance of one language also represents the decline of other languages.
Therefore, if we want other countries and regions to willingly cooperate with the promotion of German, we must demonstrate the power of German. As a language, German itself obviously has no advantages or disadvantages.
How to highlight the power of German naturally depends on the national strength behind it and its scope of application as a communication tool.
Only when these countries realize the benefits of promoting German can they provide more funds and policies to support the development of German education in their own countries.
Just as Friedrich said, German can bring tangible benefits to these countries in diplomacy, trade and technology. This is the core competitiveness of German in competing with other languages.
After Friedrich finished speaking, representatives from various German-speaking countries spoke next, namely Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium...
Belgium is a relatively special country because it has two official languages, German and French. However, with the rise of Germany and East Africa in recent years, and the decline of France, Belgium has had to make corresponding compromises.
Apart from other things, in Belgium's colony, that is, the Autonomous Territory of Congo, German basically has an absolute advantage.
These German-speaking countries are also the core members of the current German-speaking Organization, followed by non-core members including the Netherlands, Switzerland, etc.
The rest are observer countries, especially in South America, followed by the Middle East and the Far East.
Among the official languages of South American countries, Spanish is the most popular, followed by Portuguese, English, French and German.
However, due to immigration, there are immigrants from the German region in almost every country in South America, so German itself has a certain mass base in these countries.
Of course, the purpose of the German-speaking countries' organization is to promote the popularization and promotion of the German language, so the content of the meeting mainly revolves around how to enhance the advantages and status of the German language.
In response to this, representatives from various countries actively offered suggestions, including establishing a wide range of German training institutions and promoting countries around the world to make German an important part of their national language education.
Create German cultural products through film, television, radio, posters, books, literature, music, etc., so as to enhance the soft power and connotation of German.
This is actually what drives the competitiveness of German-speaking countries such as East Africa and Germany in world trade. After all, when buying goods, many people not only consider factors such as quality and price, but also pay attention to feelings, trends, etc.
Compared with English and French, German is relatively backward in this regard, and its more outstanding areas are philosophy and music.
East Africa and Germany became the two main leading countries of this conference. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also a world power, it has no intention of taking care of this German summit. In addition to the turmoil in its own country, the status of German itself in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is not very stable. At least Hungarians are not very fond of German.
Of course, the lack of enthusiasm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not affect the successful holding of this German summit. At least East Africa’s goal was basically achieved. For East Africa, it was not only to use this summit to enhance the international status of German, but also to use this summit to show other countries its development achievements in recent years.
And there is no better way to showcase East Africa's development achievements than to have people come to East Africa in person.
(End of this chapter)
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