Zhu Wencong looked at the eager college students, the future of America's industry rested on them, and for a moment, he felt a twinge of envy and jealousy.
At that time, America was transitioning from agriculture to industry, it was an era of industrial fever across the nation, where owning a factory was as good as owning a Gold Mountain.
Distant Tsarist Russia had already propelled reforms to their serf system; this ancient nation was gradually transforming from an agricultural giant into an industrial powerhouse.
Japan, having been forced to open its borders and sign a series of treaties, saw its people, from top to bottom, filled with shame and then courage as they acquired the foreigners' techniques to counteract them.
It could be said that in the latter part of the 19th century, most countries were progressing, innovating, and reforming, each poised to play a leading role in the coming era.
