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Canadian Steel, Chinese Grit

a Tribute to the Chinese Who Worked on Canada's Railroads More Than a Century Ago
Jul 21, 2019mammothhawk229e rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Somewhat taken aback at bilingual companion book to DVD in Chinese & English. American engineer recruited Chinese farmers & laborers to offset unexpected costs in building railroad in mountainous western Canada. Shocking he paid them lower than Caucasians even though they were doing the most dangerous jobs or they he reneged promise on bonus to send them home. Author mused the loneliness, hunger & discrimination the Chinese workers suffered in unfamiliar cold land & primitive working conditions from the old B&W photos More interesting was how many times different people tried to produce subject ,but got derailed by funding, the trials of actually filming it with long hours, irregular meals, riding "short" CPR train trip, trying to find old camps & graves to generosity from fellow Chinese-Canadians. Ditto the film premieres in Canadian cities & Beijing on hidden history documentary.