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 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 continue to be serialized on various platforms such as the "Chahar Society" WeChat public account.
1
From any point of view, the "First World War" in human history seems to have nothing to do with China, which is located in the far east. This war broke out in Europe in 1914 AD, and before that, the Republic of China, which had just been established Chinese the feudal rule of the Manchu Qing government, was like a baby in its infancy—struggling to survive in the cracks between the remaining internal contradictions and the joint weaving of foreign colonizers, and its small energy and weak physique were well known to the world, and there was really no bottom, and there was no connection with the cruel war between the European powers.
In addition, in terms of emotion, the warring sides of the First World War, on the one hand, the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which were called the "Allied Group", on the other hand, the three countries of Britain, France and Russia, which were called the "Allied Group", and italy, which oscillated left and right, and later the United States, which entered the war- and opened the modern history of China full of blood and tears and shame, you will find all their names in the eyes of burning and looting, the corpses in the wilderness, and the oppressive and murderous past.
In 1840, the Opium War, initiated by the British, opened the door to shame for Chinese. In 1860, after a frenzied raid, the Anglo-French coalition army burned the famous "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens" - the Yuanmingyuan, and the fire burned for three days and three nights, and 1.5 million large and small cultural relics were damaged or lost, even today, more than 100 years later, these cultural relics are still often found in the European cultural relics trading market - but this is only the tip of the iceberg of imperialist aggression against China. In the long years that followed, the Western powers flocked to the scene, imitating the "guides", persecuting fragile China with foreign guns and cannons, signing countless unequal treaties with them, ceding countless lands and compensating countless pieces of silver. By 1900, the cold ravages on the Chinese nation had reached an unprecedented height. The "Eight-Power Alliance" group formed by them appeared collectively on Chinese soil. They burned and looted, did nothing wrong, and wherever they passed, corpses were strewn all over the field, wailing everywhere, and they regarded themselves as "superiors" and Chinese as "inferiors", and even if they carried out a bloody massacre, they would never feel the slightest sense of guilt for the creatures who died under the butcher's knife. The result of the war was the great victory of the invaders and the tears of the defenders. The Treaty of Xinugu, with which the Qing government was forced to sign, stipulated that the country, which had been devastated by the country, had to pay more reparations and sell more sovereignty to it.
Under the butcher's knife of the great powers, China has since degenerated into a "semi-colonial, semi-feudal society", and the Chinese nation has had to swallow its resentment into its stomach, swallow its anger, bow its head, and spend days and nights without self-respect.
Britain, France, the United States, Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, Tsarist Russia, austria-Hungary, and Japan in East Asia —together they formed the group called the "Eight-Power Alliance." Looking around— in this evil group, the First World War, which broke out in Europe in 1914, was listed by the names of both warring parties.
In the face of such a fierce group of jackals, Chinese have no need or obligation to provide any form of solidarity and help to any party. Similarly, in the face of the suffering Chinese, all these imperialist powers, whose hands are stained with blood, are in no way qualified to place themselves on the moral high ground.
Because the heinous crimes they have committed against the Chinese nation have long been exhausted.
However, the harsh reality is often contrary to the ideal. In the competition between the strong and the weak, the morality of the weak is often so pale and powerless. China, which survived in the shadow of imperialism and colonialism and got rid of the feudal shackles, still had to continuously deal with the encroachment from external forces. In Tianjin, in Hankou, in Shanghai, in Zhenjiang, in Jiujiang, in Guangzhou, in Xiamen, in Gulangyu Island, in Zhanjiang, in Shandong...
In 1928, the Shanghai Public Concession patrolled the house police officers
Image source: flickr
In all those natural harbors and fertile lands, the so-called "concessions" of the Western powers are still everywhere.
In 1898, the Germans occupied Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong. The weak Qing government did not dare to confront it, and was forced to sign another unequal treaty that humiliated the country, the Jiao'ao Concession Treaty, which stipulated that this important port would be "leased" to the other side for 99 years. Sixteen years later, while the Germans concentrated most of their energies on the conflagration of the First World War, in Asia another ambitious new imperialist power began its actions.
This country is Japan. For the vast land of China, it has long been coveted. On September 23, 1914, with the acquiescence and support of the British, the Japanese army suddenly landed in Shandong, and a fierce war broke out with the German troops stationed there. In November, the Germans were completely defeated. The "concession land" controlled by it was swallowed up by the ambitious Japanese. They unjustifiably expelled the Chinese police there and claimed that they were the natural substitutes for German rights in China.
In China at that time, the energy was small and the physique was weak, like a baby. In the cracks woven by internal contradictions and external colonizers, she struggled to survive. Whether morally, emotionally, or in terms of strength, she cannot and should not have anything to do with the unjust war that broke out between the imperialist powers of Europe.
However, in the face of this ever-changing international environment, in the face of the imminent reorganization of the world order, and in the face of the tigers of imperialist powers in all directions, this country, which has long been devastated and weathered, wants to regain the sovereignty and rights that should have belonged to it, and the Chinese nation, which is deeply trapped, has to choose a path that she is not willing to choose.
That's a desperate gamble – throw yourself into the flames of war.
And even the Beiyang government authorities of the Republic of China, which were later criticized, fully realized after some argument that only those who joined the war could appear on the post-war international arena as victors –in this way, it was possible to obtain a fair dialogue with all countries in the world.
2
In July 1917, members of the Chinese Labor Brigade in World War I and British soldiers worked in a wooden yard in Caestelle, France
Image source: Wiki
They are a history that has been overlooked.
They are a bunch of overlooked heroes.
In 1916, when the meat grinder-like First World War, with its characteristic smell of blood, entered its ruthless third year; just when France, with a total population of only 40 million but the main battlefield, the mortality rates of men aged 15-49 and men aged 13-30 showed a staggering 13.3% and 33.3%, respectively; just when the war of intransigence and flesh and blood caused the French officers below the rank of lieutenant to be unable to survive on the battlefield for even three months - Their yellow-skinned, stout figures suddenly appeared on the devastated Continent of Europe.
Sometimes armed with shovels and sometimes shouldering heavy burdens, they became a unique landscape in that cruel world. They are industrious, courageous, fearless, obedient to orders, and actively working in the harshest environments. They laid railroads, built bridges, carried supplies, dug trenches, and were called the most "top-notch all-rounders" by the Western media at the time. ”
They greatly alleviated the crisis of massive allied attrition. In the rain of bullets and bullets, in the rumble of artillery, in order to win the battle, they were willing to risk their lives and work and pay day and night. They are not overly greedy for returns. They only want to earn the salary they deserve, get the respect they deserve, and only want to help their family in their hometown to live a good life of food and drink for a few days. In that period of humiliation, they were accustomed to oppression, and in the face of hardships along the way, although they were occasionally dissatisfied, they often hid the grievances full of grievances and suppressed them in their chests.
They are a collection of humiliation and pride, and a community of weakness and strength.
They are the best workers, and they are the most magnificent husbands!
Laborers received recruitment in Weihaiwei
Image source: South China Morning Post
However, in the eyes of the foreign officer with the high nose and blue eyes, this best worker did not have his own name. The only logo the officers used to distinguish them was embedded in a hard copper hoop.
It was a long string of numbers.
When the stout workers were about to leave, they were asked to extend their wrists in a place called the "waiting place," and then the solemn-faced person in charge would rivet the brass hoop firmly on it with an iron nail the size of a button, and announce in an unquestioning tone that they would not be able to remove the obstructive thing with the assistance of the machine until the end of the contract. Until then, these stout lads will have to endure the inconvenience it causes, and they will have to walk through every unfathomable day and night with them as if they were their own.
Because the foreign officers with high noses and blue eyes never cared about their names. In the eyes of these officers, the string of figures embedded in the copper hoops was their only identity.
In 1916, just as the meat grinder-like First World War, with its characteristic smell of blood, entered its callous third year; just as the mass casualties caused the Entente group to panic in the face of the impending fatal crisis—in the harbor, at the docks, in the rear, in the battlefield, in every corner of this artillery fire, this string of numbers connected to each other—they were connected into a vast group, a long stretch that connected the past and the future.
It is also in the vast river of history, connected into a glorious but ignored name.
That is, "Chinese workers".
(To be continued...) ）
Li Yudong
(The author of this article authorized the Chahar Society to be published for the first time, and it may not be reproduced without permission)