<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="144" > preface</h1>
In recent years, infighting between game companies has become more and more serious. The increase in games has increased the choice space of players, and game companies can only impress players by selling hard and improving their game quality. In order to make a good game, capital can't dictate to game developers as before, because you don't invest, you have other capital to come (and the capital is also rolled up). For example, some time ago, "Black Myth: Wukong", which attracted the attention of domestic players, in a recent demonstration video, there was no shadow about their new gold lord Tencent, hoping that goose factory could intervene less and not let "Black Myth" become the second "God of War".
It is a bit off-topic, the internal volume of the game company, resulting in the continuous increase in the volume of the game, and the content is becoming more and more abundant. Many games with historical background, if you want to enrich the game content, you must constantly improve many historical elements, so that a lot of knowledge can be known by players.
Before (about a year ago) I and the reader lord said two issues of the "Look at History from the Game" article, which is about the reflection of many historical events in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14", and interested friends can go to the page.
Look at the history from the game: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14" Of the Yangtze River Heavenly Danger, Meridian Valley Conspiracy, Zhuge Northern Expedition
Looking at history from the game: "Three Kingdoms 14" "Three Great Warriors Must Fight"
I'll take a closer look at the series today, but the protagonist changes from Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14 to Red Dead Redemption. Talk about two historical elements reflected in the game: Chinese labor and the Ku Klux Klan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="149" > Chinese laborers</h1>
Anyone who has played Red Dead Redemption knows that in St. Denis, the largest city in the game, we often meet Qing dynasty Chinese who speak Cantonese, but why do qing Chinese appear in American cities?
Then we have to talk about the historical background at that time.
The Westward Movement and the Gold Rush
As a large-scale immigration movement, the American Westward Movement has a historical background dating back to the colonial era. It has three main steps: 1, the colonization of the Mississippi River Basin (mainly territorial expansion and the problem of Indians), 2, the development of the Far West (represented by the California Gold Rush), and 3, the development of the Prairie (the construction of the Pacific Railway).
Gold discovered at the Sutter sawmill in California in January 1848 triggered the second phase of the "gold rush". Gold panning refers to the fact that after gold prospectors salvage the silt in the river or lake, they wash the silt in the pan in order to find the natural gold sand in the silt.
In 1847, Chen Ming, a Cantonese, arrived in San Francisco and was lucky enough to catch up with the early stages of the gold rush. Chen Ming soon made a fortune, and then he asked his fellow villager zhang Yun to carry a message, a sentence "Golden Mountain Guest, no one thousand, there are eight hundred" was widely circulated, and the gold panning only needed a shovel.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement and the Tuke GunDou took place one after another, and the Tuke Gundou lasted from 1854 to 1867, sweeping through the territory of Guangzhou, killing and injuring more than one million people. Going to the United States to pan for gold or farming at home is obvious.
So the Chinese laborers were moved, but the voyage was almost a journey to hell. It takes 56 to 75 days for Chinese workers to travel from Hong Kong to Hawaii and 75 to 100 days to California. In order to chase high profits, the steamship company increased the capacity of each ship to the limit, and the living space of Chinese workers on the steamship was repeatedly compressed, and during the long voyage, hundreds of Chinese workers huddled in the cabin like sardines, enduring the wind and waves, and countless Chinese workers who unfortunately died during the journey were countless.
In order to survive, the natives sold their fields and cattle in exchange for a ferry ticket to the United States ($1,000!). ）。 Poor peasants can only work as indentured laborers, piglets, and work to pay back the money after arriving in the United States. With the participation of Chinese workers, California's gold output value jumped from $8,000 to $100 million that year! The enormous wealth brought to capitalism by the so-called "gold rush" directly made the third stage of the dream possible.
The History of the Blood and Tears of the Pacific Railway and Chinese Workers
Construction of the Pacific Railway began in January 1863, and on May 10, 1869 ( the chinese workers completed the final work ) were opened to traffic for the first time. The Pacific Railroad connects the Atlantic coast of the United States with the Pacific coast in a more efficient way. The BBC calls it one of the seven industrial wonders of the world since the Industrial Revolution, directly shaping modern America.
However, to build a railway, there are not enough workers to build it, what to do? At that time, the United States gathered people of different colors from all over the world, who crossed the ocean for the dream of gold panning and came to the United States, which naturally became the preferred target of the United States. But not everyone was suitable for these hard jobs, for example, the Irish could not stand these tiring jobs, and constantly made trouble, resulting in only 80 kilometers of railway paving in two years. For the American capitalists, these troublemakers, strikers, and wage-seeking whites were naturally not the targets of their exploitation, and the blacks were in the hands of the plantation slave owners of the Confederate Confederation, so the only cards in their hands were the hard-working and down-to-earth Chinese laborers from China.
At this time, the California gold rush was at the end of its life, and most Chinese workers were heavily indebted and could lose their jobs at any time. The cunning Americans were given $150 (not very familiar, the same salary as in the early days of the gold rush), and the Chinese miners forced to compromise with their lives again (even $90 was willing by a large number of people), and the actual settlement was less than $30 (after which the Chinese workers went on strike, and the wages were raised to $40 a month). At the same time, American intermediaries in coastal areas such as Guangdong still deceive Chinese people into going to other places in the name of going to California to pan for gold, and actually turn to recruiting people for railway projects.
It is recorded that in the mid-to-late 19th century, more than 12,000 Chinese went to the United States to build railroads. More than 10,000 Chinese, dreaming of getting rich. But what they received in the United States was not wealth, but endless humiliation and abuse. They first hired 50 Chinese laborers to test the waters, and in February 1865, the Chinese workers embarked on the construction of the railway in the eyes of many people. At first, the contempt for Chinese workers came not only from white workers, but even some people in charge of the construction site thought that Chinese workers were physically weak and short, and they could not participate in such hard work. In the end, the general contractor of the railway, Croco, said that the people who can build the Great Wall can certainly build the railway.
About 10,000 Chinese workers participated in the construction of the middle section of the Pacific Railway (the most difficult and the most risky). White people were reluctant to engage in high-risk blasting and digging mountain walls, and Chinese workers became the only one to rely on, and in just 13 months, Chinese workers combined with technology brought from China to open the most difficult tunnels.
After 6 years of huge projects, tens of thousands of Chinese workers will always stay in foreign countries.
"Under every sleeper of the Pacific Railroad there is a Chinese skeleton" - Zhang Chunru
Finally, on May 10, 1869, the railroad across the east and west coasts of the United States was completed, but in the group photo of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, there was no trace of the Chinese workers, and their exploits were hidden under the snow and yellow sand, and they were almost forgotten by the world. Nathaniel Bennett said in completion that the success of the railroad project was due to the blood of the four greatest peoples of our time flowing in the veins of the people of California. There is the courage of the French to fight and rush; there is the philosophical mind and firm spirit of the Germans; there is the indomitable perseverance of the Englishmen; there is the fiery temper of the Irish who do not know sorrow. Each of them makes a modest contribution. (It's brazen.
The "Proper Name" of Chinese Laborers
This railroad led to the westward expansion of the United States in the 19th century During this major event in the modern industrialization history of the United States, thousands of Chinese laborers were called upon to participate in the construction of the most arduous Central Pacific Railroad. In the project, with the unique spirit of hard-working and outstanding ingenuity of the Chinese, they played a key role in road construction and made a decisive contribution. They also paid a heavy price, with a large number of Chinese workers dying in high-intensity, high-risk labor. What is outrageous, however, is that the unfair treatment of Chinese laborers at that time, such as meagre remuneration, racial discrimination and wave of Chinese exclusion, has not been taken seriously by American history.
On May 9, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor for the first time included The Chinese workers who built the Pacific Railroad in the 19th century in the "Labor Honor Hall", and many descendants of Chinese workers feel quite honored that the U.S. government has faced up to the neglected history. On May 10, 2014, Chinese Labor Day was held in Utah, USA, marking the 145th anniversary of the pacific railroad. People from the Asia-Pacific community in the United States and the Guangdong region of China attended the ceremony to commemorate the Chinese laborers who died in the construction of the railway. On the occasion of the 145th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railway in the United States, the descendants of Chinese workers gathered at the peak of Utah, where the railway was originally completed, to take a group photo, and with this "justice photography" activity, they made up for the lack of Chinese workers who could not be seen in the photos of the railway completion celebrations that year.
Combined with the game, the Pacific Railway was completed in 1869, but in the subsequent construction of the railway, Chinese workers were still heavily used, so we can see the Scene of Chinese Laborers building railways in the United States in 1899. As a game company, R Star can face up to this history, and I think this must be an important reason why R Star can make the game to the extreme.
Today, Chinese laborers have been justified by the U.S. government, but this does not mean that racism in the United States has been gradually eliminated, on the contrary, racism is deeply rooted in the bones of many white people. In today's America, not only blacks, but also many Asians suffer from different degrees of discrimination. However, today's China is no longer the Manchu Qing Dynasty of that year, and we must firmly say no in the face of groundless accusations and discrimination from the West.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="166" > 3 Ku Klux Klan</h1>
In the game Red Dead Redemption, there is a very funny menu, Arthur in the woods near Lemoan at night, it is possible to see a group of men in white robes holding a nighttime gathering. From their conversations we learned that they were holding ceremonies for the new members to join.
Sadly, halfway through the ceremony, the stupid members of the assembly accidentally lit their robes while lighting the cross and burned themselves alive, and the other members pulled their legs and ran. If the player comes to the neighborhood during the day, they will find the members of the assembly who are preparing for the night rally, they try to put the heavy cross on the ground, unfortunately the heavy cross does not want to be erected so easily, and the fallen cross crushes the members of the assembly in front of them.
According to the costumes worn by NPCs in the game, friends familiar with American history can identify them at a glance, they are the ku Klux Klan, the oldest and largest extremist racist organization in the United States, which is a party in the history and present of the United States that pursues white supremacy and discrimination against colored ethnicism.
The Ku Klux Klan, formerly known as the White Race Organization, also known as the White Alliance and the Invisible Empire, has white robes and pointed hoods that only show their eyes, and the burning cross is one of the main rituals of their nighttime gatherings and their most famous symbol of intimidation.
The Ku Klux Klan was formed in 1866 by veterans of the former Confederate army defeated in the Civil War, and when a little more careful player first arrives in Rhodes, he will find veterans of the former Confederate army who are telling the story of the Civil War with his companions in the woods around the town, and according to the introduction of the gangs in the game, we learn that the Lemoan Marauders entrenched in Lemoan are made up of these veterans of the former Confederate army, so It is also reasonable that we can meet with ku Klux Klan members in Lemoan. In the early days of the Ku Klux Klan, its goal was to restore the Democratic Party to power in the Southern United States and oppose the policies imposed by the Federal Army in the South to improve the treatment of black slaves, but the organization often achieved its goals through violent means. In American history, the development of the Ku Klux Klan can be divided into the following three periods:
Founding of the Ku Klux Klan (1865–1871)
In 1865, the newly appointed U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, after gaining support from the North, attempted to free blacks who had become slaves to Southern slave owners, sparking the Civil War. In 1866, veterans of the former Confederate army defeated in the Civil War carried the banner of opposition to the liberation of blacks and formed the infamous Ku Klux Klan. They act in secrecy, often wearing their trademark white pointed hoods, white robes, guns and flashlights roaming the midnight southern countryside.
At first, their main purpose was to intimidate the newly liberated black slaves in a pretentious way, but soon everything began to spiral out of control and into violence. They began to break into black homes and whip blacks, burn black houses and churches, escalate violence, and follow a large number of followers, in an attempt to restore in this way to the pre-war era of black slavery.
In 1867, members of the Ku Klux Klan held a congress in Nashville and issued a charter drafted by Brigadier General George Gordon of the former Confederate Army, which began to develop into a national organization. A few weeks later, Nathan, a former Confederate army general who had worked in the slave trade, was elected as the first national leader.
In 1871, President Ulysses Grant issued the Ku Klux Klan and the Enforcement Act, forcibly banning the political organization.
The Reconstruction of the Ku Klux Klan (1915–1944)
After the first Ku Klux Klan was banned, many people still spontaneously organized themselves to carry out such violent activities.
Finally, during World War I, the Ku Klux Klan was re-established and made a comeback. Its founding is inextricably linked to Griffith's famous film The Birth of a Nation (1915), which has strong racist tendencies. Griffith's father was a colonel in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and he was raised to be prejudiced against blacks. The film is based on thomas Dixon's two novels, The Fellows and The Spot of the Jaguar, and was originally intended to revolutionize northerners by recreating a beautiful history of the Democratic Party. Griffith, on the other hand, continues to demonize the black race in the film, and the Ku Klux Klan is transformed into a righteous knight who saves the South from blacks.
The film describes the ku Klux Klan as the region where the Ku Klux Klan succeeded as the Midwest, when in fact it should be the southern United States. Many white people at the bottom of society watched the film and thought that their poverty was caused by blacks or Jewish bankers, a propaganda method similar to Nazi Germany. The film led to the popularity of the Ku Klux Klan throughout the United States. At the Los Angeles test screening, actors dressed as Klux Klan members were hired as advertisers, and then at the official premiere in Atlanta, the regrouped 3K party members took to the streets to cheer, and even a fanatical Southern audience shot directly at the stage screen.
On the day of the film's premiere in Atlanta, a man named William Simmons announced that he would hold a rally that would resurrect the Ku Klux Klan, and that night some elderly Ku Klux Klan members and other new members held an inaugural meeting at a hilltop where they lit a cross to announce the birth of the new Ku Klux Klan. Unlike the early Ku Klux Klan, the background of the early Ku Klux Klan was the Democratic Party of the United States and the southern states, while the members of the new Ku Klux Klan came from both the Democratic and Republican parties (the latter had a slightly lower proportion) and had influence throughout the United States, and even had a great influence on politics in some states.
At its peak in 1920, the Ku Klux Klan had more than 4 million members, including many politicians, and even former U.S. President Harry Truman paid $10 to join the Ku Klux Klan. In May 1927, Fred Trump, the father of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who was only 21 years old at the time, was arrested during a Ku Klux Klan rally he attended on Jamaican Street in Queens, New York.
Later, the New Ku Klux Klan plummeted to about 30,000 members due to its involvement in the rape and murder of David Stephenson and evidence of corruption among other members, such as the governor of Indiana and the mayor of Indianapolis, a trend that continued during the Great Depression and World War II and eventually dissolved in 1944.
Late Ku Klux Klan (since 1946)
In the 1950s, the rise of the civil rights movement led to the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, and several organizations that used the Klux Klux Klan name after World War II were identified as rebellions against the 1960 Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
The most important of these is the 3 Ku Klux Klan White Knights led by Robert Shelton. In the southern hinterland, they put considerable pressure on blacks not to vote. At the time, 42 percent of Mississippi's population was black, but only 2 percent were registered to vote. In 1964, the FBI launched the Counterintelligence Program, which attempted to infiltrate and destroy the Ku Klux Klan. Ku Klux Klan's actions are often met with protests from hostile forces, including acts of violence of all kinds.
To this day, dozens of organizations in the United States and other countries still use all or part of the term "Ku Klux Klux Klan" as their name. In 2003, the organization estimated that there were still about 5,500 to 6,000 Ku Klux Klan members in the United States, and they belonged to about 158 decentralized organizations, two-thirds of which were in the former Confederate states. The remaining third is mainly distributed in the Midwest. In March 2016, former Ku Klux Klux Klan leader David Duke frequently expressed his support for Trump on various occasions, but Trump did not draw a line with Duke in time. This ambiguity made the then candidate's relationship with the Ku Klux Klan even more confusing. Later, after he became the president of the United States, frequent incidents of racial discrimination caused the media to have a lot of doubts about his relationship with the Ku Klux Klan.
Crimes of the Ku Klux Klan
Since the founding of the Ku Klux Klan, the organization has committed numerous violent incidents, from the initial intimidation of newly liberated black slaves in a ghostly manner to the indiscriminate use of violence against other groups of color. The Ku Klux Klan was keen to lynch "enemies", who tied them up in ropes and hung them from trees, hanged them alive or burned them alive with fire.
In 1916, a 17-year-old black boy named Jesse was taken to court on charges of raping and killing a white woman, and the court blindly convicted the boy. After the verdict, the mob, unable to wait for the legal process, chained Jesse and dragged him to the street for personal gain, and more than 2,000 people dragged Jesse to the town square, where he was burned alive. At the time, more than 15,000 people were watching, equivalent to half the town's population.
One witness wrote that Jesse had been slammed with a shovel and brick, had his genitals cut off, had his ears cut off, and then suspended him from the fire with chains tied to the trunk of a tree, and he cried out in an attempt to grab the chain by hand and climb up, only to be cut off ten fingers. Most of those who have been lynched have undergone severe torture, such as beatings, gouging out of their eyes, tooth extraction, burning, and amputation.
Between 1889 and 1941 alone, more than 3,800 such lynchings of blacks were recorded in the Southern United States, and sometimes local mayors and police acquiesced to their use of lynchings, or even strong support. In 1966, Samuel Bowles, one of the former leaders of the Ku Klux Klux Klan, was suspected of planning and organizing the assassination of Vernon Damer, a civil rights activist in Mississippi, where damer was burned alive. The famous film "Mississippi is Burning" is based on this incident.
"Ku Klux Klan" with R Star
Like GTA5's online mode, the online mode of Red Dead Redemption 2 cannot avoid the influx of a large number of plug-ins, and some plug-ins are obsessed with reviving the "Klux Klan" in the game to humiliate other players, and they have transferred the "Ku Klux Klan" costume in the single-player mode to the online mode.
At present, R Star has completely eliminated the way for players to resurrect the "Ku Klux Klan" in the update, and restricted the use of related mods. Some players were surprised at how quickly they reacted to the issue of R star positioning, which also illustrates R star's aversion to racism.
Racism is an important problem in the contemporary capitalist world, and it is a manifestation of inequality in capitalist society. It should have been a tumor of modern civilization and a public enemy of all mankind, but in reality many people have used racism as a weapon to attack others, and the world's justice-loving people have made unremitting efforts to eliminate racism, from Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 shouting "I have a dream" to Floyd groaning in pain "I can't breathe", decades later, the equal rights of minorities in the United States are still just dreams, and there is still serious systemic racial discrimination in American society, which is deeply rooted. It is a practical issue that people from all walks of life in the United States have called for reflection in unison. The Ku Klux Klan, the oldest and largest extremist racist organization in the United States, has even become synonymous with racial discrimination.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="183" > conclusion</h1>
Red Dead Redemption 2 is indeed a rare and good game, it is rich in detail, and there are many small details that are reflected in the historical events of the time. Today I will first introduce the Chinese laborers and the Ku Klux Klan in "Red Dead Redemption 2" to you, and then have the opportunity to talk to you about this game or other places that reflect history in this game or other games
I'm a big occasional person who likes to share the joy of games, explore the story of games, and discover the fun of games (especially old games that expose age...). ）。 Favorite friends can follow me.