The History Of Chinese Labour Corps In WWI:Discovery And Application Of Documentary Films

World War I has been a distant memory for more than a hundred years.Although the war mainly broke out in Europe,it has profound impact on the development of human society.Chinese workers were the main force of China's participation in World War I,who helped the Allied Powers win the “War of Civilization”.At the same time,the Russian government on the Eastern Front of World War I also recruited about 200,000 Chinese workers in World War I.In this war,a large number of Chinese workers represented China and made positive contributions to the victory of the Allied Powers.The academic community has yielded research results on the contribution and influence of Chinese workers in World War I,but the application of the video about the history of Chinese workers in World War I has not received due attention.And defects still exist in dissemination and publicity of the history of Chinese workers.This dissertation is based on relevant Chinese industrial documentaries and the video taken during World War I,combined with the theoretical research methods of history and media studies,expounds the advantages of documentaries in interpreting Chinese industrial history,and summarizes the historical narrative forms and historical social functions of documentaries,providing better reference and experience for interpreting history.The current dissertation has three main parts:The first part: Introduction.The introduction mainly points out the origin and significance of the research on Chinese workers,sort out the existing research on Chinese workers in domestic and foreign academic circles,summarize the documentary materials about Chinese workers filmed in various countries,and find the gap of research and discussion,and elaborate the research ideas,methods and structure.The second part is the main body of the thesis,which is divided into five chapters.The first chapter is the “Metahistorical” and the “historical truth” of documentary.This chapter uses historical documentaries to construct historical truth,the development process of historical documentaries,and the development of Chinese workers' documentaries in World War I,to explain why documentaries are applied to the study of Chinese workers' history in World War I.Historical documentary is a type of historical cognitive narrative,which includes both the effectiveness of objective historical facts,historical data,and the cognition of history,namely,the clarification of opinions.The concept of historical construction in metahistorical science means that documentary is an image narrative on a period of history.Different from the fictitious stories of novels,films and television series,that the author creates characters and events according to his own intentions,documentary films tell the real historical figures and historical events.The characters,events,time and place cannot be replaced or changed.Documnetary films tell the “historical truths”,which is the bottom line and the basic principle the documentary films must observe.The second chapter intoduces the life experience of Chinese workers in the documentary.This chapter combines historical perspectives and sociological methods to study the recruitment methods of Chinese wirkers in major countries(UK,France,and Russia),and the interaction between the Chinese workers,as one of the foreign groups,and local communities in World War I,including the management and supervision of the Chinese workers from the Allied powers in World War I,the response of the Chinese workers to the local policies.The chapter analyzes the situation of Chinese workers in World War I and the mutual understanding between Chinese workers and local society from a more microscopic perspective.The third chapter analyzes the interpretation of Chinese workers issues from the perspective of documentaries.This chapter uses the descriptions of the Chinese workers images in World War I in the documentary,combined with historical documents,through historical perspectives and media studies,to study the interaction between the Chinese workers,as one of the foreign groups,and the local society.It includes the attitudes of the Allied powers to the Chinese workers in World War I,especially their “labeling” of Chinese workers.The response of Chinese workers in World War I to the local authorities' policies is also introduced.These studies reflect the situation and position of China in the international society at that time and the multicultural attributes in the Chinese workers in World War I,which integrates both the traditional characteristics of the Orientals and the response to the impact of Western culture,providing novel perspectives and materials of overseas Chinese society in the early 20 th century.Chapter Four analyzes the changes of Chinese workers after their education and the national awakening.The education they received has brought essential changes to this special group.It has also played an indelible role in promoting social reforms when they later return to China,laying the foundation for the first batch of work-study students in China.The Chinese workers army of World War I became a carrier of cross-cultural communication.It was under their influence that France formulated a friendly immigration policy to China and favorable conditions were set up for future Chinese leaders such as Zhou Enlai,Deng Xiaoping,and Chen Yi to study in France.Although the Chinese workers in World War I were passively involved in the war between European powers,they objectively accepted a baptism of nationalism,democratic concepts and struggle of their class,and became the vanguard of cross-cultural communication.The Chinese workers in World War I have become an overseas testing ground for progressive ideas,in the context of the development of China's domestic production relations and the formation of class struggle,providing indirect experience for domestic ideological and revolutionary movements,and many of them have also become participants of the revolution.The fifth chapter discusses the value and function of Chinese workers documentaries.As a new type of historical interpretation,documentaries are not only history interpreters but also history recorders.As documentary producers,they transcribed document history into vivid historical images,providing audiences with a new form of reading history.They are the recorder of history and the disseminator of history.The historical narrative characteristics and historical social functions are introduced through anaylzing the example of historical interpretation of the documentaries.Analyzing the video narrative of the Chinese workers' documentaries of World War I,we find that it takes the restoration of historical authenticity and objectivity as the starting point and reinterprets Chinese workers' influence on World War I and China from the perspective of modern historians.At the same time,combining the witnesses of war,the Chinese wrokers documentaries use video taken during World War I to provide evidence for history,and provide audience with reliable mentality history content.The memoirs of Chinese workers and interviews with their descendants are used as research materials to bridge the gap between the history and the audience,which,as a result,arouse resonance.The third part is the conclusion of the current study.As one of the most influential forms of “memory consumption”,documentaries provide people with a new way of interpreting history.The Chinese workers documentaries serve as a media,trying to reorganize historical materials of images and construct historical narratives,giving people the impetus to remember war via media memory.At the same time,the Chinese workers documentaries also evoke the dusty memory of history,emphasizing the role of ordinary people in history,and achieving the communicating effect of enhancing national honor and national unity.