On May 11, 1855, it was undoubtedly a very lively day for Paris, and despite the cold and humid weather, curious Parisians and tourists flocked to the Champs-Élysées, escorted by the royal cavalry in bright cuirasses, from the Tuileries to the Palais des Industries to inaugurate the Universal Exhibition. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The Palais des Industries, located between the Champache-Élysées and the Seine, has a huge central square, with semi-cylindrical fiberglass vaults shrouded above the walkways on either side, and it is not as large as the Crystal Palace in London. Mali? Nor did the designers of the Crystal Palace use the new teaching materials as boldly, and the interior of the building was a light grey color, even though the huge glass windows on both sides did not change the somewhat dull atmosphere.

Even so, it was still an important day for France, especially for Napoleon III, and the World's Fair, which had begun preparations two years earlier, was an opportunity to revive France's artistic scene and demonstrate the country's political stability.

"Although France has lost the opportunity to host the first Universal Industrial Exposition, it will host the first fair of industry, agriculture and art that will truly showcase the fruits of human civilization...... This is a real World Expo. ”

Two years earlier, in March, after the Second World's Fair organized by the Americans, the French Emperor Napoleon III had decreed that in 1855, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of peace in Europe (since the end of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815), France would hold an industrial and agricultural fair in Paris in 1855.

It was also on that day that France began preparations for the third Universal Exhibition in the history of mankind, because the Paris Expo was financed by only a small donation, mostly government financial contributions and local bonds, for which the government even reduced the allocation of funds for overseas battlefields. In order to alleviate the financial pressure, there is already a precedent for London and New York to charge tickets for the Expo, and the Royal Commission decided to adopt a ticket system for this year's Expo, but for the first time in France, to buy tickets to visit the exhibition.

With the exception of Russia, which was fighting France on the Crimean Peninsula, refused to participate in the exhibition, all other countries that received the invitation responded positively, with a total of 11,986 French and 11,981 foreigners bringing their works and products to the exhibition.

Located between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine, the Palais des Industries is also an imitation of the Crystal Palace in London. The glass and cast iron Industrial Palace is 850 feet long and 350 feet wide. The central hall is 630 feet long and 158 feet wide, surrounded by a two-story, 98-foot-wide side corridor. The central hall is built with a semicircular truss spanning 80 feet and is bordered by a huge exhibition hall in which exhibits from various countries are divided into 27 categories, including mining, metals, forestry, textiles, food, scientific instruments, chemicals, medicine, glass and pottery, musical instruments, etc.

People bustling in the Palace of Industry to visit, the ladies of bright costumes and varied, colorful flags, alleviate the interior of the exhibition hall and the men's black suits brought by the dullness, the exhibition hall is full of aesthetic columns from all over the country product samples, the whole Palace of Industry has become a "civilization and progress of the museum", when people are tired of the display of machinery and raw materials, tired of countless glass bottles of crop seeds, large pieces of soap, huge machine engines, dizzy by gears and cranks, I walked along a forest ** into the white art palace to relax my nerves.

The idea was undoubtedly good, but today is not beautiful, the date of the opening ceremony has been set, but the weather has been rainy since yesterday, although the rain stopped in the early morning, but the cold weather and the heavy clouds still block the sun, which only makes the light gray interior of the palace of industry even more dull, even the huge glass windows can not make the light in the palace of industry bright. What is even more frustrating is that the French did not light the lights here.

"Your Majesty, it seems that there are not as many people as you imagined?"

When the royal carriage arrived at the Palace of Industry, looking at the somewhat sparse people outside the Palace of Industry, Empress Eugenie, who was born in the Spanish aristocracy, said to Napoleon III.

Despite the apparent appearance of a large number of people filling the viewing platform, she could still see that those people were participants in the fair, not visitors. The reason why there are so few people is because the ticket costs 5 francs, and such an expensive ticket price is naturally not affordable for ordinary French people. In fact, apart from the French and foreigners who attended the fair, only a few aristocratic or wealthy visitors came to visit.

"It's okay, honey, trust me, there will be more people tomorrow!"

Napoleon seemed extremely confident, and although it was an old French tradition to visit exhibitions for centuries, he believed that this time the World's Fair would change everything, and perhaps the ticket prices would be expensive, but he believed that tomorrow, there would be an influx of people.

As the head of the delegation, Guo Songtao did not know when the emperor would arrive, but he knew how important today's "performance" was, and it can be said that the support of the French emperor was entirely based on whether this "performance" could be successful. Because of this, when the opening ceremony was about to be held, Guo Songtao's mind was elsewhere, and his eyes would always involuntarily cast on the top of his head - the glass bulbs under the lampshades.

Lamp!

It was a gift from the Emperor Napoleon III, and in the last few months, not only a power plant has been built here, but more than 40,000 electric lamps have been installed in the exhibition halls of the Palace of Industry and the Palace of Fine Arts, all of which were shipped from China, at a cost of 200,000 silver dollars.

And all this was done to win the favor of the Emperor Napoleon III, and then to get support for China from him.

"This time the whole world will know about it!"

In the power distribution room, Huang Tao, who has been busy for three months, looks a little tired, but his face is irrepressible with excitement, although a few months ago, European newspapers reported that "a luminous electric lamp using electricity has been invented in China", but the attention of Europeans is limited to that.

Europe, thousands of miles away, doesn't know what an electric light is? And now what Huang Tao needs is to use this expo to show the world the epoch-making industrial invention of electric light.

Although it cost nearly 300,000 yuan to install electric lights at the Palais de l'Industrie, if successful, the entire European market would open its doors like electric light companies, with Paris leading the way in European fashion. Emperor Napoleon III had promised that, after the exposition, in addition to the Tuileries and Versailles, electric lights would be installed on the main streets of Paris. This means that electric light will be accepted by the world in a short time.

Raising his head, Napoleon III's eyes were on the electric lamp, he had already known from others about the "darkness" in the Palace of Industry, but soon all this would change, and he was even glad that it was cloudy today, and that it was still so dark, and that everything that followed was enough to amaze the world!

When the royal carriage of the Emperor and Empress arrived at the Palace of Industry, and when the attendants opened the carriage door, the official anthem of the Second Empire, "March to Syria", was immediately played by the military band.

Everyone was amazed to see a pillar of light reflected on the emperor's body, and the dazzling light only made Napoleon III look like a messenger of God's affection.

In the midst of all the attention, Napoleon III felt an unprecedented self-confidence, and when this self-confidence swelled up in his chest, he even looked at the diplomats in Chinese official robes who were sitting in the front row not far away, and although his expression seemed arrogant, he threw a smug smile.

When the people looked curiously at the pillar of light thrown from afar, as the emperor walked to the ceremonial platform under the guidance of the pillar of light, when the emperor stood on the ceremonial platform, when the people bowed to him again, when Napoleon III stretched out his hand to dispense with their courtesy. The originally dim industrial palace suddenly became like the sun was shining, and it only seemed extraordinarily bright.

The moment the sudden light spilled overhead, everyone was stunned, and they even looked at the light for some reason, not understanding what was going on.

Apparently this is not an oil lamp!

But why is it so bright, and even in the eyes of some people, it is the emperor who brings light. In the midst of this astonishment, I don't know who first shouted in French.

"God bless my emperor!"

At first, the voice was a little sparse, but soon, everyone was uttering the same words in a deep voice.

"God bless my emperor!"

"God bless my emperor!"

In this gloomy and solemn atmosphere, Napoleon III, who made the peasants choose him by means of his "name", and eventually became the Emperor of France, was so excited that he even felt a miracle at the moment when the "light shines", yes, in the eyes of many people, this may be a miracle!

He brought the light into the world!

Now Napoleon III now regretted why he charged 5 francs for a ticket, if there were a million Parisians here, they could feel the miracle, and he even regretted why he imitated the Crystal Palace of the British, maybe it would have worked better if all the glass windows had been covered with curtains.

Everything is carefully designed, all designed by Han Du, who is tens of thousands of miles away, in that kind of mysterious "ceremony", Guo Songtao can clearly feel the "excitement" of the emperor, and can also feel the changes in the surrounding atmosphere, basically everyone is fanatical for this emperor.

Crazy for electric lights, to be exact! (To be continued.) )