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New Documentary Shares The Story Of 'Forgotten' Chinese Survivors Of Titanic

New Documentary Shares The Story Of 'Forgotten' Chinese Survivors Of Titanic

Six men are believed to have survived the tragedy but until now not much was known about them

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A new documentary will lift the lid on why the Titanic's Chinese survivors never made the history books.

The Six tells the true-life story of the eight Chinese passengers who were on the ill-fated ship's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.


Of the eight, six managed to survive the tragedy which killed over 1,5000 people back in 1912; however, until now very few details about them have been known.

Documentary maker Arthur Jones has spent over two years investigating the story behind the men, delving into the archives and working with top historian and researcher Steven Schwankert. They also used social media to help find out information, which Jones said brought in a lot of new leads.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Jones said: "Of the 700 survivors of the Titanic disaster, the six Chinese men never told their stories. Why were they ignored?

"The global press loved and continues to love the Titanic story, chronicling every little detail, right down to the size of the ashtrays in second class. But nothing was reported about the Chinese passengers.

"Who were they, why were they on board and what happened to them after the disaster? And how did so many get on a lifeboat?"

The pair discovered that the men were called Lee Bing, Fang Lang, Chang Chip, Ah Lam, Chung Foo and Ling Hee. They think the two who didn't survive were called Lee Ling and Len Lam.

The six men's names were all discovered on the same third-class ticket.

The Six

While we're mostly all quite familiar with the events that took place the night the ship hit an iceberg - mostly down to the hit film - what happened to these specific men is not known. What is known, is that one of the men was found holding on to a piece of floating wood and was found during a rescue mission.

Five others escaped in lifeboats. They eventually made their way back to dry land, but, for them, it wasn't the end of their struggles.

Upon arriving in the US, they were faced with a heavy anti-Chinese immigration policy and were turned away at Ellis Island.

Speaking to the Washington Post, Jones said: "Do we call it deportation, or do we just say they were in transit?

"I think if we call it in transit, we miss that ... they were not treated humanely. We know they lost close friends on board. And yet they weren't given the option of staying. Not only did they have to leave in 24 hours on board [the Annetta], they were held overnight in custody. They were detained."

The Six

At the time the men were vilified in the press, with many westerns accusing them of stowing away or even dressing as women to escape - but Jones new documentary claims this was certainly not the case, pointing out that many other white men escaped on lifeboats and didn't get the same treatment.

Sources: The Six; Washington Post; South China Morning Star

Featured Image Credit: The Six

Topics: TV and Film