Ghost Train is a short story composed for the Chinese railway laborers. This essay will analyze the cultural elements in Paul Yee＇ s Ghost Train. The first part will introduce the writing background of Ghost Train, a...Ghost Train is a short story composed for the Chinese railway laborers. This essay will analyze the cultural elements in Paul Yee＇ s Ghost Train. The first part will introduce the writing background of Ghost Train, and the history of Chinese railway laborers in Canada. The second part analyzes a series of cultural elements, such as railway, train, ghost, metaphysics, burning.joss sticks and other elements. The last part is the significance of using these cultural elements. By using these cultural elements, Paul Yee conveys his attitudes to Chinese Canadian laborers. He hopes Canadian government could envisage the contribution of Chinese Canadian laborers. Without Chinese Canadian laborers, the Pacific Railway cannot be completed so quickly. Chinese Canadian laborers are an important part of the history of Canada, so they should not be ignored. Paul Yee also expresses his feminist thoughts in the story. He thinks women can as brave and intelligent as man. Literature writing always reflects political requirements. In 2006, alter Chinese community struggled for a long time, the Canadian government finally held rehabilitating ceremony for ＂poll tax＂, which officially recognized Chinese laborers＇ contribution to the history of Canada. And in 2018, Vancouver officially apologized for its exclusion history of Chinese.展开更多
This article takes its cue from the English critic, novelist and painter John Berger. He argues that what we know determines what we see. Hotels and railway stations, though they differ in size, design and appearance,...This article takes its cue from the English critic, novelist and painter John Berger. He argues that what we know determines what we see. Hotels and railway stations, though they differ in size, design and appearance, are places of temporary national and international congress that are recognized by everyone. They become visible or even iconic once their history or their role is turned into at least part of a wider narrative in literature, film or in other arts. This provides a representative focus by which we may read a city＇s or a nation＇s past. In exemplifying such connections I focus first on the long-term history of Friedrichstraβe station and some of the surrounding hotels in the context of the history of Berlin, situating them within the national and, by implication, also the international context. Secondly, I will consider the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 as an event in which the role of railway stations generated both personal and collective memories across cultures and over several decades.展开更多
文摘Ghost Train is a short story composed for the Chinese railway laborers. This essay will analyze the cultural elements in Paul Yee＇ s Ghost Train. The first part will introduce the writing background of Ghost Train, and the history of Chinese railway laborers in Canada. The second part analyzes a series of cultural elements, such as railway, train, ghost, metaphysics, burning.joss sticks and other elements. The last part is the significance of using these cultural elements. By using these cultural elements, Paul Yee conveys his attitudes to Chinese Canadian laborers. He hopes Canadian government could envisage the contribution of Chinese Canadian laborers. Without Chinese Canadian laborers, the Pacific Railway cannot be completed so quickly. Chinese Canadian laborers are an important part of the history of Canada, so they should not be ignored. Paul Yee also expresses his feminist thoughts in the story. He thinks women can as brave and intelligent as man. Literature writing always reflects political requirements. In 2006, alter Chinese community struggled for a long time, the Canadian government finally held rehabilitating ceremony for ＂poll tax＂, which officially recognized Chinese laborers＇ contribution to the history of Canada. And in 2018, Vancouver officially apologized for its exclusion history of Chinese.
文摘This article takes its cue from the English critic, novelist and painter John Berger. He argues that what we know determines what we see. Hotels and railway stations, though they differ in size, design and appearance, are places of temporary national and international congress that are recognized by everyone. They become visible or even iconic once their history or their role is turned into at least part of a wider narrative in literature, film or in other arts. This provides a representative focus by which we may read a city＇s or a nation＇s past. In exemplifying such connections I focus first on the long-term history of Friedrichstraβe station and some of the surrounding hotels in the context of the history of Berlin, situating them within the national and, by implication, also the international context. Secondly, I will consider the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 as an event in which the role of railway stations generated both personal and collective memories across cultures and over several decades.
