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愿《沉默道钉的足迹》尽快出英文版【《进入公众视野的道钉》(2017)】

已有 1231 次阅读 2019-10-24 07:12 |个人分类:个人藏书书目|系统分类:科研笔记

愿《沉默道钉的足迹》尽快出英文版【《进入公众视野的道钉》(2017)】

【个人纸媒文章(黄安年个人纸媒文章目录编号GWH 775)

 

黄安年文 黄安年的博客/2019年10月24日发布(第22810篇)

 

8月5日-9月16日,笔者在纸媒报刊上发表的个人文章总共364次篇(GWH101-464,截止2008年),陆续发布在个人博客上。“次篇”表明某篇文章有可能在不同纸媒被发表或转载。个人在纸媒图书上文章目录78种(GWH001-GWH078)中的近百次篇未计在内。部分个人报道和论文打印稿、纸媒对笔者的书评和报道、个人译校文章也未计算在内。此前2019年1月6日-4月2日笔者通过博客陆续发布个人收藏图书的英文图书书目(US001-US538号)。4月5日-5月28日发布个人论著收藏图书书目(GH001-GH041)、《黄安年文存选》目录。

为保障个人纸媒文章目录的完整性,便于自己和读者查找,也避免不必要的麻烦,改革开放以来在纸媒报刊的个别文章暂不发布。个人藏书书目工作自今年初以来已经整整八个月多了。书目力求穷搜,目录检索是我国固有的学术传统,也是学术传承和历史记载的必要平台,个人藏书目录的完善将为集成为一个微“数据库”创造条件。

完整保存这些纸媒论著、译、评学术资料,反映了笔者践行学术报国的心愿和学术为公、实事求是、与时俱进、资源共享的宗旨,也从一个普通教育和学术工作者的学术探索历程。

  916开始发布纸媒评论个人论著文章(GWH501起编号)、|个人部分论文稿(GWH601起编号)、个人撰写的部分报道(GWH701起编号)、发表的个人译文(GWH801起编号)、发表的个人校文(GWH901起编号)

这里发布的是袁清撰写的愿《沉默道钉的足迹》尽快出英文版载《进入公众视野的道钉从沉默的道钉到沉默道钉的足迹》2017年华艺出版社,第6-11页,收入黄安年文存2017年卷。

照片10张,拍自《进入公众视野的道钉从沉默的道钉到沉默道钉的足迹》

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愿《沉默道钉的足迹》尽快出英文版

袁清

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600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 (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201210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20155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 ( 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 (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 (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 Transcontinental Railroad 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 Cultural Heritage 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2014926-2015419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)

It has been said that "a picture is worth 10,000 words."  In this magnificent new book, "On the Trail of the Silent Spikes – commemorating Chinese workers in the construction of theU.S.railroad," its nearly 600pictures and photos bring to vivid life the epic struggle of these laborers to conquer nature in laying the tracks of the first transcontinental railroad.

Why is this new book so important?  

First, until recently we can find very few written

records left by the Chinese workers themselves in the form of memoirs, dairies, or letters. Most of our records were written by Westerners, be they businessmen, journalists, or travelers.  They could not possibly have shared the bitter experience of digging the tough terrain, the harsh wintry weather, the miserable wages, and the risks to survival of these Chinese workers.  But if we look at the pictures of the Donner  Pass, whose winters

could see snow over 10 meters, the ruggedness of the tunnels, and the sheer size of the rocks (pp. 54-61, 128-134), we can now visualize 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 North American railroads" (2006) and "The spikes, no longer silent, the Chinese workers who constructed the North American railroads" (2010). Both books were well researched, but their pictures are in black-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 Pacific Railroad starting in October 2012 and explored other sectors of the railroad during the next three years until May 2015.  They also interviewed local residents, visited museums, and made inquiries at the local historical societies along the route, thereby giving our readers a rare intimacy of what the Chinese workers experienced 150 years ago.

Thirdly, the new book makes a major contribution by linking the livelihood of Chinese workers during the railway construction period 1865-69 to the lives they led after 1869. Thus we learn that Chinese workers earned around 2631permonthandgotnoboardandlodging,whilethewhiteworkersearnedaround  35-45/month plus board and lodging (p. 138).  What happened to the10,000-12,000 workers?  To be sure, many returned toChinaafter the passage of theU.S.Exclusion Law of 1882, but many did remain in theU.S.The book gives us photos of intermarriages (pp. 152-153), overseas

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

Fourthly, the book provides a very rich and comprehensive bibliography of sources for guiding our understanding of the Chinese workers.  Although very few of us will have the energy and perseverance to pursue all these sources, the list of primary and secondary sources shows us how much advance the scholarly world has already 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 in sections, the bibliography lists 41 Chinese documentary sources, 77 secondary Chinese

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

Fifthly, this monumental work is important because it breaks new research ground by personal field research.  By covering the routes through which the Chinese rail workers passd, this book is a pioneer in spearheading the current new interest and research in the history of the Chinese railroad workers.   In this regard, I would like to mention a recent issue of the journal "Historical Archaeology," 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 Promontory Summit, Utah," another by Timothy Urbaniak  and Kelly J. Dixon on "In scribed in Stone: Historic Inscriptions and the Cultural Heritage of Railroad Workers" (see "Historical Archaeology", 49:1, 2015). The title 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 in the study of the history of Chinese Americans.  In my own experience thi spast year, I visited two exhibits and found that in both the Chinese rail worker 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 York Historical Society.  The other was the permanent exhibit at the Museum of Chinese inAmerica(MOCA) in New York Chinatown. Both exhibits can benefit greatly if they could have made use of the photographs presented in this book.

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

 
  (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。本文作者提供英文稿,张聚国博士翻译成中文并经袁清审定。见2015年12月4日黄安年的博客http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-415-940943.html

 




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