Lisa Yun. The Coolie Speaks: Chinese Indentured Laborers and African Slaves in Cuba. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008. xxiii + 311 pp. $26.95, paper, ISBN 978-1-59213-582-0.
Reviewed by Robert Chao Romero
Published on H-LatAm (October, 2012)
Commissioned by Dennis R. Hidalgo (Virginia Tech)
Between 1847 and 1874, Cuban planters im‐ and conventions and that also contain certain ported more than 125,000 Chinese indentured la‐ themes and arguments” (p. xvi). borers, or “coolies,” as part of the “yellow trade.” Drawing from this rich collection of testi‐ Chinese contract laborers were recruited to work monies, Yun provides a wonderful and vivid de‐ on sugar, tobacco, and cofee plantations, and piction of coolie life in Cuba from the perspective they supplemented the diminishing supply of of the Chinese indentured laborers. Her work African slave labor following the abolition of the builds on, but far surpasses, the breadth of per‐ African slave trade in 1862. According to the tradi‐ spective provided by the testimonies included in tional historical narrative, Chinese coolies facili‐ The Cuba Commission Report: A Hidden History tated the Cuban transition from slave labor to of the Chinese in Cuba (1993, edited by Denise free, and they occupied an economic and racial Helly). Whereas The Cuba Commission Report of‐ position somewhere between that of African slave fers a meaningful record of the experience of and free white laborer. coolies in Cuba based on hundreds of depositions, In The Coolie Speaks, Lisa Yun challenges this Yun’s work draws from 2,841 Chinese-language traditional “narrative of transition” based on an petitions and depositions contained in the four‐ examination of nearly three thousand written teen-volume set of Guba huagong chengci (Testi‐ and oral testimonies that were given by Chinese monies given by Chinese labor in Cuba) and the coolies in 1874. She argues that these testimonies four-volume set of Guba huagong kougongce (Vol‐ “provide an alternate perspective to the ‘transi‐ umes of testimonies given by Chinese labor in tional’ narrative, which has facilitated the mod‐ Cuba). Both volumes are housed in the Library of ern teleology of slave to free, black to white” (p. Ancient Books at the National Library of China in 1). Moreover, she asserts: “these testimonies can Beijing. be read as ‘narratives’ that display certain tropes H-Net Reviews
Yun ofers the reader an unprecedented so‐ will cry, and whoever sees us being hired labor cial history of Chinese coolies in Cuba. Although will grieve” (p. 69). such scholars as Evelyn Hu-DeHart and Juan Yun examines these various coolie testi‐ Perez de la Riva have produced important studies monies as writings of “resistance.” She argues that examine the economic history of the coolie that Chinese workers submitted petitions to a Chi‐ trade and that compare the treatment of Chinese nese governmental commission in 1873 as a form coolies vis-à-vis the African slave population, Yun of active resistance to their conditions of forced is the frst to present a detailed picture of the lives labor. She also states that these petitions were and personal stories of Chinese coolies. Prior stud‐ each unique refections of the voice, style, and pe‐ ies tend to paint the coolies in broad strokes as culiarities of their respective author. Some were poor Chinese laborers who were tricked into sign‐ written in a literary fashion, others were penned ing contracts of indentured servitude and who in a vernacular style; some were long and well were exploited as “quasi-slaves.” Yun flls in this crafted, and others were short and pithy. A special picture with rich and wonderful detail that com‐ strength of this book is that Yun--a professor of plicates this traditional analysis. For example, she English and Asian American studies--provides im‐ shows that the coolie population hailed from di‐ pressive textual analysis of the coolie testimonies verse occupational backgrounds and included and petitions. aristocrats, doctors, government workers, teach‐ One minor critique of Yun’s work is that it ers, cloth weavers, merchants, and animal driv‐ does not deeply engage with the broader litera‐ ers. Speaking of this broad range of occupational ture on Asians in Latin America. Although Yun backgrounds, one coolie stated: “I was a frst-de‐ does refer to the work of such scholars as Hu-De‐ gree licentiate, graduated from Zhangbaikui Insti‐ Hart, Jefrey Lesser, and Erika Lee, she does not tute. Then I became a teacher. During an up‐ address the burgeoning historical literature on heaval, I was deceived and told that there was [a] Asians in Latin America in great depth. Notwith‐ teaching job in Macao. After arriving at Macao, I standing this small critique, The Coolie Speaks was forced to go abroad and later was sold to be a should be a standard text for all undergraduate slave in a tobacco shop. Others of us were peas‐ Latin American history courses on the history of ants, scholars, woodcutters, fshermen, or small Cuba. The book also contains an appendix entitled retailers in China” (p. 249). “Addendum: Selected Petitions,” which could be Yun also includes the testimony of a former especially useful as a tool for undergraduates to doctor who was tricked into coming to Cuba: “I learn about primary historical research. Finally, trained to become a doctor since I was young.... The Coolies Speaks is also ideal for advanced un‐ Mr. Yang said a foreigner asked him to fnd a doc‐ dergraduate or graduate level courses examining tor to treat people on a foreign ship until it ar‐ the Chinese diaspora or Asian immigration to the rived at the city.... I then went to Xinhe Hang with Americas. him.... I signed a contract, which stated I was re‐ In summary, The Coolie Speaks makes a sig‐ sponsible for medical treatment on the ship, and nal contribution to the historiographies of several after arriving [at] the destination, I could return academic felds, including Latin American studies, by taking the same ship ... however, the owner of Asian American studies, and Chinese diasporic the ship was evil! He tricked me to give him the studies. It should be considered the standard text contract.... The sufering and humiliation I experi‐ on the topic of Chinese coolie migration to Cuba. enced cannot be described with words.... Whoever hears about our experience of being hired labor
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Citation: Robert Chao Romero. Review of Yun, Lisa. The Coolie Speaks: Chinese Indentured Laborers and African Slaves in Cuba. H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. October, 2012.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=31732
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