In the first half of the 20th century, two large-scale wars broke out in the human world, namely "World War I" and "World War II". In contrast, Chinese have a deeper memory of World War II, not only because we were the main force in the war, but also because we paid a huge price to win the final victory.
As for the First World War, I am afraid that most people think that it is a struggle between the European powers and has little to do with us. But in fact, China also sent 140,000 laborers to Britain and France to participate in the war, and made an indelible contribution to the victory of the Allies. Although they are nominally laborers, they are actually heroes.
After the end of World War I, most of the surviving Chinese laborers were repatriated, but a small number of them chose to stay in France. It's not that they don't want to go home, it's that they have a new bond. They are no longer lonely people far away from their homeland, but the pillars of a new family.
According to relevant information, during the First World War, the hard-working, simple, brave and kind Chinese workers were favored by many French girls. They don't mind different ethnic nationalities, they don't mind different living habits, they just want to have a free love and marry someone they like. This unusual cross-border romance is still touched by people.
140,000 Chinese workers left their hometowns to participate in the war
Objectively speaking, the outbreak of a war in Europe did not have much impact on China in Asia. In addition, at that time, China was still in chaos, so the Beiyang government was reluctant to participate in the war at first. However, considering China's position in the international arena in the future, they finally decided to join the Allies in the form of "replacing soldiers with workers" to help them fight.
Initially, Britain and France were reluctant to ask for Chinese workers, believing that China wanted to take advantage of it. However, when the war became more and more fierce and the troops were not good, they could not take care of so much, and they wanted the Chinese workers to hurry up to support. In order to attract more strong labor, the British and French governments even offered a high "annual salary" of 2,000 francs.
Tempted by money, 140,000 Chinese workers with the dream of getting rich took a cruise ship to Europe. However, after arriving at the local area, everything changed, not only the treatment was discounted, often not enough to eat, the work content also changed, and the work was dirty and tiring.
For example, the Chinese workers in Britain at that time not only dug trenches and repaired fortifications, but also often carried corpses and cleared mines. When unlucky, they would even encounter the enemy directly, and fight with the Germans with shovels and pickaxes. In such a harsh environment, countless Chinese workers died in battle, which made people sigh endlessly.
Second, the French girl chased after her wildly
Although most of these Chinese workers come from poor families, their appearance, knowledge, and family situation are not outstanding, but their kind and simple character, hard-working spirit and strong body characteristics still win the favor of many French girls. They boldly show their love to The Chinese workers and are eager to form a family with them.
After all, compared to the French man who lacked an arm and a broken leg, the Chinese man who was smart in the Gu family was obviously a better choice. Although Chinese and French people have different cultural customs and living habits, these are not big problems in the face of mutual love.
According to relevant records, after the end of World War I, at least 3,000 Chinese workers married French girls. One of the more famous is a Chinese worker from Jiangsu named Zhang Changsong, who registered his marriage with the French girl Louis at the Chinese Embassy in France and had a total of 13 children.
It is worth mentioning that Zhang Changsong not only participated in world war I, but also took his 16-year-old son to participate in world war II, winning the victory in world war II as a volunteer soldier. In 1983, Zhang Changsong was buried in the Mechanical City in central France at the age of 83.