Souls Left Behind: Remembering Chinese Contributions to UK and US War Efforts

Join us for a virtual sinoLEEDS event, organised in partnership with Sinoist Books, with support from Arts Council England.

We're delighted to be joined online by three speakers - Fan Wu, John De Lucy and Professor Gregory Lee, to talk about Fan's novel, Souls Left Behind (translated by Honey Watson and published by Sinoist Books) and how it pays tribute to the 140,000 men recruited from China by Allied forces during the First World War. 

Please sign up here for access to the event - an online link will be sent shortly beforehand.

ABOUT THE BOOK

During the First World War, some 140,000 mean were recruited from China by allied forces to perform support work and manual labour on the front lines. Often overlooked in history, their stories have gone largely underrepresented in historical fiction, something with Fan Wu strives to change. In this emotional novel, themes of war memory, searching for identity and profound loss are explored through the character of David, a former member of the Chinese Labour Corps who has settled in France. With insight into the regrets of David's younger years, his experiences in France, and his elderly life as a widower supported by his daughter, the scope of the novel is a powerful exploration of personal and collective struggles, spanning continents and generations.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Fan Wu is a bilingual writer, with her work published in more than ten languages. Born and raised in China, she travelled to the US for graduate studies and later worked in Silicon Valley's high-tech sector. She holds an MA from Stanford University and now lives in California. She is the author of three novels and her short fiction has appeared in numerous leading publications, such as Granta and Ploughshares, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She is also a co-founder of the Society of Heart’s Delight, which promotes interracial and intercultural dialogue, as well as a trustee and leader of Mothers’ Bridge of Love. She is the creator of the “Chinese Immigrants in Silicon Valley and Beyond” photoblog.

John De Lucy was born in Malaya and has lived in East Africa, England, and Canada. He has four children and eleven grandchildren. Having worked in Facilities Management for nine major corporations, he retired from the British Library 14 years ago. De Lucy inherited an extensive family photographic archive, spanning multiple centuries and documenting life in China, Malaya, New Zealand, and England. In retirement, he has devoted his time to researching his family history and exhibiting his findings in various countries.

Gregory Lee is Founding Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of St Andrews. An academic, writer and broadcaster, he has lived and worked in France, the USA, mainland China, and Hong Kong. In addition, to modern Chinese cultural studies, he has written widely on the representation of Chineseness, the Chinese diaspora, the transcultural, and intellectual decolonization. His most recent books are China Imagined: From European Fantasy to Spectacular Power (London: Hurst, 2018) and 第八位中國商人同消失咗嘅海/The Eighth Chinese Merchant and the Disappeared Seamen (Hong Kong: Typesetter, 2022).