Taking Time to Relax: Leisure Activities of Chinese Railroad Workers

Summary

Chinese who worked on the transcontinental railroads often endured long hours of dangerous, backbreaking work. A typical work week lasted from Monday to Saturday, sunrise to sunset. Sundays were spent washing and mending clothes and participating in leisure activities. Railroad workers carried few belongings with them as they had to be able to quickly pack up camp and move to the next construction stop. This paper explores how Chinese railroad workers entertained themselves with few material possessions and how the recreational activities that they engaged in differ from those of their fellow countrymen and women living in urban Chinatowns. In addition, this paper examines evidence of other recreational activities and hobbies such as hunting and fishing, that Chinese railroad workers may have been partaking in.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Being Chinese: Current Scholarship on the Chinese Diaspora in 19th-Century North America   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 255