Chapter 2823 International Student Plan

"Allow me to add something to your proposal." Surprisingly, Wu De was the first to speak, his tone affirming. "Expanding personnel exchange is certainly the right direction. But you must consider how people will actually travel—by land or by sea. As long as we can provide safe transportation, personnel exchange will naturally increase. Otherwise, your plan is nothing but a castle in the air."

He paused to collect his thoughts. "I've given this some consideration. Currently, there are several routes from Ming territory into ours: from Guangxi via Lingchuan Road, from Shaoguan via Xijing Road, from Nanxiong via Wujing Road, from Chaozhou via Qilin Road, and from Lianzhou via Dongpo Road. Which of these do you think offers both speed and convenience for travelers? The answer is none. Not a single route is both fast and safe. A poor student who reads your propaganda and sets out by land will take at least half a year to reach Guangzhou. Only our ships offer true speed. If you can establish proper transportation lines, that alone will outweigh everything else. People have legs—if our territory offers a way to live and money to earn, and if the journey isn't arduous, then when you publicize, people will come. Shouldn't your plan account for transportation as well? For instance, you might establish regular passenger ships running along the West River and the coastline. The specifics of how to operate and advertise them—that you can discuss with Dabo Shipping."

Wu De's suggestion was indeed practical, consisting essentially of sound principles. At present, land routes were genuinely unsafe—never mind Ming-controlled areas; even upon entering Senate-controlled territory, certain sections still required organized escort. The bandit problem remained far from solved, with notable progress limited to the vicinity of major cities and main transport routes. After Ming's postal station system had collapsed, the Senate simply hadn't found time to implement a replacement.

Though these were straightforward observations, they affirmed the direction of Dingding's plan. He nodded repeatedly, his pen moving continuously across his notebook. Sikade's product placement had given him an idea: if this plan could forge interest-based relationships with other departments, more people would support its passage. So he quickly seized upon Wu De's words: "Thank you for the suggestion, Ade. I'll refine this direction when I return—wherever we place study-abroad advertisements, we'll coordinate with the opening of passenger routes."

"Study abroad, study abroad—what pipe dreams are you all chasing!" Hu Qingbai sneered. "We're not the Unemployed Alliance with a severe surplus of higher education, running study-abroad economics and wholesaling watered-down degrees. Study abroad—do we have the faculty? Do we have the campus buildings? We haven't even begun to fill the gap in Guangdong's basic education!"

He had never thought much of Dingding and now took the opportunity to vent: "The teacher shortage is especially severe, and Senator instructors are an even scarcer resource. Surely you don't think Ming's international students are coming here to learn elementary mathematics and reading comprehension? Though I don't know their exact thinking, based on current practice, the main body of international students should be Ming's minor intellectuals. Their academic demands either involve building upon existing knowledge and seeking further clarification, or they lean toward practical technologies in hopes of making their fortunes. This is precisely the content our mass-produced junior primary school female teachers cannot provide."

As the receiving unit for international students, the Culture Ministry's statement naturally carried the most authority. Dingding could only listen attentively.

"Our teaching resources are not merely tight—they are structurally tight. Over the years, we've vigorously promoted faculty development. We can now essentially meet junior primary school staffing requirements, but overall, naturalized-citizen teachers capable of upper primary instruction remain severely insufficient. Aside from Fangcaodi, no complete primary school has full staffing for upper-grade teachers. As for higher-level Senator instructors, except for those of us in Education and a handful in research and industrial fields still teaching, they've essentially vanished. I personally believe we are unable to receive international students—though of course, if the relevant departments can provide faculty, I won't object."

Dingding had prepared for Hu Qingbai's pushback. He had already researched the matter thoroughly.

"Opening an international student program doesn't mean they all have to come to Lingao. We can also establish schools in Ming territory." Dingding said. "International high schools, for example."

"International high schools don't need teachers? We're an education power, after all—people who can teach are a dime a dozen here. What faculty could Ming possibly provide us?"

Dingding waved his hands quickly: "What I mean is, we don't run full-time schools, but rather short-term training courses. Our overseas stations are already running training courses, so why can't we expand them with additional functions? Take Health, for instance."

His words startled Shi Niaoren, who had been sipping tea and daydreaming. What does this have to do with me?

"Old Shi, Dr. Shi, how many batches has your barefoot doctor training course graduated?"

Shi Niaoren had actually come to lobby for budget. Liu Muzhou had drafted him for this meeting, so he hadn't listened to a word Dingding said. Caught off guard by the sudden question, he hesitated before answering: "One batch graduates every six months through rolling training. Over forty batches by now, I suppose. The results have been fairly good. Of course, complicated cases definitely can't be handled—but it's better than nothing, you know."

Dingding laughed heartily: "I recall that your simplified general practitioner training course has been fully localized. Finding a few people to run it in Ming territory shouldn't be difficult, correct? As you said, these doctors are 'better than nothing,' but where does Ming have any grassroots healthcare right now? When your doctors cure a disease, commoners will say Australia-Song is good. If someone dies, they'll simply say the skill wasn't quite there. The influence of medical services is incomparable to other forms of propaganda. Didn't Fu Daoist become a living immortal in Shandong with just some traditional medicine knowledge combined with Australian secret medicines? Look at that fake medicine case—the criminal gang made a fortune simply by selling our medicine dregs. Our general practitioners, working on two fronts—won't each and every one of them be hailed as Hua Tuo reborn?"

"You have a point!" Shi Niaoren nodded. If you asked which study-abroad discipline held the most appeal, "medicine" was undoubtedly among the hottest. Based on their experience implementing barefoot doctor training in Hainan, the Health Department employed a circuit training method: training lecturers would teach and see patients in one location for about ten days, then move on to the next point. After one or two months, they would circle back, review what cases had arisen in actual practice, then remain for a few days or a couple of weeks depending on circumstances to deliver additional lectures. The so-called six months per batch actually meant only twenty or thirty days physically present at any single location for teaching. If this model were scaled up, a medical ship shuttling between Jeju Island, Dengzhou, Hangzhou, and Kaohsiung would be entirely feasible. Trainees could even be brought to Kaohsiung Hospital for internships, and when necessary, these barefoot doctors could be conscripted as emergency medics for the northern war.

Though Dingding had painted a compelling picture, Dr. Shi still asked cautiously: "Can the relevant funding be secured?"

"Are you worried about funding?" Dingding replied. "International students pay tuition. I have no objections regarding this money..." He glanced toward Hu Qingbai.

Hu Qingbai immediately stated that aside from collecting "registration fees" and "administrative fees" per capita, all remaining tuition would go to the Health Department's revenue.

"This could be considered." Dr. Shi nodded, indicating his "tentative basic agreement."

With Health taking the lead, Dingding struck while the iron was hot. He proposed that to align with "industrial diffusion" principles, they imitate Japan's "trainee" system and recruit "technical trainees" on a massive scale—allowing wealthy individuals interested in opening Australian-style factories to send workers to Lingao for internships when purchasing technology. Such internships would naturally be paid.

"...Originally, when they purchased technology, we were obligated to provide technical training anyway. Technical trainees don't add much workload but do add income. Additionally, we can attract craftsmen with modest savings to bring their own provisions while learning skills. This benefits the diffusion of our small-scale industrial equipment."

...

The Cultural Infiltration Strategy was thus passed by the Central Council of State. For a "strategy" that requested no budget and only red-headed documents, the leaders had no motivation to obstruct it. The proposal also secured oral "commitments" from several departments.

Dingding left the conference room clutching his documents. Today's meeting could be called a success, yet he felt something was missing. Turning the sensation over in his mind, he concluded it was simply "not quite right."

He was about to leave when Ma Qianzhu called from behind. The two circled back to the conference room and sat down. The space that had been crowded just moments ago now seemed cavernous and empty, with only crooked chairs and open-lidded teacups remaining.

Ma Qianzhu seemed to sense Dingding's melancholy. He reached over and patted his shoulder warmly, his voice kind: "Too many people just now—too many cooks in the kitchen. Certain things couldn't be said too plainly. Now that we're alone—tell me your ideas again."

Emotions surging within him, Dingding immediately summarized his plan once more, especially the concept of "cultural transmission." Then somehow he slipped into complaining—how he had painstakingly conducted deep investigations among naturalized citizens, how he had crafted a grand strategic vision, yet hadn't achieved the results he wanted. And the "International Student Plan" had been forced to "compromise," launching only through "Industrial" and "Medical" channels. The "Basic Sciences" and "Arts" tracks he had originally pinned his hopes on had also been approved, but without an operational department willing to take charge, they were worth little more than paper.

"...Of course, I acknowledge there are objective difficulties. But we can't simply negate subjective initiative just because objective difficulties exist!"

"Are you hoping to push a wave of cultural products this year and have Ming commoners overthrow Old Zhu next year? The United States took nearly thirty years to bring down the Soviets. Cultural strategy is inherently a long-game endeavor. If you're this eager to show results, that's probably unrealistic." Ma Qianzhu stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and fixed his gaze on Dingding.

(End of Chapter)