The Diary of Dukesang Wong

A Voice from Gold Mountain

Edited by David McIlwraith
Translated by Wanda Joy Hoe
By (author) Dukesang Wong
Categories: Asian history, History, History and Archaeology, China, East Asia, Far East, Asia, Place qualifiers
Publisher: Talonbooks
Paperback : 9781772012583, 144 pages, September 2020

Description

Here is the only known first-person account from a Chinese worker on the famously treacherous parts of transcontinental railways that spanned the North American continent in the nineteenth century. Dukesang Wong’s written account of life working on the Canadian Pacific Railway tells of the punishing work, the comradery, the sickness and starvation, the encounters with Indigenous Peoples, and the dark and shameful history of racism and exploitation that prevailed.

Awards

  • Short-listed, Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize (BC and Yukon Book Prizes) 2021

Reviews

"[The Diary of Dukesang Wong] puts a human face on the thousands of Chinese who came to Canada in the 19th century and gradually managed, by dint of sheer determination and hard work, to make themselves good lives."
Asian Review of Books