华工修建太平洋铁路的历史事实与文学再现

Historical Facts and Literary Representation of Chinese Workers Building the Pacific Railway

19世纪60年代,大批华工加入太平洋铁路建设。在种族歧视的社会历史语境下,美国主流社会对华人的认识暴力与资本合谋,服务于对华工的剥削,华工为美国开发所作的贡献与遭遇形成了反差。铁路完工造成的时空压缩加速了人口和资本的跨区域流动,引发了白人和华人的就业竞争,排华随之开始。这些排华行为体现在歧视性的法律法规、驱逐和迫害华人的暴行以及抹去华人贡献的历史建构等方面。华裔作家在作品中对华工修建太平洋铁路的历史事实进行文学再现,强调华工对美国的贡献和遭受的不公待遇,从而重构美国主流社会以白人为主体的历史,证实华人在美国存在的合法合理性。

In 1860s,a large number of Chinese laborers joined the construction of the American Pacific Railway. In the social and historical context of racial discrimination,the mainstream American society's epistemic violence conspired with capital to facilitate the exploitation of Chinese workers. The contribution of Chinese laborers to the development of the United States sharply contrasted with their harsh treatment. The spatio-temporal compression upon the completion of the railway accelerated the cross-regional flow of population and capital and triggered the employment competition between the white people and Chinese,and the exclusion of Chinese ensued. These anti-Chinese practices were manifested in discriminatory laws and regulations,in the atrocities of expulsion and persecution of Chinese laborers,and in the erasion of Chinese laborers' contribution in historical narratives. Chinese-American writers have reproduced the historical facts,highlighted the Chinese laborers' contributions and the unfair treatment they suffered,thus reconstructing the history of the white-dominated mainstream society in the United States and proving the legitimacy and rationality of the existence of Chinese in the United States.