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Daqin, Nanjing.
The first day of the Lunar New Year is called Zhengdan, or New Year's Day.
The emperor and empress were the most tired on this day and had to get up in the middle of the night.
On the morning of the first day of the New Year in all dynasties, ceremonial activities were held to congratulate the emperor and the empress. The prince, prince and their concubines also had to congratulate the emperor and the empress respectively. At the same time, the prince also It is necessary to accept the congratulations from hundreds of officials, which is called the Zhengdan gift.
At the local level, there is also the etiquette of "paying homage to the palace in all yamen all over the world". That is, on the first day of the first lunar month, in addition to officials from the capital, officials from various yamen and government offices across the country wear official uniforms and go to their yamen to hold a ceremony of "looking at the que and congratulating them from afar".
Officials danced and chanted, performed 14 salutes, and verbally congratulated the emperor on the new year. After the court and local officials completed their greetings and visits, they also interacted with each other and performed "New Year greetings".
In the palace, people burn incense and set off paper cannons at five o'clock in the morning on New Year's Day, and there are customary activities such as "losing a thousand gold coins", "drinking pepper and cypress wine", and "eating dumplings".
Sometimes silver coins are wrapped in flat food, and whoever eats it foretells good fortune in the coming year. People in the palace visit each other and congratulate each other, which is called New Year's greetings.
Among the people, sometimes because they are too busy to pay New Year greetings in various places, some places where it is not necessary to visit the New Year in person use famous cards to send congratulations.
Since the Ming Dynasty, the practice of sending name posts to celebrate the New Year has spread throughout cities and towns, so many people put a red paper bag on their door with the owner's surname on it, called the "door book", in order to receive the name stickers.
It is also common among the people to worship ancestors in the ancestral hall on New Year's Day, then pay homage to parents, pay homage to each other, make pepper and cypress wine, make friends with relatives and neighbors, etc. There are usually "Wangbai", "Xingchun" and "Jiejiegao" in the house. "," Peschi" and other festive decorations.
In addition, due to the different circumstances in different places, the customs of each place also have obvious local characteristics. Since New Year’s Day, various entertainment activities have been launched in various places. In the first month of the year, people have daily entertainment activities such as walking on bridges, touching nails, beating peace drums, jumping on ropes, playing big-headed monks, fighting ghosts, touching shrimps, catapulting, and walking around.
There are markets, restaurants and tea shops, country fairs, villages and alleys, the sound of firecrackers, the spring breeze bringing warmth, and a festive atmosphere permeates the north and south of the country. In such an atmosphere of love, people can't help but reflect on the tremendous changes in all aspects of Daqin over the years.
If you don’t count, you don’t know. Just count them down. Everyone couldn't help but feel deeply moved.
Looking back, it was only a few years ago that the Jurchen Tatars, who once made the whole world famous, seemed to have become a distant legend and been completely wiped off the face of the earth. The soldiers and bandits who once filled the land have now dispersed.
Think about it, five or six years ago, there were still wars all over the world and people were displaced. They were hungry and cold, their children were sold, their children were eaten, and their bones were exposed in the wild. There is no cockcrow for a thousand miles.
Look at the current situation, the fields are endless, the slopes are full of cattle and sheep, and new crops are being promoted. It also made every family's granary rich, abundant in food and clothing, and the emperor implemented free education. Let children from ordinary families at the lowest level also have the opportunity to go to school.
In the northwest, in order to protect the ecology of the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, the government even provided subsidies to families building reinforced concrete houses, and brand-new, bright small buildings were sprung up one after another.
All over the country, flat asphalt roads are extending at an incomparable miraculous speed, just like the arteries in Da Qin's body, with blood rushing...
Many people in the north also eat fresh vegetables from greenhouses during the New Year. In the past, this was a winter delicacy that only the royal family and nobles had the opportunity to enjoy.
Steam engines drive huge spinning machines, factories make rumbling noises, and carts of goods gallop on the newly built avenues.
The imperial court's policy of vigorously encouraging industry and commerce, coupled with the prosperity of maritime trade, led to domestic factories and workshops springing up like mushrooms after a rain.
No matter how poor you are, you can still be "assigned" a daughter-in-law from the government. If you give birth to a third child, the government will not only provide you with food to support you, but you can also go to school for free, and you can even get an additional ten acres of land as a reward.
Government hospitals were established in every county, and the emperor decreed that all infectious diseases would be treated free of charge. Like the smallpox vaccine, you don't have to take it even if you don't want to.
In the past few years, the emperor has reduced taxes for the people twice. There are rumors in Nanjing that if the current pilot medical insurance system in six counties fails, the emperor will reduce taxes again for all subordinate households.
In terms of science and technology, all kinds of novel things are emerging in endlessly. Huge treasure ships have been built, clipper ships are amazingly fast, cement has been made, rubber has been refined, hang gliders have flown into the sky, generators, Batteries and electric lights have been developed, and even "thousand-mile sound transmission" has been realized. A telegram can instantly send news thousands of miles away. In short, all kinds of new scientific and technological achievements are dizzying, and the endless changes are amazing.
Enjoying the days of abundant food and clothing, enjoying the life of living and working in peace and contentment, can you imagine that five or six years ago, the entire land of China was still full of corpses, hungry people everywhere, and the tragic scene of eating strange children
Recalling this, everyone felt as if they were dreaming, pinching their thighs, it hurts, I am sure that this is not a dream, continue to be happy...
All in all, the entire Qin Dynasty was plunged into a sea of joy. It goes without saying that Nanjing, the imperial capital, is decorated with lights and colorful flowers everywhere.
The roads in the city cannot be widened, but in terms of planning for the outer corridor, some of the newly paved asphalt main roads are as wide as 100 meters, and the narrowest ones are 20 meters wide, which are straight and smooth.
On the current exterior, on both sides of the streets, mostly brand-new reinforced concrete buildings were built according to a unified plan, with cornices and brackets and glazed tile roofs, giving it an antique look. The original scene of crisscrossing streets was gradually replaced by bustling streets.
In addition, a large area of green land has been set aside, making the entire outline look like the city is in the mountains and rivers, and the mountains and rivers are in the city. Now in these "parks", flowers are blooming, bamboos and plantains are lined up, and various wonderful performances are performed. Cheng is the favorite place for people in the city. Often whole families come here, old and young. Children fly kites in the open space, ladies play on the grass, and scholars who come to Beijing to take exams communicate among the flower and tree pavilions. Knowledge...
The vendors were either pushing carts or carrying burdens, and their cries were completely different from those of later generations. Instead, they carried a kind of musical beat, which sounded very charming.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the Emperor put aside all his affairs and came to Nanjing Institute of Technology, where he personally held a grand Royal Science Prize award ceremony.
The winners of the first Daqin Royal Science Award are Huang Sheng and Li Yi from the Department of Internal Supervision and Research.
Li Yi is only fifteen years old this year. He invented the electromagnet, which promoted the emergence of the telegraph and made historic progress in the transmission of information in Daqin. With this invention, although he was only fifteen years old and only a craftsman His son, he successfully aspired for the first Da Qin Royal Science Award.
Needless to say, Huang Sheng, the improvement of textile machines has made revolutionary progress in the textile industry of Daqin. Although Qin Mu provided the theoretical basis for the invention and application of generators, batteries, electric light cannons and telegraphs, he did not have the theoretical basis for it. , I’m afraid they won’t be able to invent these things quickly enough. Taken together, he is well-deserved to win the first Daqin Royal Science Award.
The prize money for the Royal Science Prize is 10,000 dragon coins, which is definitely a huge amount of money that can drive people crazy. Enough for you to live a prosperous life for a lifetime.
There is also a gold medal issued by the royal family. With this medal, you can enjoy many national benefits in Daqin. For example, you can enjoy the hospitality of the post house when traveling, you can directly write to the emperor, and you can enter and exit the royal library to check information at will. Can receive free medical care from the state.
In short, there are many benefits. And the medal was awarded by the emperor himself, which represented the highest honor.
It can be said that this is more glorious than getting the top prize.
The establishment of this award was opposed by many ministers of the DPRK and China, but the funds were paid for by the emperor himself, and the ministers could not control it even if they wanted to. The selection of this science award is also handled by the emperor alone.
If you want to object, unless you can pull the emperor off the throne, then you must have this ability. (To be continued...)
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