Indentured on the Western Front: the Chinese Labour Corps and the British Coolie Trade

Author

Emily SandersFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2020

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

History

First Advisor

Peter Thilly

Second Advisor

Joshua H. Howard

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This thesis examines the recruitment, transport, and working conditions of the Chinese Labour Corps in World War I in comparison to the twentieth century British ‘coolie’ trade of Chinese indentured laborers on the basis of labor contracts, written testimonies, newspaper articles, books, photographs, and historical records. This thesis argues that the Chinese Labour Corps methods of recruiting, transport, and conditions of work were very similar to, if not the same as, the twentieth century British coolie trade. The Chinese Labour Corps can in many ways be said to be an extension of the preexisting British coolie trade, rather than an independent and novel use of Chinese labor by the British.

Recommended Citation

Sanders, Emily, "Indentured on the Western Front: the Chinese Labour Corps and the British Coolie Trade" (2020). Honors Theses. 1772.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1772

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.