▲ Lin Jun is the first Chinese in modern times to personally go to the Western world and record Western civilization
Speaking of Lin Jun, many people feel strange. However, the stone carvings he left on the Sunshine Rock of Gulangyu Island, "Lujiang First" and "Gulang Cave Heaven", are well-known. In the spring of the twenty-seventh year of the Qing Dynasty (1847), he was hired to teach Sinology in the United States, and began an unprecedented feat of traveling to a foreign country in the West Sea, becoming one of the earliest Chinese to go to the United States in modern times. Two years later, Lin Jun returned to Xiamen from the United States, and at the same time, Jugulangyu Island began to write his travels and observations in the United States into the book "Xihai Ji Youcao", becoming the first Chinese travel notes in modern times and the first person to conduct commercial interpretation in the United States in modern times, which has a special position in the history of modern Chinese translation. "Xihai Jiyucao" made the Chinese people initially feel the charm of Western science and democracy, and effectively promoted some advanced scholars to take the lead in realizing the modern change of cultural concepts. In addition, he bought a "god mirror" (that is, a silver plate camera) from the United States and brought it back to Xiamen, becoming the first daguerreotype photographer in China.
Lin Jun (1824-?) Year), the character Jing Zhou, the number Liu Xuan, when traveling to the United States, signed himself as "Tiandangzi", a native of MinXian County, Fuzhou (present-day Fuzhou City). According to Lin Jun's own account, the Lin family died prematurely due to the premature death of their grandfather in the early years, and their grandmother took Lin Gong with her uncle who made a living in Xiamen, and has lived in Xiamen ever since. In Xiamen, where "five ports of trade" are concerned, he learned foreign languages very early. As an adult, he served as a general interpreter for foreign merchants and taught Chinese. As the first Chinese intellectual to record the West, Lin's experiences and writings were a positive attempt. What is even more peculiar is that Lin Li actually used these elegant classical literary forms such as the Piao Si Li Liu and the Five Words And Four Hundred Laws to become the first poet to write the content of modern social life in the form of ancient poetry, which is enough to allow him to occupy a place in the history of modern literature. The book "Xihai Jiyucao" was published around 1867. The book is very thin, but today people are surprised to find that on this thin 12-page paper, Lin Jun has set a number of Chinese firsts:
▲ The book "Xihai Ji Youcao" is the first Chinese you xi notes in modern times
The first Chinese to document Representative Government in the West. Lin Li recorded that the United States is a federal state, and the president of the United States (Lin Jun is the "leader") serves a four-year term and can be re-elected for a maximum of 2 terms; the president and local officials are elected. Some scholars commented: "In addition to the books and periodicals edited and translated by the missionaries, Lin Jun's "Xihai Ji youcao" may be one of the few or even the only ones in this period, based on his own personal experience, to introduce the American electoral system and judicial system to the Chinese people. ”
The first documented Chinese to deal with Western lawyers. In the "Self-Introduction", Lin Jun briefly introduced the judicial system of Western courts, lawyers, and juries. Scholars generally believe that "the current research in the academic circles shows that the first Chinese who dealt with Western lawyers and had written records was Lin Jun, a Fujian man who worked as a translator. ”
The first Chinese to introduce modern Western newspapers. Lin Jun called the newspaper "rumors": major policies, detailed affairs, and new texts from all over the world, printed on paper in Japan, spread in all directions, so officials and people were selflessly taught.
The first record of the Chinese of wires and telegrams. Lin Jun called the telegram "Qiaoyi" and claimed to be "aware of the details of its law", which was not a big word. Lin Jun has noticed that the telegraph system of that year was made of magnets and other transceivers, which were mastered and used by the receivers and transmitters, and the 26 letters of English were compiled into passwords, transmitted through wires, and timely transmitted government affairs and business information.
The first Chinese to record the widespread use of steam engines in various fields in the West. Lin Called the steam engine "fire smoke wheel" and the steam steam ship "fire ship" and "fire smoke boat". Lin said that the widespread use of steam engines in the West has greatly improved production efficiency, "speed and effortlessness." Lin Also said that he had originally set his mind to learn steamship manufacturing and driving techniques, but unfortunately he was unable to catch it. But Mr. Lin is optimistic that if Chinese work together, it will be possible to build China's own ships in a matter of years.
The first Chinese to record the modern urban water supply system and urban fountains. The "Self-Introduction" leaves a record of the new York city water supply system: "Along the source of the Hundred Mile River, the four people benefit from it" and "a stone chamber was built to store water, high and low, and the water was available for the needs of 400 million people in April." The terraces of each building hide copper pipes on the walls to bear the clear and turbid water, which is extremely skillful. And the flat water spray is several inches higher, like a ceiling."
The first to record the Chinese of the museum. Lin Jun called the museum "Boguyuan" and recorded it in the "Self-Introduction": "Boguyuan Bright Lantern Phantom, Colorful And Brilliant Clouds", collecting the world's rare things in one museum for people to visit, and using mechanical, light and shadow and other principles to increase the exhibition effect.
The first Chinese to record a lightning rod. There is a record in the "Self-Introduction": "The platforms of the hundred zhang overlap, and the iron and stone are uneven" "Each house also erects iron branches, from the ground to the roof, to prevent electrical trouble".
The first Chinese to record the mercury thermometer. There is a verse in the "JiYou Poem" that "the summer cold needle shows the sign", and there is a more detailed introduction in the "Self-Introduction": "Either the wind or the rain, the storm shows the sign of the hanging needle; at first the summer is cold, the cold and warm tortoise is drawn on the finger." ”
The first Chinese to record Braille, Western orphanages, and nursing homes. The "Self-Introduction" records: "The inscription is a stele, blind reading (original note: blind courtyard is gorgeous, stereotyped as a book, so that blind people can read); donating money to house, orphans and widows cultivated (original note: set up a courtyard to help orphans and widows). ”
The first Chinese to record the organ. In the "Self-Introduction", it is written: "The warbler sings and sings, and the jade pendant sounds under the moon (original note: Although the Fan Nu works in various arts, she gives her organ alone, plays her hands and feet, and the sound rhymes sonorously, and the gods are ethereal). ”
In addition, Lin was the first Chinese to fight a lawsuit in the West. In August 1847 (the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the 27th lunar calendar of the Qing Dynasty), Lin Jun had just arrived in the United States when he saw a Chinese ship moored on the dock, carrying 26 people from Chenghai County, Chaozhou. Lin learned that while in Guangdong, British merchants tricked the 26 Teochews into taking them to Java (Lin Gong wrote "claw crows") to engage in trade. However, after the Chinese boarded the ship, the ship was ready to sail directly to Britain, only because the wind direction was not smooth, and temporarily docked in the United States. Lin Also learned that British merchants regarded the Chinese as animals, sold tickets in the port, let the Americans board the ship to visit the Chinese (there were very few Chinese foreigners at that time), and actually had a prosperous business; they violently suppressed the Chinese resistance, slandered the Chinese for preparing for riots, arrested 7 people, and imprisoned them in American prisons. Hearing this, Lin Jun was indignant and asked the famous American lawyer "Surname Lu" to defend his compatriots and personally explained to the American judge in the US court that the Chinese had been deceived. After the U.S. court ruled that the abduction of the British businessmen was established, the 26 Chinese must be paid to return to China, and the Wages of the Chinese must be paid.
▲ Lin Jun was the first person to learn photography in China, and Xiamen was one of the earliest places where Western photography in China was introduced
▲ During the light years of the Qing Dynasty, Lin Jun personally inscribed "Lujiang First" and "Gulang Cave Heaven", which has become a beautiful cultural monument on Gulangyu Island today