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Episode details

Radio 3,11 Jul 2014,15 mins

SeriesGoodbye to All That

Xiaolu Guo

The Essay

Available for over a year

Taking Robert Graves' phrase Goodbye to All That as their starting point, five writers from countries involved in the First World War reflect on a turning point moment in their own histories and interpret the phrase with the ambiguity that Graves intended. These five essays that have been curated by writer Lavinia Greenlaw to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, as part of 14-18 Now, a major cultural programme across the United Kingdom. Tonight, Chinese-born author, Xiaolu Guo, contemplates the role of Chinese 'coolies' on the battlefields of the First World War. Written and read by Xiaolu Guo Produced by Emma Harding.

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