Chapter 1929 - Establishing The Agenda

"Do you mean that bringing too many theoretical and technical materials will cause the naturalized students we train to rely too much on existing routes and lack innovation?"

Feng Nuo nodded. "For decades, we don't need to worry about the technical materials we brought becoming outdated. But it takes ten years to grow trees and a hundred years to cultivate people. We five hundred-plus people actually can't claim to have cutting-edge research abilities. Will this technology development strategy of restoring 'black technology,' along with the team of naturalized scientific and technical workers trained by relying on ready-made materials for decades, cause them to lack true research capabilities?"

"There doesn't seem to be a need for such pessimism. In the past, not to mention domestically, even in European and American research institutions, how many groups were really doing influential research? One in a hundred, arguably. But countless small improvements, repeating others' work, discussing, meeting, reviewing, and bickering with each other eventually slowly pushed technology forward. Before the 20th century, doing technology indeed relied on geniuses, but now that we've formed a system of 'mediocre research' in advance, it might not be that bad. There will always be some good seedlings."

Zhong Lishi nodded, seeming unconvinced.

"This time for the naturalized citizen project application, I plan to let Feng Shan apply for one too," Feng Nuo said.

Zhong Lishi was slightly wary. He had been somewhat touched by Feng Nuo's previous thinking, but now suddenly felt this fellow wasn't just pulling a project for himself but also pulling one for his maid immediately after.

This practice of accumulating qualifications for one's maid, student, or apprentice had already quietly started among some "more ambitious" Elders. These Elders mostly engaged in technical work and understood the importance of qualifications deeply. Therefore, while teaching everything they knew, they began to list these close naturalized personnel as members of the research group. Some were purely nominal; some actually participated in the project work—of course, just doing odd jobs.

Even Dr. Zhong himself couldn't be exempt from vulgarity. Of course, as the head of the science and technology department, he still had to consider the impact of some things. So he didn't openly list Zhong Xiaoying in various research groups, only "guiding" her to participate in publishing a few papers—as second author, of course.

"Of course, she doesn't have any ideas yet. Aside from mathematics, she's just at a middle school level in other aspects. It would be good if she could develop a topic at the level of past middle school science competitions. I asked her to discover or think of a problem herself, forbidding her from looking up materials in the data center, and then figure out a solution." Feng Nuo spoke in a parental tone as a matter of course.

"Your 'Hikaru Genji Plan' style is really weird enough. What kind of girl are you trying to raise..." Zhong Lishi noticed Feng Shan looking at Feng Nuo with a mix of worship and respect, and suddenly felt a bit grotesque.

Feng Nuo laughed. He had worn the "Hikaru Genji" label in the Senate for several years and didn't care anymore.

"At most, I'm picking up a girl and turning her into a wife. Unlike you, picking up a girl and turning her into a daughter. If your Little Ying is interested, it would be more appropriate for her to propose a topic and let them team up to solve it. Actually, I still hope Feng Shan uses her math foundation well and eventually turns to the field of solving practical application problems, rather than drilling into mathematical theory. I think mathematics talents will be the first category of scientific and technological talents to explode among naturalized citizens. After all, mathematics can be pursued without any experimental facilities. Domestically during the Republic of China and even for a long time after liberation, the only science that really had a place in the world was mathematics. So one less of her doesn't matter..."

Dr. Zhong gave a dry chuckle, thinking he was really an optimistic person.

Hou Wenyong, Chief Secretary of the State Secretary of the Administration Council, pushed open the door and saw Ma Qianzhu studying a report. He placed a document on the table and hesitated a moment before saying, "Chief, this is the report forwarded by Provincial Chief Liu Muzhou and Chief Yang Yun."

Ma Qianzhu nodded, picked up the document, and scanned it. The title was "Report on Applying to Carry Out the 1635 Census Work." He frowned. The Engine Plan ended two years ago, but population transport and settlement were only completely finished last year. The population allocation plan was all handled by the Human Resources Division, and the Quarantine Camp also had corresponding records. The population situation within Hainan Island was currently relatively clear. He continued reading. The Civil Affairs Ministry proposed two key points for this census: first, the gender balance problem; second, the conflict between locals and Hakkas (Guest People).

"The gender imbalance problem has always been a severe challenge facing the Senate. It was once very serious. Although alleviating somewhat after the All-Island Campaign and the Engine Action, it is still in a state of considerable imbalance. The local gender ratio in Lingao once reached an astonishing 8:1 when Lingao County had a scale of about 120,000-130,000 people. After the All-Island Campaign, the population controlled by the Senate increased by more than 200,000. These 200,000 people were basically gender-balanced. Even though the inflow population to Qiongshan over the years was mainly fleeing males, it is inferred that it would not exceed 6:4."

"The Engine Action obtained a total population of about 480,000. Excluding the 100,000 Taiwan and Fujian immigrants staying on Jeju Island and prepared to be sent to Jeju Island, plus immigrants to Taiwan and Hong Kong, about 280,000 landed on Hainan Island, with females accounting for more than 40%. Therefore, after the Engine Action, the gender ratio under the Senate's rule is inferred to be about 13:7. The age distribution is not yet clear. It is more optimistic than before the Second Anti-Encirclement Campaign, but there are still nearly half of the men facing the problem of not finding a wife."

"The internal society under the Senate's rule is relatively stable and basically unlikely to be smashed to pieces. Therefore, abnormal deaths in the population will be greatly reduced, and average life expectancy will increase. The Senate's army is small and elite, so even with continuous external wars in the future, the male population killed in action will not be numerous enough to affect the population ratio like in Vietnam and the Soviet Union. Our population structure is very young. Of the population absorbed by the Engine Action alone, only 5% were over 50 years old; most were young adults and children. Combining all the above factors, it can be concluded: without external population inflow for correction, the gender imbalance on Hainan Island will be a problem plaguing the Senate for a long time."

"The conflict between locals and Hakkas was intensively reflected in this round of Elder squat-point investigations. Although we tried our best to take measures to reduce this problem during immigration settlement work, under the Senate's current strong public security capabilities, the conflict has not intensified. However, the squat-point investigation results show that undercurrents are surging in many villages. Some local gentry forces that were struck or actively lay dormant show a trend of raising their heads again because of this..."

Ma Qianzhu put down the report, feeling the local-Hakka conflict problem was really a headache. Now the Fubo Army would fight on the mainland for a long time, and the armed forces on Hainan Island were weakened. If any armed fights or the like broke out, it would look ugly.

"The Senate's control over the grassroots is still not strong enough," Ma Qianzhu thought secretly. "This is the consequence of not thoroughly liquidating the landlord class." In his view, the essence of the local-Hakka conflict was also class struggle. If the liquidation were thorough, class conflict could suppress the local-Hakka conflict. However, given the Senate's current situation, liquidating the landlord class was out of the question. By comparison, gender imbalance wasn't a big problem.

There were still many people on the mainland. When Chuang and Xian started making trouble, when the Manchus entered the Pass, there would still be plenty of opportunities to scoop up female population. Given the mainland's massive population base, just what leaked through the fingers would be enough to balance the ratio on Hainan Island. However, considering the mainland was also the Senate's planned territory, it actually faced the same problem. In addition, in natural and man-made disasters, the first to be lost were the old, weak, women, and children, followed by young adults. How many old, weak, women, and children could survive in an area beaten into a white land? If the Senate no longer intervened with full force like in the Engine Action, how effective absorbing the female population would be was still an unknown.

"In the future, we can encourage young male populations to follow the Fubo Army to colonize Australia and the New World to relieve pressure." Ma Qianzhu noted this idea in his small notebook, but he soon thought that immigrants also needed wives to start families. The mating gap period caused by colonization would at most last only a few years.

"Forget it, this is fine too. At least it can buy a few years, then we'll think of a way."

Ma Qianzhu had become accustomed to the "treat the head when the head aches, treat the foot when the foot hurts" mentality in administrative work—this was something he used to criticize frequently, often talking about considering "century-long plans." But after a few years, he deeply appreciated the difficulty of "governance." Ideally, for a regime, even a very small-scale one, to keep running, it often has to adopt many expedient measures. He could only hope the expedient measure wouldn't be a dose of poison.

He continued flipping through the report.

"...It is proposed to use new punched card machines for this census. Currently, the Senate's main census data is electronically archived, which not only contradicts the national policy of 'de-informatization' but is also extremely inconvenient for naturalized staff to consult and use. With equipment aging, 'paperization' of census information is imperative. However, paperizing the 1633 version of census data is not cost-effective. Therefore, the Ministry of Civil Affairs intends to use punched cards as the storage form to re-conduct the census work and issue punched card identity documents to all naturalized citizens and natives."

Seeing this, Ma Qianzhu's interest was piqued. He picked up the phone, "Connect me to the Human Resources Division of the Ministry of Civil Affairs."

"Seen it. Yes, the report is with me."

"Right, that's what I wanted to ask too."

"Hmm... Preparing based on unsuccessfully developed technology seems likely to be questioned?"

"Oh? When? Okay, I'll check the schedule."

Ma Qianzhu hung up the phone and rang the bell. Hou Wenyong walked in. He was much more mature and steady than a few years ago. In a few days, he would also be sent to Hong Kong to stand by, ready to enrich the new regime on the mainland. He was expected to be among the first batch of naturalized county magistrates.

"Arrange 2 hours of meeting time for me next Wednesday afternoon."

(End of Chapter)