Depictions of Chinese in "Hell On wheels"

First of all, I love this show. But when I was first watching I was like, "How the hell can you make a whole show about the railroad, and it is really pushing the boundary in terms of talking about race and all that... and yet you have no Chinese characters?

So finally some Chinese extras show up. And before you think this is  a post complaining about Asian stereotypes or whatever... I mean I'm sure there can be issues had with depiction of Native Americans, Nordic people, Irish, and Mormons...

But since I actually know something about Chinese people, I was wondering why when they showed up, the only guy with lines was this (perhaps mixed race?) Chinese person that appeared white and had a German last name and was speaking in Mandarin. In fact it was funny because the Railroad owner coming from the West Coast (a minor character) predicted that Mandarin would be California's second language by the end of the century.

Of course thanks to the Chinese Exclusion act... which maybe didn't yet happen in the series.. that did not happen.

So this time period is during the Qing Dynasty.. but it could be during the Tai Ping Rebellion or maybe even the Opium War and Boxer rebellion. So when they say "There land is" something horrible I forget the line "Where human meet is held up in the market." Depending on which war is taking place... well I guess it;s possible.

But why would they be speaking Mandarin? Nearly all the early workers were Taishanese Specifically or at least fro Sze Yup, the four counties or whatever their called. Taishan, Hoi Ping, Zhong san, don't remember what number four in four yup is but you know around that area. Did they speak more Mandarin back then? I mean I know that the older generation hardly speaks Mandarin at all... but I also heard that maybe there was a time before that when people did learn Mandarin in school. Was the country more together on this back then? I don't know I seriously doubt it, which means it is far more likely that the show didn't bother with real research for the Chinese characters, (the actors looked pretty Taishanese though.... they probably didn't even speak Chinese which could be why they had no lines... or maybe, again I should blame the show.)

But that depiction made me pretty much really call into question the depiction of the Mormons.

I'm hoping this show has more Chinese Characters as the railroad moves west... or is it just going to end when the last stake is hammered in and there will be no Chinese Characters? I mean even Bonanza had Hop Sing.

In any case, if the show doesn't end up having Chinese characters, someone should make a show LIKE this from the Chinese perspective. What I mean is, tell the story, have it be entertaining, and have a ton of Chinese Characters but don't make it all about that.... justice. Make it about drinking and fighting and revenge. I mean changing Hollywood is hard but now people can do these Netflix or Youtube shows.

I mean the shows main character is an ex Confederate General. That's different.

You can totally make a version with more Chinese. Some people might say that's what Kung Fu was. Sure. So let's make another one of those except make it grittier and maybe you don't need to have Kung Fu in it per se. Fighting yes. Kung Fu moves in the fighting, sure... but maybe with Cowboy Choreography and a lot of shooting. Ie. Instead of throwing you typical American punch.. .you throw a Kwa Kuen but the result is the same. Instead of a Cowboy boot kick... maybe you have a Kung Fu kick... but again it end up not making a difference in timing and fight sequence. Not Kung Fu for Kung Fu's sake. Just that some characters MIGHT know something but it's not the main part of the story, or like suddenly everyone has to be doing martial arts when they didn't.