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The Six a tale of discrimination
Documentary tracing the journeys of the mysterious Chinese sailors on board the Titanic underscores historical anti-Asian sentiment
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A scene from the documentary The Six, which follows the journeys of eight Chinese sailors aboard the Titanic, of whom two died.
PHOTO: LOST PENSIVOS FILM
Tan Dawn Wei China Bureau Chief In Beijing, Tan Dawn Wei
When the "unsinkable" Titanic fatally struck an iceberg on its way from Southampton in England to New York City in the early hours of April 15, 1912, 705 of its 2,200 passengers and crew survived. Of these, six were Chinese.
The identities of these men, who managed to escape perishing in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, have largely been unknown for a century. They certainly never made it into the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster movie by director James Cameron.
