Feature: Plaque unveiled in Liverpool in memory of Chinese sailors during WWII

LIVERPOOL, Britain, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- A dark chapter in Britain's maritime history was remembered in the port city of Liverpool when tributes were paid to thousands of Chinese merchant sailors on Monday.

A commemorative plaque was fitted to the wall of a restaurant in Liverpool's Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in Europe. In the 1940s, the building was used as the office of the Blue Funnel Shipping Line, the gathering point for Chinese crews and the place they used to transmit money to their families in China.

Those sailors played a key role during the days of World War II when many were killed as their cargo ships were bombed by enemy submarines and planes.

But in 1946, thousands of them were rounded up like cattle and shipped back to China and many left behind British wives and children.

Among the attendants at the ceremony was Woo Sing Zay, 89, who worked as a linkman in the Blue Funnel office just after the war. He was the man who looked after the interests and welfare of the Chinese crews.

His older brother Woo Too Pay, now deceased, only just escaped being one of the sailors to be rounded by British government agents.

"When they came in the middle of the night to round up the Chinese, my brother was at sea. So he escaped being sent back to China," Woo told Xinhua. "He was very lucky. I asked my brother why so many Chinese were forced back after the war and he said the British government said they had a bad reputation for gambling and taking opium. But these guys were no trouble at all. What happened was terrible."

Yue The Hay, 85, joined Blue Funnel in the 1940s, just after World War II. He said: "What happened in Liverpool in 1946 was terrible. A lot of Chinese sailors lost their lives in the war and we deserved better."

According to Moira Kenny, who is working with a charity to record the history of this dark episode, what happened after the war was awful. "Chinese men were just grabbed from their homes, leaving behind wives and children and sent back. Many of the children thought they had been abandoned by their dads, but this was untrue," she said.

Many of the wives were looked upon as common prostitutes. Those children are now in their late 60s and 70s and even today they weep as they recall that separation.

Many of them might have family and relatives in China who they have never even met. "Our hope is this new plaque will go towards getting more recognition of what happened. At least the story is being told, but there is still much more work to do," she added.

Bill Anderson, a former merchant mariner, has often discussed with his father-in-law Lam Sing, a ship's cook, the episode of the missing sailors.

Anderson said: "They were plucked from the streets or dragged in the middle of the night from their beds as they slept. They were taken to the docks and herded like cattle into the ship's hatches, not even in cabins. Even animals were not treated so badly. For many years this story was untold, but now more of the truth is coming out."

Before Blue Funnel was founded in 1865 there was a small Chinese community in Liverpool, but many of the Chinese seafarers employed by Blue Funnel settled in the city.

By World War II up to 20,000 Chinese seafarers had made Liverpool their home. However, following the war the government took action to repatriate large numbers of them, often with their families being unaware of what became of them. It is understood that the Blue Funnel Line attempted to help families affected by repatriation.

Kenny told Xinhua that the idea for the plaque came about over lunch in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown with four Shanghai former Blue Funnel seamen.

"Together, we wanted to celebrate the happy and tragic times that we have been recording through our Liverpool Chinatown history project. It will become an iconic attraction for sailors and their families worldwide," she said.

Liverpool city government councilor Steve Munby noted that Liverpool prides itself on its maritime history and an important part of that history is the role of Chinese seamen.

"Many of them gave their lives while serving with the Merchant Navy and others, shamefully, were forcibly removed from their homes and families," he said. "The contribution Chinese seafarers have made to the city should never be overlooked and this plaque recognizes their role and that of the Blue Funnel Line."

Campaigners hope a disused pub, The Nook, which stands next to the old Blue Funnel office will be used as a museum of Liverpool Chinatown so the story of the Chinese mariners will be remembered for all time.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-11/19/c_132898460.htm