Speaking Existence

This special topic is not about phantoms; it is about concrete existence. To make its idea clear, I want to start with a story, or, to be more specific, a history. According to a report in the Dutch Flat Enquirer, in the winter of 1866 the Chinese encampments along the western end of America’s transcontinental railroad were engulfed by huge snowstorms. Normally, railroad workers should have been withdrawn. However, these Chinese laborers were forced by the railroad company to keep working through the winter. During Christmas, the snow fell so heavily that one whole camp was covered over.1 Not until spring when the snow had melted were most of the missing bodies found, “still upright, their cold hands gripping shovels and picks and their mouths twisted in frozen terror”(Takaki 86).