{"id":78,"date":"2016-11-01T15:54:52","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T22:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/wwivictoriachinese\/?page_id=78"},"modified":"2016-12-07T11:50:24","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T19:50:24","slug":"chinese-labour-corps","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/wwivictoriachinese\/chinese-labour-corps\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Labour Corps"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chinese<\/a>

CLC forces stand at attention at William Head, 28 March 1918. Image C-09581 courtesy of the Royal BC Museum and Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Chinese Labour Corps (CLC)  was a largely unknown division formed under the British Army during the First World War. It was primarily made up of volunteer workers from China and Mongolia to serve in non-combatant roles from 1917 into the early 1920s.<\/p>\n

Recruits boarded ships in the Shandong province in eastern China and crossed the Pacific Ocean to the William Head Quarantine Station just outside Victoria. After a brief stay at the ramshackle “Coolie Camp” maintained by the station, the CLC boarded guarded trains headed for the east coast where they would continue their trip on to France.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Labour Corps presence in Canada was subject to the deep-seated racism harboured by the Canadian government and citizens, and today, it remains one of Canada’s best kept wartime secrets.<\/p>\n

Learn more about:<\/p>\n