All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French

From the Tsar’s Railway to the Red Army – The latest in the Penguin China World War One E-book series

Posted: July 22nd, 2014 | No Comments »

Mark O’Neill’s From the Tsar’s Railway to the Red Army is now available as part of the Penguin China World War One e-book series…Following his book on the Chinese “Coolie Corps” who worked on Europe’s WW1 battlefields, this short book follows those Chinese who worked in Russia and found themselves caught up in the Bolshevik Revolution…

From the tsars railway

It is a little known fact that during the First World War Russia received the majority of Chinese wartime labourers working overseas. Despite assurances that they would not be involved in the war, thousands of Chinese workers dug trenches and carried ammunition for troops on the Eastern Front under brutal conditions. Then, in 1917, life for the Chinese worsened with the Bolshevik Revolution’s arrival. Some of the workers signed up to fight for the Red Army and many were left stranded in Russia, unemployed and destitute. Their plight has been described as the most tragic episode in 400 years of Chinese emigration. The men had crossed the border into Russia with dreams of earning enough money to build a house or business for their family at home. None could have imagined the hell that awaited them.



Leave a Reply