[
    {
        "id": 213629,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1995",
        "page_number": 225,
        "title": "RAS-1995",
        "content_text": "199\n\n# THE CHINESE LABOUR CORPS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR LABOURERS BURIED IN FRANCE\n\nDAN WATERS\n\nThis article complements the piece by Keith Stevens (RAS Journal No. 29), about Chinese Labour Corps members buried in England during or just after the First World War (1914-18).'\n\nBy 1916 there was a shortage of manpower in Britain. Conscription was introduced into the armed services and more men were recruited from various parts of the British Empire. These included Chinese who actually mostly came from Shan Tung (Shandong), but some were recruited from Honan (Hunan) Province. Together with British missionary and sinologue officers, many labourers were shipped from Weihaiwei (now called Weihai). This was British Territory and served as a naval base from 1898 until the Union Flag was lowered in 1930.3\n\nServing under British military discipline, in the region of 100,000 Chinese were shipped to France to dig trenches and construct fortifications for the allies. About 2,000 died from illness, wounds, or injuries sustained during or just after the war. Some were blown up by mines as they cleared battlefields after hostilities had ceased. Others succumbed to the influenza epidemic that swept Europe in 1919. A handful were shot dead in a mutiny near Boulogne. Those that did not return to China lie far from their native soil, in such places as Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, Albert French National Cemetery, Arques-La-Bataille British Cemetery, Asco Communal Cemetery, and Ayette British Cemetery, in France. The largest and most decorative is the Noyelles-sur-Mer Cemetery, which has a portico built in Chinese style.\n\nOne September morning in 1995, my son, Barry, and I drove from Brussels to Foncquevillers, a village situated in the fertile, undulating French countryside between the Arras-Doullens and the Arras-Amiens roads. There are a total of 645 graves in this military cemetery, which is bounded by a brick wall and a hornbeam hedge. It is planted with catalpa and other trees. Many of the graves here are seldom or never visited by outsiders. In this well-cared-for tranquil spot, there are two graves of Chinese Labour Corps labourers, one of a French civilian.\n\nPage 225\nPage 226",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214456,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1998",
        "page_number": 314,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "281\n\nFIRST WORLD WAR LABOUR CORPS CEMETERIES IN FLANDERS\n\nBRIAN C. FAWCETT\n\nThis note follows on from that written by Dan Waters.\n\nThere are several cemeteries in Flanders in which members of the Chinese Labour Corps are buried, some containing as few as two or three graves; one of the largish is that of the Indian and Chinese British Cemetery at Ayette, which was a scene of fighting in 1918.\n\nWhilst on a battlefield tour in July, 1998, my wife and I were fortunate to make a very short visit to Ayette Cemetery. This is reached down an unmade dirt-track off the D919 about 16 kilometres south of Arras. It contains the graves of ten soldiers of the Indian Army, forty-two men of the Indian Labour Corps, one German prisoner, twenty-seven men of the British Chinese Labour Corps and six men of the French Chinese Labour Corps.\n\nInstead of the Cross of Sacrifice, there is a pagoda-shaped shelter at the back. A double flight of steps leads to the gravestones, those of the Chinese being on the left and those of the Indians on the right.\n\nUnfortunately during our fleeting visit I was unable to view all the gravestones but noted that, whereas the British Chinese Labour Corps gravestones were engraved with Chinese and English characters, giving the man's number and date of death, with a suitable inscription, those for the French Chinese Labour Corps had a small plate inserted therein giving the man's name, date of death and \"Mort pour La France.” The shape of the gravestones is also different, those for the French being more rounded at the top. I was unable to read the Chinese characters but for anyone interested details of each grave are recorded in the memorial registers which can be found in the cemeteries, or may be obtained, for a fee, from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.2\n\nAs with all Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries it was in immaculate condition, the grass being cut and the flowers",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214458,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1998",
        "page_number": 316,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "KIAO HAINER\n\nIndian and Chinese British Cemetery at Ayette\n\n283",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 215006,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-2000",
        "page_number": 102,
        "title": "RAS-2000",
        "content_text": "58\n\nit was there that he first had dealings with the Chinese whom he came to like and respect. He was elected to the Tsing Chung-hui tong [secret society], pledging to serve Sun Yat-sen, to overthrow the Manchu dynasty and liberate the Chinese people. He joined the Canadian infantry and in 1917 landed in England, later being sent to France. He was seconded to the CLC, though the opinion he gained of the Chinese with whom he served, of a lower class to those he met and had business dealings whilst in Canada, was not very high. He rejoined his own unit in March 1918, was wounded and returned to Canada in February 1919. Later he went to China where he joined Dr Sun Yat-sen and, after his death, his son, Sun Fo.\n\nHe obtained the nick-name \"Two Gun Cohen” after an aide of Dr Sun saw him draw both his guns after a fracas in Canton. Dr Sun first called Cohen 'Colonel', then by his surname and then by the nickname of 'Mah Kun by which houseboys and coolies called him, being the next they could get to \"Morris Cohen.”\n\nBut all this is another story!\n\nObservations and Places Visited\n\nReturning now to our Friend's reconnaissance expedition, the first stop was at the extensive Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun, where one member of the CLC, Yang Feng-yung, 91948, is buried: he died on 4 December 1918. A beautiful American boxwood tree, flowering when we were there, stands behind this lone grave.\n\nAyette Indian and Chinese Cemetery also holds graves of members of the French Chinese Labour Corps. Their members tended to come from southern China and their duties were similar to those of the British CLC. The French graves here are of a similar shape to the British but with only their romanised name and the inscription Mort pour La France [Died for France]. I have not carried out any research concerning the French and their recruitment of Chinese and other nationalities who assisted in their fight for freedom. The 34 British CLC gravestones conformed to the usual Commonwealth War Graves Commission shape with each bearing the service number and/or name in Chinese and romanisation, the date of death and details of their place of birth in Chinese. The inscriptions in English, a straight translation of the",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 215037,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-2000",
        "page_number": 133,
        "title": "RAS-2000",
        "content_text": "Abbeville Communal Extension, Somme\n\nAlbert French National, Somme Arques-La-Bataille British, Seine-Maritime Ascq Communal, Nord\n\nAuberchicourt British, Nord\n\n*\n\nAyette British, Pas de Calais\n\nAyette Indian and Chinese, Pas de Calais\n\nBagneux British, Gezaincourt, Somme Bailleul Communal Extension, Nord\n\n  \n    1\n    71\n  \n  \n    4\n    3\n  \n  \n    I\n    34\n  \n  \n    2\n    31\n  \n\nBeaulencourt British, Ligny-Thilloy, Pas de Calais 14 Bellicourt British, Aisne\n\nBlargies Communal Extension, Oise Bourlon Wood, Pas de Calais\n\nCaudry British, Nord\n\nCharmes Military, Essegney, Vosges\n\nChocques Military, Pas de Calais\n\n  \n    7\n    3\n  \n  \n    21\n    1\n  \n  \n    3\n    19\n  \n  \n    4\n    1\n  \n  \n    16\n  \n\nCroisilles British, Pas de Calais\n\nCross Roads, Nord\n\n  \n    2\n    2\n  \n\nDaours Communal Extension, Somme\n\nDernancourt Communal Extension, Somme\n\n  \n    6\n    3\n  \n\nDon Communal, Annoeullin, Nord\n\n  \n    2\n  \n\nDouai British, Cuincy, Nord\n\n  \n    3\n  \n\nDoullens Communal Extension No2, Somme\n\n  \n    1\n  \n\nDuisans British, Etrun, Pas de Calais\n\n  \n    2\n  \n\nEbblinghem Military, Nord\n\n  \n    1\n  \n\nEtaples Military, Pas de Calais\n\n  \n    1\n    4\n  \n\nFoncquevillers Military, Pas de Calais\n\n  \n    2\n  \n\nHazebrouck Communal, Nord\n\nFosse No 10 Communal Extension, Sains-en-Gohelle, Pas de Calais\n\nGezaincourt Communal Extension, Somme Haute-Avesnes British, Pas de Calais\n\nHuby-St Leu British, Pas de Calais Lapugnoy Military, Pas de Calais Le Fermont Military, Pas de Calais\n\n  \n    49\n  \n  \n    4\n  \n  \n    12\n  \n  \n    1\n  \n  \n    5\n  \n  \n    2\n  \n\nLe Portel Communal, Pas de Calais\n\n  \n    1\n  \n\nLe Quesnoy Communal Extension, Nord\n\n  \n    2\n  \n\nLes Baraques Military, Sangatte, Pas de Calais 197\n\n  \n    4\n  \n\nLes Rues-des-Vignes Communal, Nord\n\n  \n    1\n  \n\nLille Southern, Nord\n\n  \n    2\n    2\n  \n\n89",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n",
        "rank": 0
    }
]