Lin Sen, who was reading the manuscript, heard Joseph Needham speak fluent Chinese, and couldn't help but be curious: "Who is this gentleman?" ”

"This is Mr. Joseph Needham, a British biochemist and professor at Cambridge University, and his Chinese name is Joseph Needham," Zhou Hexuan said and introduced Joseph Needham, "Professor Li, this is Mr. Lin Sen, President of the Republic of China." ”

Joseph Needham hurriedly shook hands and said, "Hello Chairman Lin, I have come to China to carry out scientific and technological support work in China on behalf of the Royal Society. ”

Lin Sen said with a smile: "Thank you Professor Li for your support to the Chinese people, if you need help, just ask." ”

Zhou Hexuan beckoned: "Let's sit down first." ”

Needham sat on the sofa and elaborated on his intentions: "I have been inspecting Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan and other provinces in China for more than half a year, and have visited many universities and scholars in China. I deeply admire the hard-working, tenacious and diligent spirit of Chinese scholars, but I am also very saddened by their poor situation. Now China's scientific community is closed, detached from the world's scientific community, and it can't even buy a single up-to-date Western journal. ”

Lin Sen sighed and said: "This is a dereliction of duty on the part of the government, which cannot create a good research environment for scientists." ”

Joseph Needham continued: "I would like to establish a science and technology aid organization in Chongqing, and the purpose of this organization is probably as follows: first, to maintain the connection between China and the world's scientific community; second, to provide the necessary scientific research materials for the Chinese scientific community; third, to export China's scientific and technological literature to the West; fourth, to provide consulting services to the Chinese scientific team; Fifth, we need to help Chinese scientists communicate with each other within the country. ”

"That's a good thing!" Zhou Hexuan said happily.

Lin Sen also said: "Professor Li's move will definitely help Chinese science flourish." ”

Joseph Needham said: "The British ambassador to China, Sir Horace Seymour, was very supportive of my idea, and he has called the British government to believe that it will be approved soon. China's Executive Yuan and the Association for the Promotion of National Defense Science are also supportive, but this support is only attitude. Housing is tight in Chongqing right now, I urgently need a stable office space, and I also need to gather people. For example, translating Chinese scientific achievements and literature into English requires professional translators. ”

Zhou Hexuan thought for a while and said: "The properties under my name have been rented and sold, and it happened that some time ago, "Non-Offensive" was suspended, and the location of the editorial office was rented to a tabloid, and two of the rooms were still empty. Professor Li is invited to take a moment of grievance and use those two offices as institutional residences. ”

"Two desks are enough, after all, we're just startups." Joseph Needham was pleased.

Historically, Joseph Needham could not find a house, so he could only borrow the side room of the British Embassy for office, which was cramped and dilapidated, which was extremely inconvenient. It was not until the war of resistance was almost won that the office building built with government funds was officially completed.

Zhou Hexuan said: "As for translators, it's even better, because there are many intellectuals in China who are unemployed, so they just need to publish job postings in newspapers." ”

Joseph Needham added: "I have a reluctant request for Mr. Zhou to take up a position in this body. ”

"No problem." Zhou Hexuan readily agreed.

The institution that Joseph Needham was about to establish was called the "Sino-British Science Cooperation Museum", which purchased a large amount of supplies for Chinese scientific research institutions during the Anti-Japanese War. For example, the rare gas urgently needed by the Radio Research Institute of Tsinghua University, the optical glass urgently needed by the Beiping Research Institute, the high-speed electron oscillator urgently needed by physicists at Southwest Associated University, and the colchicine urgently needed by the Sichuan Agricultural Experimental Station, etc.

The money needed to purchase these supplies was basically paid by Joseph Needham, and the British government gave an initial fund of 10,000 pounds. And transportation is also a big problem, you need to take the hump route by air, sometimes there is an accident and the plane will be destroyed.

Over the years, Joseph Needham visited 10 provinces, 296 universities and research institutes in China, delivered more than 200 lectures, and traveled more than 25,000 kilometers.

In order to allow Chinese scholars to read Western books and literature, in the case of insufficient funds, Joseph Needham also asked friends in the United Kingdom to launch a fundraiser, and the British people donated more than 7,000 pounds of books through the Sino-British Science Cooperation Museum. Later, when funding and transportation were tight, Joseph Needham simply shipped scientific journals to China in microfilm, and there were 167 "film magazines" in these "film magazines" alone.

In the most dangerous time, Joseph Needham personally delivered books to Henan University, but he encountered Japanese invaders on the way, and all the scientific and technological books and periodicals were burned by the invaders. Joseph Needham was very frustrated when he escaped by chance, because although Henan University was running in a cave and a ruined temple, it had first-class scientific research faculty, but it did not even have a single scientific and technological book and periodical.

Joseph Needham and the Sino-British Science Cooperation Center did not stop there, they recommended a total of 138 Chinese papers for publication in the West, arranged for more than 30 cultural and scientific researchers to visit the UK, and assisted the Ministry of Education in sending 67 Chinese students to study in the UK.

It was Joseph Needham's efforts that allowed the Chinese scientific community to reconnect with the world during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and accelerated the pace of scientific development in China in the years before and after the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

……

In the following period, Joseph Needham traveled back and forth between the British Embassy and the Zhou Mansion, and with the help of Zhou Hexuan, he completed the preparations for the Sino-British Science Cooperation Museum.

Although Zhou Hexuan stayed at home, hundreds of telegrams and letters were sent out, which were soon notified to universities and research institutes everywhere. Some institutions even took the initiative to send people to help and take charge of the English-Chinese translation of scientific research documents. There are also some scientists who can't wait to send papers and ask Joseph Needham to send them abroad for publication on their behalf.

In June 1943, the British government officially approved the establishment of the Sino-British Science Cooperation Museum, with Joseph Needham as the director and Zhou Hexuan as the deputy director, and received 10,000 pounds of start-up funds.

The first project of the Sino-British Science Cooperation Museum is to translate the materials of "scientific chicken raising" into English, and send the technology to the West to help British friends. Joseph Needham agreed to apply for a patent for scientific chicken raising technology, and the patent right was shared by Zhou Hexuan, Southwest Associated University, the College of Agriculture of Jinling University and the College of Agriculture of Central University, and was permanently licensed to all Britons free of charge.

Since the British have selflessly helped, we Chinese cannot be ambiguous.

This is a choice of benefits but no fees, anyway, during the Anti-Japanese War, there is no way to collect patent fees abroad, it is better to release goodwill to the British government, in exchange for more scientific research resources to develop itself.

At the same time, the UK-China Science Cooperation Centre also received 333 orders from various scientific research institutions in China, all of which were basic scientific research instruments and chemical reagents. Joseph Needham immediately proceeded, and although he did not have enough money, he ordered 77 of them in the first batch, which was procured in Calcutta by the British Ministry of Intelligence.

Zhou Hexuan also sent a telegram to Vivien Leigh's father to donate 50,000 pounds to complete 103 orders for scientific research instruments and chemical reagents, including a high-speed electronic oscillator that cost a lot. He had money before, but he couldn't transport it, but this time the air forces of the United States and Britain helped transport it.

By the way, due to the war, the pharmaceutical factories on the British side have gone crazy.

Now Vivien Leigh's father is shouting all day long for Zhou Hexuan to go to the UK, because Zhou Hexuan is a major shareholder and needs his signature to list the pharmaceutical company.