Sunday, December 23, 2018

I Am Canada. BLOOD AND IRON- Building the Railway by Lee Teen-gwong,1882

I Am Canada: Blood and Iron- Building the railroad, a journal by Lee Heengwong, 1882 is an account of the Chinese workers while building the trans-Canada railway. Lee was about 16 years old when he came to Canada with his Ba to work with the Chinese company as a contract worker. His grandfather was a gambler and had a debt. He had lost his rice store in the southern part of china. So, he decided to come to the Gold mountain to make money. 
 However, it was not easy to make money working in the harsh weather and rough terrain ion the Canadian rockiest. His Ba was gambler, too. Whatever he made the money his Ba always took from him and would go to gamble. He used to make $1.00 per day. From his collection he had to pay for food, shoes and the ship ticket. Sometimes he had to pay back to the company when he was sick and could not work. But he was smart. He used to write letter for others and made extra little money. He used to go to fishing too.  
Besides, Lee describes the horrible situation of the Chinese workers in the mountains. He saw many accidents in front of him. Luckily nothing happened to him and his father. Many Chinese workers were dead due to the fall of the trees. Some of them are rolled over by the plank of the rocks. So many of them lost their arm, legs and live a miserable life.  
They had to work in the blistering heat as well a severe cold. Sometimes, they were tear apart by the forest animals like cougher and bear. There was no sanitation, no medical facility. Workers should pay for the medical fee if they go to Yale town in a Chinese hospital for the treatment.  
Once the Chinese worker’s tent was set in fire by the res beard men. They were beaten and three of them died and many of them were badly wounded. After this incident, Ba returned to China. Lee decided to work for the season to make enough money to pay off the grandfather's debt. He sent the journal with his father to china including his account thinking that his journal would be safe in China. Later the judge did not charge the red beard murderers. But the company fired more than three hundred Chinese workers. Many of them even had no enough money to buy the ship ticket. Lee was smarter than others so that he managed to pay the ship and came back to china. 

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