| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
An early battle in the war to gain greater equality for China on the international stage emerged in an unexpected place: Aboard ships around the world sailing for the Allied Merchant Marine. During the Second World War, at least twenty thousand Chinese seamen worked on mostly British ships. Chinese worked long hours, received lower wages than white sailors engaged in the same work, were never given the war risk bonus offered to keep other members of the crew on duty during periods of high risk, and were routinely denied shore leave at U.S. ports on the grounds that they posed a flight risk. In response, Chinese seamen deserted in uniquely high rates, en masse instead of one individual at a time. The nature and scope of the desertions threatened the success of the supply operation, leading the governments involved to come together to try to prevent them.This article explores the multilateral negotiations that endured as long as the war itself. These centered upon three of the most basic inequalities endured by Chinese sailors-unequal pay, lack of war risk bonuses, and lack of shore leave. Using government records from all three parties (the United States, Great Britain, and the Republic of China) as well as press and collections from private organizations, I demonstrate the ways in which racial inequalities ingrained in the international system hindered advances for the Chinese seamen, challenged the smooth management of both Anglo-Chinese and Chinese-American relations, and sparked conflict between the Nationalist Chinese government and the seamen themselves. The legacies of British colonialism in Asia and American exclusion of Chinese combined with wartime public opinion to push forward changes when international union efforts failed.
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