Iron Road

First "Treaty" China-Canada Movie in 23 Years
This is a joint China-Canada project. It was shot in both countries .. there is a nice documentary that shows a lot more of it was shot in the rather amazing studio's in China then you might think. This story takes place in the 1880s.

The history being told about is true; in Canada we had waves of labour immigration to bring cheap labour from abroad -- Irish were getting more costly (and settled) so Chinese workers were brought in to do the dangerous and labour intensive work of building the railway through the mountains (in this case the "Hell's Gate" passage).

The story of "a woman" dressing as a man to get work is apparently true, but "literary license" was used beyond that in regard to the dramatic plot. That said the background story is true; much like was done with the 1997 movie Titanic -- and if anything played down from the reality. As noted, a "Head Tax" came out of this immigration -- whereby the Chinese were taxes more then the railway cost. Canada...

Epic journey during rail boom finally on DVD
By Jim Clark, Lee County Courier, Tupelo, Mississippi
There's a good possibility you missed Iron Road, a Canada/China television miniseries when it originally aired in 2009. That would be your loss. The good news is Iron Road is now available on DVD from my friends at Entertainment One.
It follows the epic journey of a young Chinese girl, Little Tiger (Sun Li) who poses as a young man. Her mother has died and she's quit hearing from her father, who left earlier in search of fortune at Gum San (Gold Mountain).
Gold Mountain is actually a remote construction camp located in the Rockies, where men are attempting to blast through a mountain's core and lay down railroad tracks. The venture is headed by tycoon Alfred Nichol (Sam Neill). His project is behind schedule and he's facing bankruptcy. He wouldn't have a chance but his banker's daughter has a thing for Nichol's son, James (Luke Macfarlane).
Desperate Alfred sends his son to China to recruit more workers because...

A Bit of History
It was an entertaining movie and had a bit of history in it. Very well presented, and had a good cast.

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