Chapter 437 Cholera and the Dark Side
Vicious competition is bound to happen. This kind of thing is very common during an economic crisis, and it is not even a big deal. Some countries have already prepared for war when they encountered an economic downturn. Ernst will not name them specifically.
Since 1870, East Africa has begun to change its previous efforts to cultivate food crops and instead vigorously support the development of cash crops. In essence, East Africa's food crops are enough to support national development, and the continuous decline in food prices does not make much money. Food production security is extremely important to a country, which is why East Africa has always strongly supported food production while reducing its support for cash crops.
In addition to monarchs from various countries, many non-European countries also participated in this expo. For example, King Nasreddin of Persia came from afar to meet the emperor, using the excuse of attending the "Vienna World Expo" but his actual purpose was just to see Princess Sissi. This soon became a laughing stock among the monarchs.
The World Expo was a good opportunity to show off, but Ernst had no interest in attending, mainly because of the sudden outbreak of cholera in Vienna.
Cholera is mainly spread through water and bacteria, which Ernst is naturally well aware of, but there is no need for him to shout about it to the whole world. He himself does not understand these things, and no one would believe him if he told them. It would be enough to just publicize it within the company and in East Africa.
Facts have proved that this cholera epidemic was not an isolated case. India, Southeast Asia, the Far East, the United States, and Europe were all severely affected areas. For example, Gorky's father died of cholera this year.
On the contrary, East Africa seems out of place in this global cholera epidemic. After all, East Africa is the country that attaches the most importance to health in the world.
In addition to this reason, the isolation of East Africa has also prevented the spread of foreign diseases in East Africa. As an immigration country, East Africa has maintained measures to disinfect and isolate foreign immigrants in port areas for many years. Foreign epidemic diseases most often affect the coastal areas of East Africa.
The 19th century is often called the "century of cholera" and cholera became the "world disease of the 19th century". Therefore, according to the perspective of later generations, there was no livable place in the world in the 19th century.
There is no cholera in East Africa because people drink boiled water and pay attention to hygiene. However, there are many other diseases in East Africa. Over the years, this old friend "malaria" has been with East Africa the longest and most frequently.
It will take the efforts of generations to eradicate malaria. East Africa has become accustomed to coexisting with malaria. Although malaria is the main epidemic disease in East Africa, the actual outbreak rate is much lower than that of other countries at the same latitude. It is at the same level as temperate countries and lower than that of subtropical and tropical regions.
Just as the Soviet Union used national power to combat the cold in Siberia, East Africa also used national power to make great efforts in the health sector.
Mosquitoes and flies are called "the most useless things" in the East African kingdom. The power of the Ministry of Health extends from the central government to the grassroots level, becoming one of the most important departments in East Africa.
The current health care in East Africa can be said to be completely different from that in Africa in the past. In the 21st century, Africa was the region with the most serious cholera in the world, but now, during this period of the most serious cholera in the world, East Africa has the lowest rate.
There is one exception, and that is India. It has not escaped almost every global cholera epidemic and has always been a severely affected area. This is still the case in the 21st century. This can be regarded as one of India's chronic diseases.
The presence of many monarchs, the cholera epidemic, and the economic crisis all cast a shadow over the Vienna World Expo, but it still could not stop people's enthusiasm for this grand event.
In fact, the biggest negative impact on the Vienna World Expo was that the hotel and restaurant owners in Vienna raised prices indiscriminately. No matter how enthusiastic they were, their wallets were quickly drained. Some people who came to Vienna to participate in the exhibition with great enthusiasm fled Vienna after enjoying the "favorable treatment" of Vienna's unscrupulous businessmen.
"At this expo, East Africa won a total of 441 awards, just one more than the United States, ranking 11th in the world. The United States and Turkey tied for 12th. However, the official sent by the Far East government, the British man Bao La, protested to us, saying that we stole their awards."
"Well, why?" Ernst asked.
“Your Highness, some of our East African exhibits originated in East Africa, so there are many similarities, which is why it caused controversy.”
"So that's what it is! Don't bother with him!" said Ernst.
It is easy to understand why there are exhibits in the East African exhibition area that overlap with those in the Far East, because some products of East Africa do originate from the Far East, such as tea and handicrafts. With so many immigrants from the Far East migrating to East Africa, some skills must have been passed on to East Africa.
If Bao La wants to protest, let him protest. Ernst is sure that no one will pay attention to him because many of the judges at this World Expo are "their own people".
If the exhibits from East Africa and the Far East were the same, the jury would definitely give the prize to East Africa. In fact, the victims were not only the Far East, but also Japan and North Korea. Ernst bought a lot of good things from both countries.
If some of the Far Eastern crafts and products were brought to East Africa unintentionally by immigrants and developed there, then Japan and North Korea were directly copied and pasted by the East African governments on their own initiative.
As for why only Bao La protested to East Africa, it was because he was a British and naturally looked down upon East Africa's behavior.
In fact, the Japanese participants in the conference were so angry that their back teeth were almost broken, but due to fear of the West, they dared not express it and chose to endure it.
"Koizumi-kun! Look at this exhibit. It's clearly our great Japanese woodworking. Now they change the name and say that it's Zimbabwe woodcraft and it's openly here. They also say that it's a skill mastered by the indigenous tribes of Zimbabwe. This is clearly shameless plagiarism. The most abominable thing is that their exhibit won an award, but our woodworking got nothing."
"Gui Sanjun, maybe it's just a coincidence. After all, the world is so big, some things are just so incredible."
"Koizumi-kun, don't fool yourself. The woodwork is a coincidence, but is the folding fan also a coincidence? This East African folding fan is obviously Japanese in style, and they are too lazy to even modify the paintings on it! And if I'm not mistaken, the material is a texture unique to Japan. They may even have bought the fan directly from Japan and then changed the name to participate in the exhibition directly."
This is a misunderstanding of East Africa. How could they not make some changes? East Africa would not exhibit any exhibits that have no value for mass production. It would only exhibit exhibits if there is a market for them.
Is there any shady dealings in this World Expo? The answer is yes, and they are very serious. More than 90% of East African exhibits won awards, even surpassing the United States. It is impossible that there is no shady dealings in this matter.
As for why Austria is so partial to East Africa, it is because Ernst is now a guest of honor of the Austrian government. Just solving the problem of oversupply of steel will greatly alleviate the pressure on the Austrian government.
For this, the Austrian government and the Habsburg family awarded Constantine and Ernst many medals and honors, and Hechingen companies received many same titles.
Therefore, it makes sense that the judges favored East Africa at the World Expo. In fact, the Hechingen Foundation won more than 700 awards at the World Expo. This part was not counted as the East African Kingdom, but was counted as an exhibit of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Austria ranked first with more than 6,000 awards, and Prussia ranked second with more than 5,500 awards (historically, Austria had 5,991 awards and Prussia had 5,066 awards).
The fact that Austria can be number one speaks volumes, so it is understandable that the East African Kingdom can also get a piece of the pie.
(End of this chapter)
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