When the Western powers were carrying out industrial revolution and reform, the Qing Dynasty was still dreaming of "heavenly kingdom", and with the outbreak of the Opium War, the backward and decadent Qing Dynasty signed unequal treaties with the Western powers to maintain its rule, and China also fell into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.
The weakness of the country led to an increasingly difficult living condition for the people, and for a time there was even a widespread famine. Many wandered around to earn a living and were sold into slavery in other countries. One of the "daughters of the prince" also suffered such a fate, was trafficked to the United States at that time, and tragically she was even imprisoned in a cage and performed like an animal.
After the Opium War Chinese people's living conditions deteriorated, and many had to beg along the streets in order to survive. Some foreigners who came to China saw the situation and came up with the so-called big plan to get rich, that is, to sell Chinese mouth. The European powers have long been engaged in human trafficking, and as early as the early stage of the Industrial Revolution, the European powers launched a cruel and bloody "triangular trade" in order to accumulate primitive capital.
By trafficking a large number of people from Africa to the Americas and Europe, it can be said that most of the capital of the European powers at that time was stained with the blood of innocent people. The status of the people of a country is based on the comprehensive strength of the country, and once the strength of the country is weak, then the people of this country will inevitably suffer bullying in the international community.
In the late Qing Dynasty, a woman named Mei Afang was bought by foreigners to go to other countries for exhibitions. In fact, this woman was not the daughter of the real prince, but only to add value to her body was given such a name by foreigners.
At that time, the Kahn brothers from Europe originally planned to buy some specialties in China and then take them to Europe to sell, but they did not find any products that satisfied them after turning around. However, when they walked on the street, they noticed that many Chinese always stared at them, because ordinary Chinese still saw few foreigners at that time, so they always looked at them out of curiosity.
This kind of behavior made the Kahn brothers think of a way to make money, and since Chinese were very curious about foreigners, then Europeans and Americans must also be curious about Chinese. As long as you buy Chinese back for the exhibition, there will definitely be a lot of people coming to see it, so that you can make a lot of money just by selling tickets.
So they went around and finally found a woman named Mei Afang, but if they just brought this woman back directly, it would lack a certain attraction. They decided to package the woman as the daughter of the prince, and with the blessing of such a special status, it would definitely attract a large number of visitors.
Soon the two took Mei Aifang to the United States, where they kept her in a cage and treated her like an animal. After that, they carried out extensive publicity, especially for Mei Afang's virtual identity, and sure enough, many local people came to the venue to see for themselves what the Chinese aristocracy looked like.
The two brothers made a lot of money by relying on the exhibition's so-called "daughter of the prince", and Mei Afang did not feel disgusted by such a day. Originally, she was just a woman from a poor family, and it was difficult to eat enough to eat. Although she has lost her freedom now, she feels more satisfied to be able to eat and clothe without worry. The only thing that made her feel inadequate was that she was alone in a different place, full of misses for her hometown.
Although Mei Afang helped the Kahn brothers earn a lot of money, the curious mentality of the locals slowly calmed down over time. Seeing that Mei Afang could no longer earn a lot of money for herself, the Kahn brothers naturally did not want to raise her anymore, so they abandoned her. Although she lived in the United States for a while, she did not receive a systematic cultural education, and the problem of language barrier alone made it difficult for Mei Afang to find a job to earn a living.
In order to survive, she once again came to the circus that did not require any skills, and was still in charge of the exhibition, so she lived humbly. In that era, too many people were in deep trouble, and it was not uncommon for her to be in such a situation at that time. In the late Qing Dynasty, in order to obtain a large number of cheap labor, the United States hyped up its own domestic good life in China, and a large number of Chinese laborers were trafficked to the United States to become the lowest laborers.
Summary: Weak countries have no diplomacy, and only strong countries have the right to speak in the international arena and can guarantee the safety of their own citizens. It is certainly deplorable that Mei Afang betrayed her dignity in order to survive, but that was also the sadness of that era. Because the weakness of the country and the hardships of the people have created such sorrow, the strength of the country cannot be achieved by relying on the strength of one or two people, and each of us needs to contribute our own strength to the prosperity and strength of the motherland.