RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j Table 6 Zheng Guanying's Investment in Modern Enterprises 29 Item Amount (taels) Place Union Steamship Navigation Co. ? Shanghai China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co. 1,200 Shanghai Yuehan Railway Co. ? Canton Renhe Insurance Co. Shanghai Cotton Mill A Paper Manufactory A Glass Work A Dairy Co. ? ? 50,000 ? ? Shanghai Shanghai ? ? Shanghai A Silk Filature ? ? Tongwen Book Co. 14,000 Shanghai Ma'an shan Coal Mines ? ? Jinzhou Coal Mines 100,000 ? Jilin Gold Mines Xuancheng Coal Mines Shandong Mines Pingchuan Gold Mines Mianning Gold Mines Jianping Gold Mines Chefoo Coal Mines Yongping Gold Mines ? ? several thousand 36 shares + 4,320 20 shares + several thousand ? several thousand ? Shanghai ? ? ? ? ? Pingxiang Coal Mines Hupei Nantaiwu Shan Coal Mines Fujian Chengping Silk several thousand ? Kaiping Canton Land 5,000 Canton Tianjin Kutang Land Reclamation 3,000 Tianjin A Nacre Co. ? ? A Reclamation Project in Malaya ? Malaya Tianjin Peihailou ? Tianjin A Gambling Co. 5,000 ? Total 232,520+? Sources: Wu Chang-chuan, Cheng Kuan-ying: A Case Study of Merchant Participation in the Self-strengthening Movement (1878-1884): Xia-Dongyuan, Zheng Guanying Zhuan. early development of modern Chinese enterprises. As shown in the case of Xu, Tang and Zheng, they not only provided funds to modern ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 199 # THE CHINESE LABOUR CORPS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR LABOURERS BURIED IN FRANCE DAN WATERS This 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).' By 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 Serving 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. One 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. Page 225 Page 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 35 On the British side, other nationalities were considered for recruitment for use in Labour Corps, including Egyptians (thought to be reliable), Indians (considered to be lazy and would be affected by the climate), Maltese (whom Kitchener thought bad workers), as well as conscientious objectors, but were deemed for various reasons to be unsuitable. There were Labour Corps serving in France from Egypt, Fiji, India, Malta, Mauritius, Seychelles, the British West Indies as well as a Native Labour Corps from South Africa. Following protracted negotiations between Beijing, the British Government and the War Office, the first contingent of 1078 coolies, under six officer candidates, one doctor and one regular Army captain, left Weihai Wei on 18th January 1917, three months after recruitment commenced. The (British Army) Labour Corps was formed in April 1917 from various ASC, RE and infantry labour units which had come into existence from the early days of the war to meet the need for unskilled labour in large numbers for handling stores, constructing rear lines of defence, making and repairing roads, etc. At the same time a Directorate of Labour was formed at GHQ, BEF, to take over the control, administration and allocation of all labour. Companies belonging to the Chinese or similar Labour Corps were included but not RE technical units. Chinese were recruited both directly and through the Wei-min and other recruiting companies while Chinese-speaking British personnel for officers were contacted directly through the British Legation in Peking. Later, advertisements were placed in newspapers throughout the British Empire seeking Chinese-speaking Europeans to enlist as officers and NCOs in the CLC. The Chinese, invariably from the “up-country” farming class, were mainly recruited from the provinces of Shandong and Zhili [Chihli in the former romanisation, and the metropolitan area covering much of present-day Hubei province]. They were considered physically strong and were used to adverse weather conditions. Others also came from the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui and even as far as Gansu. This was ascertained from the graves of those visited. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 152 emulate. The long term result was a higher standard of living in Japanese-occupied Manchuria than in China proper, leading to an increase of Chinese migrants from China proper. Many of the gentry and students had had contacts with Japan down the years and saw Japan as an alternative to life under the rapidly decaying Manchu Chinese dynasty in Peking. Sir Robert Hart, the IG of Chinese Maritime Customs, made an interesting comment when he referred to militarism having taken root in China following Japan's victory, particularly with the call on Chinese Princes and Nobles to send their sons and brothers to military schools. By October 1905 Hart wrote that the Commission for Army Reorganisation, established in 1903 under the stimulus of the impending Russo-Japanese War, hastened the modernisation of the Chinese Army. 'Chinese military manoeuvres were over. The new troops were pronounced an immense improvement on anything before seen in China - stout men, well paid and well-dressed, strict discipline willingly obeyed, arms in good condition, and officers who are really soldiers and not merely be-buttoned mandarins with fans in their hands instead of swords. Even Yuan (Shikai), the Viceroy, and Tich Liang, the military chief of the War Bureau, got out of their Chinese robes and put on gold-laced trousers and jackets, etc.' Japan's victory over Russia led to Kaiser Wilhelm repeating the warning against the 'Yellow Peril,' whilst Japanese perception of a 'White Peril' in Asia reflected their concern with European and American penetration of China. The Russo-Japanese War opened a new chapter in world history; however, Manchuria remained in Japanese hands until the end of World War II in 1945 when finally it reverted to China. Postscript A subject that might justify further research emanates from the inability of seasonal labour from Shandong province to cross over to Manchuria during the hostilities. This raises the question whether the Chinese labour shipped down to South Africa to work in the mines in the Transvaal in 1904 was a consequence and thus an act of desperation on the part of the labour force? (even though the initial decision to ================================================================================