Chapter 10 Section 4 Digging of the Panama Canal

The excavation of the Panama Canal can be said to be another monument of Chinese construction in America. Between North America and South America, from Guatemala in the north to Panama in the south, there is a narrow strip extending from northwest to southeast, geographically known as the Central American Isthmus.At the southern end of the isthmus, from Costa Rica in Central America to Colombia in South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean in the north and the Pacific Ocean in the south, is a neck of about 60-180 kilometers, which is geographically called the Isthmus of Panama.The wasp waist between Panama City on the Pacific coast and Colon City on the Atlantic coast is one of the narrowest and lowest parts of the Isthmus of Panama.This is the most ideal area for digging the Panama Canal.

For a long time, colonialist countries such as Spain, the United Kingdom, and France have frequently competed to control the right to dig the Panama Canal in order to communicate with the Atlantic and Pacific voyages from here to plunder Latin American properties and precious metals. In 1879, French engineer Ferdinand de Lessebs presided over the establishment of the first Panama Canal Company to excavate the Panama Canal, and officially broke ground in early 1881. During the excavation of the Panama Canal (1881-1890), France recruited Chinese laborers in China twice.The first batch was from 1880 to 1881. On behalf of French businessmen, Koehler, the French consul in Guangzhou, asked Liu Kunyi, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, to set up a recruitment center in Guangzhou to recruit Chinese workers to dig a canal in Panama.This request was immediately approved, and the recruitment began immediately. During this period, nearly a thousand Chinese workers went to Panama to dig the canal.The second batch was from 1887 to 1888. The recruiters sent by the Panama Canal Company negotiated terms with Dao Sheng Xuanhuai of the Guangdong Customs, and with the assistance of some gentry compradors in Guangdong Province, tempted them to go to Panama to open the river.Although blocked by the Guangdong authorities, 651 Chinese laborers were still transported to the Panama Canal construction site.From 1889 to 1890, the third batch was recruited by the Panama Canal Company from Chinese ports, Hong Kong and British Trinidad and Guyana in the Caribbean by various means.The total number of Chinese laborers who came to Panama amounted to 4,000 to 5,000, and most of them participated in the canal excavation project.During the excavation of the canal, many Chinese laborers contracted yellow fever and malaria, and many of them lost their lives.According to statistics, about 400 Chinese laborers died during the construction of the Panama Canal in France.Later, due to corruption, theft and malpractice of the canal company, the funds for the canal were exhausted, and the project was forced to stop in 1890.

France organized the new Panama Canal Company in 1893.Not long after the company was established, it sent staff to China to recruit Chinese workers to dig the canal.The Chinese Prime Minister's Yamen ordered the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi to reject the French request, but from 1894 to 1895, some Chinese laborers still arrived at the canal construction site.But the New Panama Canal Company did not last long and declared bankruptcy. In 1903, the United States signed a treaty with Panama.In addition to stipulating that the United States "guarantees and will continue to maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama", the U.S.-Pakistan Treaty also stipulates that Panama will cede to the United States a 10-mile-wide strip of the Canal Area for "permanent use, occupation and control" for "constructing, maintaining, operating "Right to the Ocean Canal.After the United States seized the right to dig the Isthmus of Panama and the Panama Canal, it was easy to establish the Isthmus Canal Commission under the direct leadership of the President in 1904, headed by Rear Admiral Volker, and officially started construction.By 1914, the canal project was almost complete.

After the excavation of the Panama Canal project in the United States began, Chinese workers successively arrived to work on the Panama Canal construction site from the United States, Cuba, Jamaica, Guyana and other places.In addition, the U.S. envoy to Beijing also sent a note to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1906, requesting permission for American businessmen to recruit workers in China and go to Panama to open the river.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs then delayed the negotiations on the grounds that the water and soil in Panama were bad and not suitable for Chinese.However, during the negotiation period, American businessmen have secretly recruited workers from Fuzhou, Xiamen and other places.When the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang banned Chinese workers from going to Panama, more than 2,000 Chinese workers had already taken a boat from Hong Kong and arrived in New York and other ports in the eastern United States, ready to change ships to Panama.

During the excavation of the Panama Canal, the Chinese laborers not only had heavy work and could not adapt to the climate, but also received very low wages, living conditions were extremely poor, malaria was prevalent, and there were few survivors of the Chinese laborers.There is also a record of this matter in the archives of the Qing Dynasty: in a play on December 12, the 14th year of Guangxu, Zhang Yinhuan said: "Central Amelia (America), the junction of the two continents of South Amelia, , called Panama Island...At that time, 2,000 people from Guangdong went to serve (referring to digging the Panama Canal), and within a year they died of miasma." It is said that the average construction of the Panama Canal one meter canal cost one person's life.Therefore, canal workers bitterly called the Panama Canal "the bank of death".

In 1915, the Panama Canal was officially opened.The canal starts from Cristobal in the west and ends in Balboa in the east, with a length of 68 kilometers. Including the deep-water section connecting the two oceans, the total length is 81.3 kilometers.There are three sluices at both ends of the canal, and two dams on the Chagres River, all of which are famous in the world.The Panama Canal is a lock-type canal 25 meters above sea level and a famous "water bridge" on the Isthmus of Panama. The Panama Canal is an important worldwide waterway, which connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and facilitates ocean transportation between continents in the world, especially transportation between North America, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific Ocean. It has huge economic significance and strategic value.

The above shows how much the Chinese laborers paid and played an important role in excavating this important Panama Canal.So far, people still admire and miss those Chinese laborers: in the most difficult part of the canal project, that is, on the top of Culebra Mountain in the middle section, there stands a pavilion called "Contracted Chinese Laborers Pavilion".It was built by the people of Panama to commemorate the Chinese who died in the canal excavation project.The outstanding feats of Chinese laborers in building the canal will last forever with this "Contract Chinese Labor Pavilion".

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