For Chinese railroad workers and early migrants to Canada, the new movie "Iron Road" gives a face to those nameless and voiceless who perished en masse in history. The film premiered at York University, Toronto, Canada on Sunday.
The movie depicts the history through the romance between a young Chinese woman and a Canadian man. Little Tiger, disguised as a boy, goes in search of her railroad-worker father in British Columbia. James's father runs a company that builds the railroad.
The international cast includes China's Sun Li and American stars Peter O'Toole and Sam Neill, and Canada's own Luke MacFarlane. It's the first epic movie based on that dark era of Chinese-Canadian history at the turn of the late 18th Century.
Over 17 thousand Chinese workers were recruited to build railroads in Canada and 4000 of them lost their lives.
When the project was completed, the Canadian government started to collect a "Chinese Head Tax" from the workers and their families who settled down there. The tax was later replaced by the "Chinese Exclusion Act."
It was not until 2006 that Canada issued redress and an apology.
The movie is set to be broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in August.
(CCTV June 18, 2009)
