Thread by @chowleen

The #WorldWar1 Armistice signing was enthusiastically celebrated in China, too - with street rallies, a military parade, and even a new commemorative gate. It might have been the "European War" 歐戰, but for many Chinese it held promise of redress for colonial invasion.
#WWI100

"The World Will Be Made Safe For Democracy"
"為世界造和平“ Creating Peace for the World
”世界大同“ Great Global Unity
are some of the signs held aloft in November 1918 in Beijing.
#WorldWar1 #WWI100 #Armistice

(A year later of course, students will be on the streets of Beijing again - protesting the concessions given to Japan after #WWI at the great expense of Chinese sovereignty.)

November 1919 Tiananmen student demonstration
From the Sidney Gamble collection at @DukeLibraries

There was also the untold story of 140,000 Chinese laborers in #WWI: doing perilous, backbreaking non-combatant work on the frontlines in Britian, France, Russia. Digging trenches, defusing bombs, cutting barbed wire, working in factories. Many did not return. #Armistice #WWI100

In recent years, there has been a revived interest in telling the stories of these 140,000 forgotten Chinese laborers of #WorldWar1. A nice piece in @SCMPNews, chronicling the efforts and controversies surrounding commemoration: scmp.com/magazines/post…
#WWI100 #Armistice

Just learned of this @yellowearthuk production, currently playing - #Forgotten遗忘- looks fantastic.
#ChineseLabourCorps #WWI100 #WWI

An image I like: Chinese labourer Song Xiufeng with Maurice, son of photographer René Matton, in Proven, Belgium, 1917.

[Photo from Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres] #WWI #ChineseLabourCorps