San Francisco to celebrate Chinese Railroad Workers Day

May 10 has been named as Transcontinental Chinese Railroad Workers Day in San Francisco in honor of the historic contributions made by the tens of thousands of Chinese workers who traveled to America in the 1860s to work on the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad.

With the arrival of the 150th anniversary of the completion of the railroad on Friday, the city council of San Francisco passed the bill on Thursday, according to a report by World Journal.

First Transcontinental Railroad in the US completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike on 10th May 1869. [File photo: IC]

The bill, put forward by Norman Yee, the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, won support from the majority of the members of the legislative body.

Yee noted that Chinese railroad workers made a great contribution to the construction of the railroad.

Hundreds of Chinese workers died during the difficult construction project. And despite their hard work, Chinese railroad workers were paid less than the white workers due to the systemic discrimination against them.

A monument has been made to honor the Chinese railroad workers, said Steven Lee, a member of the San Francisco Entertainment Commission who has been working to preserve this part of American history.

First Transcontinental Railroad in the US completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike on 10th May 1869. [File photo: IC]

He added that the monument will be displayed in Sacramento temporarily before being installed in a commemorative square in Placer County, Nevada.

Chinese people in the San Francisco Bay Area will join in a ceremony in Utah later this week to celebrate the anniversary of the completion of the railroad.