The Washington Monument, located in Washington, D.C., was built in honor of George Washington, the founding father of the United States.
The obelisk was built in 1848 and shut down for 22 years due to financial problems, before finally being officially completed in 1884.
It is the tallest stone building in the world (169.3 meters) and has since become one of the landmarks of the United States.
The United States even stipulates: "The height of no building in Washington, D.C., can exceed the Washington Monument." This move adds a little sacredness to it.
There is also a little-known fact about the Washington Monument: on this monument, there is an inscription from the Qing Dynasty, which is written in Chinese characters.
The late Qing dynasty figure who can write Chinese characters on the Washington Monument in the United States is Xu Jihu (pronounced "Yu") from Shanxi.
First, Xu Jiqi and his people
Xu Jihu (徐吉畬), also spelled Jiannan, was born in the 60th year of Qianlong (1795 AD). Because his father Xu Rundi was a high school student, Xu Jihu received a good education from an early age, and also studied under the great talent of the time, Gao Hu, who continued to write "Dream of the Red Chamber".
In 1826, Xu Jihu entered the high school and was selected as a Shu Jishi (senior reserve cadre) with the first place, and then successively became the editor of the Hanlin Academy and the inspector of Shaanxi Province.
In 1836, Xu Jihu wrote a letter proposing to eliminate the maladministration of the officialdom, which was appreciated by the Daoguang Emperor and was summoned to the palace to face the saint. Xu Jihu told the emperor on the spot about the suffering of the people, causing Daoguang to shed tears. As a result, Xu Jihu, who was highly appreciated by Daoguang, began to make steady progress.
After the outbreak of the Opium War in 1840, Xu Jihu was transferred to Fujian and entered the front line of the anti-British resistance. He organized the military and the people to die in Zhangzhou, and was recognized by the imperial court, so he was promoted to fujian envoy, responsible for handling trade affairs, and from then on began to contact and understand the West.
A few years later, Xu Jihu was promoted to governor of Fujian and governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and also managed trade matters, and had more access to the outside world.
After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, in the understanding of Chinese, Westerners are like ghosts.
This situation did not change irreversibly until after the Opium War. Enlightened officials, represented by Xu Jihu, began to take advantage of the opportunity of acting trade affairs to contact missionaries, officials, and businessmen from Britain, France, and other countries.
Through these mediums, they began to re-understand and think about the world. During this period, there was Wei Yuan's "Chart of the Sea Country" and Xu Ji's "Yinghuan Zhiluo".
Like Wei Yuan, Xu Jihu also became one of the first intellectuals in the Qing Dynasty to "open his eyes and see the world".
Second, what is written in "Yinghuan Zhiluo"
Yinghuan Zhiluo is a book about Western countries, with a total of 10 volumes, about 145,000 words, and 42 illustrations.
In the book, Xu Jihu introduced the customs and customs of various countries in the world and the history of the founding of the country in the order of Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, and added his own insights to the introduction of various countries.
In the book, Xu Jihu specifically expressed his high concern for the United States. At that time, the United States was in the process of rising, and had not yet reached the strength to dominate the world. But Xu concludes that it must have hope based on its history of founding and its system, which is different from that of other countries.
When it comes to Washington, the founding father of the United States, Xu Jihu is even more praised, he wrote:
In this passage, Xu Jihu first affirmed Washington's ability and merits, saying that he was brave enough to chen sheng and Wu Guang, and better than Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
Then, what made him even more lamented was that after washington's achievements, he did not claim the title of emperor and king, let alone pass it on to his descendants, but adhered to the concept of "the world is just" and created a democratic "law of election".
This kind of mind and temperament made Xu Jihu sigh: Ancient and modern figures, can not be led by Washington!
Because this passage is full of praise for Washington, in 1853, it was sealed as an inscription and sent to the Washington Memorial by American missionaries in China. After that, it became part of the Washington Monument.
Third, the cost of Xu Jihu
One of the main purposes of Xu Jihu's writing of "Yinghuan Zhiluo" was to find a way to defeat Britain from the world powers. Finally, Xu Jihu visited the countries of the world and set his sights on the United States, which had defeated Britain.
From this newborn country, Xu Jihu also seems to see the future prospects of daqing. Therefore, between the lines, he could not help but exude excitement, so much so that he evaluated Washington as "the first man in ancient and modern times."
However, this evaluation is too extreme, and it will not be recognized by the public today, let alone at that time.
As a result, Xu Jihu was strongly criticized. Washington does not claim the title of emperor and does not pass on the throne to his descendants, so is the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who claims the title of emperor and passes the throne to his son, much inferior to Washington? Xu Jihu made a fundamental error of principle.
In addition, there are still many people who criticize Xu Jihu for increasing people's morale and destroying his own prestige, because he has read too many "foreign books" and has a brain problem.
At the same time that the book was controversial, Xu Jihu also ushered in a low point in his life.
In 1851, a British missionary and a doctor leased rooms at the Fuzhou Shenguang Temple through the British Consulate in Fuzhou.
Unfamiliar with the Sino-British treaty, local officials stamped the lease directly. However, according to the treaty of Nanking, the British were not allowed to live in the city.
When Xu Jihu learned of this, he asked the local officials to apologize to the British and asked the British to move away from Fuzhou. But the British did not forgive, believing that this was an official approval of the Qing Dynasty, so they delayed in every way.
The incident sparked resentment among many Qing officials, including Lin Zexu. He believed that Xu Jihu should expel them just as Guangzhou had rejected the British.
However, Xu Jihu believes that both sides have mistakes in this matter, so they should use diplomatic means, not to be too hasty, and let the British move out on their own, so as to prevent the situation from further expanding and give them an excuse to start a war.
At this time, there were already people in Fuzhou who threatened the British. In order to prevent the situation from deteriorating, Xu Jihu specially dispatched a patrol team to protect the safety of the British.
This move made Lin Zexu and others even more dissatisfied with Xu Jihu. There are also rumors that the British are transporting weapons to the city and preparing to seize the city of Fuzhou.
Someone took the opportunity to play a song to the Xianfeng Emperor, and the Xianfeng Emperor was furious and dismissed Xu Jihu from his post and investigated him, and demoted him from a feudal official to a four-pin idle post at once. The following year, the Xianfeng Emperor instructed the officials to hold Xu Jihu accountable, and this time he was directly expelled from the Capital Division.
It was not until the Tongzhi period, because of the internal and external difficulties of the imperial court and the urgent need for foreign affairs cadres, that Xu Jihu was reactivated, and he exerted his residual heat in the prime minister's state affairs until he returned to his hometown in 1869.
It is also worth mentioning that although the Yinghuan Zhiluo was not popular at the time, it had a considerable impact on the subsequent Western affairs movement, the Penghu Reform Law, and even the Meiji Restoration in Japan.