复旦发展研究院

Fudan Development Institute

2025.12.04 09:30-11:00 

 09:30-11:00 am, December 4, 2025

In recent years, the experiences of Chinese workers who traveled to Europe during the First World War to support the Allied powers have received increasing scholarly attention. This growing interest has produced substantial research and numerous international conferences. Yet one important dimension remains underexplored: the contemporary commemoration of these workers, particularly within China and the international contexts in which these commemorations have emerged and now interact. This paper addresses this gap by examining how remembrance of Chinese workers has evolved since the 2000s. It begins by analyzing changing discourses of commemoration in both Europe and China, with special attention to processes of public rediscovery and historical reassessment. It then turns to recent initiatives within China—including exhibitions, memorial sites, and museums—dedicated to these workers. This section draws on a recent field trip to Weihai, Weifang, and Qingdao, where the most comprehensive and representative examples of these efforts are located. The paper thus offers an analysis of both discursive and material forms of remembrance, emphasizing the transnational and interactive nature of contemporary commemoration as an ongoing dialogue between China and Europe.