Remembering the Heroes: Locals in Folkestone commemorate Chinese Labour Corps

World
Europe

02:58

During the First World War, almost 100-thousand Chinese laborers were recruited by the British Army to provide logistical help. A vast majority passed through the southeastern town of Folkestone on their way to mainland Europe. And locals in that town have not forgotten their contributions. CGTN's Zhang He has the story.

It has been 100 years since the end of the First World War, and it is only now that the untold stories of the Chinese Labour Corps are being gradually unveiled. Six men are buried in Folkestone in southeast England. And it is likely that their descendants do not know of the existence of these graves.

ROGER WEST MAYOR OF FOLKESTONE "They lost their lives out there. I think we should recognize contribution the Chinese give to the First World War. It hasn't been recognized before. Now I think we need to honor them. It's something we should do every year."

In Folkestone, there is little evidence of the existence of the Chinese Labour Corps, due to their unimportant status. But now, people have been collecting whatever artefact, memory, or account they can find to piece together this forgotten story.

ZHANG HE FOLKESTONE, UK "In the museum, we found a very precious ID booklet of a Chinese Labour Corps. On it, we can see his photo. It was taken on 5th October, 1917. His knowledge of English - none. He used to be a carpenter. And also there are two of his finger prints."

A majority of these laborers passed through the town on the way into mainland Europe. Rare artefacts are showing that some 2,000 of them were actually held in a camp outside of the town to keep them away from the locals.

PETER BAMFORD LOCAL HISTORIAN "This is the diary of William Snook who was a guard down at the camp. And if we look at this entry for 25th of January, 1918. 14,000 Chinese leave for France, but 14,000 more arrive. So as you can see, there is constant movement of these laborers in and out of the camp."

The daily lives of these laborers were captured in photographs taken by John de Lucy's grandfather, who was involved in the recruitment of the Chinese laborers. Like most, he had no knowledge about this and their existence was never mentioned by the elder de Lucy at all.

JOHN DE LUCY RETIRED PROPERTY MANAGER "I heard about the cemetery here with six Chinese graves in Folkestone. At the same day, I found a box in a cupboard with 'Chinese Labour Corps' on the box. So I started investigating and found that I have fantastic collections of photographs taken by my grandfather in France of Chinese Labours."

Zhang He CGTN , Folkestone, UK.