Chapter 377 Zhang Literary Award
After crying bitterly, Zhang Xingjiu wiped his tears, sought Xu Guangping's opinion, and immediately began to arrange things. First, he went to notify the friends who were waiting outside the ward. When they entered the room and saw the patient, they threw themselves in front of the bed and burst into tears.
Soon, other people came, some to record a movie, some to take photos of the deceased, and one to make a statue of the gentleman. The student was a student from the School of Art of Aurora University. He first applied a thin layer of Vaseline ointment on the gentleman's face, smoothed it carefully, then applied freshly prepared wet plaster around the face, gently smoothed it, applied gauze, waited for the plaster to solidify, and gently peeled off the mold.
By the morning, Zhang's body had been moved to the funeral home, and even more people came to pay their respects. Almost all representatives from Shanghai's literary and art circles came, as did reporters from major newspapers and magazines.
That afternoon, Shanghai's "Dahu Evening News", "Huamei Evening News", "Damei Evening News", Beijing's "World Journal", "Beijing Xinbao", and Hong Kong's "Hong Kong News" all published news of the death of literary giant Lu Xun.
The reaction abroad was also very strong. The evening newspapers in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan reported the sad news as important news on the same day, and several newspapers published articles mourning Zhang the next day.
The Red Empire's International Literature, Literary Newspaper, Pravda and Labor Newspaper successively released news and published commemorative articles.
Chinese newspapers published in Paris, France also carried several commemorative articles.
Ah Zhang's influence in the spiritual and cultural circles at that time was indeed extraordinary. He has been recognized by major media as "a superstar in Chinese literary circles", "the leader of China's New Culture Movement", "a progressive writer in the world", "a revolutionary leader in Chinese cultural circles", "a fighter and writer in the world's New Culture Movement", "a heroic fighter in China's national liberation movement", and "the only Chinese academic in the world". Now that the superstar has passed away, the whole country is mourning, especially those progressive young people who were greatly influenced by Ah Zhang. They have rushed to the funeral home from all over Shanghai and even other places to pay their respects, and many of them burst into tears.
Zhang Xingjiu put aside all his work these days and took on the responsibility of arranging A Zhang's funeral affairs as A Zhang's best friend. He followed A Zhang's will and did not make a big fuss. The ceremony was very simple and he did not accept any gifts. After the readers said goodbye to A Zhang, he buried him in the cemetery.
At the funeral, Zhang Xingjiu followed Zhang's last wish, but in another respect, he went against Zhang's wishes, because Zhang was a spiritual leader in the hearts of countless Chinese people. How could he not be commemorated after his death? The memorial method he chose was to set up an award in Zhang's name. The award includes short stories, novellas, novels, essays, prose, drama, children's literature, science fiction, reportage, theoretical reviews, translation and other sub-items, basically covering all types of literature.
All literary works created by Chinese people are eligible to participate in the competition. The School of Literature of Aurora University will invite well-known domestic writers, poets, playwrights, critics and other literary and art figures to form a jury to screen the shortlisted works and ultimately vote to select the winners.
The funding for the award is provided by Zhang Xingjiu. The annual selection results will be published in a literary journal sponsored by the School of Literature of Aurora University, and a special award ceremony will be held. It is hoped that these winners will inherit A Zhang's legacy and continue to use their pens to strive for the rise of the Chinese nation.
At the same time, Zhang Xingjiu also invited A Zhang's wife to work at Aurora University, to be responsible for collecting, preserving and researching A Zhang's manuscripts. When the time is right, she will release "The Complete Works of A Zhang".
In this way, when Aurora University moves to Kunming in the future, she and these precious materials can be taken with them, thus avoiding the historical tragedy.
Taking this opportunity, Zhang Xingjiu also launched awards for science and engineering. The awards are divided into five categories: physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and mathematics. There is one more award than the Nobel Prize, mathematics, which separates biology and medicine.
It is used to reward scholars who have made outstanding contributions in these fields and to encourage them to continue working for the development of Chinese science and technology.
The model of this award is also based on the Nobel Prize. Famous scholars, university professors, etc. have the right to nominate. Every year, the award committee will issue confidential nomination forms to scholars who meet the requirements, and they will fill them out and send them to the committee.
Once the nomination deadline arrives, the committee will first review and select the nominations that meet the requirements, and then conduct a preliminary round. After deliberation, the experts will select a shortlist of about 10 people from the nominees.
Finally, the jury selects the winners by majority vote, publishes the names in newspapers, invites them to the award ceremony, and presents them with certificates, prize money and medals.
The final review of the Nobel Prize is the responsibility of the Royal Academy of Sciences. Since the National Academy of Sciences has not yet been established in the Republic of China, Zhang Xingjiu can only invite qualified representatives from the domestic academic community to serve as judges. After the founding of New China and the establishment of the National Academy of Sciences, the review authority will be handed over.
When Zhang Xingjiu announced the news in the newspaper, it immediately caused a huge response. The literary and art circles believed that this was the best way to commemorate A Zhang, and the scientific community also felt that the country should have such an award. Unfortunately, the Nationalist government had no plans to establish the award. Now Mr. Zhang Xingjiu, a leading figure in the domestic and even global scientific community, has taken the initiative to take on this important task, which is indeed a great blessing for the scientific community.
At the same time, Zhang Guowei's factory in Hong Kong has established a firm foothold and has become Hong Kong's largest, highest-output, most famous and most profitable flashlight factory. The flashlights produced by the factory are sold well in Europe and the United States.
Charlie and other old classmates, old friends, and even old senior Hedejie all received considerable dividends from this factory. With money paving the way, they took the initiative to help him complete the procedures for expanding the factory without Zhang Guowei even asking.
Zhang Guowei immediately obtained funds from the bank and began to build a new production workshop on a large scale, ordered new machinery and equipment from Europe and the United States, and continued to recruit workers for training.
These machines are not only prepared for the production of flashlights or MSG, but can also be used to produce other things. When Charlie and others asked about it, Zhang Guowei evaded the question by saying that they were preparing to produce new products.
The same goes for the training of workers. Teachers who graduated from Aurora University and have worked in vocational and technical colleges for many years provided them with very professional training.
In this way, when war breaks out in the future, these factories will be able to quickly switch to producing various materials needed for the war to support the Chinese army in combat.
And this day will soon arrive.
(End of this chapter)
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