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Here's Why You've Never Heard Of The Titanic's Chinese Survivors

A century ago, a racist press muddied their names when it didn’t ignore them entirely.
The Titanic sailed with eight Chinese passengers, six of whom survived only to be met with racism on shore.
Universal History Archive via Getty Images
The Titanic sailed with eight Chinese passengers, six of whom survived only to be met with racism on shore.

While the RMS Titanic left a lasting cultural legacy, the fate of its wealthiest passengers discussed in news and entertainment media, the history of the ship’s Chinese passengers has remained largely hidden.

And racist policies have a lot to do with it.

Out of the eight Chinese passengers aboard the ship, six survived the disaster that occurred off the coast of Newfoundland on April 15, 1912. But following their escape and eventual landing in the U.S., they were met with fierce anti-Chinese sentiment and strict immigration policies targeting those from China. The six were ultimately turned away at Ellis Island.

Their story is the subject of an upcoming documentary, “The Six,” to be released later this year. The film’s chief researcher, Steven Schwankert, told the South China Morning Post that his team hopes to set the record straight and address the attitudes that obscured the fate of the six travelers.

“Six Chinese guys made it off the Titanic alive and 24 hours later were written out of the story,” Schwankert said. “That wasn’t an accident. That was deliberate. It’s something that the culture of the time made happen.”

The passengers, who appeared to be from southern China, boarded the British ship in the English city of Southampton. In line with the way many ships handled third-class passengers a century ago, all eight of their names were written on a single ticket.