第一次世界大戰時大約有12-2 0萬華工代表中國服務於法 國戰場。其中約80%以上是文盲，因為語言不通、社會習俗不 同，遭遇諸多困難，甚至爆發衝突。基督教青年會為改變華工 的悲惨境遇，派遣晏陽初、傅若愚等到法國服務華工，開啟了 一場影響深遠的華工掃除文盲運動。他們為華工提供了包括中 文、英文、法文、歷史和地理在内的諸多課程和演講，其中， 當時影響最大且最富效率的是晏陽初和傅若愚等開創的華工掃 除文盲事業。他們通過編寫識字教材、創辨《華工週報》等活 動，以期將華工培養為信仰基督的新國民，進而影響中國的民 族國家建設，開創現代中國掃除文盲運動的新河。

About 120,000—200,000 Chinese laborers worked for Allied troops during WWI. 80% of them were illiterate and they encountered many language barriers and difficulties. Some members of the North American YMCA came to Britain and France to help them, especially by teaching them to read. James Yen and his colleagues initiated a new movement to teach the laborers They compiled a new basic Chinese characters book and a new paper called Chinese Laborers Weekly^ both of which were ver}^ useful in evangelizing and civilizing the laborers in order to positively affect the construction of a new nation at home. This also blazed a new trail for removing illiteracy in modem China.