Training the Heavens

Chapter 377 Zhang Literary Award

After crying bitterly, Zhang Xingjiu wiped his tears, asked Xu Guangping for advice, and immediately began to arrange things. First, he went to notify his friends who were waiting outside the ward. When they entered the room and saw the patient, they threw themselves in front of the bed and burst into tears.

Soon, other people came, some to record a movie, some to take photos of the deceased, and one to make a statue of the gentleman. The student was from the School of Art of Aurora University. He first applied a thin layer of Vaseline ointment on the gentleman's face, smoothed it carefully, then applied freshly mixed wet plaster around the face, gently smoothed it, applied gauze, waited for the plaster to solidify, and gently peeled off the mold.

By the morning, A Zhang's body had been moved to the funeral home, and more people came to pay their respects. Almost all the representatives from the Shanghai literary and art circles came, as did reporters from major newspapers and magazines.

That afternoon, Shanghai's Dahu Evening News, Huamei Evening News, and Damei Evening News, Beijing's World Journal and Beijing Xinbao, and Hong Kong's Hong Kong Daily all published news of the death of literary giant Lu Xun.

The overseas reaction was also very strong. The evening papers in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan published the sad news as important news on the same day, and several newspapers published articles mourning A Zhang the next day.

The Red Empire's International Literature, Literary Newspaper, Pravda and Labor Newspaper successively released news and published commemorative articles.

Chinese newspapers published in Paris, France also published several commemorative articles.

Zhang's influence on the intellectual and cultural world of his time was truly extraordinary. He has been recognized by major media outlets as a "Chinese literary giant," "a leader of China's New Culture Movement," "a world-leading writer," "a revolutionary leader in Chinese culture," "a warrior and writer of the world's New Culture Movement," "a heroic fighter in China's national liberation movement," and "the world's only Chinese scholar."
Now that the superstar has passed away, the whole country is mourning, especially those progressive young people who were greatly influenced by Ah Zhang. They rushed from all over Shanghai and even other places to the funeral home to pay their respects, and many of them burst into tears.

Zhang Xingjiu has put aside all his work these days and, as A Zhang's best friend, has taken on the responsibility of arranging his funeral affairs. He followed A Zhang's will and did not hold a grand ceremony. The ceremony was very simple and he did not accept any gifts. After the readers said goodbye to A Zhang, he buried him in the cemetery.

At the funeral, Zhang Xingjiu followed A Zhang's last wish, but on another point, he went against A Zhang's wishes, because A Zhang was a spiritual leader in the hearts of countless Chinese people. How could he not be commemorated when such a person passed away?
The commemorative method he chose was to establish an award in A Zhang's name. The award includes sub-categories such as short stories, novellas, novels, essays, prose, drama, children's literature, science fiction, reportage, theoretical reviews, and translation, basically covering all types of literature.

All literary works created by Chinese people are eligible to participate in the competition. The School of Literature of Aurora University will invite well-known domestic writers, poets, playwrights, critics and other literary and art figures to form a jury to screen the shortlisted works and ultimately vote to select the winners.

The funding for the award is provided by Zhang Xingjiu. The annual selection results will be published in a literary journal sponsored by the School of Literature of Aurora University, and a special award ceremony will be held. It is hoped that these winners will inherit A Zhang's legacy and continue to use their pens to fight for the rise of the Chinese nation.

At the same time, Zhang Xingjiu also invited A Zhang's wife to work at Aurora University, specifically responsible for collecting, preserving and researching A Zhang's manuscripts. When the time is right, she will release the "Complete Works of A Zhang".

In this way, when Aurora University moves to Kunming in the future, she and these precious materials can be taken with them, thus avoiding the historical tragedy.

Taking this opportunity, Zhang Xingjiu also launched awards for science and engineering. These awards are divided into five categories: physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and mathematics. This distinction, unlike the Nobel Prize, includes mathematics, separating biology from medicine. These awards are intended to reward scholars who have made outstanding contributions in these fields and to encourage them to continue their efforts in promoting the development of Chinese science and technology.

The model of this award also refers to the Nobel Prize practice. Famous scholars, university professors, etc. have the right to nominate. Every year, the award committee will issue confidential nomination forms to scholars who meet the requirements, and they will fill them out and send them to the committee.

Once the nomination deadline arrives, the committee will first conduct a review to select the nominations that meet the requirements, and then conduct a preliminary round. After deliberation, the experts will select a shortlist of about 10 candidates from the nominees.

Finally, the jury selects the winners by majority vote, publishes the list in the newspaper, invites them to the award ceremony, and presents them with certificates, prize money and medals.

The final review of the Nobel Prize is the responsibility of the Royal Academy of Sciences. Since the National Academy of Sciences has not yet been established in the Republic of China, Zhang Xingjiu can only invite qualified representatives from the domestic academic community to serve as judges. After the founding of New China and the establishment of the National Academy of Sciences, the review authority will be handed over.

When Zhang Xingjiu announced these pieces of news in the newspaper, it immediately caused a huge response. The literary and art circles believed that this was the best way to commemorate A Zhang, and the scientific community also felt that there should be such an award in the country. Unfortunately, the Nationalist government had no plans to establish an award. Now Mr. Zhang Xingjiu, a leading figure in the domestic and even global scientific community, has taken the initiative to take on this important task, which is indeed a great blessing for the scientific community.

At the same time, Zhang Guowei's factory in Hong Kong has established a firm foothold and has become the largest, most productive, most famous and most profitable flashlight factory in Hong Kong. The flashlights produced by the factory are sold well in Europe and the United States.

Charlie and other old classmates, old friends, and even old senior Hedejie all received considerable dividends from this factory. With money paving the way, they took the initiative to help him complete the procedures for expanding the factory without Zhang Guowei even asking.

Zhang Guowei immediately obtained funds from the bank and began large-scale construction of a new production workshop, ordered new machinery and equipment from Europe and the United States, and continued to recruit workers for training.

These machines are not only prepared for the production of flashlights or MSG, but can also be used to produce other things. When Charlie and others asked about it, Zhang Guowei evaded the question by saying that they were preparing to produce new products.

The same goes for the training of workers. Teachers who graduated from Aurora University and have worked in vocational and technical colleges for many years provide them with very professional training.

In this way, when war breaks out in the future, these factories will be able to quickly switch to producing various materials needed for the war to support the Chinese army in combat.

And this day will soon arrive.

(End of this chapter)