History Main / ChineseLaborer

In the fiction of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century, the ChineseLaborer is often a sinister figure who fills the ranks of a [[NebulousEvilOrganization Secret Society]] and lusts for the pure white women that the hero must protect. About the time of WorldWarTwo, when China became the United States' ally, the depiction shifted, and the Chinese laborer tended to be shown as the victim of prejudice and needing the help of a white hero to save him from bigots. Modern depictions tend to be a bit more nuanced... we hope.

* One turns up in ''ForAFewDollarsMore'', who The Man With No Name orders to clear the Colonel's (the other bounty hunter) room out and to take his stuff out of town. The Colonel intercedes, and a back-and-forth ensues until the laborer freaks out, drops the baggage and bolts into the hotel.

* ''RedDeadRedemption'' has a few of these for western flavor, as well as a side mission to free a worker from his servitude.

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* Chinese miners have a significant role in StephenKing's novel, ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'': they accidentally discover the entryway to an another dimension, where the BigBad comes from.

* The hardships suffered by Chinese railway workers plays a major part in [[Series/{{Wallander}} Henning Mankell]]'s YellowPeril novel ''"The Man From Beijing"''.

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* This troper read a Dear America diary-novel from the POV of one of these characters.
** The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung?

* Chinese rail workers figure into the plot of ''TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'' as the ones who find the series' MacGuffin.

--->'''James H. Strobridge''', Central Pacific Railroad foreman, testifying before the US Congress in 1876

The California [[GoldFever Gold Rush]] of the mid-Nineteenth Century coincided with a time of dire economic conditions in China. So it was natural that when they got wind of the gold rush across the Pacific, thousands of young Chinese men migrated to the United States to mine the gold fields. Their industry and teamwork were at first admired and appreciated, but as viable gold strikes played out and fresh mines became scarce, the white majority resented the foreigners (who were forbidden by law from becoming citizens) and laws were passed in an attempt to force the Chinese out of the mining business.

However, a new economic opportunity opened up in the form of the Transcontinental Railroad. This project required many low-paid laborers for dangerous and arduous work; and the head of the Southern Pacific end of the Transcontinental project decided to hire the lean and hungry Chinese of California. They did such a good job that more Chinese labor gangs were hired directly from the homeland.

After the Transcontinental line was built, railroad construction continued to boom in the Western United States, and the now experienced Chinese eagerly took on these new jobs. The population of Chinese men in America swelled.

This very distinctive and poorly-assimilated minority stirred fears of a YellowPeril, and racist discrimination and attacks against the Chinese were common, culminating in the Chinese Exclusion Act of the late 1880s, which banned Chinese immigration entirely.

* ''BlazingSaddles''

* Miniature Chinese laborer figures come to life and attack Ben Stiller's character in a wild west diorama in ''{{Night at the Museum}}''.

* ''{{Death To Smoochy}}'' has Edward Norton's pacifist character explain, "When my brothers played CowboysAndIndians, I was always the Chinese railroad worker."
* While they don't have a presence in the story, in ''{{Film/Unforgiven}}'', we are informed that English Bob made a living out of killing them for the railroads.

* Chinese miners have a significant role in {{Stephen King}}'s novel, ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'': they accidentally discover the entryway to an another dimension, where the BigBad comes from.

* The hardships suffered by Chinese railway workers plays a major part in [[{{Series/Wallander}} Henning Mankell]]'s YellowPeril novel ''"The Man From Beijing"''.

** Mr. Wu is still a pretty nice guy compared to a competitor he gets later in the story, who brings in Chinese women by the wagonload to act as prostitutes, and keeps them drugged and starves them, since it's cheaper to get new ones than to feed them properly.

* ''{{Red Dead Redemption}}'' has a few of these for western flavor, as well as a side mission to free a worker from his servitude.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' episode "Showdown in the Old West" has Jackie's ancestor as one of these, likely referencing ''ShanghaiNoon''. The episode itself follows the plot of ''BlazingSaddles''.

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* Chinese miners have a significant role in {{Stephen King}}'s novel, ''{{Desperation}}'': they accidentally discover the entryway to an another dimension, where the BigBad comes from.

* While they don't have a presence in the story, in ''{{Unforgiven}}'', we are informed that English Bob made a living out of killing them for the railroads.

In the fiction of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century, the ChineseLaborer is often a sinister figure who fills the ranks of a [[NebulousEvilOrganization Secret Society]] and lusts for the pure white women that the hero must protect. About the time of WorldWarTwo, when China became the United States' ally, the depiction shifted, and the Chinese laborer tended to be shown as the victim of prejudice and needing the help of a white hero to save him from bigots. Modern depictions tend to be a bit more nuanced...we hope.

* Chinese laborers and work teams were not unknown in the more geographically close Australia either, and many of them participated in the Gold Rush and dealt with the usual amounts of racism.

* Lee Zen in the California Gold Rush musical ''PaintYourWagon'', who uses his native Cantonese.

-->''I advertised extensively for men, wanted several thousand, and was never able to get over 700 or 800 white men at one time. We increased finally to 10,000. A large number of men would go on to the work under those advertisements; but they were unsteady men, unreliable. Some of them would stay a few days, and some would not go to work at all. Some would stay until pay-day, get a little money, get drunk, and clear out. Finally, we resorted to Chinamen. I was very much prejudiced against Chinese labor. I did not believe we could make a success of it. I believe Chinese labor in this country on that kind of work never had been made a success until we put them on there; but we did make a success of them. We worked a great many of them, and built the road virtually with Chinamen.''

* In ''TheWildWildWest'', Chinese laborers showed up quite a bit (with TheWildWest as the show's setting and all), specifically in the episode "The Night the Dragon Screamed" in which Jim and Artemus have to solve the mystery of Chinese laborers disappearing as soon as they get to America.

* The ''JackieChanAdventures'' episode "Showdown in the Old West" has Jackie's ancestor as one of these, likely referencing ''ShanghaiNoon''. The episode itself follows the plot of ''BlazingSaddles''.

* Perhaps the one funny joke in ''{{Death To Smoochy}}'' has Edward Norton's pacifist character explain, "When my brothers played CowboysAndIndians, I was always the Chinese railroad worker."

The generic term for exported Asian laborers in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries was "coolie." This word was often used as a pejorative, and many people of Asian heritage find it offensive, so it should only be used in its historical context.

* Miniature Chinese laborer figures come to life attack Ben Stiller's character in a wild west diorama in ''{{Night at the Museum}}''.
* One turns up in ''ForAFewDollarsMore'', who The Man With No Name orders to clear the Colonel (the other bounty hunter's) room out and to take his stuff out of town. The Colonel intercedes, and a back-and-forth ensues until the laborer freaks out, drops the baggage and bolts into the hotel.

* A number of them are seen as incidental characters in ''The Adventures Of Bullwhip Griffin.''

* Chinese Railworkers figure into the plot of ''TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'' as the ones who find the series' MacGuffin.

* An episode of the RadioDrama ''HaveGunWillTravel'' had Paladin attempting to keep his friend/servant "Hey Boy" from taking bloody vengeance on a white railroad construction supervisor who'd killed one of his relatives. (As there were laws preventing Chinese from testifying against whites in criminal cases, it was nearly impossible to prosecute white-on-Chinese violence in the courts.)

* The video game ''ShadowWarrior'' features undead coolies as a type of enemy. They try to blow you up with dynamite, and sometimes come back a ghosts when they die.

* During WorldWarOne the British government recruited the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Labour_Corps Chinese Labour Corps]]. Though the men served under British officers, were subject to military discipline, and took casualties from enemy fire, they were not dignified with the status of soldiers, in the same way as normal military engineers. The French government too hired Chinese laborers in a similar manner. In total, something like ''140,000'' Chinese citizens served on the Western front, and are now almost totally forgotten.
* Chinese laborers and work teams were not unknown in the more geographically close Australia either, and many of them participated in the Gold Rush, and dealt with the usual amounts of racism.

* There's a scene in the Robert Altman film ''[[McCabeAndMrsMiller [=McCabe=] & Mrs. Miller]]'' where a mining company operative details an elaborate mineral extraction scheme involving Chinese laborers and lots of explosives. As you might imagine, the laborers weren't expected to survive.

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* British Columbia had a similar labour and immigration situation with regards to abusing the Chinese immigrant workers who helped build the Canadian Pacific Railroad.
* During WorldWarOne the British government recruited the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Labour_Corps Chinese Labour Corps]]. Though the men served under British officers, were subject to military discipline, and took casualties from enemy fire, they were not dignified with the status of soldiers, in the same way as normal military engineers. The French government too hired Chinese laborers in a similar manner. In total, something like ''140,000'' Chinese citizens served on the Western front, and are now almost totally forgotten.
* Chinese laborers and work teams were not unknown in the more geographically close Australia either, and many of them participated in the Gold Rush, and dealt with the usual amounts of racism.
* The controversial use of Chinese labour in South Africa during and after the Boer War helped bring down a British government when allegations of abuse came out.

* Chinese miners have a significant role in {{Stephen King}}'s novel, ''Desperation'': they accidentally discover the entryway to an another dimension, where the BigBad comes from.

* There is also the WorldWarOne Chinese Labour Corps, "coolies" hired by the British to do various labour tasks in France. The French government also hired Chinese laborers for the same purpose.

* There's a Laurence Yep series called ''Tales of the Golden Mountain'', after the Chinese nickname for California. It's a series that follows a Chinese-American family over a number of generations, and the protagonists of some of the earlier books were Chinese laborers working on the railroads.