This article is written by Li Yudong
Author: Li Yudong, researcher of Chahar Society, famous writer. He graduated in Sociology and Political Science from the University of Glasgow in June 2010. He is a member of the Chinese Writers Association, the Chinese Essayists Association, and the Shanxi Writers Association. His works include the essay collection "Crazy As a Virgin", "Thorny Shakespeare's Dream", the novels "Night Case", "Miao", "The Barking of Dogs on Earth", and "Out of Focus". In recent years, he has begun to study the fields of politics and international relations, in which the communication between Chinese and Western cultures is the most concerned issue for Li Yudong, a young returnee writer. He joined the Chahar Institute research team in 2016.
"Dancers on the Corpses - 100 Years of Chinese Workers in World War I" is a long article written by Li Yudong to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I and the Chinese laborers who paid blood and sweat in World War I, with a total of more than 45,000 words, which will be serialized on the platforms of the "Chahar Society".
Please scroll down to read Excerpt 6: Journey through the Rough Seas (II).
10
The tribulations of Chinese workers are far from over.
When the ship docked in the port of western Canada, another bitter past event, but coldly and mercilessly, shone into the bleak reality.
From 1863 to 1869, the Americans built the Pacific Railroad, which was later called one of the "Seven Industrial Wonders" since the Industrial Revolution, under difficult conditions and low wages. The railway is more than 3,000 kilometers long and runs through the entire North American continent. In a sense, it gave rise to the modern America.
But what can achieve this miracle is the tens of thousands of Chinese workers behind it who silently pay for it.
Laborers working in Ontario, Canada Image source: National Library and Archives of Canada
Ironically, however, in 1882, the future superpower, a prosperous nation known as a "lighthouse" in later generations, passed a Chinese Exclusion Act for Chinese laborers who had already experienced miracles for themselves.
The experience of the Americans is looked at by the Canadian government. From 1881 to 1885, they employed more than 15,000 Chinese workers to complete the Pacific Railway connecting the east and west coasts of Canada. They believe that a people who can build the Great Wall with their bare hands will not shrink back in the face of such a railway.
The facts are exactly as expected. Chinese workers are hard-working, not afraid of hardships and dangers, and always pay their own efforts for the tasks they undertake. Their figures moved in the most dangerous Rocky Mountains that whites would never touch, to open roads, to split rocks, risk their lives, and place explosives.
And their salaries are only half that of white people.
Sadly, when this significant railway line was opened, in the midst of cheers from the Western world, no one could remember their faces. And no one can remember that on every sleeper that holds up wealth and prosperity for the Western world, there is their blood soaked.
Infuriatingly, in the year of the completion of the Pacific Railroad, in order to prevent the influx of Chinese who went out to make a living, the Canadian government, in spite of all the contributions made by the Chinese, passed a "Chinese Entry Ordinance" with a seriously discriminatory nature, stipulating that a 50-Canadian head tax was levied on each Chinese, and in 1904, this price was raised to 500 Canadian dollars equivalent to the ten-year wage of a strong laborer.
Then, in 1923, a Canadian version of the Chinese Exclusion Act was also released.
In 1917, when a British cruise ship full of Chinese workers arrived here, in order to avoid the high-priced Chinese "poll tax", the British and the Canadian government agreed to transfer the Chinese workers to the east coast of the changing ships in a mutually compromised manner. Therefore, the Chinese workers who traveled to the far Americas and experienced bumps along the way still could not even get the opportunity to let go of the wind. They were thus locked up in the lower deck, in the narrow cabin, in the torment, waiting for a specially responsible for transport of the stuffy tank truck to pass through here, and then, at the urging of the British soldiers, quickly boarded the train, and then traveled 8 days and 9,000 kilometers across Canada, and finally came to the eastern port where they were transferred - in this way, the British avoided the high costs created by the Canadian government in the form of Chinese workers "transit" instead of "entry", and did not violate its relevant discriminatory regulations.
Receipt for Chinese National Poll Tax in Canada Image source: Wikipedia
But even so, the then head of Immigration Canada, in a letter to the person in charge, still stressed: "When those Chinese coolies who did not pay taxes transited through Canada, they actually owed debts to the Canadian government." ”
Yes, what kind of wealth base has been created for the prosperity of their society by letting the weak Chinese--in the eyes of these high-nosed and blue-eyed people, this industrious and brave nation from the East is always worthy of only as a "superior" them, a humble coolie.
The confined space, the tired body, and the strong Chinese workers were tortured in the transfer again and again. According to statistics, from early March 1917 to late March 1918, a total of 84,224 Chinese workers crossed Canada in this way and changed to ships bound for the battlefield. Many of them have diseases. On August 31, 1917, a military doctor of the Thirty-sixth Chinese Workers' Corps wrote in his report:
"Shortly after leaving Montreal, three coolies were found to be suffering from scabies, and due to travel delays and the lack of necessary medication, we were unable to treat them in time, resulting in the rapid spread of the disease among Chinese workers."
But greater pain is hidden in the heart. Prolonged helplessness, despair, suffering, pain, all of which can push a healthy youth into the precipice of life. Some of them rely on anger to vent their grievances. But others, after becoming depressed, chose to commit suicide by throwing themselves into the sea.
History is a mirror, not in 1946, 56, or 66, but in 2006, when China began to rise strongly, the Canadian government officially apologized to Chinese for its Chinese exclusion.
In 2012, the United States, the world's number one power, finally lowered its noble head. By secret ballot in Parliament, they decided to apologize to all Chinese. However, in this so-called "apology" statement, the English word they use is not "apologize", but "regret".
"Weak countries have no diplomacy".
Today's China is no longer the weak and small appearance of the past.
But the scenes that have occurred in the past have warned us all the time - on the road of great national rejuvenation, we cannot stop for a moment...
11
They reneged on their word.
Yes, based on all the experience of the imperialist powers with China – they have once again reneged on their word.
On August 14, 1917, the Beiyang government authorities of the Republic of China issued the "Great Presidential Proclamation" due to Germany's inhumane submarine warfare, formally abolishing all consular jurisdiction of the "Allied Group" in China, confiscating its property, abrogating the treaty, and declaring war on it.
Chinese labor force arriving in Europe Image source: Sohu
Prior to this, the contracts signed between Huagong and the "Entente Group" were all civil contracts.
This was so because china, which was weak at the time, had to play the role of a "neutral country" between the warring sides, at least nominally. After the "Eight-Power Alliance" invaded China, the forces deployed in China by Germany and austria-Hungary seemed to have taken root, and the muzzle of the gun still pointed directly at the throat of the Chinese nation when they garrisoned troops in China. The consequences of any rash move will be immeasurable.
The so-called civil contract is a contract signed between the relevant parties of the "Entente Group" and the Chinese workers under the banner of private enterprises and commercial activities. On the surface, such cooperation exists only in the civilian community and has nothing to do with war. Because at that time, weak China was helpless, and if she wanted to play a fair role in the post-war international order, she had to go to war, but directly participating in the war would inevitably put herself in the middle of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
In fact, even on the side of the Allies, China's idea of entering the war was not recognized. The Japanese, who have coveted this land for a long time, naturally do not want to watch the country it dreams of swallowing, at the moment of the reorganization of the international order, transform into a "victorious power" that enjoys many equal and all treatment, and as Britain and France, on the one hand, they are threatened and pressured from Japan, on the other hand, they really do not want the privileges and interests they enjoy in China to be subverted after the war - China in the cracks, walking so hard and so slowly. The signing of civil contracts, in essence, naturally also incorporates the will of the Entente group.
However, since it is a civil contract, after negotiations with the Beiyang government, britain and France have made their own conditions on the personal rights and interests of Chinese workers.
The French side stipulates that during the five-year contract period of non-technical Chinese workers, they will only be dispatched to engage in defense construction and will not be allowed to participate in any military activities. Chinese workers enjoy the same legal protection as The French, the same holidays as French workers, and one day off for Chinese workers on China's National Day. In the event of illness or accident, the employer will also provide them with the necessary medical treatment and medication until they recover. The Chinese workers who were repatriated to China were also responsible for their related matters by the French military.
The United Kingdom is somewhat lower than the French side in terms of salary and remuneration. At the same time, the contract signed by the British at the time of recruitment is three years instead of five years, and after one year of employment in China, the employer can terminate the contract with the British military authorities as long as the British military authorities give six months' notice. It is puzzling that this powerful empire, which once colonized the world, showed unusual miserliness in such a small contract. In a British government report on the recruitment of Chinese workers, there is even such a description that has no stomach:
"From our standpoint, this (this contract) is the most satisfactory. It not only gives us the right to use them (Chinese workers) for a long time, but it also gives us the right to dismiss them in a relatively short period of time. In addition, their senior diplomats in China did not forget to taunt: "The recruitment agreement between France and the Chinese government makes them pay more than we do, and they are subject to more conditions." ”
For a people with many disasters and difficulties, Chinese have long been accustomed to the taste of suffering that cannot be said. They were accustomed to the oppression of the great powers, familiar with the ferocity of the colonizers, and for such a contract, they could grit their teeth for the improvement of the lives of their relatives in their homeland. They can work hard in any kind of difficult, humiliating condition, with the best vision, facing the harshest reality – as long as there is hope for the future, they will not be angry.
Chinese workers working in France Image source: Weihai Municipal Archives Bureau
Critics often demean such a nation and such a characteristic as "servile", but from another point of view, behind this kind of national tolerance, there is an energy that has not been cut off for five thousand years. Chinese is by no means without temper, let alone without character, they will silently remember all those injustices to themselves, their oppression, and their own insults, and they will also silently remember those figures that are worthy of gratitude.
However, this point is difficult to understand for western societies with many great powers.
On August 14, 1917, the government of the Republic of China issued the "Great Presidential Proclamation" because the German authorities brazenly launched an inhumane "submarine war", officially deciding to declare war on the initiator of the First World War, the "Allies".
Prior to this, all the contracts signed between Huagong and the "Entente Group" were civil contracts.
Since it is a civil contract, whether it is a relatively loose French side or a strict British side- no matter how shrewd they are, what kind of calculation they play, and what kind of way they intend to squeeze these poor laborers, they have all given their own clear and unambiguous commitments on the article that "Chinese workers shall not participate in the war".
The difference is that when the Chinese workers stepped on the huge steel ship and walked into the narrow cabin, the relatively humane French side basically complied with its promise.
And the "first industrial power", the "noble" British Empire, which had conquered and colonized the world, left the promise it gave far behind.
When the cruise ship full of Chinese workers was sent to the main battlefield in France through Japan, to Canada, through Britain, and finally to the main battlefield in France, the British officers in charge of managing this batch of Chinese workers did not pay attention to the work attributes of their contracts. Without knowing anything, in the unprecedented bombardment in human history, these strong young men from China were involuntarily pushed to the front line.
- They reneged on their word.
The arrogant British Empire, in the face of this weak China, once again broke its promise unsurprisingly.
The so-called Western "spirit of contract", the so-called "gentlemanly demeanor" of Europeans, at this moment, once again turned into an ugly, written into a joke.
As for their demand to send themselves to the front, the Chinese workers did not object - since modern times, in the face of oppression, Chinese have always been like this, gritting their teeth and silently enduring. Some people say that such patience is due to their "servility." But these people obviously ignore that in this silent patience, this nation with a history of five thousand years is using its own blood and tears, in the bottom of its heart, firmly recording the names of all those oppressors...
To be continued... ...
This article was first published by the Chahar Society with the authorization of the author and may not be reproduced without permission.