Chinese labourers were contracted in large numbers over 140,000 of them by the French and British governments for war-related work on the Western front. This book examines how this came about; and it explores the experiences of the Chinese workers involved. It discusses the wider extent of the use of Chinese labour worldwide, and considers the attitude of the French and British governments. It outlines the kind of work the Chinese labourers were involved in, and portrays their lives and conditions in detail. It shows how Chinese labourers continued to be used in the aftermath of the war, and places this use of Chinese labourers in the wider context of globalisation in the period.
Introduction
1. Bartered 'Swine': Chinese Indentured Labour Before
World War One
2. The Origins of the Chinese Francophile 'Lobby' and the
Chinese Worker Presence in France
3. 'An Army of Labour': The French and
British Recruitment of Chinese Workers in World War One
4. Protest and
Self-Help: The Lives of Chinese Workers in World War One France
5.
Reconstruction in Northern France and Repatriation (1918-1922) Conclusion:
The 'Afterlife' of World War One Chinese Workers and Contemporary Discourses
of Chinese Overseas Labour
Paul Bailey is a Professor of History at the University of Durham, UK
