Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
Opinion
Home / Opinion / Featured Contributors

World War I Chinese laborers thanked

By Nigel Collett | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-09-03 09:45
Share
Share - WeChat
The Tribute, Arques-la-Bataille, 10 August 2018. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Over 3,000 Chinese laborers died during their service in France (many more died in Russia) and they are buried in cemeteries alongside British and French servicemen near where they died. Only in rare circumstances, such as the emergency of the last German offensive of 1918, did they find themselves having to take up arms, but many died from air attack and shell fire. Large numbers succumbed to tuberculosis and other diseases, especially to the outbreak of Spanish flu that swept Europe in the wake of World War I in 1919. At the end of their gruesome task of clearing up the battlefields, the 133,000 Chinese laborers who survived the war in the west were shipped home to China, each with the sum of money he had earned and with a bronze war medal. Those who worked for Russia, by then in the throws of revolution, were not so lucky, and there are no figures for how many came home from there.

|<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next   >>|
Most Viewed in 24 Hours
China Views
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US