Expedition to Europe

We love peace, but we are never afraid of war.

Girardin's words occupied the front page headlines of all media around the world the next day.

It is difficult to describe the impact that "Châlons en Champagne" brought to the audience. Before the film ended, the open-air screening area outside the auditorium rang out in unison. "Long live Lan Fang" and "Long live the Foreign Legion" were the two most common words.

It was almost ten o'clock in the evening after the screening. After another half an hour, the crowd still refused to disperse, so the screening team had to re-screen "Châlons en Champagne" to satisfy people's high emotions.

In this situation, it will definitely continue to be screened in the future, even if there is only one film, but no matter how you watch it over and over again, you will never get tired of it.

Classics are born in such countless repetitions.

At the same time that "Châlons en Champagne" began to be screened in Lan Fang, thousands of copies had been distributed to metropolises such as New York, London, Paris, and even Berlin. Since it was to promote the national image, Qin Zhiyuan did not limit the cost at all.

Surprisingly, some scenes in Châlons en Champagne have not been deleted. Even in the UK and France, the same version as Lan Fang was shown.

The reason is simple. As a new thing, there is no content about "movies" in the existing legal system of Western society. In other words, the film industry in the 1920s was an out-and-out gray industry, a gray industry without any constraints.

But whether it is a gray industry or not, the influence of Châlons en Champagne is unquestionable. In just a few days, the whole world knows that at the beginning of last year in the Châlons en Champagne region of France, there was a foreign legion troop that fought against an enemy ten times its size with 16,000 people until only 370 people were left. Although they did not win, their spirit is commendable and their fighting will is commendable.

As the film became popular, those faces that had more shots in the film gradually became the focus of people's discussion, especially those blonde nurses. They became angels in the minds of many men. Many people liked them even more than Gladys Cooper.

Gladys Cooper was the greatest actress of the silent film era and one of the most famous British people in the world in the early 20th century.

It's a pity that those star-chasing men are destined to be disappointed. Most of the faces that appeared in the movie "Châlons en Champagne" were killed in the Battle of Châlons en Champagne.

Under the promotion of many caring people, in less than half a month, the Foreign Legion became the benchmark for real soldiers, and joining the Foreign Legion became a symbol of manliness. The name "Lanfang" was mentioned again and again. In this half month, the news of almost all countries in the world combined was not more than half of Lanfang.

Well, except for Lanfang, all countries have no concept of national image, even Britain and France. They don't want to shape their national image, and they don't know where to start.

Think about it, Britain and France now still control the world's largest colonies. Even if the British and French want to create a positive image, where can they start?

Justice? Axiom? Fairness?

Don't be funny. If everyone talks about justice, axiom, and fairness, how can the British and French explain their colonies?

Therefore, the rules set by the Western powers are "survival of the fittest", "backwardness leads to beatings", and "blatant power and hegemony".

Only in such a system can the aggressive behavior of the Western powers become legal, and the Western powers can enjoy everything they have robbed with peace of mind, and be so afraid of those latecomers who keep talking about "justice".

Well, if those who insist on "justice" have enough voice, will they settle accounts with the former Western powers later...

Ah, that's all far-fetched. For now, the movie "Châlons en Champagne" meets the needs of most countries.

Needless to say, what Lan Fang can get from it. Although the film slanders the French, France also gains. After all, the Foreign Legion belongs to France. Promoting the Foreign Legion is equivalent to promoting France. After the World War, the French population dropped sharply. It was a time of transition, and even the necessary national defense forces could not be maintained. The French need to expand the size of the Foreign Legion to ensure France's security.

The villain in the film is Germany, but in Germany, the film "Châlons en Champagne" was miraculously not boycotted. On the contrary, due to the promotion of some anti-war people, the film also caused a sensation in Germany. The cruelty and tragedy of the war left the Germans with lingering fears, and reflection on the war once again became the mainstream thought of German society.

At the end of the film, the appearance of Geraldine triggered the maternal flooding of the entire German society. Geraldine, wearing a small Foreign Legion Army uniform on the screen, ended the whole film with a cold tone. When the German version was released in Germany, almost all Germans were asking, is it true that the little girl said she was "German"? What is her name? Where is she? Is he okay?

So the photo of Qin Zhiyuan holding Geraldine with his back to the camera a few years ago was turned out again. The dirty Geraldine in the photo looked malnourished. Looking at Geraldine on the screen again, she was cold and almost arrogant, decisive and almost resolute, and her iron and blood temperament was transmitted to every German through the screen.

How long has it been since the death of the "Iron Chancellor" Bismarck that the Germans have not felt the iron and blood?

So on the third day after "Champagne Salon" was released in Germany, some people began to make petitions in front of the palace of William III, asking William III to do something to bring the German daughter back from Lanfang.

William III knew about the relationship between Geraldine and Qin Zhiyuan. Regarding this, William III knew very well that it was absolutely impossible for Geraldine to leave Qin Zhiyuan.

But these things must not be explained clearly, so William III explained in a more euphemistic way: In the current Germany, even if Geraldine is brought back, Geraldine will not be able to be as free and unrestrained as living in Lanfang. , Germany cannot provide Girardin with the same favorable environment as Lanfang, so if you want to take Girardin back, you must first build Germany up.

At least it should be as good as before the war.

Relatively speaking, in the United States, "Champagne Salon" is more widely accepted.

In fact, there are many Chinese in American society. Since about 1850, Chinese have set foot on the land of the United States. During the subsequent gold rush in San Francisco, California, more Chinese came to the United States.

It was from this time that "coolie" began to become synonymous with the Chinese. This word is actually a unique word in American history. It is the Chinese pinyin of "coolie", which is not correct. It is similar to the Chinese pinyin of "coolie". , these Chinese laborers from the Qing Empire were called "coolies", and even in official documents, these people were also called "coolies".

After the gold rush was almost over, the United States began to build a large railway across the east and west of the United States. At this time, more "coolies" appeared in the United States.

Among the two companies building this railway, the owner of one of the companies was named Stanford. He later founded a university called Stanford University in Silicon Valley, California.

Well, now it is estimated that many people have understood how Americans’ primitive accumulation of capital was accomplished.

Read the original article in Liu#9@书/吧!

After the railway was built, the California government began to gradually establish laws restricting Chinese people. It was not until 1882 that the Chinese Exclusion Act was officially born.

After the World War, with the outstanding performance of the Foreign Legion, Americans finally began to face up to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Last year, some members of Congress formally proposed to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act. The U.S. Congress has held several debates on this proposal. , but no consensus has been reached.

Well, if you want to wait for the U.S. Congress to reach a consensus, it would be better to wait for all members of this session of Congress to die of natural causes.

The focus of the debate is not limited to whether to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act. Some members of the U.S. Congress even proposed that the Chinese Exclusion Act not only cannot be repealed, but should be applied to the entire Asia to restrict immigration from the Philippines.

Immigrants from the Philippines, well, that's a new question.

After "Champagne Salon" was released in the United States, it aroused even more enthusiastic responses. The main theater of the Metropolitan Theater in New York even scheduled the film for 180 consecutive shifts, which means that it is a nearly two-hour movie, 24 hours a day. It has been running continuously for half a month. If there are box office statistics...

Gee, it’s probably going to be a record.

"Champagne Salon" completely subverted Americans' impression of Chinese people.

In the American impression, the Chinese are rude, unhygienic, have no faith, are unwilling to actively integrate into society, etc. In short, the Chinese are a very different kind of existence in the United States.

But the Chinese in "Champagne Salon" are completely different from the Chinese in the American impression. The Chinese on the screen are sincere, passionate, brave, fearless, willing to die, etc., you can use all the praise words to describe it None of them will make people feel excessive.

Compared with the innocent American soldiers, the Chinese soldiers would also smile cheerfully at the camera. They would also pray on the eve of the war. The relics they left to their relatives were four large boxes filled with crosses alone. Half a carriage.

Compared with the American soldiers who panic when encountering difficulties, the Chinese soldiers are more tenacious. They usually rush forward one after another without saying a word and fight to the death with the enemy. One scene in the film describes this very fully, that is At a machine gun post, the Germans who had the advantage in firepower seemed to be trying to lure the Chinese shooters to die. The Germans destroyed almost all the machine gun positions on the position, leaving only that one.

It was almost certain that a sniper was targeting this machine gun position, which was tantamount to a certain death spot.

But the shooters were not afraid. After the main shooter died, the deputy shooter took over, then the second deputy shooter, and then the ammunition hand. In the end, when the German army rushed up, the person manipulating the heavy machine gun was a young reporter.

The reporter was surrounded by the corpses of his companions, and outside the position, the corpses of German soldiers stretched from the machine gun position to the riverside.

Densely packed.