Chinese get London wreath for wartime contributions

For the first time, wreaths are being laid at the Cenotaph in London to commemorate the 140,000 Chinese laborers who came to support the allied effort in World War I on Saturday, the Remembrance Day, the China Global Television Network (CGTN) reported on Sunday.

“The Chinese Labor Corps have been neglected from history,” said Dr Tom Thorpe, trustee of the Western Front Association, which aims to educate the public about WWI. He said there are several reasons for that, including a lack of written records.

“Their contribution is significant in terms of building logistic supplies. They prepared trenches. They did a lot of work which actually made the action on the West front possible,” the CGTN quoted Thorpe as saying.

“There was no memorial in the whole of the UK that commemorates the Chinese Labor Corps. So this is an absolute honor,” said Karen Soo, a descendant of a Chinese Labor Corps member.

There is a campaign to erect a permanent memorial to the Chinese Labor Corps in the UK, and various activities have been held across Britain to educate the public on this long neglected chapter of history, the CGTN reported.

On Sunday, a two-minute silence was held across the country, the BBC reported.

Prince Charles attended the annual ceremony at the Cenotaph in London and Big Ben chimed at 11:00 GMT.

The royals were joined by Prime Minister Theresa May, other senior politicians, religious leaders and dignitaries from around the Commonwealth.