How Chinese Helped Build America 中国人如何帮助建设美国

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When we speak of building America, it is hard not to mention one of the most important construction projects in mid-19th century America, i.e. the Central Pacific Railroad's final rails of the first transcontinental railroad line. The completed line physically and symbolically linked the nation, and thousands of Chinese had made it possible. The former President, Obama, highlighted the contributions of Chinese railroad workers in helping completing it during the proclamation of May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

当谈到建设美国时，不可不提到19世纪中叶美国最重要的建设项目之一 - 第一条横贯大陆的铁路线的中太平洋铁路的最后一段轨道。这条铁路的完成在物质上和象征意义上都使这个国家连接了起来，而成千上万的中国人的付出使之成为可能。在宣布5月为亚太裔美国人遗产月期间，前总统奥巴马强调了中国籍铁路工人在帮助完成这项工程上的贡献。

During the 145^th anniversary of that epic moment, the Department of Labor installed a plaque honoring the Chinese workers in its Hall of Fame. This recognition from the highest levels of the US government is most welcome and long overdue.  The story of the remarkable contribution of the Chinese workers remains largely unknown among the American public.

在这一史诗般时刻的145周年纪念日，劳工部在其名人堂内安装了一块纪念中国工人的牌匾。美国政府最高层的这一认可是最受欢迎的，也是长期以来应该得到的。中国工人的卓越贡献在美国公众中仍不为人所知。

▲ San FranciscoPacific Railroad Bond 1865

旧金山太平洋铁路债券1865

In 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Rail Bill that committed the nation to the completion of a line that would span the continent.  Expansionists and nation-builders had long dreamed of the line to help the country get closer to Asia, and China in particular, but the outbreak of the Civil War made it also strategically necessary.  Congress selected the Central Pacific to build east from Sacramento and the Union Pacific UNP to build west from the Missouri River. The Union Pacific had a little problem recruiting labor.  It also had hundreds of miles of relatively flat terrain to cross. The Central Pacific had few workers and the Sierras to conquer.

1862年，国会通过了太平洋铁路法案，该法案旨在建成一条横跨大陆的铁路线。扩张主义者和国家建设者早就梦想这条铁路线能帮助国家更接近亚洲，尤其是中国；而内战的爆发也使这条线具有战略必要性。国会选择中太平洋公司从萨克拉门托向东建造，联合太平洋公司从密苏里河向西建造。联合太平洋公司在招募劳工方面有点问题，还有数百英里相对平坦的地形要穿越。中太平洋则工人严重短缺，且还需征服锡耶拉。

In 1864 Leland Stanford and his partners tried using Chinese workers they found in California who had been working in mines and agricultural fields for over a decade.  For some reason, many had dismissed the Chinese as unfit for the arduous work of grading, tunneling, and laying track, especially through the most imposing mountain range in America.  But they were completely wrong because the Chinese met the challenge.

1864年，利兰·斯坦福和他的合作伙伴试图利用他们在加州找到的在矿山和农田工作了十多年的中国工人。由于某些原因，此前许多人认为中国人不适合进行艰苦的平整、挖掘和铺设轨道的工作，特别是穿越美国最雄伟的山脉。但他们完全错了，因为中国人迎接了挑战。

By 1865, thousands of Chinese toiled in scores of labor gangs.  The railroad company recruited thousands more to come across the Pacific.  The 12,000 Chinese who toiled for the Central Pacific formed perhaps the largest single wage labor force in the country well into the late 19th century.

到1865年，有成千上万的中国人在几十个劳工团伙中辛勤劳作。铁路公司又穿越太平洋招募了数千人。在19世纪末，为中太平洋公司苦干的12000名中国人成为了这个国家最大的单薪劳动力队伍。

Their greatest challenge was to forge through and over the Sierra Nevada summit. Through two of the worst winters on record, the Chinese built the roadbed, tunneled through solid granite cliffs, felled enormous trees, constructed massive trestles, and laid the track.

他们的最大挑战是穿越内华达山脉峰会。在有记录以来最糟糕的两个冬天里，中国人在坚硬的花岗岩峭壁上挖隧道、砍大树、建栈桥，修建了路基，铺设了铁轨。

They used pick and shovel and explosives to blast the rock for Summit Tunnel. Unknown numbers of workers perished in land and snow slides, explosions, and disease.  Unfortunately, the Central Pacific did not see the deaths as important enough to record the names and numbers of those killed.

他们用镐、铲和炸药从岩石中开辟出山顶隧道。无数的工人死于滑坡、雪崩、爆炸和疾病。不幸的是，中太平洋公司根本无视工人的生命，没有记录遇难者的姓名和人数。

At Promontory Point, the company did honor the Chinese workers when it invited representatives to meet its executives in a special rail car to express their appreciation for their work.  However, at that moment, Andrew J. Russell took what has become the iconic photograph of the meeting of the two lines.  Two massive locomotives face each other and scores of white men gather in celebration.  No Chinese is in sight.

在普罗蒙托里角，该公司确曾邀请中国工人代表乘坐专列专车与高管会面，表达对他们工作的赞赏，这的确让中国员工感到荣幸。然而，当安德鲁J拉塞尔拍下东西两条线贯通的标志性照片时，只看到两辆大型机车迎面相遇，数十名白人聚集在一起庆祝，却看不到一个中国人。

It was not always that way.

并非总是这样。

Soon after the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, the periodical Scientific American celebrated it as a marvel of construction and technology, giving special attention to the role of the Chinese in making it happen. The journal praised the disposition and energy of the Chinese worker: their "strength and endurance are wonderful, and their mechanical skill is remarkable." The capacity of the Chinese for work was said to be even superior to white labor on the line.

1869年横贯大陆的铁路建成后不久，《科学美国人》杂志就把它誉为建筑和技术的奇迹，特别提及中国人在实现这一奇迹中的作用。杂志赞扬了中国工人的性格和精力：“他们的力量和耐力都很好，机械技能也很出色。”据说中国人的工作能力甚至优于白种人。

The Chinese contributed not just brawn but also brains and skill.  The journal noted that the Chinese were especially clever in aligning roads and could "strike a truer line for a longer distance with the unassisted eye than most white men can with the aid of instruments." Chinese supervisors, who spoke English, were "very intelligent men" and showed "an extensive acquaintance with railroad matters."

中国人不仅贡献了体力，还贡献了脑力和技能。《科学美国人》指出，中国人特别善于调整道路，能够“用裸眼也比大多数白人借助仪器划线划得更准确”。会说英语的中国监管人员“非常聪明”，且显示出“对铁路事务的全面了解”。

Scientific American concluded by noting that the Chinese were poised to continue railroad work throughout the West.  In fact, they did so, with thousands joining rail construction projects throughout not just the Far West but throughout the Rocky Mountain, Southern, and even Eastern states.  Using the standard reference of the time, the journal declared in praise, "The Chinaman is a born railroad builder, and as such he is destined to be most useful to California, and, indeed, to the whole Pacific slope."

《科学美国人》最后指出，中国人准备在整个西部继续铁路建设。事实上，他们这样做了，成千上万的中国人加入了铁路建设项目，不仅在遥远的西部，而且在落基山脉，在南部，甚至在东部各州。杂志以当时的标准引用，称赞说：“中国人是天生的铁路建设者，他们注定对加利福尼亚、甚至整个太平洋沿岸各州都最有益。”

But after the railroad's completion, anti-Chinese prejudice in the Western U.S. that had long simmered beneath the surface erupted in violence. Chinese were subject to murder, arson, and a range of other violent acts. In 1882, Congress passed what would be the first of many laws restricting further Chinese immigration. Chinese Exclusion Laws, as they would come to be known, remained in effect until 1943. Many returned to China, though thousands also stayed, becoming the ancestors of many of today's Chinese Americans.

但铁路建成后，美国西部长期酝酿的地下反华偏见爆发了，中国人遭到谋杀、纵火和一系列其他暴力行为。1882年，国会通过了诸多限制中国人移民的法律中的第一部 - 排华法案。直到1943年排华法案废除前，许多人返回了中国；尽管也有成千上万人也留下来，成为了目前许多华裔美籍人的祖先。

The story of the Chinese workers who had braved freezing winters and scorching summers to lay the rail infrastructure of the nation went missing, for the most part, from the stories the country told about itself. Indeed, in 1969, at the ceremony commemorating the 100th anniversary of the laying of the Golden Spike, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported, U.S. Transportation Secretary John Volpe, "the principal orator, succeeded in infuriating the Chinese delegation from San Francisco by wholly ignoring the 12,000 Chinese who helped build the Central Pacific over the Sierra to Promontory." "Who else but Americans could drill ten tunnels in mountains 30 feet deep in snow?" Volpe had asked rhetorically. Federal law still denied citizenship to the Chinese at the time.

中国工人冒着严寒和酷暑铺设国家铁路基础设施的故事，在很大程度上，从美国讲述自己的故事中消失了。在1969年，正如《旧金山纪事报》报道的那样，在纪念“金色道钉”落成100周年的仪式上，美国交通部长“首席演说家”约翰·沃尔佩完全无视这12000中国人在锡拉至普罗蒙托里角铁路的贡献，成功激怒了来自旧金山的中国代表团，“除了美国人，还有谁能在30英尺深的雪山上钻十条隧道呢？”沃尔佩反问。当时联邦法律还是不允许给予中国公民美籍身份。

Today, as anxiety and concern often cloud the developing economic and social relationship between the United States and China, it would be useful for us to recall this dramatic episode in history when the Chinese helped build America.

如今，由于焦虑和担忧常常笼罩着美国和中国发展的经济和社会关系，我们回忆起中国公民帮助建设美国这一戏剧性事件是有益的。

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