Although the Chinese laborers were nominally workers, they arrived in Europe in the form of troops. Within the Allied Powers, the Chinese laborers were called the "Chinese Labor Brigade", and they originally used military methods for militarized management.
These Chinese workers who came to Cyprus were all from the Zhili area in the north of the Republic of China. They were all between 18 and 25 years old. Good health was a basic requirement. They had undergone several months of physical conditioning before coming to Europe to adapt to Europe.
high-intensity work.
The height of these Chinese workers is generally over 1.70 meters, which can be considered tall in Europe today. However, their bodies are still relatively thin, and their arm circumference is generally more than two centimeters smaller than that of the Chinese in southern Africa.
The person responsible for managing these Chinese workers was a British man named Spike, who was an employee of the Nyasaland Human Resources Company. The Nyasaland Human Resources Company was responsible for organizing Chinese workers to work in Europe.
"You are really lucky to be assigned to Cyprus. Lord Nyasaland himself is Chinese. You have also seen that there are many Chinese faces in the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. In fact, they have just immigrated to southern Africa a few years ago, but look
"On the surface, there is not much difference between them and white people in Europe -" Spike's high opinion of the Chinese is actually not enough, but as a white man, Spike will not admit that the Chinese perform better than the white people.
The Chinese in southern Africa, especially the second generation Chinese who grew up in southern Africa, are more popular than whites.
Although white people are unwilling to admit it, under the same educational conditions, Chinese students often have better academic performance than white people. Many Chinese who have just arrived in southern Africa are extremely poor and live in extremely difficult circumstances. However, once they stabilize, they will perform surprisingly well.
They have adapted quickly to the environment in southern Africa. Farms run by Chinese are generally better than those run by whites. After their lives have gradually stabilized, many Chinese farmers, regardless of whether they can read or not, have to set up a study room at home and buy as much as possible.
Various books.
Although this is suspected of being arty, it expresses the yearning for culture and the worship of knowledge. The favorite entertainment activity of white farmers is hunting, and the favorite entertainment activity of Chinese farmers is playing chess. This in itself is two different things.
A different way of life.
In a short period of time, there is not much difference between hunting and playing chess. After a long time, the gap can be seen. Now even among young white girls, Chinese students who are gentler, more hygienic, and have better academic performance are obviously better than white students.
more popular.
Cypriot soldiers are another representative of another image of the Chinese people in southern Africa, which is courage and discipline.
It is an undisputed fact that the southern African army has fully proved the strength of southern Africa by virtue of its own record during the world war. This strength is not only sufficient material supply and strong industrial strength, but also the comprehensive quality level of the soldiers.
It is also one of the important conditions.
Objectively speaking, we must admit that before coming to Europe, soldiers in southern Africa, whether Chinese or white, had some inferiority complex when facing Europeans.
Now the inferiority complex has basically disappeared. After "Operation Victory Horn", the southern African army proved that it could still defeat the powerful German army without the cooperation of the British and French coalition forces.
The Battle of the Dardanelles strengthened the confidence of the southern African army. Although the Ottoman Empire was the "sick man of Europe", it was still an old imperialist country. A centipede was dead but not stiff, and a skinny camel was bigger than a horse.
As a result, in the Battle of the Dardanelles, the Ottoman Empire was completely defeated, the Fifth Army was completely annihilated, and the Second Army was almost crippled. The southern African army proved with its strength that they could become the dominant force on the battlefield.
The performance of Chinese soldiers in this process is obvious to all. The officers and soldiers of several outstanding Southern African Expeditionary Force units are mainly Chinese. The officers in the African Division are also mainly Chinese. Nearly 70% of the staff of the Cyprus Mediterranean Expeditionary Force Headquarters
The officers are all Chinese. For most Europeans, the "Sick Man of East Asia" only exists in outrageous legends. Chinese soldiers in southern Africa are their first contact with Chinese people.
"There are also many people from my hometown who immigrated to southern Africa——" Spike's deputy is Chang Shan from Hejian.
"Why didn't you go?" Spike was curious. Compared with southern Africa, I really had nothing to miss in my old Qing Dynasty.
"I——" Chang Shan's expression was complicated. He wanted to explain but didn't know where to start. In the end, he could only sigh. The world of adults is so helpless. When people leave their hometown, they are humble, and their parents are not far away. Children do not think their mothers are ugly.
, there are too many reasons not to immigrate.
Unlike the poor people who have nothing to live on, Chang Shan was one of the few foreign students sent by the Qing Dynasty ten years ago, and he was also a government-sponsored overseas student of the Qing Dynasty. In Hejian, Chang Shan's family was a well-known family, and it was not easy to leave with a big business.
Yes, some tenants of the Changshan family have immigrated to southern Africa.
However, there are many reasons for immigrating, and survival is the most legitimate reason. In the Far East, where people are struggling to make a living, the big family from Chang Shan has no time to take care of themselves. Chang Shan himself even had to "sell himself into slavery" to survive. In the traditional thinking of the Chinese, foreigners are
The work is similar to selling oneself into slavery. If it were not for the fact that the boss of Nyasaland Human Resources Company is Chinese, Chang Shan would not work for Nyasaland Human Resources Company even if he died of starvation.
People cannot be arrogant, but they cannot be without pride.
"Chang, I don't want to interfere with your lifestyle, but look at the dinners of these workers, look at the new clothes they just got, and look at their smiles from the bottom of their hearts. You should know their yearning for a better life.
Everyone has the freedom to pursue a better life, and so do you. Your brother seems to be working in the county magistrate’s book office, right? He is also a very outstanding young man—" Spike and Chang Shan were also having dinner,
Compared with other workers, Spike and Chang Shan's dinner was obviously more sumptuous. In addition to beef and fish, each of them also had a bottle of fruit wine from southern Africa.
National liquor includes but is not limited to wine. After the outbreak of the World War, the consumption of alcoholic beverages increased. The alcohol required by the front line every day was calculated in tonnage units, and the production of wine was obviously insufficient.
In addition to grapes, Southern Africa is also rich in many other fruits, so there are more and more varieties of fruit wine brewed from other fruits.
While the workers were eating, the soldiers serving as supervisors were also taking a rest. Most of them were of Chinese origin, and they spoke Chinese very proficiently. There was no language barrier with the workers, and they did not speak in a arrogant and condescending manner. They were still indifferent to everyone.
They smile before they speak, and they also show eight teeth when they smile. It is really hard to imagine that their performance on the battlefield will be as brave and invincible as the legend.
An officer wearing a medal of bravery on his chest was distributing cigarettes to the surrounding workers in a friendly manner. The wealth of southern Africa is fully reflected in these seemingly inconspicuous little things. Soldiers can get a cigarette every day, regardless of whether they smoke or not.
A pack of cigarettes is standard equipment, and officers are more fully supplied.
Many workers have never smoked cigarettes before, so they are reluctant to smoke cigarettes when they get them. They clamp them on their ears and prepare to enjoy them after meals.
The officer wearing the Medal of Valor was cheerful and unimpressed. A pack of cigarettes was quickly gone, and then he took out a pack of toffee and began to distribute them. Although each person had not much one, it would still become a part of the workers' memories.
"If you have the chance, you can go to the construction sites of Indians or Persians. Comparison can reflect the special care you receive as Chinese. Don't take all this for granted." Spike finished his dinner and was about to take a shower.
This is a standard procedure for workers. No matter how late or tired you are at the end of the work, you must take a shower before going to bed.
Chang Shan doesn’t even have to go to Indian or Persian construction sites to know how miserable the Indians and Persians are.
Don't think that the soldiers in charge of overseeing the work had smiles on their faces. These overseers were easy to fool. When the Chinese workers disembarked, there was a whole row of corpses hanging on the dock. They were all local Ottomans who had committed crimes or workers from other colonies.
The camp where the Chinese workers lived was next to the Ottoman camp. Here, the Chinese workers often had wine and meat for three meals a day. Even the wealthy landlords in the Qing Dynasty did not have such luxury. The Ottomans were much worse. They had nothing but potatoes for their three meals a day.
It's still potatoes. Sometimes we can't even eat enough potatoes, and the workers' work is harder than that of Chinese workers. Chinese workers work eight hours a day, while the Ottomans work 11 hours a day, without missing a minute.
Although the welfare in Southern Africa is good, people who have made mistakes are never lenient when punishing them, and the punishments are more severe than in other regions. Punishments similar to those in the Qing Dynasty, such as beating a board with a stick in public, are not used in Southern Africa.
You will go to jail, and even if you don't die, you will have to shed your skin.
After taking a bath, Chang Shan lay on the Datong bunk and tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Several other people in the room were very excited. They had already prepared to be piggies across the ocean, but unexpectedly they were treated as "masters".
With.
The masters of the Qing Dynasty did not have a lot of food and fish every day, and they had to work in the fields when the farming was busy.
"We are just low-class people who work as coolies, and we can eat and drink every day. Think about what kind of life the real southern Africans live, and we don't even eat enough bread and meat every day-"
"Someone from my hometown went to southern Africa. At first, they thought they would never come back. Unexpectedly, they suddenly got rich the year before last and took their wife and children away. I heard that the county boss sent them away when they left -
"
"Then why didn't you go?"
"I haven't seen this kind of thing with my own eyes, so who knows if it's true or not -"
"It's too late to go now. I heard that when I went to southern Africa before, the government directly divided houses and land——"
"And this is a good thing!"
"Then there's still a lie——"
These days, Chang Shan is really not the only one who can't sleep at night.
