Gu Xingqing

Who is Gu Xingqing?

Gu Xingqing of Baoshan, was a student in China when the British began recruiting labourers for the Chinese Labour Corps in Europe in 1917-1918. Gu signed up for the Chinese labour corps as an interpreter. Like many other young graduates in China, he regarded service with the CLC as a one-off chance to travel and a springboard to further studies in the U.K. After the war Gu returned to China, from where he left to the U.S.A. for advanced studies. In 1923, Gu returned to China with an M.A. in Arts and Sciences.

In 1937 the Commercial Press in Changsha published Gu’s memoirs on his work as an interpreter during the war in Europe. Gu’s book went through two reprints. It was never reprinted since. Gu’s book yet is the only book-length account on the First World War by a Chinese national known to exist.

In his memoirs Gu tells the story of his journey from his home-village in China to Europe, his work in Belgium and France and his return home. Although published nearly two decades after the events, Gu’s account proves to be highly accurate in terms of dates and events. Gu’s main source in writing his book were the personal notes he had taken in Europe, but which he lost during the Japanese raid on the Zhabei district in Shanghai on 28 January, 1932.