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六人：泰坦尼克号上的中国幸存者
1912年4月10日，当时世界上最大的邮轮“泰坦尼克号”开始了它的第一次，也是最后一次航行。这艘永沉海底的巨轮承载了几代人的共同记忆，直至1997年由詹姆斯·卡梅隆执导的电影《泰坦尼克号》在美国上映，使得这场20世纪最著名的海难重回大众视野，一时间，有关灾难、人心、挣扎与救赎的话题再次席卷全球。但鲜为人知的是，那艘船上还有8名中国乘客，而且其中6名得以幸存。
有关“泰坦尼克号”上的中国幸存者，最早能够追溯的资料只有海难发生后西方媒体的零星报道，以及“泰坦尼克号”个别幸存者的回忆和证词：有人说他们是偷渡者，从一开始就藏身救生艇中；有人说他们是靠假扮女人混上救生艇；还有人说他们被枪指着，宁愿被打死都不愿下救生艇。这明显相互矛盾的指控背后，是不为人知也无人关心的历史真相。这6人就这样无端背负百年骂名，然后被遗忘。
一个多世纪之后，海事历史学家施万克首次为我们揭开那段被尘封的历史。他从海量档案资料中去伪存真，拼凑起有关中国乘客的身份信息。他亲身实施浸水实验，并且按照原比例打造救生艇，只为还原海难发生时中国乘客的遭遇，破除不实指控。他还多次前往英国、美国、加拿大以及那些中国乘客的故乡台山进行实地调查，追寻这些人为何漂洋过海而来，又在船难后去向了何方。
就这样，施万克以一种无可辩驳的方式向世人证明：这些中国幸存者绝非“懦夫”“偷渡者”，也不可能“假扮女人”混入救生艇。他们是“泰坦尼克号”事件中最不起眼的注脚，却是那个人口变迁、种族主义大背景下海外中国劳工群体的缩影，面对时代的不公、命运的倾轧，他们毫无还击之力，唯有“抹干眼泪笑呵呵”。
有关“泰坦尼克号”上的中国幸存者，最早能够追溯的资料只有海难发生后西方媒体的零星报道，以及“泰坦尼克号”个别幸存者的回忆和证词：有人说他们是偷渡者，从一开始就藏身救生艇中；有人说他们是靠假扮女人混上救生艇；还有人说他们被枪指着，宁愿被打死都不愿下救生艇。这明显相互矛盾的指控背后，是不为人知也无人关心的历史真相。这6人就这样无端背负百年骂名，然后被遗忘。
一个多世纪之后，海事历史学家施万克首次为我们揭开那段被尘封的历史。他从海量档案资料中去伪存真，拼凑起有关中国乘客的身份信息。他亲身实施浸水实验，并且按照原比例打造救生艇，只为还原海难发生时中国乘客的遭遇，破除不实指控。他还多次前往英国、美国、加拿大以及那些中国乘客的故乡台山进行实地调查，追寻这些人为何漂洋过海而来，又在船难后去向了何方。
就这样，施万克以一种无可辩驳的方式向世人证明：这些中国幸存者绝非“懦夫”“偷渡者”，也不可能“假扮女人”混入救生艇。他们是“泰坦尼克号”事件中最不起眼的注脚，却是那个人口变迁、种族主义大背景下海外中国劳工群体的缩影，面对时代的不公、命运的倾轧，他们毫无还击之力，唯有“抹干眼泪笑呵呵”。
232 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 1, 2022
About the author
Steven R. Schwankert
5 books5 followersSteven Schwankert is an award-winning writer and editor with more than 20 years of experience in Greater China, focusing on exploration, technology, media, and culture. His book, "Poseidon: China's Secret Salvage of Britain's Lost Submarine" was published in 2013 by Hong Kong University Press. "Beijing & Shanghai," a guidebook he co-wrote for Hong Kong's Odyssey Publications, is now in its third edition.
Steven is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a fellow and East and South Asia Chapter Chair of The Explorers Club, and founded SinoScuba, Beijing's first professional scuba diving operator. In 2007, he led the first-ever scientific expedition to dive Mongolia's Lake Khovsgol, where he and his team found two wooden shipwrecks from the early 20th century.
Steven's work has been published in world-renowned and regionally-recognized publications including The Asian Wall Street Journal, The South China Morning Post, Billboard, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. It has also appeared on the Web sites of The New York Times, The Washington Post, PC World, CIO, and MacWorld. He is a former deputy Asia editor for The Hollywood Reporter, former editor of Computerworld Hong Kong, and a former managing editor of asia.internet.com.
He is an alumnus of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Asian Languages department and received his Masters in journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1995. Steven splits his time between his native New Jersey and the People's Republic of, China.
Steven is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a fellow and East and South Asia Chapter Chair of The Explorers Club, and founded SinoScuba, Beijing's first professional scuba diving operator. In 2007, he led the first-ever scientific expedition to dive Mongolia's Lake Khovsgol, where he and his team found two wooden shipwrecks from the early 20th century.
Steven's work has been published in world-renowned and regionally-recognized publications including The Asian Wall Street Journal, The South China Morning Post, Billboard, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. It has also appeared on the Web sites of The New York Times, The Washington Post, PC World, CIO, and MacWorld. He is a former deputy Asia editor for The Hollywood Reporter, former editor of Computerworld Hong Kong, and a former managing editor of asia.internet.com.
He is an alumnus of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Asian Languages department and received his Masters in journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1995. Steven splits his time between his native New Jersey and the People's Republic of, China.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 10, 2023
I've "read" it as in I read the last 2 chapters and watched the documentary. Waiting for the English version as this was actually a Chinese translation and the only one available from the library.
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