101 Things You Didn't Know about World War I by Erik Sass

Author:Erik Sass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Adams Media

51

140,000 Chinese Laborers Worked on the Western Front

During the Great War ordinary people around the world suddenly found themselves swept up in the maelstrom, including countless civilians who performed backbreaking manual labor as part of work battalions.

Among the millions who found themselves suddenly transported to a strange land was the Chinese Labour Corps, consisting of around 100,000 Chinese workers recruited by the British Army to perform manual labor on the Western Front, along with another 40,000 Chinese workers recruited by the French.

The British recruited the first contingent of Chinese laborers to deal with a looming manpower shortage in May 1916. Pay was relatively generous, with a signing bonus of 20 yuan and a salary of 10 yuan a month, and most of the recruits were peasants, accustomed to physically taxing work including unloading cargo ships, digging trenches and graves, and building roads. More skilled laborers were employed as mechanics and craftsmen. Overall, around 10,000 Chinese workers died during the war from wounds, accidents, and disease—especially the flu.

The Chinese made up about half the total foreign labor force in France and the Middle East, which also included 100,000 Egyptians, 21,000 Indians, and 20,000 black South Africans. After the war, almost all were repatriated.

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