Chinese

CHINESE first arrived in BC at NOOTKA SOUND aboard British fur-trading vessels in 1788–89. They were mostly artisans, brought by John MEARES to build a trading post, then settle a small colony near YUQUOT. They also helped build the NORTH WEST AMERICA, the first sailing vessel launched on the coast. The fate of these 120 or so people is not known, but it is known that a small number of Chinese were present in the crews of vessels engaged in the maritime FUR TRADE. The next arrivals were several hundred merchants and miners who hurried north from California in 1858 to join the GOLD RUSH to the FRASER R. A few of the newcomers opened businesses in VICTORIA, which by 1859 had a small CHINATOWN. The first Chinese baby born in Canada was Won Alexander CUMYOW, at PORT DOUGLAS in 1860. At the height of the gold rush the Chinese population reached almost 7,000, but it declined as the rush petered out and the 1871 census recorded just 1,548 Chinese, all but 53 of whom were men. The Chinese referred to BC as Gold Mountain. Chinese prospectors specialized in reworking the diggings abandoned by white miners. The tolerance that characterized relations between whites and Chinese during the gold rush period gave way to antipathy after 1871. Early Chinese colonists faced discrimination on many fronts. They received lower wages than white workers in the COAL mines; in 1875 they lost the right to vote provincially (municipally in 1876); they were barred from certain professions; for the most part they were confined to low-paying manual labour. Even so, residents feared that the Chinese, by their willingness to work for lower wages, would monopolize the job market. Mainly they worked clearing land, in SALMON CANNERIES, coal mines, laundries and restaurants, and as domestic servants. During construction of the CPR through the mountains (1880–85), about 6,500 Chinese labourers were imported by the railway. They were given the most dangerous jobs and at least 600 men died. Afterwards many of them remained in the province, but it was difficult for them to send for their families because in 1885 the federal government began imposing a HEAD TAX on Chinese immigrants. On 23 Feb 1887 a mob of about 300 men attacked a camp of Chinese land clearers at Coal Harbour in VANCOUVER and forced them to leave the city. It was the first organized violence against the Chinese in Canada and was repeated in Sept 1907 when a mob rampaged through Vancouver's Chinese and Japanese quarters. Nonetheless, by 1911 there were 20,000 Chinese in BC, most of them single men imported as labourers by special contractors. During World War One the William Head quarantine station near Victoria was a way station for more than 84,000 Chinese labourers who were making their way from China to the front lines in Europe where they filled a variety of non-combat roles.

Meanwhile discrimination against resident Chinese continued; it reached a low point in 1923 with the publication of the viciously racist novel The Writing on the Wall, by Hilda GLYNN-WARD. On 1 July 1923, the head tax was revoked and replaced by the Chinese Immigration Act, which halted virtually all immigration from China. During WWII several hundred Chinese Canadians fought on the Allied side in Europe. Following the war BC restored the vote to Chinese who had fought in the world wars. Then in 1947 Ottawa repealed the Chinese Immigration Act, and all Chinese Canadians regained the federal and provincial vote. (The municipal vote in Vancouver was granted in 1949.) Some restrictions on immigration were also lifted, but it was not until the introduction of the point system in 1967 that the Chinese were treated like anyone else. Post-1967 Chinese immigrants as a rule were better educated and wealthier than those who arrived pre-1923. They also came from a wider variety of places, including Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam, and they settled to a greater extent in parts of Canada other than BC. In 1901, 86% of Chinese Canadians lived in BC; by 1991 that figure had declined to 31%, second to Ontario. Within BC, many of the newcomers settled outside the traditional Chinese communities, most notably in RICHMOND, which during the 1990s became a suburban "Chinatown"; it became known, for example, for its Asian-themed shopping malls. SUCCESS (the United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society), formed in Vancouver in 1973, is an important immigrant assistance agency in the city. In the late 1980s, immigration from Hong Kong increased in anticipation of the colony's return to China in 1997; it fuelled an economic boom in BC which was the envy of the rest of the country.

While there is evidence of continued racism, Chinese Canadians, both native-born and immigrants, now have unprecedented access to leadership positions in BC, symbolized by the 1957 election of Douglas JUNG as a Vancouver MP and the appointment of David LAM as LT GOV (1988–95). In 2005 the federal government committed $2.5 million to projects memorializing the head tax. The artistic community has been enriched by writers such as Paul Yee, Evelyn LAU, Jim Wong-Chu and Wayson CHOY, the pianist Alexina LOUIE, the visual artist Paul WONG and the filmmaker Mina Shum; other prominent members of the community include the Olympic gymnast Lori FUNG, former UBC chancellor Robert Lee and many others.

The major community festival is Chinese New Year, celebrated in January or February with a colourful parade through Chinatown. Another is the Mid-Autumn, or Moon, Festival, held in late summer when special moon cakes are prepared. In the Greater Vancouver area there are Chinese-language NEWSPAPERS and BROADCASTING outlets (see FAIRCHILD MEDIA), and since 1986 the annual DRAGON BOAT Festival has become a major cultural event for all residents and visitors. At the 2001 census 329,950 people in BC claimed Chinese ethnic origin, 15% of the provincial total. An overwhelming majority of these people, about 93%, live in the LOWER MAINLAND, where the community comprises almost 15% of the total population.
Reading: James Morton, In The Sea of Sterile Mountains: The Chinese in British Columbia, 1977; Edgar Wickberg et al, eds, From China to Canada: A History of Chinese Communities in Canada, 1982.