1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 156: Attention-grabbing, invitation from Guangdong Provincial Education Commissioner

Half a month after Li Qiwei returned to China, his news gradually spread and attracted the attention of some interested people.

People discussed his deeds in various occasions, including newspapers, pubs, gatherings, and schools.

Compared with the previous report by Shenbao that Li Qiwei won the Nobel Prize, his other identity is more topical.

That is his British knighthood.

Countless ordinary people talked about it with relish and admired Li Qiwei very much.

When the news reached the Qing Dynasty, it had already caused a sensation.

Now that this foreign nobleman from the Qing Dynasty has returned to his country, there will be even more exciting things to watch.

Everyone only cares about one question: does Li Qiwei need to kneel down when he meets the Qing Dynasty officials?
What if I meet the emperor?

"My goodness, I heard from the grapevine that Lord Li is likely to become an official directly in the court."

"It is said that someone above nominated him."

"Tsk, your information is too behind the times. Li Qiwei will be appointed as the Minister of Rites and will also be in charge of the education of the whole country."

"Nonsense, I remember that Li Qiwei was going to be the imperial tutor and teach physics to the emperor."

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Ordinary people completely regarded Li Qiwei as a topic of conversation after dinner, and they made up whatever stories they wanted to make him feel stimulating.

However, in real circles, his deeds are no longer a secret.

Emperor Guangxu personally appointed Li Qiwei as Deputy Minister of Education at a court meeting.

This move has been approved by Empress Dowager Cixi and many bigwigs in the court and the country, and will soon be issued in the form of a formal document.

The shocking news left the low-level officials stunned.

I have studied hard for more than ten years, and worked in the officialdom for more than ten years, but in the end, I am not as good as a young boy.

Is this justified?

When no one was around, many officials secretly cursed Guangxu and Cixi for being stupid and incompetent, and said that the Qing Dynasty would be doomed sooner or later.

Li Qiwei hadn't done anything yet, but the Qing Dynasty had already lost the support of the people.

However, despite the complaints, few people take Li Qiwei seriously.

After all, as an official, he is only responsible for education.

To put it bluntly, he is a technical official with great power, but the power is over things, not people.

Moreover, reaching a high position at a young age is not necessarily a good thing.

The Chinese believe that excessiveness is prone to failure, and too much is as bad as too little. Many people are waiting to see Li Qiwei make a fool of himself.

However, in the eyes of officials in the education system, Li Qiwei is a hot commodity.

Well-informed officials already knew that the new policy would also bring about major reforms to official positions.

Many governors-general have already reported to the court that in addition to the traditional six ministries, several parallel departments will be set up.

Among them, education is likely to be singled out and claimed to be an integral part.

In the future, perhaps Li Qiwei will become an official in charge of national education.

Building good relationships now is equivalent to having multiple connections.

It has always been like this in the officialdom. You never know who may be a small follower today and rise to the top tomorrow.

At the same time, we can also see the importance of education.

Even today, officials in the education system of the Qing Dynasty are very noble.

This is especially true in local provinces.

Local officials in the Qing Dynasty were mainly divided into the following levels.

The first level is the governor and the governor.

The governor usually manages two or several provinces and is responsible for civil and military affairs.

The governor only manages the affairs within the province or several prefectures.

Although nominally the governor is half a level higher than the governor, the two do not have a strict superior-subordinate relationship.

This is also the central government's check and balance strategy, which is to prevent local officials from becoming too powerful.

The governor-general and the provincial governor were both appointed by the emperor and could report directly to the emperor.

For example, the current Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Cen Chunxuan, is responsible for all important affairs of Guangdong and Guangxi and holds a high position of power.

He was one of the eight governor-general-level officials in the Qing Dynasty.

Historically, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi often served as the Governor of Guangdong.

But there are exceptions. For example, the current Governor of Guangdong is Zhang Renjun, not Cen Chunxuan.

After 1905, the post of Governor of Guangdong was permanently abolished and replaced by the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Below the governor is the second level: provincial governor, provincial judge, and provincial education commissioner.

Although the governor was nominally the local administrative chief, due to the existence of the governor and the provincial governor, in practice he had become the subordinate of the two and his power was seriously eroded.

The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that the governor and the provincial governor also had the power to recommend candidates for the provincial governor.

The governor-general and the provincial governor had no direct subordinates, that is, they had no departments under them, they were just a kind of errand. The provincial governor had direct subordinates, and there were also subdivided offices under him according to different government affairs, so it was an official position.

This is the biggest difference between the governor and the governor-general.

The Censor was in charge of judicial affairs and prisons, and his functions were relatively concentrated, with the Governor-General as the head.

As for the last provincial education official, it is more interesting.

Its highest official was called the academician, whose full name was the supervisor of academic affairs or the educational envoy, commonly known as the academic governor.

In the Qing Dynasty, a provincial education commissioner was mainly responsible for the province's imperial examinations and education, and managed local official schools.

In essence, the academician, like the governor-general and the provincial governor, is just an official with no direct subordinates.

The academician was also appointed directly by the imperial court, and his rank varied depending on the individual's status.

In ancient times, the position of academician was a low-paying government official. The affairs he was in charge of brought him little material income, and it was also difficult to get promoted.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, newly-minted scholars are reluctant to serve as academicians.

Therefore, the imperial court would assign those who ranked last in the imperial examination or were older to be educational officials.

This is why the academician is considered to be of noble status.

The reason for being clean is because of poverty, and you won’t make any money even if you work all your life.

Gui Ze is nominally the second-level academician, but he is on equal footing with the governor.

The governor, provincial governor, and provincial governor were not qualified to give orders to the education officials, so matters concerning education were basically decided through consultation.

Therefore, academic politics seems very noble.

This is easy to understand. If one is poor and humble, no one would be willing to be a provincial academician.

The third level of local officials are the prefects and the magistrates.

But between the third and second levels, there are actually various paths.

River channels, grain storage routes, salt transport envoys, patrol routes, and road guards, etc.

Some officials may seem low-ranking, but they have great power, and even have complicated connections with the capital behind them.

So under normal circumstances, there were only five civil servants at the provincial level in the Qing Dynasty: Governor-General, Governor-General, Provincial Governor, Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, and Education Commissioner.

As for generals, admirals, etc., they are military officers.

Of course, the above are all simple situations. The real officialdom is often more complicated, and the various checks and balances of power make it impossible for outsiders to understand.

And now, one of the five big guys has shown interest in Li Qiwei.

The new education commissioner of Guangdong is Yu Shimei.

Yu Shimei had just taken office. His predecessor was Zhang Baixi, who was now the Minister of Education and had been promoted to a Beijing official.

Yu Shimei, who just turned 50 this year, had already prepared to retire in this position.

But the appearance of Li Qiwei gave him a glimmer of hope, and the old tree gained a second spring.

Perhaps, he could establish a good relationship with this future deputy minister of education and seek opportunities in future education reforms.

Li Qiwei's future work will definitely overlap with mine, so he can be considered to have another friend.

Moreover, the other party happened to be in Guangzhou, so I had the advantage of being close to him and could get the upper hand first.

So he asked his servants to send an invitation to Li Qiwei, inviting him to gather at his house.

At this moment, Li Qiwei at home was so busy that he was dizzy.

He had not expected the sensation caused by the news of his return to China.

These days, people keep coming to visit, most of them are Li's business partners or Li Tingzhao's good friends.

The purpose is self-evident, which is to see the Li family's talented son, the first British lord in the Qing Dynasty.

Li Qiwei had no choice but to come out and return the gifts one by one, fulfilling his hospitality duties.

At this moment, a servant suddenly came to report that the Guangdong Provincial Education Commissioner had sent someone to deliver the invitation.

Li Tingzhao did not dare to be negligent and went to accept the invitation in person, and also gave the visitor a thank-you gift of 50 taels.

No matter how poor the academician is, he is still a senior official in a province. His status is incomparable to that of ordinary people, so naturally he has to be polite.

At the same time, he was also proud of his son. What more could he ask for?

When Li Qiwei saw Yu Shimei's invitation, although he was not surprised, he was also prepared to accept the invitation.

The academician can give advice directly to the emperor.

I just happened to have a plan that I wanted to throw out to test how muddy the waters of the Qing Dynasty were.

Since he wants to be the deputy minister of education, he should do his job well and let everyone see what he is capable of, Dr. Li.

Without any outstanding achievements, he would not be able to hold on to this position for long and would inevitably be subject to numerous impeachments.

So on the ship back home, Li Qiwei conceived a domestic education reform plan.

Send it through Yu Shimei to the Qing high-level officials to see their reaction.

If one can follow one's own ideas, then this deputy minister of education is still very necessary.

Li Qiwei will also make good use of it and replace the Qing Dynasty with a fake one.

(End of this chapter)