JOURNEY TO THE WEST

Text by George McKibbens Translation by Emma Photos provided by Overseas Chinese Museum

JOURNEY TO THE WEST

Text by George McKibbens Translation by Emma Photos provided by Overseas Chinese Museum

圖片由廣東華僑博物館提供

Chinese workers arriving at the Canadian port city Victoria.乘搭“加勒比號”抵達加拿大港口城市維多利亞的華工。

Film star and martial artist Bruce Lee.李小龍劇照。

Chinese Douglas Jung during elections for a new MP.加拿大華人鄭天華參加國會議員選舉。

American railway laborers from China.早期美國鐵路華工。

One of Guangzhou's many hidden gems museums is the Overseas Chinese Museum located on Ersha Island, adjacent to the Xinghai Music Hall and The Guangzhou Museum of Art. The first floor shows a map displaying all the far-flung parts of the world where Cantonese people have settled since the mid-19th century. Between 1840-1850 the combined conflicts of the Taiping Rebellion and Opium Wars created a level chaos and uncertainty - anywhere in the world seemed to offer a better life.

The museum shows photos and statues of railworkers in the United States and Canada, miners in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, Malaysia and Indonesia, migrant farmers across South America and the Caribbean. These emigrants were often forced to live on the fringe of the societies they helped develop. From mining to building railroads and working the land the Cantonese diaspora were exploited for their talents.

The Cantonese experience is almost an inverse to Chinese identity, the word China, translated as‘Middle Kingdom', is a feudal term which places China at the center leaving the majority of the planet with ambiguity and otherness. The opposite could be said about Cantonese identity - people with a global footprint. The Cantonese people have built hybrid communities on every continent.

Many of the streets and iconic restaurants in New York's oldest Chinatown are frozen in time, with their original décor. The same can be said for Chinatowns in Vancouver, Melbourne, San Francisco, Chicago and many others. Street signs written in traditional Chinese in front of family-owned businesses suggest hometowns of Chaoshan and Taishan. Apart from photographs, iconic old fashioned boat, telephone and gramophone, among others, are featured in the Overseas Chinese Museum.

These Cantonese emigrants sacrifi ced everything to start a new life abroad and send money back to their hometown. The communities sent volunteer soldiers back to China to fi ght during the World War II, and send capital investment in the reform years of the 1980s.

For young people, visiting the Overseas Chinese museum is like going back in time. When travelling the world is so easy today, it's a good experience to learn the stories of the pioneers who braved to see the wide world 100 years ago.

GEORGE MCKlBBENS

American. Lecturer of History in South China Normal University, History Teacher in Zhixin High School, Broadcaster & Co-Creator of Lingnan Voices, Radio Guangdong.

美國人，華南師范大學歷史系外教、執信中學歷史教師、廣東人民廣播電臺“嶺南之聲”英文主播。

海上求生路

位于廣州二沙島的廣東華僑博物館，平日少有游客，入內卻發現，這安靜的處所竟記錄了一段氣勢磅礴的海外華人奮斗史。

館內有張地圖，標明了19世紀中期以來廣東人曾定居過的海外之地，范圍之廣令人唏噓。“中國”，意為居于天下正中的國家。而與這種大國思想相映成趣的是，務實的廣東人將自己的足跡踏遍海外：他們在外團結一心，克服惡劣條件，頑強地生存下來。館內展示的照片和塑像中，有海外的鐵路工人、礦工和各種手藝人。他們背井離鄉，為當地社會貢獻才能，卻飽受剝削和壓榨。

當時的華僑在海外白手起家后，將血汗錢寄回家鄉，幫助振興中國經濟。二戰期間，華僑團體派志愿軍回國支援；改革開放后，他們又慷慨回國投資。

在旅行變得易如反掌的今日，年輕人不妨走進博物館，一睹百年前的先人如何在遙遠的異鄉艱苦奮斗、落地生根。