An online documentary followed by a talk by Peng Wenlan based on her oral history film on the subject of the Chinese Labor Corps on the Western Front of WW1.

When Britain realised that the war would last longer than expected and was taking its toll on their soldiers at the Western Front, they looked east to China to recruit a labour force of men to work behind the lines. Nearly 100,000 men were shipped over from the province of Shandong to northern France and Flanders. This was the Chinese Labour Corps and, together with a further 40,000 employed by the French, they would become the largest foreign labour corps to serve the Allies during World War I.

The Speaker

Born in Kolkata, India, Wenlan Peng came to England during the mass exodus of Chinese from India in the 1960s. She was brought up in one of the roughest areas of Liverpool, which taught her to recognise the importance of hard work and humility at an early age. Always keenly interested in language and literature, she studied French and German at Leeds University and Modern Chinese at Cambridge University, before leaving for China to work as a translator and editor at the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing in 1978.

When English took the place of Russian as China's first foreign language in the late '70s, Wenlan became a presenter of English language programmes on China Central Television, becoming the state broadcaster's first foreign national to do so. She subsequently turned her skills to producing and directing – roles which she continued after her return to the UK in the late '80s at the Central Office of Information, various independent production companies and the BBC. She has since set up her own production company in London, which specialises in documentaries on China and frequently helps Chinese film and television companies on their UK and European shoots. Wenlan is also a regular trainer for the BBC and EU-funded documentary production courses and still does a spot of translation when she finds time.

Venue: online lecture via Zoom

Admission: No charge, please register your attendance in advance

Booking: Please email membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk in advance to register your attendance