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# 2024-05-25 - Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep
I saw this title in the bibliography of another book in a used book
store, and it stuck in my mind. More recently, i found this title in
a thrift store for $1 and purchased it. This is a juvenile
historical fiction set in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1867. The
protagonist is a Chinese youth who comes to the US to work building a
railroad tunnel with his father and uncle.
I loved the world building in this book. History can come across as
dry and boring, but this book presents it as a fresh, timeless
adventure. The land, the people, and their challenges are portrayed
in realistic ways. It emphasized our common humanity and did not
portray anyone as noble, superior, etc.
In the afterword, the author notes:
> Though this novel is a work of fiction, I did not make up the
> working conditions and the dangers the workers faced. It is a
> matter of record that avalanches swept away crews; and there are
> not accurate statistics how many Chinese died in other ways.
> However, it is estimated that twelve hundred Chinese--or 10 percent
> of the Chinese work force--perished building the railroad. In any
> event, ten tons of bones were finally shipped back to China. There
> are no figures on injuries.
>
> I need to emphasize that the strike was real. Almost all the
> newspapers of the time ignored the strike; or if they mentioned it
> at all, they acknowledged only the monetary demands. One
> correspondent even made fun of the Chinese workers' desire for an
> eight-hour working day in the tunnels. However, on July 1 1867,
> the Sacramento Union stated that among other conditions, the
> strikers wanted "to deny the right of the overseers of the company
> to either whip or to restrain them from leaving the railroad when
> they desire to seek other employment."
See also:
Chinese Miners in the Applegate Valley, 1855-1900
author: Yep, Laurence, 1948-
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Dragon's_Gate_(novel)
LOC: PZ7.Y44 Dqr
tags: book,fiction,history
# Tags
book
history
fiction
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