Life after the Opium War

Chinese laborers in Guangzhou after the Opium War

Since the Ming Dynasty, people from China’s coastal areas have been working in groups on merchant ships to Southeast Asia. However, it was only after the 18th century that indentured Chinese laborers (commonly referred to as "pigs") were lured out of the country as targets of trafficking. In the 1840s and 1950s, in the name of opening commercial ports, Western powers expanded their activities of plundering "pig piglets" Chinese workers from Macau to Hong Kong, Shantou, Guangzhou and other places. In 1857, the British and French forces launched the Second Opium War. During the four-year occupation of Guangzhou, a large number of Chinese workers were plundered, kidnapped, and sold overseas. ?

As we all know, Guangzhou became one of the five treaty ports in July 1848. Since 1849, groups of people have been trafficked to South and North America, Australia and other places. The docking place for foreign ships in Cheung Chau, Whampoa, became an important base for plundering people (i.e. overseas Chinese workers). ?

From 1857 to 1861, the British and French forces invaded and occupied Guangzhou, burned, killed, looted, and trafficked Chinese laborers abroad without restraint, "destroying thousands of homes day and night." There were open robberies and kidnappings, and "tens of thousands of men and women were abducted." "The gangsters used secret tricks to lure them at first, and then used force to rob them when they got close. In the area near the provincial capital, villagers had their feet bound." Even foreign recruiters or employees "did not dare to come within a quarter mile of Whampoa." At that time, "piglets" dealers still had clippers in the area of ??Xiguandi New Street (i.e. Haoguan Street) in Guangzhou. They plundered "piglets" very rampantly and transported the plundered "piglets" to Huangpu or Macau at any time. According to historical records, the "Piggy House" had not yet been established at that time, and the abducted "piglets" were kept on barges; there were often six or seven foreign barges and forty or fifty small boats in Huangpu, lined up on the shore. open. The brokers who traffic in "piglets" are mostly Americans, French, Portuguese and Spanish. The abducted "piglets" were first tortured and tortured on small boats, which constantly aroused the dissatisfaction and resistance of the people of Guangzhou. Leaflets opposing the plundering and selling of "piglets" continued to appear, and there were also woodblock leaflets for anyone to Copied and distributed, ① can be seen everywhere. 29 business groups in Guangzhou jointly submitted a complaint, denouncing the abduction of "piglets" Chinese workers. In addition, in early April 1859, many "kidnappers" were killed by the masses in just ten days. ?

On August 12 of this year, when the Portuguese ship "Louisa" was transporting "piglets" from Whampoa to Macau, the "coolie" Chinese workers rose up and cut off all the sails and rigging on the ship. fell and escaped from the ship. ②?

"Piggy" dealers use various deceptive methods in Guangzhou to force overseas Chinese workers to be deceived. Among them, the poisonous tortures inflicted on the "pigboys" in the Chinese labor camp were extremely cruel. Some were soaked in cold water, had their fingers smashed, were stomped on with bamboo poles, burned with incense, and were placed in a feces cell and tied with their thumbs. The hanger. For example, Wei Xin from Zengcheng said: "A few unknown people (referring to 'Pig Head') bought my chickens and asked me to go to Huangpu to get the money. I didn't expect that they would dare to tie me up." He Arong of Panyu said: "Someone bought me a few loads of goods and asked him to go to the ship to get the money. As soon as he got off the ship, he was tied up, his mouth was blocked with pieces of firewood, and he was taken to Changzhou and beaten with sticks to force him to go abroad." By 1859 In November of that year, Britain was the first to set up a "labor recruitment office" in Guandelongli, Guangzhou, followed by France and Spain. This was an open recruitment of workers in Guangzhou by Britain and France without the consent of the Qing court. In fact, it was not until the Treaty of Beijing in October 1860 that the recruitment of workers in China by Britain and France was recognized by the Qing government. West India Commissioner Austin recruited workers in Guangzhou. Each "coolie" Chinese worker only spent 62 yuan, and the freight was 55 yuan, totaling 117 yuan. ③At that time, the market price of "coolie" in Peru and Cuba was 400 yuan per "piggy". Due to the provisions of the legalization charter, countries without a treaty were not allowed to recruit workers, leaving Britain and France, which had a treaty, in a monopoly position. In 1862, Mao Hongbin, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, mentioned in his memorial that the British and French recruited servants, and "foolish people were coerced and lured, and there were often hundreds of them." "Whereabouts", some even used "medicine cakes and all evil arts" to abduct women and children, and planned to "deceive and kill anyone who sells them"④. According to historical records, from the fifth to eighth year of Tongzhi (1866-1869), Guangdong Province executed 56 "pig pig heads".

The vast majority of these 56 kidnappers are from Guangzhou and its surrounding areas. It is estimated that starting from the beginning of the 19th century, the number of Chinese workers going abroad gradually increased, reaching a climax in the 1850s, and not ending until the 1930s. ⑤ These 200 years were the stage when capitalism was highly developed and transitioned to imperialism. Its domestic economic development urgently needed a large number of cheap labor. Therefore, the Western powers stepped up their aggression and expansion to the East, madly plundered overseas colonies, and brutally enslaved the people of weak countries. This was also the historical period when China's feudal society slowly disintegrated and was on the verge of collapse. Both China and Western countries are in a period of great transition. ?

From the early 19th century to the 1930s, “about 10 million Chinese workers went abroad for more than 200 years”⑥. The "pig piglet" trade and the "coolie" trade are both products of the indentured Chinese labor system that has developed to a certain social and historical stage. According to the historical data of Chinese laborers going abroad, there are roughly four situations:?

First, "piglets" trafficking. The number of Chinese who arrived in the Penang Straits Settlements from 1881 to 1930 totaled approximately 8.3 million. ⑦Among them, 70 are "piglets". ⑧In the past 50 years, nearly 6 million Chinese workers have been transported to Japan, with an average of more than 100,000 being removed every year. The "pig piglet" trafficking in Southeast Asia became a model for later plundering and transporting indentured Chinese laborers from China in the Americas and other colonies. ?

Second, the "coolie" trade. In 1855, five "piggy" houses were established in Macau. From 1847 to 1874, 143,000 and 120,000 Chinese laborers were plundered from Cuba and Peru respectively, most of which were shipped from Macau. ⑨ Hong Kong is even more of a base camp for "coolie" plunder and trafficking. Foreign ships transporting "coolies" to China have all built mezzanine steerage cabins in Hong Kong to accommodate as many "coolies" as possible, and also installed hatch gates. In 1904, the chief prosecutor of Hong Kong said in the verdict: "In fact, the kidnapping of ignorant Chinese people has long been popular in Hong Kong. That house (i.e. the 'Piggy' House) is the Bissell Building of the Hong Kong Public Works Bureau. (Bissell) designed it. It was completely a prison." "Impersonation (referring to pretending to be a coolie, claiming to be voluntary at one's own expense, and making the real 'coolie' go overseas) was even more common." 10. Before 1860, coolie transportation was a British shipyard. The monopoly will later be replaced by the American Clippers. The cost of the coolie ship sailing from Hong Kong and Macau to the United States is less than 5 yuan per person, and the ticket price is 55 yuan. ⑾The profit is as high as ten times. Due to the huge profits from the coolie trade, the "coolie" trade was extremely rampant for 30 years from 1845 to 1874. ?

Third, credit is "coolie". The "coolie" Chinese workers who were plundered from Hong Kong to the United States, Australia and Canada were described by the British and American authorities as credit workers (i.e., "free immigrants" who voluntarily paid for themselves). In fact, the deception, abduction, imprisonment and trafficking of "piglets" for credit workers who go abroad from Hong Kong are "little compared to big witches", and they are all lured from counties near Guangzhou. Until 1906, there were 23 "piggy" houses in Hong Kong where "coolies" were imprisoned. In essence, both "coolie" slaves and "immigrants on credit" were indentured slaves, and there was no difference between them. ?

Fourth, “legal recruitment”. After the Opium War, the British colonists took the lead in illegally plundering Chinese workers, and at the same time tried their best to legalize this illegal plundering in order to monopolize China's cheap labor resources and exclude competition from other countries. In the 1860s, Western countries such as Britain, France, and Spain forcibly signed contracts with the Qing government. This so-called "legal recruitment" actually legalized the robbery of Chinese workers. Kidnappers "trafficking people for profit, this trend cannot be stopped"⑿. ?

Precisely because the essence and circumstances of robbing coolies and selling "piglets" were concentrated after the Opium War, Chinese coolie workers have the following characteristics: recruitment through abduction or kidnapping; The contracts were hidden and sold in the form of commodities; Chinese workers went abroad to live a life of slavery that was inferior to that of cattle and horses. In short, Chinese people going abroad have the distinct characteristics of "abduction, betrayal, and slavery". This is not only a historical witness of Western powers' invasion of China, but also a dirty system of bloody extraction and massacre. The essence is "China's hidden coolie slavery"⒀.

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To sum up, the historical inspiration given to us by overseas Chinese workers going abroad after the Opium War is: without true political independence and economic independence, it is impossible to achieve national prosperity and national prosperity; it should be noted that , the necessity of changing the old world economic order, and the importance of establishing a new international economic order; we should also see the seriousness and sacredness of defending national sovereignty and national dignity, and revitalizing China.