Having tried to include as many countries of the war in my
commemorative exhibition project, I managed to find Bing Xin, a Chinese poet who is included
in Volume 1 of Female Poets of the First World War. I only recently became aware of the important
contribution of the Chinese to the Allied Cause in WW1 – when I read about
Canadian artist Mary Riter Hamilton who lived for three years from May 1919
among the Chinese Labour Corps workers who cleared away the debris after the
conflict.
The entry in my list of Female Poets of the First World War
(see weblog www.femalewarpoets.blogspot.co.uk)
:
CHINA
Initially neutral, sent a large contingent of men - Chinese
Labour Force - to help the Allies behind the lines. Declared war on Germany on 14th August
1917. Chinese Labour Force workers
cleared away the debris left by the war.
Bing XIN (1900 – 1999) - Chinese poet.
I understand that there is a special Cemetery on the Western
Front in France dedicated to the memory of the Chinese who died during that
time - http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/68500/NOYELLES-SUR-MER%20CHINESE%20CEMETERY
Mallinson says: “While the fighting in Africa and the Middle
East generally receives attention, the contributions of British and French
imperial troops, the war in China and the part played by the Chinese in Europe
are not. British troops skirmished with German
troops on the Chinese mainland and in 1917 Cjhina, like the United States of
America, declared war on the Central Powers.
An army of Chinese labourers the size of the original British
Expeditionary Force (some 140,000) on the Western Front maintained roads and
railways, dug reserve trenches and worked in French factories, 10,000 of them
dying in the process. Another 200,000
served in Russia, most of them caught up subsequently in the Revolution, of whose
individual fate little is known.”
“Betrayed Ally” by Frances Wood and Christopher Arnander is published by Pen & Sword, Barnsley
and is available via Amazon and the Pen & Sword website.
“The Times” Saturday, July 16 2016, page 85.
