'The Six,' a new documentary executive-produced by James Cameron, reveals the hidden stories of six Chinese survivors aboard the Titanic
More than a hundred years after the sinking of the Titanic, and two-billion-dollars’ worth of tears at the box office from James Cameron’s film adaptation, a small rescue team sets out again to salvage from the wreck of this tragedy.
Only this time the excavation takes place not on an ocean floor but in the depths of archives and family histories, and the mission’s target is a piece of the past forgotten from one of the 20th century’s most renowned disasters.
In The Six, researcher and author Steven Schwankert and director Arthur Jones search for traces of the six Chinese survivors of the ill-fated ocean liner that sank off the coast of Newfoundland on April 15, 1912. The journey takes them across the US, China, the UK, and Canada, guided by one single third-class ticket crowded with eight Chinese-sounding names which Schwankert, a maritime history enthusiast, had discovered during routine research into the Titanic.
Together, Schwankert and Jones pore over questions: Who were they? How did six out of the eight survive? Where were they headed in life? How is almost no one aware that there were Chinese passengers on the ship, while other Titanic survivors have been celebrated worldwide?
These questions string together researchers and disparate characters across oceans. There are purported acquaintances and descendants of the survivors, whose narratives slowly put this corner of history back into the picture. The filmmakers even meet the developers of the computer game Titanic: Honor and Glory, whose lifelike digital replica of the ship helps them figure out the escape route the six men might have taken.
The documentary brings us to a cafe in Cambridge, Ontario, where gray-haired patrons reminisce how the business’s previous Chinese owner used to fascinate residents of this small town with his tales of surviving the Titanic. It takes us to find a man named Tom Fong in Janesville, Wisconsin, whose father Fong Wing Sun is believed to be the Fang Lang on the list of Titanic survivors (Chinese passengers’ identities are hard to verify, as their names were phoneticized by White Star Line clerks in unreliable Latin script).
The Chinese Who Survived the Titanic is a story from our issue, “Something Old Something New.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine. Alternatively, you can purchase the digital version from the App Store.
Siyi is the Culture Editor at The World of Chinese. She writes about arts, culture, and society, and is ever-curious about the minds, hearts, and souls inside all of these spheres. Before joining TWOC, she was a freelance writer with some additional work experience in independent filmmaking and the field of education.
