228: Chapter 26: Advanced Concepts Across Eras 228: Chapter 26: Advanced Concepts Across Eras Because after crossing over, I wasn’t able to retain the original host’s memories…
though even if I had, they might not have been of much use.
Wang Yunxiao knew nothing about the historical background of this world.
This wasn’t a gap that could be filled by glancing through a history textbook a couple of times.
Who hasn’t gone through nine years of compulsory education in later generations, where any so-called expert can appear on TV to spin a tale, and still many people would believe them without a doubt?
History textbooks actually aren’t that interesting, the only difference being that the Han Chinese dynasties have continued to this day, with no records of foreign tribes ruling the Central Plains.
The truly earth-shaking changes happened in recent decades, none of which is reflected in the textbooks.
Many things that contemporary young people take for granted, like the special police uniforms issued to officers, were, in Old Master He’s words, something he had never even seen in his youth.
Then, take the Red Lantern Society and the Qianjin Church for example, two organizations that seem to have a deep historical heritage but are actually semi-public and hidden…
It’s not accurate to call them hidden, it’s just that ordinary people don’t usually have the opportunity to come into contact with them.
If you trace their origins, they can indeed be traced back to the White Lotus Sect’s Pure Land Sect and Christianity’s Hermit Society a thousand years ago, but these two organizations themselves only emerged and rose rapidly in the last few decades.
Regarding their history, it’s a massive black box.
The founders might not even be dead yet, so who dares to make a final judgment?
Not to mention Wang Yunxiao, even looking across the whole of Tianmen City, there are not many outsiders who dare to say they understand the secrets of these two organizations.
But Sister Veronica is a big sister who is very willing to share knowledge.
As long as you have a mature enough mind and aren’t afraid of knowledge contamination.
“The Red Lantern Society and the Qianjin Church differ in their philosophies — the Red Lantern Society advocates for the unity and mutual support of local women, resisting the oppression of women by feudal traditions internally, and resisting the invasion of Western culture on both the material and spiritual levels externally.
The Qianjin Church advocates for the liberation of women’s productive forces, the improvement of women’s cultural quality and legitimate rights, and the fight for equal pay for equal work regardless of gender.
It calls for an end to arranged marriages by parents, promoting free love instead.”
This is indeed knowledge contamination in the literal sense, such radical views could cause the conservative old masters to become infuriated to the point of proclaiming the emergence of the Buddha and the ascension of a second, exclaiming the collapse of propriety, music, and the degradation of morals!
Even Wang Yunxiao felt…
Sister, isn’t your ideology a bit ahead of its time?
It is undeniable that due to the influence of temporal tides, some knowledge or matter from a future era could be washed into this one, which was the main reason why Wang Yunxiao, when newly arrived, felt that this world was chaotic and distorted.
For instance, the concrete civil defense engineering underground at Qinghe Middle School, or, for another example, the organizational structures of the military and government, along with various legal provisions announced by the new government, and so on…
(The content was deleted here after 24 hours, and it is unknown whether this was due to an automated review system or a report by someone.)
The nuns have stopped pretending; it’s all out in the open now.
Wang Yunxiao’s head was buzzing.
Of course, there’s no misunderstanding, but some people have such sensitive nerves and can’t bear to hear you talk about these things.
They feel as if creepy-crawlies are squirming all over them—worse than seeing their own parents hooked up in the ICU.
They’d immediately report it, and then the author joyfully receives a banned book package and has to scram…
Then they can start a new book—everyone’s happy, hahaha (ptui!
Such shamelessness!)
Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore.
I’m starting to sweat bullets.
What were we discussing?
Oh right, the main differences between the Red Lantern Society and the Qianjin Church!
After Veronica’s introduction, Wang Yunxiao finally had a rough understanding of the core philosophies of these two female organizations.
The Red Lantern Society worships the Holy Mother of Red Lotus.
Their ideology is somewhat conservative, with a core philosophy of maintaining women’s legitimate rights and not being humiliated, whether the offense comes from inside or outside the group.
Originally, the Red Lantern Society was formed to oppose the Western missionaries.
During that era, the Imperial Court was decadent and weak, and the foreigners’ churches and missionaries were brazen, cultivating a large number of local converts, commonly known as “half-baked foreigners”.
They harassed and ostracized the other commoners who did not believe in the Western religion.
These converts usually didn’t do decent things, and the foreign priests, in their eagerness to spread their faith further, not only turned a blind eye to these misdeeds but even protected and condoned them.
The Red Lantern Society was born in response to this period.
Under the leadership of the Holy Mother of Red Lotus, they adopted extreme, xenophobic measures, killing “half-baked foreigners”, slaying foreign priests, and burning churches, nearly wiping out all Western churches in and around Tianmen.
Based on these illustrious achievements, the status of the Holy Mother of Red Lotus in the northern Jianghu was unparalleled.
Although there were no temples or statues built for her, many people who had suffered from the poison of the Western religion set up shrines in their homes and constantly made incense offerings to her.
Times changed, and with the shift of domestic political landscapes, the Western sects have disappeared into obscurity, no longer posing a threat.
However, the Red Lantern Society didn’t vanish with them.
Instead, it became more secretive and low-profile, almost invisible except for the annual celebration of the Holy Mother’s birthday—the Red Lotus Dharma Assembly.
To put it simply, they were content with the status quo.
The Qianjin Church, on the other hand, believes in the “Messiah” as derived from the Christian Bible, the future savior.
In the church’s doctrine, there is no single chosen savior; everyone is the Messiah.
They advocate for equality among all people and genders, improving productivity, liberating the workforce, and driving the progress of human civilization to ultimately establish a Divine Kingdom on Earth.
The church internally praises science, democracy, and rational thinking, establishing technical schools and research institutes, investing in factories, and encouraging women to leave their homes to study and learn.
Nowadays, the largest knitting, silk-weaving, dyeing, and wool-spinning factories in Tianmen City are almost all under the church’s industry, employing tens of thousands of female workers, effectively supporting the economic development of Tianmen City—a key cornerstone.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
As for how deep it runs beneath the surface, no one knows.
But this recent probe revealed a Tactical Nun Squad that fought without any casualties or severe injuries, maintaining a perfect score—one of the few teams to do so, with combat prowess so formidable that even the Special Service Bureau feels a chill.
Here’s a not so cold piece of trivia—the Qianjin Church is a legally recognized religion by the new government, permitted to maintain an armed guard force.
In contrast, the native Red Lantern Society is still considered an illegal organization, without any official recognition.
After all, according to the unwritten rules of the Jianghu from the past, a true Jianghu bigwig with real stature and status wouldn’t deign to be the Governmental Office’s henchmen or lackeys.