Chinese on the Western Front in WWI

Historians of the World Wars recognize the importance of the Asian nations, but not as participants in Europe.  In particular Europe during WWI is defined by trench warfare.  However, unknown to many the Chinese Labour Corps provided the manpower to dig the actual trenches for the allied side.  Even though China began the war neutral by 1917 they declared war on Germany (exactly 100 years ago) and solidified their alliance with Britain and France.

Chinese entertain British troops in France. Dragons ready for the Dragon fight. Photo: National Library of Scotland

The University of Oxford created a website called World War I Centenary with the focus on new directions in teaching the Great War.  The article Eastern Culture on the Western Front written by Dr. Matthew Leonard goes in depth on the role of the Chinese Labour Corps.

China's WWI is an amazing resource by The South China Morning Post.  Photos, artifacts, and news articles are included that give a global view of the Great War that the western world often ignores when writing history.

Smiling for the Camera - WJ Hawkings Collection, courtsey of John de Lucy

A Timeless Description

A Timeless Description: I feel robbed that I did not get the opportunity to ask my Great Uncle Burl what it was like to train in North Africa or share stories of being at the Duomo in Florence. I was a young teen when he passed, and he did not share the horrors he saw as part of the 316th Medical Battalion in the liberation of Italy. I post this on the 73rd Anniversary of the American liberation of Rome.

Then as an adult, I received the precious gift of his scrapbooks, which have given me a little insight. One particular annotation on the back of a photo caught my eye. Among images of young men in uniform going from the desert to mountains and snow, there was one of a destroyed building. On the back Uncle Burl wrote, “This was someone’s home at one time, I hope this never happens in the states.” I feel this description is timeless. No matter what is going on in the world humans make decisions on whether to take action or not, but we always hope the bad does not find its way to our homes and family. Burl was lucky and made it back to marry his love Phyllis, and be a second grandfather to me. 

International Women's Day

After the Women's Marches of the Winter of 2017, International Women's Day of March 8 with the theme Be Bold For Change seemed very appropriate.  Women around the world joined together in a united voice to advocate for change for half the world's population.  In the United States this year a movement to not work on March 8 and wear red was spearheaded as a Day Without Women to protest political and economic inequality.  These protests spread throughout the world with demonstrations on almost every continent. 

A demonstration in Seoul, South Korea, against gender inequality in the workplace. Credit Jean Chung/Getty Images

The fascinating element of early 2017 and united protests is that they replicate the original inspirational events that led to International Women's Day in the first place.  According to the United Nation's page on the History of the Day, 1909 saw the first National Women's Day in the U.S. organized by the Socialist Party of America as a garment worker's strike.  Then in 1911 Austria, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland organized more than a million to demand women's right to work and a political voice behind the leadership of Socialist International.  March 8 first took significance as part of the socialist revolution in Russian in 1917 when on this day women protested for bread and peace, which led to the fall of the Tsarists regime.  Then in 1975 the United Nation's officially recognized International Women's Day and set it for March 8th.