Meileen Choo: “'Coolie' involves both Asian and Latino creative and cultural processes and talent"

The period drama Coolie will have its world premiere at Content Americas, with several of its talented Latino stars in attendance. The series delves into the little-known history of enslaved Chinese 'coolies' in Cuba during the 1860s. Señal News chatted exclusively with Meileen Choo, the creator and showrunner of the series, about her project and its close ties to her own family story

The period drama "Coolie" is based on the little-known history of Chinese coolies enslaved in Cuba. What inspired you to explore this subject and bring it to the screen?
"I have always been interested in the history of the Chinese Diaspora. The Overseas Chinese (or in Chinese Huaqiao), of whom I am one of them, are found in many countries in the world. Many Overseas Chinese migrated in the early 19th century. Most of them came from the Pearl River Delta in southern China. They left in great numbers at this time because of abject poverty, famines, and a future with no hope. Few had the ability to save enough money to go home. Everything they earned was always sent back to their families in China. When we talk about slavery, we immediately think of slaves from West Africa in the cotton fields of the US. But no one knows about Chinese slavery or realizes the great economic contributions these Overseas Chinese have made to the countries that they eventually settled in. Chinese Coolies helped to build the railways in California, the Canal in Panama; they mined for tin in Bolivia and Malaysia, they worked on the sugar and tobacco plantations in Cuba, DR, and Jamaica, they also worked on the guano mines in Peru - they went by the thousands to work in South East Asia. They started businesses in many of the places that they settled in. As my own forefathers came as indentured workers to mine tin in Malaysia, I was particularly interested in this subject. I also come from a family of very strong women. I realized that there are few strong roles in film about pioneering Asian women. The main character, Chulin, is based on my great grandmother, my grandmother and my own mother. I created this story over 30 years ago, but life got in the way as I was managing my family’s company and I never had the opportunity to make it a reality until now. Originally, it was meant to be a film because streaming did not exist then, but things have changed and now, it is much better to have it as a series because it allows us the time to develop the characters and the different arcs in the story. I had considered many histories of the Chinese around the world. But by chance some 30 years ago I came across an article on three Chinese men who were still block printing a Chinese newspaper in Cuba. That piqued my interest because I never knew there were Chinese in Cuba and I discovered what an important role the Chinese had played in the Cuban war to gain independence from Spain. In Havana today, there is a stone column that the Cubans erected to honour all the Chinese who helped them in their war for freedom from Spanish rule. It is located in the Vedado.  I have visited it myself in 1995. On this stone column is inscribed in Spanish: "Este monumento es erigido a la memoria de los chinos que combatieron por la independencia de Cuba". It also includes the phrase, “No hubo un chino cubano desertor. No hubo un chino cubano traidor,” which translates to "There was not one Chinese Cuban deserter. There was not one Chinese Cuban traitor".

How did you approach the research process to authentically depict the lives of Chinese coolies during Cuba’s War of Independence?
"There is a very important document called 'The Cuba Commission Report: A Hidden History of the Chinese in Cuba.' In 1873, prompted by reports of terrible abuse of the Chinese laborers in the Spanish colony of Cuba, the Qing Emperor Tongzhi, sent an Imperial Mission to investigate the living and working conditions of these laborers on the island's sugar plantations. Over 1000 depositions were taken from Chinese workers and the report was published in 1876. I took a lot of the experiences we have shown in the series from this report, like Coolies would hang themselves out of despair. There are also two important books written by Lynn Pan viz, 'Sons of the Yellow Emperor: A History of the Overseas Chinese' and 'Encyclopedia of the Overseas Chinese' that I relied on for research on the lives of Coolies around the world. For the more personal details of Chulin’s character, I drew on the experiences of my own family. As I said earlier, the women from my maternal family are very strong in character and I used these to create Chulin."

"Coolie" involves an international production team representing over 30 countries. How did this diverse influence the creative process and cultural representation in the series?
"Actually, at last count, we had nationalities from 40 countries working in front and behind the cameras. 'Coolie' is probably one of the first projects that I know of, with this kind of budget, to involve both Asian and Latino creative and cultural processes and talent. It is a very unique production and has given the series a very interesting cross-cultural look and feel. There is a certain richness to the sets, costumes, and characters that I feel helps to promote a better understanding of both the Chinese and Latino worlds. Our director is from Taiwan, our producer from Germany/Korea, our set designer from Argentina, our costume designer from Los Angeles and our DOP from the UK. Their contributions can be seen in the production value of the series. I for one didn’t know as much as I should have about Latinos, although of course I knew about some of the history of South America. I am so glad I made this series in the Dominican Republic and Panama because I got to know and became friends with people from so many different Latin American countries, it was a wonderful experience. The Asian producers, director and actors brought the Asian elements that you see on the screen and the Latin American production designer and crew made it look richer with their creativity. It was very much a hand-in-hand joint effort, and I can safely say, we are all very proud of what we have produced."

What were some of the challenges and advantages of working with such a globally diverse cast and crew?
"Only in the beginning, I guess the challenge was for everyone to get into a common mode of working on and off set. After all, we spent 4 and half months together filming. Filming is done very differently in Asia, everything is very chop chop, here we learnt to take things easier. And I just loved how everyone would dance and sing in between takes. One thing that helped was that almost everyone on set loved the project very much from the onset and had so much passion for it. I made sure that the main crew we engaged liked the project, were passionate about it and didn’t just take it as another job. That made the world of difference. In the end, we became a family. And we still stay very much in touch with each other.”

What kind of impact do you want the series to have on audiences, both in terms of historical awareness and emotional resonance?
"I hope the world gets to see the series. The topic is very fresh, so I hope audiences will enjoy it as a good and interesting story. But first, I have to find a home for 'Coolie'. We decided to self-finance it, which is probably a very brave and stupid thing to do. Hahaha. But I really wanted this story to be told and filmed from a different perspective, with no interference. I hope that in this crazy mixed-up world that we live in today, people will become aware that every citizen of their country has made some contribution no matter where they originally came from. And I hope that this will give some pride to the Overseas Chinese wherever they may be living. Whilst our forefathers’ history of indentured labour has been largely ignored within the pages of Western history books or buried beneath the weight of the history of African slavery, we have not forgotten them. And its time this story of Chinese indentured labour was told. For me personally, it is a dream which has been in my head for over 30 years, and it has now become a reality."