Anyone from Asia

[Chung Rex]

I am an Asian interested in Titanic research and I wonder there are any Asian interested in this topic. I have read articles related to Titanic for 6 years.

 

[Dave Gittins]

G'day, Rex! I assume you give your name Chinese style, with the family name first.

We don't seem to have many Asians. I have a Chinese e-mate, who writes interesting fan fiction based on Cameron's movie, if you like that sort of thing.

You may be interested in what I was able to work out about the Chinese passengers on Titanic. I was assisted by two friends from Hong Kong.

Their names were, in Chinese style.

Lam (given name unknown)
Fang Lang
Lam Len
Cheong Foo
Chang Chip
Ling Hee
Lee Bing
Lee Ling

They are practically impossible to research, as the names are incomplete. All are missing at least one syllable. The addresses they gave the US immigration officers didn't exist. The street names were mangled Chinese. The men remain unknown, as they simply joined their own ship and sailed away.

 

[Chung Rex]

Yeah, I am a Hong Konger. When I found that some of the Chinese in Titanic survived(also in deleted scene of Titanic 1997), I was shocked because a local newspaper 10 years ago showed that all Chinese died in Titanic but one Japanese survived.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>The addresses they gave the US immigration officers didn't exist.<<

Sounds like somebody was trying to cover their tracks for some reason. Fugitives maybe?

 

[Dave Gittins]

Maybe I didn't express myself well. The Chinese didn't give false addresses. The US officials mangled the Chinese street names they gave. My e-mate checked street maps of Hong Kong from 1912.

Six out of eight Chinese survived, plus one Japanese. No other Asians were on board.

 

[Mark Baber]

Lebanon and Armenia are in Asia, no?

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Lebanon yes, Armenia maybe! It's generally considered to be 'Eurasian', being on the borderline of the two continents, but its history and cultural and political traditions link it more to Europe than to Asia. Most of Armenia's people (if not all of its politicians) are hopeful that the country will eventually be accepted into the European Union.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>The US officials mangled the Chinese street names they gave.<<

Okay, that makes sense. The immigration people made errors like that all the time.

 

[Lau Yikwan]

Re Chung,
You also come from HK?!
YEAH!me too
very surprised to meet a person from HK here!
As i know, there were very few survivors with the nationality of Asian...
Can you just give me some data or resources about it!

 

[Dave Gittins]

G'day, Yikwan!

If you look far up this page, you'll see my posting about the Chinese seamen who were passengers on Titanic.

Sadly, very little is known about these men. The six who survived were taken off Carpathia in New York in a boat, which took them to their own ship, called Annetta. Chinese were not allowed into the USA in those days.

My friend in Hong Kong has tried to find information about Titanic in the Chinese papers of 1912, but he doesn't read Cantonese very well. Maybe you can do better.

Happy New Year!

 

[Lau Yikwan]

Hi Dave,
I guess there were very few people that were Asian or Chinese on board Titanic...

But was there a rule that restrict the Asian or Chinese that they were not allowed to get onto the lifeboat causing the number of Chinese survivors to be so few?!

 

[Bob Godfrey]

The rule that could have prevented the Chinese men getting into the lifeboats was that they were men, not that they were Chinese. But most of them found their into lifeboats anyway. Their survival rate was 75%, by far the highest of any national group on board. For comparison, the British survival rate in 3rd class was only 18%. For some large groups, like the 32 young men from Bulgaria, it was zero.

 

[Lau Yikwan]

Hi Bob!
Thank you for your information!
Is it because there were few Chinese on board Titanic, so that their survival rate was far higher than those of other rises?!

But i don't think it was a good way for Smith to announce out the rule that woman and children first!Everyone has their right to survive!Many men were cold to death because of this!
That's my opinion!
Anyway, thank you!

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Hallo Yikwan. Presumably most of the Chinese men survived because they thought as you do that everyone had the right to try to save him or herself, and they tried more successfully than most. I wouldn't blame them for that. The idea of 'women and children first' was a European and American cultural tradition that didn't apply all over the world. The Chinese cultural tradition at that time was that in society as a whole men were more useful than women or children, so the priority should be to save the adult males.

 

[Lau Yikwan]

Hi Bob!
You really know a lot!
At first, i quite disagreed with ''woman and children first''!As i don't know this idea had a history and is a culture!

But if i think about it further, if Smith didn't announce out this, the woman were probably much more harder to get onto the boat!The situation would be much more confused!!

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Hallo again, Yikwan (or do your prefer to be called Shirley?). It is an ancient tradition of 'chivalry' in the West that ideally the strong should protect the weak, but not everybody behaves ideally! And times change. Today most of us would agree that the more vulnerable members of society (children, the old and infirm) should be protected, but most people now believe that fit adult women have no more and no less right to survival than men.

 

[Lau Yikwan]

Of course you can call me Shirley!Very welcome!
ya!I agree with you!Today, some woman are even stronger than some of the man!So i don't think this idea--woman and children first can still apply to the society anymore!

Anyway, Smith's order was just follow the cultural tradition with respect to ''chivalry''(as you just said)
and also respected the woman and children!!