By Raymond Chong (Zhang Weiming)
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH-During a crisp spring of early May 2019, I quietly trekked to Utah, the Beehive State, in the far west of America, to celebrate 150th anniversary of magnificent Transcontinental Railroad, a work of giants, by the Chinese Railroad Workers.
Bein Yiu Chung, my great great grandfather, from Hoyping (Kaiping) in Kongmoon (Jiangmen) in province of Kwangtung (Guangdong) of Cathay (China) was one of the 12,000 Chinese Railroad Workers. He had toiled from the Sierra Nevada thru the Great Basin desert of Nevada to the sagebrush in Promontory Point near the majestic Salt Lake of Utah. He toiled until May 10, 1869. On that day, the ceremonial driving of a golden spike that signaled completion of America’s first transcontinental railroad took place.
Many descendants of Chinese Railroad Workers paid overdue tributes to their forefathers on the 150th anniversary of the golden spike ceremony in the desolate desert of Promontory Point. Everyone had inspirational tales of their forefathers and awesome stories of their descendants across America. They shared them with AsAmNews. Below are voices of the Chinese Railroad Workers of the Transcontinental Railroad from their descendants.
George Sau is a retired electrical engineer. He was joined by John, his brother, consumer electronics entrepreneur, for this sojourn. Their mother’s father, Poon Ling Tak, labored on the Transcontinental Railroad from 1865 to 1869. After 1869, he was a successful vegetable farmer in California.
“Great event,” said Sau to AsAmNews. “It provided a long overdue opportunity to bring out of the shadows of history, the toiled sacrifices and magnificent accomplishments of the Chinese railroad workers who critically built the infrastructure of our great nation.
Dr. Russel Low is a radiologist in La Jolla, California, with roots in Stockton in the Central Valley. Hung Lai Wah, from Toishan (Taishan) arrived on Gold Mountain – America, with his brother, Hung Jick Wah. They blasted thru the granite of the Sierra Nevada and graded the railroad bed to Utah. Low’s great-grandfather stayed in the America and achieved success in the cigar industry.
“The celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad appreciates an incredible accomplishment of the Chinese Railroad Workers. But we also celebrate the courage of the people – the men and the women and their descendants,” he said.
Linn Lee is a curriculum specialist at Santa Ana Unified School District in California. Lim Lip Hong, from Hoyping (Kaiping), her forefather, toiled on the Transcontinental Railroad from 1863 to 1869. He arrived in America at the age of 12 in 1855. While living in California, he began work when he was 20 years old in 1863.
“This event of the 150th Golden Spike with Connie Young Yu’s speech righted a wrong, the wrong that Chinese railroad workers have not been given the recognition for the building of the Central Pacific Railroad line. Finally, as a Chinese American, I feel truly American,” said Lee.
Dr. Jeffery Lee, Palo Alto, California, is a retired dentist, his great grandfather hailed from Toishan (Taishan). Lee Wong Sang, was a foreman of one crew of Cantonese men and later became a labor contractor.
“I first thought this 150th celebration was going to simply pay respects to my great grandpa. But I leave with a texture of emotions that is so much broader. I hope that his efforts in America have provided me and my family and my nation an opportunity be be even more adventurous and rich,” he said.
Connie Young Yu, an historian and commencement speaker at the Golden Spike Sesquicentennial Ceremony Festival in Promontory Point on May 10, 2019, is a descendant of Lee Wong Sang, as well as cousin of Dr. Jeffery Lee. Connie reflects on the meaning of 150th anniversary of Transcontinental Railroad.
“It felt like a full circle, remembering and honoring our railroad worker ancestors,” she said to AsAmNews. “For me, it was completing the journey that Phillip Choy took with my parents, and most of all, in memory of my mother who came to Promontory Summit on May 10, 1969, to help put Chinese on the map and did not have her voice heard. Her grandfather Lee Wong Sang, was a foreman on the Central Pacific, and on May 10, 2019, I was finally able to say his name – representing all the unsung heroes of the Transcontinental Railroad, from the Golden Spike podium. “Done!”
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