Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Nolette Chinese cemetery in Noyelles-sur-Mer was established in 1921 to bury 849 Chinese civilian workers recruited by the British army between 1917 and 1919. These men, members of the Chinese Labour Corps, were performing painful tasks at the rear of the front: earthmoving, demining, or caring for sick soldiers, especially during the Spanish flu epidemic. Their camp, isolated from the local population, was hit by cholera and tuberculosis, causing many deaths.

The site, designed by Major Truelove under the direction of Edwin Lutyens, is distinguished by its monumental portal, its white marble steles engraved with Chinese ideograms and phrases in English as "Faithful unto Death", and the absence of usual Christian symbols in Commonwealth cemeteries. Since 2002, it has hosted the annual celebration of the Qing Ming Festival, organized by the Chinese community in France. The cemetery, owned by the French state and managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, was listed as a historic monument in 2016.

Chinese workers, the first wave of Asian immigration to France, were subject to strict restrictions, such as the ban on fraternizing with locals. Some stayed after 1919, marking the beginning of a diaspora. The memorial at the entrance also honors some 40 Chinese dead without a known burial. Lion statues, offered by China, adorn access to the site, highlighting its symbolic importance.

The cemetery is located near the hamlet of Nolette, in a wooded setting (pins, cedars) atypical for British military necropolises. The graves, rigorously aligned, rarely bear names, reflecting the anonymity of these workers. Their contribution, long unknown, is today commemorated as a key episode of Franco-Chinese history and the Great War.

External links