I was sent this photograph of my grandfather with a scan of the back that simply says "Soissons France, 1919"
My grandfather was King Chau (KC) Mui and for a period of time, he was a Chinese diplomat. I don't think he was with the Chinese foreign service when this photo was taken but I'm sure he had some association with the foreign service at the time. KC Mui was a Counsel General to the United States stationed in Honolulu when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He was later Minister to Cuba in the late 1940's. After Mao took over, my grandfather "retired" and returned to Honolulu where he was a prominent banker and Chinese leader.
I know very little about my (maternal) grandfather's backstory. I do know he went to school in Oberlin College, Ohio before this photo was taken. This photo is also well before my mother and her siblings were born.
I've done the cursory searches of the Battle of Soissons but I'm wondering if there's any context as to why a Chinese official (probably in an unofficial capacity) were to end up in a trench a year after the Battle of Soissons. It could be a simple answer that he was a young man looking for adventure at the time, but I wanted to know if there might be any historical context to this.
Thanks.
Thanks for sharing this photograph!
Your grandfather might have been in Soissons in connection with the Chinese Labour Corps (apologies for the Wikipedia link). There were still a considerable number of CLC members in France in 1919, including in the Soissons area. Some of them became very dissatisfied with their living and working conditions. There were delays in returning home, poor accommodations, limited pay, and dangerous work — many members of the CLC were engaged in clearing battlefields in the immediate aftermath of the war. They also had to deal with local residents who were less welcoming than they had been in wartime, and who objected to non-white troops and personnel in the area, sometimes resorting to violence.
Mark O’Neill’s The Chinese Labour Corps refers to a confrontation in the Soissons area in the summer of 1919, so that could be the reason your grandfather was there.
The Wikipedia article on the CLC has a number of other useful reference that might be helpful. There was also a conference a few years ago that brought together a number of researchers and historians interested in the CLC, and the conference schedule and resume (pdf warning!) may provide some useful resources and contact information.
After looking at the photograph again, it also occurred to me that your grandfather could have been there as part of a battlefield tour, perhaps as a military attache, since the clothing he's wearing looks like like it could be a military uniform.
Hope this helps!