愿《沉默道钉的足迹》尽快出英文版 

受权发布袁清文    黄安年的博客/2015年12月4日发布

  （按：袁清先生，自幼随父亲袁同礼赴美定居,获哥伦比亚大学哲学博士学位，俄亥俄州州立莱特大学历史系终身教授。为《沉默的道钉--建设北美铁路的华工》[黄安年编著，五洲传播出版社，2006年版]的英文版进行了审定。感谢袁清教授Wed, 2 Dec 2015 20:17:31 -0500惠寄英文书评，感谢南开大学美国研究中心副教授张聚国博士进行翻译，袁清教授对译文作了回校，表示“翻得很好”。现在发布的是中英文稿。标题是笔者加上的。）

有成语 "一张图胜过千言万语”。在《沉默道钉的足迹----纪念华工建設美国铁路》 这本宏大的著作中，将近700张图片和照片生动地再现了这些劳工在铺设第一条横贯北美大陆铁路过程中征服自然的斗争史诗。 

这本书的重要性在哪里？

首先，直到最近，我们很少发现华工自己留下的回忆录、日记或书信等形式的书面档案。我们所发现的档案绝大部分都是西方的商人、记者或旅行者所留下来的。他们不可能体会到这些华工在险峻的地形里,开山劈路的痛苦经历: 冬季严寒的气候、少的可怜的工资以及人身安全所遭受的各种风险。然而，如果我们看一下唐纳山口(Donner Pass)的图片，这里冬季积雪深达10多米厚，隧道险峻，巉岩危立 ，(页54-61, 128-134) 我们不难想像华工置身于何种险境。

第二，这本书是黄安年教授之前出版的两本著作的高潮 ：《沉默的道钉: 建设北美铁路的华工》 (2006) 以及《道钉，不再沉默—建设北美铁路的华工》 (2010)。这两本书的研究都很透彻，但其中的图片 都是黑白的，不是像这本新书中的图片很多是彩色的。对于这本书，自由职业摄影人李炬先生作出了巨大的贡献。从2012年10月开始，他和他的妻子沿着中央太平洋铁路驱车考察，在随后的三年间，直到2015年5月， 他们还探索了这条铁路的其它部分 。他们采访了当地居民，访问了博物馆，还沿途在各区的历史协会进行调查研究，让我们读者轻易的, 贴近地体会150年前华工的经历 。

第三，这本新书的一个重大贡献是，将1865-1869年铁路建设时期华工的生活与他们1869年之后的生活联系起来。 由此我们了解到华工每月挣26-31美元，不包食宿，而白人工人每月挣$35-45美元，包食宿 (页 138)。10,000-12,000名铁路工人后来的结局如何？可以肯定的是， 他们中的许多人在《1882年排华法》通过之后返回了中国, 还有许多人选择留在美国 。这本书为我们提供了种族通婚 (页152-153)、位于美国及中国国内华侨公墓,宗祠及他们的葬礼习俗 (页155-167)的照片。这些图片与涉及这些华工后裔以及他们面临种族歧视, 适应美国社会的图片相辅相成。。 

第四，这本书提供了一份内容非常丰富而全面的参考书目，以引导我们理解华工。尽管我们中间很少有人拥有足够的精力和毅力去阅读所有这些资料，这个一手和二手资料的清单 表明学术界在探究和理解铁路华工方面已经取得了巨大的进步 。在一手材料中，有美国国家档案馆第二档案馆的档案材料， 中央太平洋铁路公司的报告、外交文件、日记以及同时代的描述性文章。参考书目分为几个部分, 列出了41份中文文献资料、77份中文二手资料 和译著、18份地方志以及主要是广东地区的宗族和家族族谱、42份英文文献资料， 25种英文二手资料、20种英文报纸、32个博物馆、图书馆、研究中心和历史文化协会的馆藏。这的确是一个惊人的研究资料汇编！  

第五，这本巨著之所以重要是因为作者通过个人的研究方向开辟了一个新的研究领域 。这本书聚焦铁路华工建设铁路的路线，在当前对铁路华工的新兴趣和新研究中发挥了开创者和领头羊的作用 。就此，我想要提一下最近一期的《历史考古学》杂志 ("Historical Archaeology)，其中的一些文章对这本书做了补充 。例如，其中有一篇文章是迈克尔•R.波尔克(Michael R. Polk)所撰写的《对犹他州普罗蒙特里山峰的华工营地的解释( "Interpreting Chinese Worker Camps on the TranscontinentalRailroad at Promontory Summit, Utah")；另一篇文章是 蒂莫西•厄班尼亚克(Timothy Urbaniak)和凯利•J.迪克森(Kelly J. Dixon)所撰写的《石刻：铁路工人的历史铭文与文化传统》 ("Inscribed in Stone: Historic Inscriptions and the CulturalHeritage of Railroad Workers" )（参见《历史考古学》第49卷，2015年第 1期）。这个特刊的标题是《历史的碎片：考古学、历史与北美铁路华工》("Fragments of the Past: Archaeology, History, and the Chinese Railroad Workers of North America")。

  最后，这本书为美国华裔史研究填补了一项空白。在我去年的亲身经历中，我参观了两个展览，发现在这两个展览中，铁路华工都未能得到应有的关注 。第一个展览是：《华裔美国人：排斥/融入》("Chinese American:Exclusion/Intrusion")，这个展览是2014年9月26-2015年4月19日在纽约历史协会展出的。另一个展览是纽约唐人街美国华人博物馆( Museum of Chinese in America, MOCA) 的一个永久性的展览。如果这两个展览能够利用本书中提供的照片，一定都会受益良多。

  在查阅和阅读了这本杰作之后，我产生了两个愿望：一是，应尽快出英文版，以便更多的美国人能够了解铁路华工对美国的贡献；二是，借鉴本书的模式，我们应扩大研究视野，对19世纪末-20世纪初的华工在加拿大、南非、甚至哥斯达黎加的铁路工程类似经历作比较性的研究。   

       2015年12月2日于美东

YUANQing (Tsing YUAN)

Ithas been said that "a picture is worth 10,000 words."  In thismagnificent new book, "On the Trail of the Silent Spikes - commemoratingChinese workers in the construction of the U.S. railroad," its nearly 700pictures and photos bring to vivid life the epic struggle of these laborers toconquer nature in laying the tracks of the first transcontinentalrailroad.

Whyis this new book so important?  

First,until recently we can find very few written

records left by the Chinese workers themselves in theform of memoirs, dairies, or letters. Most of our records were written byWesterners, be they businessmen, journalists, or travelers.  They couldnot possibly have shared the bitter experience of digging the tough terrain,the harsh wintry weather, the miserable wages, and the risks to survival ofthese Chinese workers.  But if we look at the pictures of the Donner Pass, whose winters

could see snow over 10 meters, the ruggedness of thetunnels, and the sheer size of the rocks (pp. 54-61, 128-134), we can nowvisualize what odds the Chinese workers faced.

Secondly,this book is the culmination of two previous works of Professor Huang Annian:"The silent spikes - the Chinese workers who constructed the NorthAmerican railroads" (2006) and "The spikes, no longer silent, theChinese workers who constructed the North American railroads" (2010). Both books were well researched, but their pictures are inblack-and-white, not in color as are in this new book.  Here Mr. LI Ju,who is a  freelance professional photographer, makes a major contribution. He and his wife drove themselves along the route of the Central PacificRailroad starting in October 2012 and explored other sectors of the railroadduring the next three years until May 2015.  They also interviewed localresidents, visited museums, and made inquiries at the local historicalsocieties along the route, thereby giving our readers a rare intimacy of whatthe Chinese workers experienced 150 years ago.

Thirdly,the new book makes a major contribution by linking the livelihood of Chinese workersduring the railway construction period 1865-69 to the lives theyled after 1869. Thus we learn that Chinese workers earned around $26-31per month and got no board and lodging, while the white workers earned around$35-45/month plus board and lodging (p. 138).  What happened to the10,000-12,000 workers?  To be sure, many returned to China after the passage of the U.S. Exclusion Law of 1882, but many did remainin the U.S. The book gives us photos of intermarriages (pp. 152-153), overseas

Chinese cemeteries and shrines both in the U.S. andin China, as well as their burial customs(pp. 155-167). These picturescomplement others that deal with the descendants of these Chinese workers andtheir adaption to American society in the face of racial discrimination.

Fourthly,the book provides a very rich and comprehensive bibliography of sources for guidingour understanding of the Chinese workers.  Although very few of us willhave the energy and perseverance to pursue all these sources, the list ofprimary and secondary sources shows us how much advance the scholarly world hasalready made in our searc for understanding the Chinese rail workers. Among the primary sources are the archival materials from the Number 2Archives, U.S.National Archives, reports of the Central Pacific Railroad Company,diplomatic documents, diaries, and contemporary accounts.  As arranged insections, the bibliography lists 41 Chinese documentary sources, 77 secondaryChinese

and translated works, 18 local gazetteers as well as clanand family genealogies mainly of the Guangdong area, 42 English-languagedocumentary sources, 25 English-language  secondary works, 20English-language newspapers, and 32 reference collections from museums,libraries, research centers, and historical-cultural societies - a trulystupendous mine of research!  

Fifthly,this monumental work is important because it breaks new research ground bypersonal field research.  By covering the routes through which the Chineserail workers passd,this book is a pioneer in spearheading the current newinterest and research in the history of the Chinese railroad workers.   Inthis regard, I would like to mention a recent issue of the journal "HistoricalArchaeology," some articles of which complement
this book.  For instance, there is an article by Michael R. Polk on"Interpreting Chinese Worker Camps on the Transcontinental Railroad at PromontorySummit, Utah," another by Timothy Urbaniak and Kelly J. Dixon on"Inscribed in Stone: Historic Inscriptions and the Cultural Heritage ofRailroad Workers" (see "Historical Archaeology", 49:1, 2015). Thetitle of this special issue is entitled "Fragments of the Past:Archaeology, History,
and the Chinese Railroad Workers of North America."

 Ultimately, this book fills a void inthe study of the history of Chinese Americans.  In my own experience thispast year, I visited two exhibits and found that in both the Chinese railworker did not get much attention.  The first was the exhibit on"Chinese American: Exclusion/Intrusion," shown during September 26-2014-April19, 2015 at the New YorkHistorical Society.  The other was the permanent exhibit at the Museum of
Chinese in America(MOCA) in New York Chinatown. Both exhibits can benefit greatly if they could have made use of thephotographs presented in this book.

 After consulting and reading this greatbook, I have two further wishes: 1. it should have a version in English as soonas possible, so that more Americans can learn what the Chinese railroad workerscontributed to America, and 2. we should broaden our horizon further bystudying on the model of this book, the similar experience of Chinese railroadworkers during the late 19th-early 20th century in countries such as Canada, SouthAfrica, and even in a small country such as Costa Rica.