Chen Qiang had heard the name of the Lingling Circus.

In the future, there will be three major circuses in the world, namely Lingling Circus, Big Apple Circus and Cirque du Soleil.

However, after entering the Internet era, the circus has become a declining sunset industry, animal protection organizations have been accusing the circus of animal cruelty to its performances, calling on everyone to boycott the circus, and at the same time, the animal protection laws of various countries are constantly squeezing the living space of the circus, so among the world's three major circuses, Lingling Circus and the Big Apple Circus have closed down one after another, and only Cirque du Soleil is barely supporting.

In the future, it will be difficult to find traditional circuses with animal performances in North America, and most of the remaining circuses in North America are light shows and stage shows, and if you want to see traditional circus performances, you have to go to the Russians, and only the fighting peoples are still playing the circus of training tigers and lions.

In 1932, neither the Big Apple nor Cirque du Soleil had yet to be founded, but the Lingling Circus, founded in 1872, had a history of 60 years.

In the early days, the Lingling Circus mainly carried out some hunting performances, such as dwarfs, intersex, conjoined people, six fingers, etc., and later the Lingling Circus successively acquired several other circuses, and with the growth of the circus, the Lingling Circus began to perform animal performances.

Before the Great Depression, the Lingling Circus was the only big circus in the United States, and after the sixties, the Lingling Circus entered its peak, when the Lingling Circus was divided into two teams, red and blue, each with more than 80 carriages of trains. In the 80s, the entire Lingling Circus could perform more than 1,000 times a year, and when the Lingling Circus performed in Washington, even the president of the United States would come to watch the circus.

The business strategy of the Lingling Circus has always been to raise animals and not people, and the animals used in the performance are all raised by the Lingling Circus, and the actors who perform the show are hired by the Lingling Circus. It is also for this reason that the Lingling Circus is always able to bring new shows to the audience and keep the audience fresh.

As for inviting sports stars to the circus, it was also a common thing at the time, and performing in the circus was also a very important income for American athletes.

For example, legendary American athlete Jesse Owens, for a long time after the Berlin Olympics, relied on performing in the circus to make a living. There are also some water shows in the United States, and professional swimmers and divers are invited to perform, especially divers, to perform some fancy diving moves, which are very popular in water shows.

Many people may think that it is a very cheap thing for an Olympic gold medalist to perform in the circus, and it sounds miserable. But in fact, the income of Olympic champions in the circus is much higher than that of ordinary people.

Getting back to the point, Chen Qiang looked at the invitation in his hand and was suddenly a little moved.

Now Chen Qiang has to stay in the United States for a while, he doesn't know how long it will take to receive the ferry ticket from Nanjing, and it costs money to eat and stay in a hotel in Los Angeles, so he can't sit and eat all the time, so Chen Qiang has long planned to find a job in the United States first and earn his living expenses.

It's just that the United States is now in the worst period of the Great Depression, and there are unemployed workers everywhere, and it is very difficult to find a job. Chen Qiang planned to plan how to find a job, but he didn't expect a job to be delivered to his door.

……

After the mid-19th century, circus performances gradually began to flourish. In North America, European countries and even parts of South America, the circus is not only a popular entertainment, but also a long-awaited celebration. The arrival of a circus would bring daily production and life in a small city to a complete halt, and even schools would be released early. Even people from the small towns and villages around the city flock to the city.

People gather early around the circus wagons and watch the huge tents rise from the ground, and the performers in elaborate costumes and exotic animals create a world of hustle, glitz and adventure. It is normal for a circus to be staged in a small town of less than 6,000 people, attracting nearly 10,000 people in total.

It's like a singer giving a show, and the fans in the surrounding cities are drawn in.

However, when Chen Qiang came to the Lingling Circus, he did not meet the audience, because it was not yet time for the official performance.

The Lingling Circus is stationed in an open field, and from a long distance, you can see many small tents and small trucks scattered there, and you can see some temporary small stages when you get closer.

The circus of the thirties was different from later generations. In later generations, circus performances were performed in a large tent, with all performances performed in turn. But in the thirties, the circus had not yet entered the indoor age, and most of the performances were outdoors, with the performers setting up a makeshift stage, or a small tent, and performing on their own. Only the lion and tiger animal taming show is held in a large tent.

Therefore, the circus in the thirties was more like a simple garden fair, and the audience was counted in the circus venue and each chose their favorite performance to watch. Moreover, Americans in this era did not have so much entertainment, and circus performances tended to attract a large audience.

As soon as Chen Qiang walked into the door of the circus, he heard a voice from his head: "Be careful, don't get dripping with paint." ”

Chen Qiang looked up and saw a middle-aged white man with a sunhat sitting on a ladder with several paint buckets on a shelf next to him, painting a billboard hanging high.

"Can you help me get that paint bucket to me? Yes, that's it. Left! The white man pointed to the paint bucket on the ground.

Chen Qiang handed the paint bucket to the white man, and after the white man arrived, he said, "You're early, the circus performance here hasn't started yet." ”

"I'm not here to see the circus, I'm here to find someone." Chen Qiang said and took out the invitation letter from his arms, and then said, "I'm here to find Mr. Field." ”

"You're here for the boss?" The white man pointed in one direction and continued, "There's a wagon over there, the colorful one, and Mr. Field is in the little tent next to it." ”

Chen Qiang followed the white man's instructions and found the small tent.

"Is Mr. Field there?" Chen Qiang shouted outside the tent.

Then someone opened the door of the tent, and a bearded man appeared in front of Chen Qiang. After he saw Chen Qiang, he was slightly startled at first, and then said with a happy face: "Mr. Chen, I didn't expect you to really come!" ”

Obviously, this bearded man knew Chen Qiang, and he was the boss of the place, Field.

After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Field asked, "Mr. Chen, since you are willing to come, it means that you are interested in coming to our circus to perform, but performances and competitions are different, I wonder if you have participated in similar performance activities before?" ”

"Of course, when I was only in China, I was the face of several products, and I would often participate in sponsor advertising campaigns. So I'm pretty good at that. Chen Qiang said without modesty.

Looking for a job is naturally to brag yourself a little harder, if you say that you don't know anything, even if the boss is willing to ask you, he will not give you a high salary.

Field asked a few more simple questions, and Chen Qiang answered them all.

Field was very satisfied with Chen Qiang's interview performance, and he decided to hire Chen Qiang, only to hear him say: "Los Angeles is a big city, our circus is going to stay here for a week, if you are willing to come to our circus to perform, our circus is willing to pay you $25 a day, and if you perform well, we will pay you an additional bonus." ”

$20 a day, which was a very high salary in the United States at the time. As a result of the Great Depression, American wages were also falling, and in 1932 the hourly wage of American workers had fallen to 45 cents, although this is the official data, and the real figure is probably much lower than that.

According to the calculation of 10 hours of work a day, the salary of an American worker is 4.5 US dollars a day, and the workers of that era, weekends and holidays were unpaid, if the worker worked 26 days a month, then the monthly salary was 112 US dollars.

In fact, in the midst of the Great Depression, it would have been thankful to find a job that paid $100 a month.

So if you calculate it this way, the circus pays Chen Qiang $25 a day, which can indeed be regarded as a high salary. Chen Qiang worked in the circus for one day, earning more than the average American worker in five days.

"$25 a day, $175 for 7 days, you can take this job!" Chen Qiang felt that he had no reason to refuse.

That's $175, which was a lot of money in 1932, when a hot dog was 5 cents, a magazine was 10 cents, and a meal was about 50 cents. If you just make sure you have enough to eat, $175 can be used to live in the United States for a long time.

However, Chen Qiang still had a doubt, and he said: "Mr. Field, you know that I am a Chinese, I do not have a US passport, and the United States has the existence of the Chinese Exclusion Act, so if I work here, I may violate the law!" ”

Field laughed weirdly: "Mr. Chen, you don't have to worry about this, you came to perform here to promote the Olympic spirit, not to work." As for our circus, we are so touched by your Olympic spirit that we would like to donate $25 a day to you. So we don't have an employment relationship. I don't think U.S. law prohibits athletes from promoting the Olympic spirit, nor does it prohibit circuses from making charitable donations. ”

Field's explanation suddenly made Chen Qiang admire, and he couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

"It's a businessman, it's really a goblin, and Field behaves so calmly, it shouldn't be the first time he's done such a thing!" Chen Qiang said secretly in his heart.

Chen Qiang didn't guess much in his heart, Lingling Circus really didn't do such a thing at once. In the past, they often did some curious performances, many of which were deformed people from all over the world, and these poor deformed people did not have American work visas, and according to the law, they could not work in the United States.

However, the Lingling Circus pays the salaries of those deformed people in the name of charitable donations to the disabled, and the performance of the deformed people is also described by the Lingling Circus as street begging and other activities.

A disabled person is begging on the streets, and my circus thinks he is pitiful, so donating a little money to him, it is not against American law at all!

……

The Great Depression of the thirties also affected the circus business, and many circuses closed down as a result, but the business of large circuses such as the Lingling Circus was getting better and better.

This is like the situation of movie ticket price increase, when the price of movie tickets rises, the box office of some bad movies will be extremely miserable, on the contrary, the box office of well-made excellent films will be higher and higher.

Because the common people feel that movie tickets have become more expensive, of course, spending money to go to the movies must be more selective, and spending the same amount of money to watch a movie without IMAX, 3D, and Hollywood is a big production, which is not a very loss. On the contrary, if it is a big lineup and big production like "Avengers 4", even if the ticket price is a little more expensive, it is worth going to the cinema to watch an IMAX.

The same is true of the circus business, when Americans have money in their pockets, even if the circus performance is a little bad, many people will go to see it, and the big deal is to join in the fun. But when Americans don't have money in their pockets, only the top circuses are worth paying for.

The Lingling Circus has opened up a temporary track of about 60 meters for Chen Qiang, as well as a sand pit for performing long jumps, and Chen Qiang also interacts with the audience while performing as he did at a temple fair in China.

In the past few days, Chen Qiang's name has continued to appear in American newspapers, which has made Chen Qiang have a lot of popularity, so there are many onlookers, and when Chen Qiang invited the audience to compete, the audience was even more enthusiastic to participate.

The United States is a big sports country, and Americans' understanding and participation in sports are much stronger than those of the Chinese people. At the temple fair in Tianjin, many Chinese people are indifferent to Chen Qiang's championship signboard, and if you tell the Chinese people that Chen Qiang is the champion of the Far Eastern Games, maybe everyone will ask what the Far Eastern Games are. The focus of the Chinese is that Chen Qiang defeated the Japanese, Chen Qiang is the fastest runner in Asia, and Chen Qiang can bring them excitement.

And the United States is different, Americans understand sports, they know what the Olympic champion is, they know the meaning of the world record, you tell the Americans Chen Qiang the Olympic champion, they will think Chen Qiang is very powerful. The American audience is also more willing to play against Chen Qiang, after all, there are not many opportunities to compete with the world record holder.

For these American audiences, they are not here to defeat Chen Qiang, they want to show themselves in front of everyone, or they want to get that feeling of being involved.

Chen Qiang's performance is very good, even better than those funny and funny clowns, or those acrobats. The main reason for this is that Chen Qiang's performance can allow the audience to participate in it. A performance that interacts with the audience in real time and engages the audience is, of course, more engaging than those that are self-congratulating.

For a while, Chen Qiang became a popular fried chicken in the Lingling Circus, except for the performance of training tigers and lions in the big tent in the middle, there were many audiences here for Chen Qiang.

……

A middle-aged man with a big belly tried to sprint with Chen Qiang, and after he crossed the finish line, he suddenly fell to the ground and fainted.

Chen Qiang hurriedly stepped forward and pinched people vigorously, finally waking them up.

"Are you alright, sir?" Chen Qiang asked.

"I'm a little dizzy." The obese middle-aged man continued; "I just thought it was dark in front of my eyes......"

The fat man's face was a little red, and looking at his figure, Chen Qiang had already guessed in his heart that this fat man had high blood pressure. The sudden vigorous exercise just now made the fat man's blood pressure rise instantly, which directly caused him to faint.

"This gentleman, do you often have symptoms such as dizziness, headache, neck tightness, fatigue, and heart palpitations, just rest for a while?" Chen Qiang asked.

The fat man nodded: "Yes, you are all right. ”

"Do you have inattention, memory loss, numbness, weakness, etc.?" Chen Qiang then asked.

"How do you know? Are you a soothsayer? The fat man looked shocked.

Chen Qiang was 100% sure that this fat man had high blood pressure.

Chen Qiang wanted to tell the fat man that he should treat high blood pressure now, but after thinking about it, the concept of treating high blood pressure in this era is completely different from that of later generations.

Exercise can keep people healthy, and this will be a special research topic in the future, which is divided into many small topics. Chen Qiang has read a lot of papers in this area, including the method of sports treatment of diseases.

In the future of scientific research, there are many diseases that can be treated with exercise therapy, such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, etc., Chen Qiang's sports university is also in contact with some well-known medical schools to jointly study the methods of sports treatment of diseases, at that time Chen Qiang was still the deputy head of the liaison group with the medical school, and he had a lot of knowledge in sports and health.

Therefore, according to the information seen by Chen Qiang, people in this era do not realize the importance of reasonable exercise in the treatment of chronic diseases.

For example, if you have a little health knowledge in the future, you will know that the most important thing for diabetic patients is to control their blood sugar, in addition to taking medicine or insulin injections, they should also have a reasonable diet and moderate exercise.

And in the thirties, people treated diabetes by eating more to maintain their weight. For example, diabetics need to strictly control their intake of cereals and high-cholesterol foods, which were good remedies for diabetes in those days, because cereals and high-cholesterol foods could increase weight. If this is placed in the future generations, it is simply a way to let diabetics die early.

Another example is high blood pressure, people in the future know that if you suffer from high blood pressure, you have to take antihypertensive drugs for life, but in the thirties, high blood pressure was not considered a disease, and many elderly people had high blood pressure, and doctors did not treat it.

Doctors at that time believed that blood vessels would become thinner and narrower as people got older, and the increase in blood pressure was conducive to dilating blood vessels and improving the body's ability to circulate blood, so if an elderly person had high blood pressure, it was a good thing and would promote blood circulation.

I don't know how many people have been killed by this backward medical concept, including US President Roosevelt, who suffered from high blood pressure, and before he died, his blood pressure continued to rise, but the doctor gave the conclusion that "the president is healthy", and Roosevelt died of cerebral hemorrhage caused by high blood pressure a few days later. If Roosevelt had been given a few blood pressure pills, maybe he would have lived another decade or two, and the world would have been different.

"In this era, people don't realize that high blood pressure is a disease, and doctors don't treat high blood pressure, if I tell him that he has high blood pressure, it may be taken as a joke, and it seems that I can only start from other aspects, such as letting him exercise more and lose weight, which can also lower blood pressure."

Thinking of this, Chen Qiang had no choice but to speak: "Sir, I have a way to alleviate these symptoms of yours. Chen Qiang said.

"How?" The fat man asked immediately.

"Exercise, moderate amount of exercise." Chen Qiang really wanted to tell the fat man that he should go and take blood pressure medication. However, Chen Qiang knew that he was not a doctor, and if he instructed others to use medicine, he would definitely get into trouble. And Chen Qiang is not sure if there are blood pressure medication in this era.

"Can you tell me what disease I have now?" The fat man asked.

Chen Qiang thought about it, he really couldn't say that the fat man had high blood pressure, so he had to say: "You are in a sub-healthy state now." ”

"Sub-health? What is that? The fat man suddenly looked confused.

The English word for sub-health is "subhealthy", which apparently did not exist in the thirties, but if taken literally, it means "alternative health".

Not only the fat people, but also the people around them don't know what the word "sub-health" means. So Chen Qiang simply amplified his voice and explained to the surroundings: "Sub-health refers to a state in which the human body is in a state between health and disease. Those who are in a sub-healthy state cannot meet the standard of health, but they cannot be regarded as patients. Sub-health can manifest as symptoms of decreased vitality, function and adaptability for a certain period of time, but does not meet the clinical or subclinical diagnostic criteria of modern medicine related diseases. ”

Chen Qiang's explanation made most people understand.

The fat man looked nervous and asked, "When you say that I am in a sub-healthy state, does it mean that I am about to get sick?" ”

"Sir, don't worry, in fact, there are many people in your state, especially those between the ages of forty and sixty, many of whom are in a sub-healthy state." Chen Qiang said.

Chen Qiang's voice was a little loud, and the people around him also heard it, especially those audience who were between forty and sixty years old, and their expressions were nervous at this time, they were obviously worried that they were also "sub-healthy" as Chen Qiang said.

Chen Qiang turned his head and said to the people around him: "Ladies and gentlemen, I will describe some clinical manifestations next, if you have this condition, I am afraid you are already in a sub-healthy state, such as fatigue and weakness of limbs, muscle and joint pain, dizziness and headache, palpitations and chest tightness, sleep disorders, loss of appetite, abdominal discomfort, loose stools, constipation, decreased sexual function, sensitivity to cold and heat, easy to catch colds, dry eyes, ......."

Chen Qiang listed a lot of sub-health performances at once, and the surrounding audience instantly panicked.

"I seem to have been having a sleep disturbance lately!"

"I've been feeling sore joints for the past two years."

"Not only do I have a bad stomach, but I also have constipation!"

"I've had two colds this summer!"

"My sexual function seems to have decreased a lot compared to before, and the wife of the next door says that I am not as good as before!"

"I'm not even forty years old, how can I have the symptoms he said! Is my body already so bad? ”

Chen Qiang's words immediately touched many people, especially those between the ages of forty and sixty, who could still find the symptoms described by Chen Qiang in their own bodies after pondering carefully!

People in any era and in any country want to live a long life, and they all want to be healthy. The cost of medical care in the United States is already expensive, and the United States now happens to be in the golden age of industrial development, cultivating a large middle class, and these emerging middle classes are particularly concerned about health.

The United States in the thirties is similar to China in the 21st century, and in the future, it will be the emerging middle class that will be most concerned about health. If you are rich, your life is less stressful and you are healthy; Poor people are desperate to survive and have no time to pay attention to their health. Only the emerging middle class, who have a stressful life and want to live a few more years, are most concerned about health.

During the Great Depression, the poor and the unemployed certainly did not have the money to perform circus, so those who could come to the circus were rich and middle-class, and in the thirties, even the rich did not pay much attention to health management, and sub-health conditions were widespread. Even US President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of high blood pressure, and those rich people ate and drank well, and the "three highs" were normal.

Chen Qiang introduced some sub-health symptoms, and immediately frightened the people around him, some people not only met one symptom, but even met several symptoms.

A feeling of panic suddenly enveloped the crowd. Some people don't understand how I am a good living person, who can eat and sleep, suddenly become "sub-healthy"!

Chen Qiang cleared his throat and said, "Don't worry, although sub-health will damage your body, it will not be fatal." And I also have a way to treat your sub-health. ”

As soon as I heard that I could cure it, the surrounding audience suddenly came to the spirit.

"Can it be treated? What method? ”

"Tell us!"

"I've been suffering from insomnia every day lately and telling me how to cure it."

"I can't eat, is there a way?"

"I'm constipated, can there be a cure?"

"I have impotence and premature ejaculation, what should I do?"

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。 m.