[Explanation] During the First World War from 1916 to 1918, about 140,000 Chinese laborers traveled across the oceans to the European battlefield, and engaged in digging trenches, repairing fortifications, building roads and bridges, rescuing the wounded, cleaning up battlefields and even minesweeping in the British, French and other Allied armies The arduous and arduous field logistics work, this group of scholars who study the history of the First World War are collectively referred to as "World War I Chinese Workers".
Of the 140,000 Chinese workers in the First World War, about 80,000 were from Shandong.
[Explanation] Recently, a reporter from China News Agency visited the Shandong Overseas Chinese Association to learn about the story behind the World War I Chinese Workers Historical Photo Exhibition.
[Concurrent] Liu Dengfeng, Deputy Director of Shandong Overseas Chinese Association (Shandong Overseas Chinese Museum)
On the battlefields of World War I (Chinese workers) were all engaged in heavy manual labor.
Our Shandong Huagongs are very strong. According to historical records, their average height is more than 1.80 meters.
This picture shows a Chinese worker carrying a heavy bag of oatmeal on his shoulders with one hand, which also shows the image of Shandong Dahan.
[Explanation] The Shandong Overseas Chinese Association collected the information of the Chinese workers in the First World War, visited the descendants of the Chinese workers, and held a photo exhibition of the historical materials of the Chinese workers in the First World War, displaying more than 100 relics of the Chinese workers and precious original images.
Liu Dengfeng introduced that the Chinese workers from Shandong are mostly young adults between the ages of 18 and 40. They are burly and physically strong, and they are mainly engaged in arduous and arduous logistical support work on the battlefield.
[Concurrent] Liu Dengfeng, Deputy Director of Shandong Overseas Chinese Association (Shandong Overseas Chinese Museum)
The Chinese workers in World War I were mainly divided into ordinary workers and skilled workers.
Ordinary workers are mainly engaged in some heavy physical labor, such as transporting military supplies, carrying weapons, building fortifications, digging trenches, and burying remains on the battlefield.
The main working places of craft workers are mostly in munitions factories, machine factories, aircraft factories, and tank factories.
For example, the photo behind me shows Chinese workers helping British officers transport artillery shells, and this one also shows Chinese workers loading artillery shells onto the train.
[Explanation] Niu Fangyu, associate professor of Shandong University Law School, is engaged in the research of "Chinese laborers and the First World War".
He pointed out that about 80,000 Shandong Chinese workers mainly came from Qingdao, Weihai, Yantai and other places. After the same strict screening as recruits, they started to board ships from Weihai, Qingdao and other wharves in 1917, and traveled across the oceans to France and the United Kingdom. and so on.
[Concurrent] Niu Fangyu, Associate Professor, Department of Administration, Shandong University (Weihai) Law School
In Weihai and Qingdao, those two places are the exported Chinese workers, and the number of them is clearly recorded and counted on board.
There are about 44,000 people who leave Weihai Port, and (about) 46,000 people who leave Qingdao Port. These 90,000 people are not all from Shandong, but at least most of them are from Shandong.
(So) it is estimated that there are 80,000 people in Shandong, and this data has a supporting basis.
[Explanation] Niu Fangyu believes that at that time, China, as a neutral country, chose to send laborers to Europe to participate in the war by "replacing soldiers with work", and the identity of Chinese workers in World War I needed to be defined.
[Concurrent] Niu Fangyu, Associate Professor, Department of Administration, Shandong University (Weihai) Law School
(Chinese workers in World War I) are not considered soldiers. At that time, the Beijing government reached an agreement with the British and French governments. At the request of France and the United Kingdom, contract workers were dispatched, which was called contract Chinese workers at that time.
[Explanation] After the end of the First World War, most of the Chinese workers were successively transferred back to China.
The letters, photos, diaries, etc. brought back by the returning Chinese workers deepened the people's understanding of the West.
According to Niu Fangyu, nearly 20,000 Chinese workers died in the war or their whereabouts are unknown, and about 3,000 Chinese workers stayed in France because they married French women or received new employment contracts, becoming the earliest Chinese overseas Chinese to migrate to Europe on a large scale.
[Concurrent] Niu Fangyu, Associate Professor, Department of Administration, Shandong University (Weihai) Law School
Domestic (scholars) have now fully realized the impact of the First World War and the departure of Chinese workers on the social process of (modern) China.
Then, after our Chinese workers went abroad, we saw Western science and technology on the one hand, and (at that time) the intellectuals who were driven abroad by the Chinese workers went abroad.
These series of actions have deepened their understanding of Western civilization, and some of them have begun to think about the future development direction of China, thus opening up a non-Westernized social development path.
Zhang Shun reported from Jinan, Shandong
Responsible editor: [Luo Pan]