IN CHINA THE COOLIE IS THE
BEAST OF BURDEN
BY MICHAEL FONG
WHEN YOU SEE a coolie on the long "dusty road, balancing his load on both ends of a pole, the scene is a picturesque one. In his blue rags, from shades of indigo to turquoise to the paleness of a milky sky, he blends with the landscape. Perfect is the picture as he trudges along the narrow causeway between rice fields and scrambles up a dwarfish green hill. His clothing consists of no more than a short coat and a pair of trousers. If he is fortunate, he might possess a pair of open flat sandals. Rain or shine, he protects his head with a straw hat shaped like an extinguisher accentuated with a preposterously wide flat brim.
The picture is all the more vivid as a long line of coolies, each shouldering an enormous load and hurrying along the path as the padi water mirroring their drill-like precision steps. There is a philosophical expression in their
weary and wrinkled faces. These are straight-forward and good natured faces, nothing inscrutable about them. When they lie down for a rest under a banyan tree by a wayside shrine, or smoking and chattering away exchanging unique experiences with one another, you realize theirs is an immense responsibility as they trot along for 30 miles or more each day. This realization can evoke a feeling of admiration―for their endurance and endless spirit.
But the ancient and wise ones in China would consider such sentiments maudlin.
They will tell you with a tolerant shrug that the coolies have been "animals of burden" for more than 2000 years, threaded from generation to generation. They are sufficiently philosophical about their lot that they'd discharge their duties cheerfully. In-
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歡餃
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CHINATOWN NEWS, JULY 18, 1961
PACE THREE