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Chinese Laborer
- 152 statements
- 28 feature instances
- 32 referencing feature instances
| Chinese Laborer | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Chinese Laborer | label |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer | page |
ChineseLaborer | |
| Chinese Laborer | comment |
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })The California Gold Rush of the mid-Nineteenth Century coincided with a time of dire economic conditions in China. So it was natural that when they got wind of the gold rush across the Pacific, thousands of young Chinese men migrated to the United States to mine the gold fields. Their industry and teamwork were at first admired and appreciated, but as viable gold strikes played out and fresh mines became scarce, the white majority resented the foreigners (who were forbidden by law from becoming citizens) and laws were passed in an attempt to force the Chinese out of the mining business. However, a new economic opportunity opened up in the form of the Transcontinental Railroad. This project required many low-paid laborers for dangerous and arduous work; and the head of the Southern Pacific end of the Transcontinental project decided to hire the lean and hungry Chinese of California. They did such a good job that more Chinese labor gangs were hired directly from the homeland. Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })After the Transcontinental line was built, railroad construction continued to boom in the Western United States, and the now experienced Chinese eagerly took on these new jobs. The population of Chinese men in America swelled. Unfortunately, this large population was largely bachelors and stuck out considerably. Relatively few Chinese women chose to immigrate for various reasons, and of those many were blocked by laws theoretically in place to prevent prostitution. As anti-miscegenation laws barred Asian men from marrying white women, they had to seek companionship and diversion in other, extra-legal ways. The distinctive queue worn by Chinese men was made mandatory by their homeland's government, and they were barred from re-entry if they had lost it, meaning that most of the immigrants to the U.S., who planned to someday return, could not adopt less conspicuous hairstyles. And as many Chinese immigrants were essentially forced to live in "Chinatowns" for their own safety, many did not learn English very well if at all. Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })This very distinctive and poorly-assimilated minority stirred fears of a Yellow Peril, and racist discrimination and attacks against the Chinese were common, culminating in the Chinese Exclusion Act of the late 1880s, which banned Chinese immigration entirely. In the fiction of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century, this trope often a sinister figure who fills the ranks of a Secret Society and lusts for the pure white women that the hero must protect. About the time of World War II, when China became the United States' ally, the depiction shifted, and the Chinese laborer tended to be shown as the victim of prejudice and needing the help of a white hero to save him from bigots. Modern depictions tend to be a bit more nuanced... we hope. The generic term for exported Asian laborers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was "coolie." This word was often used as a pejorative, and many people of Asian heritage find it offensive, so it should only be used in its historical context. The supertrope is Ethnic Menial Labor. Examples: |
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| Chinese Laborer | fetched |
2022-08-07T01:26:28Z | |
| Chinese Laborer | parsed |
2022-08-07T01:26:28Z | |
| Chinese Laborer | processingComment |
Dropped link to BrianWilson: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
| Chinese Laborer | processingComment |
Dropped link to ChineseLaunderer: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Chinese Laborer | processingComment |
Dropped link to Flashback: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Chinese Laborer | processingComment |
Dropped link to RadioDrama: Not an Item - CAT | |
| Chinese Laborer | processingComment |
Dropped link to WalkingTheEarth: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Chinese Laborer | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_1b8c3429 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_1b8c3429 | comment |
East of Eden has Lee, a Chinese cook and valet (also a stereotype at one time in California), who has a horrible backstory about how his mother disguised herself as a man so she could live and work alongside his father on the railroad, hiding her pregnancy when it came about, until the day she gave birth. Her husband wasn't nearby to help her, and when the other workers realized there was a woman in their midst they basically gang-raped her to death. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_1b8c3429 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_1b8c3429 | featureConfidence |
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| East of Eden | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_1b8c3429 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_1e4d8e4e | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_1e4d8e4e | comment |
On Bonanza, Hop Sing works as a cook for the Cartwrights. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_1e4d8e4e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_1e4d8e4e | featureConfidence |
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| Bonanza | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_1e4d8e4e | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_21573c1d | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_21573c1d | comment |
Have Gun – Will Travel features hotel porter Hey Boy (and for one season his sister Hey Girl) as a major recurring character. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_21573c1d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_21573c1d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Have Gun – Will Travel | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_21573c1d | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_35bf6493 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_35bf6493 | comment |
In the last 2 books of the What Katy Did series, Clover and In the High Valley, Clarence Page, Geoff Templestowe, and their wives hire a Chinese cook, Choo Loo. While the Christian protagonists don't quite agree with his use of joss sticks, and "the ways and means of his mysteriously conducted kitchen", he is a "capital cook", and the ladies appreciate the way he likes to decorate the food he serves. In fact, Lionel Young, when setting up his own residence, tells his sister, Imogen, that, "I wish we could have the luck to happen on his brother or nephew for ourselves." | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_35bf6493 | featureApplicability |
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| Chinese Laborer / int_35bf6493 | featureConfidence |
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| What Katy Did | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_35bf6493 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4139b0e7 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4139b0e7 | comment |
While they don't have a presence in the story, in Unforgiven, we are informed that English Bob made a living out of killing them for the railroads. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4139b0e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4139b0e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Unforgiven | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_4139b0e7 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4b356e7c | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4b356e7c | comment |
Chinese rail workers figure into the plot of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. as the ones who find the series' MacGuffin. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4b356e7c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4b356e7c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_4b356e7c | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4bcbde29 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4bcbde29 | comment |
Chinese "coolies" work a rubber plantation in Red Dust. The whites running the plantation make multiple racist comments about them. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4bcbde29 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4bcbde29 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Red Dust | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_4bcbde29 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4ec6798d | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4ec6798d | comment |
In The Wild Wild West, Chinese laborers showed up quite a bit (with The Wild West as the show's setting and all), specifically in the episode "The Night the Dragon Screamed" in which Jim and Artemus have to solve the mystery of Chinese laborers disappearing as soon as they get to America. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4ec6798d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_4ec6798d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Wild Wild West | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_4ec6798d | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_54277b38 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_54277b38 | comment |
The boomtown of Deadwood features its own little Chinatown, ruled by the ruthless Mr. Wu, whose side business is feeding dead troublemakers to his ravenous pigs. Mr. Wu is still a pretty nice guy compared to a competitor he gets later in the story, who brings in Chinese women by the wagonload to act as prostitutes, and keeps them drugged and starves them, since it's cheaper to get new ones than to feed them properly. |
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| Chinese Laborer / int_54277b38 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_54277b38 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Deadwood | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_54277b38 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_6eb4ca5c | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_6eb4ca5c | comment |
The Jackie Chan Adventures episode "Showdown in the Old West" has Jackie's ancestor as one of these, likely referencing Shanghai Noon. The episode itself follows the plot of Blazing Saddles. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_6eb4ca5c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_6eb4ca5c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Jackie Chan Adventures | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_6eb4ca5c | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_76bb4695 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_76bb4695 | comment |
The video game Shadow Warrior (1997) features undead coolies as a type of enemy. They try to blow you up with dynamite, and sometimes come back as ghosts when they die. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_76bb4695 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_76bb4695 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Warrior (1997) (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_76bb4695 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_78fbc3f4 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_78fbc3f4 | comment |
A monk travelling with a group of them in the old West gets to show his zombie-killing talents in The Zombie Survival Guide. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_78fbc3f4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_78fbc3f4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Zombie Survival Guide | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_78fbc3f4 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_7c4f1adb | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_7c4f1adb | comment |
Our Miss Brooks: In "Stretch to Transfer", in order to save a "Fawlty Towers" Plot from going off the rails, Miss Brooks pretends to be secretly married to Mr. Conklin. She claims the reason the marriage was secret was that she entered the country illegally in company with "Oriental labourers". It Makes Sense In Context. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_7c4f1adb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_7c4f1adb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Our Miss Brooks (Radio) | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_7c4f1adb | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_7db5e90f | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_7db5e90f | comment |
Popped up in Lucky Luke once or twice. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_7db5e90f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_7db5e90f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Lucky Luke (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_7db5e90f | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_8b5820ed | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_8b5820ed | comment |
Red Dead Redemption has a few of these for western flavor, as well as a side mission to free a worker from his servitude. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_8b5820ed | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_8b5820ed | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Red Dead Redemption (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_8b5820ed | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a2eee785 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a2eee785 | comment |
A bunch of them feature in Shanghai Noon. Interestingly, the foreman in charge of them is himself Chinese, yet he still treats the workers like dirt. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a2eee785 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a2eee785 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shanghai Noon | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_a2eee785 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a3acbcd1 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a3acbcd1 | comment |
A British variant on this trope: Chinese immigrants in the UK are best known for working in catering and the food takeaway trade. In controversial sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, the put-upon owner of the local takeaway is the butt of casual racism by both Bill (black) and Eddie (white). Eddie, predictably, calls him Fu Manchu. Bill displays a racist streak - against Chinese - by calling him Mao Tse Tung. Neighbours normally locked in everyday black-versus-white prejudice bond against yellow. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a3acbcd1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a3acbcd1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Love Thy Neighbour | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_a3acbcd1 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a7674994 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a7674994 | comment |
Lee Zen in Paint Your Wagon, who speaks mostly in his native Cantonese. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a7674994 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a7674994 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Paint Your Wagon (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_a7674994 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a96c5209 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a96c5209 | comment |
Chinese laborers also appear in 3:10 to Yuma (2007) on a railroad construction site. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a96c5209 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_a96c5209 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| 3:10 to Yuma (2007) | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_a96c5209 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_b47d6fe | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_b47d6fe | comment |
Due to a lack of white labour, Chinese labourers work the Central Pacific railroad in The Iron Horse. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_b47d6fe | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_b47d6fe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Iron Horse | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_b47d6fe | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_b94ad826 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_b94ad826 | comment |
One turns up in For a Few Dollars More, who The Man With No Name orders to clear the Colonel's (the other bounty hunter) room out and to take his stuff out of town. The Colonel intercedes, and a back-and-forth ensues until the laborer freaks out, drops the baggage and bolts into the hotel. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_b94ad826 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_b94ad826 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| For a Few Dollars More | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_b94ad826 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_bd54ba07 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_bd54ba07 | comment |
Blazing Saddles | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_bd54ba07 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_bd54ba07 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Blazing Saddles | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_bd54ba07 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_c7cca04f | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_c7cca04f | comment |
On the Pushing Daisies episode "The Fun In Funeral", Wilfrid Woodruff's ancestor was a runaway Chinese laborer who found a Confederate uniform and gave rise to a long line of Asian-American good ol' boys. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_c7cca04f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_c7cca04f | featureConfidence |
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| Pushing Daisies | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_c7cca04f | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_cf05a7a5 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_cf05a7a5 | comment |
Death to Smoochy has Edward Norton's pacifist character explain, "When my brothers played Cowboys and Indians, I was always the Chinese railroad worker." | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_cf05a7a5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_cf05a7a5 | featureConfidence |
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| Death to Smoochy | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_cf05a7a5 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_d4d8ce5f | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_d4d8ce5f | comment |
In Deadlands, the Iron Dragon Railroad is staffed almost completely with these, plus some kung-fuists and the Fu Manchu ripoff, Warlord Kang. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_d4d8ce5f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_d4d8ce5f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Deadlands (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_d4d8ce5f | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_e4ac23f3 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_e4ac23f3 | comment |
The hardships suffered by Chinese railway workers plays a major part in Henning Mankell's Yellow Peril novel "The Man From Beijing". | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_e4ac23f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_e4ac23f3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Wallander | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_e4ac23f3 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_f02ac10b | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_f02ac10b | comment |
In Portlandtown, many of the boatmen who offer transportation through Portland's flooded winter streets are Chinese immigrants. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_f02ac10b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_f02ac10b | featureConfidence |
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| Portlandtown | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_f02ac10b | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_f2fba464 | type |
Chinese Laborer | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_f2fba464 | comment |
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins: Before saving enough money to buy a market, Pyong and Lu Wan worked on the Transcontinental Railroad after emigrating from China and are determined to keep their son from experiencing that. | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_f2fba464 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Chinese Laborer / int_f2fba464 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Tremors 4: The Legend Begins | hasFeature |
Chinese Laborer / int_f2fba464 |
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Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.