Hell on Wheels - Chinese Worker Controversy *Updated*

Angry Asian Man wrote an article about Chinese workers being excised from AMC's new drama Hell on Wheels. But apparently this doesn't seem to be the whole truth. I simply don't know enough about this topic, so I'm also posting another article which has a pretty different opinion on this topic.

Last week, TV critics got a look at AMC's upcoming original series Hell on Wheels, an epic historical drama about the building of the Transcontinental Railraod and the tent city that moved along the railroad as it was built. That sounds pretty cool. That sounds like an interesting story I'd like to see.

Now, we all know that Chinese immigrant workers were a major part of the labor force that helped build the railroad. It would make perfect sense for Chinese characters to have a presence in this show. Right? Right?

Nope.

Surprise, surprise. There are no Chinese immigrant characters in the series. Somehow, they've been conveniently dropped from this side of the story. When pressed by critics on this point, the show's producers danced all around the answer:

“I predicted this is probably going to be the first question we were going to be asked,” creator Joe Gayton said proudly. “And probably rightfully so,” he added graciously, “because I think what a lot of people think of when they think about the Transcontinental Railroad is the contribution of the Chinese immigrants.”

But, he explained, “one of the things that really caught me is, just, it’s just so American, the idea of a tent city that packs up and moves, you know. And it’s violent, and it’s given to vice and gambling, but there’s churches there. And there was just something about that that caught [us], and I think that’s probably the reason.”

“And just, budget-wise and time-wise . . . we could really only concentrate on one side of [the railroad building], and that’s probably why we, you know, that’s why we chose the [emanating from the East Coast] Union Pacific as opposed to the [emanating from the West Coast] Central Pacific.”

"The genesis of the railroad started in the East," said Tony Gayton, taking a whack at the question, which, to refresh your memory as we travel further and further down the Gayton Family Rabbit Hole, was, "Why no Chinese characters?"

"It was Abraham Lincoln’s idea, and we’ve likened it to JFK, you know, saying, ‘We are going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade,’ " Tony Gayton prattled on merrily.

"And it was very similar. So it just seemed a good starting point."

But, he promised, "The Central Pacific will be a hint in the show. I mean, we will know that they are out there, building."

"Having said that, we did write the Central Pacific into the pilot," Joe Gayton jumped back in, sensing the explanation was not going over as well as might be hoped.

"And people asked us if we were insane, if we were trying to get both of the stories - service both of the stories - in a one-hour pilot. So they ended up getting excised."

Long story short, the Chinese were "excised" from the story. Hey, just like a history book! Yet another middle finger to the historical contributions of Chinese Americans, dating all the way back when. As usual, thanks Hollywood.


It's kind of fitting, like a modern cable network version of that famous photo taken at Promotory Summit, commemorating the completion of the railroad in 1869. It is said that dignitaries did not invite Chinese workers to the official ceremony. We're talking about men who worked their asses off and died for the construction of this railroad. They're not in the photo either.

Source: Angry Asian Man

And here's the opposing article:

Angry Asian Man posted yesterday about an interview (in the Washington Post) with producers of an upcoming original series on AMC, Hell on Wheels. The series’ producers were asked why there were no Chinese characters in the series and, in their fumbling responses, gave no clear answer to the question but did manage to inflame emotions with a statement that “they ended up getting excised” from the show’s pilot. Angry Asian Man uses the statement to make a larger point about the historical contributions of Chinese. While I sympathize with Angry Asian Man’s broader concern, in this specific instance, he (and for that matter, everyone involved) confuses “history” in several ways.

AAM begins by stating: “we all know that Chinese immigrant workers were a major part of the labor force that helped build the railroad.” He then askes: “It would make perfect sense for Chinese characters to have a presence in this show. Right?”

The problem is that while his first statement is correct–given most people’s take on the issue–the answer to his question is actually, no. According to its web site, Hell on Wheels tells the story of the building of the transcontinental railroad from the perspective of workers on the stretch of rail built westward from the central United States by the Union Pacific. More specifically its focus is a tent city that followed the progression of the rail as it was built.

Chinese worked on the rail segment built eastward from California by the Central Pacific. This segment was shorter than the Union Pacific, but the work was far more arduous because it required extending the rail line through the Sierra Nevada mountains, some of the harshest, steepest terrain on the North American continent. The work was particularly dangerous when it required lowering men down the side of sheer cliffs in baskets to plant and explode dynamite, which was lit while the men were lifted back up the cliffsides. The high incidence of death and injury gave rise to the expression “Chinaman’s chance,” meaning very unfavorable odds.

Since the construction of the transcontinental railroad involved both the eastward and westward rail segments, it makes sense to credit Chinese workers for their contributions to the overall project–something that did not occur at the celebration culminating the railroad’s completion. However, it makes no sense to expect to see Chinese workers in a historical drama about the Union Pacific’s rail segment because there were none–although I should admit that I haven’t checked the historical record to see if there were a few.

An overall assessment about Chinese contributions to the railroad historically is not the same thing as historical specificity and detail. These are two different senses of history, although the one is connected to the other. Specific detail matters because they configure and determine the historical narratives and arguments that are made about them.

My point is not to excuse the producers of the series. If their larger concern is to tell the story of the railroad’s construction, they needed to include the Central Pacific perspective, which would include Chinese. Their statement that the railroad was part of the nation’s westward expansion is demonstrably false and based on older, questionable historiography. Why, after all, build a transcontinental rail line to an undeveloped west coast region? The railroad connected segments from developed areas east and west, which is why it was completed in Utah, and the territory it “expanded” and developed was the United States’ mountain interior.

If the producers’ primary concern, however, is the social dynamics and drama within a tent city following the eastern segment of the rail as it was being built, there were no Chinese involved. But it’s also not that interesting. So why expect any and get upset about it? Such a direct and straightforward answer based in historical detail and understanding should have been satisfactory.

Admittedly, the UP and its workers were aware of the CP and the Chinese because they were in competition for progress and wages. This competition allows for the issue and even Chinese characters and/or issues to be introduced at some point. But no one speaking or commenting seems to be operating with that much actual historical knowledge.

Source: The Planet Mongo Project

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