Creation and Decline of Chinatown

Empty food court in Chinatown Plaza located in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

Introduction

Chinatowns around the world served as an important gathering and cultural sites for Chinese immigrants first arriving in each of those respective countries. Focusing upon North America, it is home to some of the oldest and largest Chinatowns in the world. First emerging in 1886, Vancouver’s Chinatown is the largest and second oldest Chinatown in Canada, becoming the main gateway for Chinese Migrants in the 1890’s. Chinatowns became the site of struggles against discrimination and racism as well as the growth of Chinese culture within popular culture. As a result of this, Vancouver’s Chinatown like many others have become important historical sites and monuments, with Vancouver’s being recognized as a National Historic site of Canada in 2011 (Vancouver Heritage Foundation, 2018). Despite the inclusion of Vancouver’s Chinatowns and others as both important historical and cultural sites, there has been a rapid decline of Chinatowns across North America.  In order to understand the reasoning as well as significance of this decline, it is necessary to trace their history throughout time. To do so is to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of these locations as well as the tracing of Chinatown’s history is to also trace the perceptions and positions of Chinese migrants within society. Just as Chinatown' rise was enabled by cultural policies and popular culture; its decline is also attributed to these two factors as well. Cultural policies set by the government have a direct impact upon the usage and maintenance of historical location such as Chinatown and have wider overarching impacts upon society as well.

Roots of Chinatowns

The establishment of Chinatowns have typically come as a result of the mass migration of Chinese migrants. While many Chinatowns would not have existed without the immigration of the Chinese, the creation of these communities haven’t been as simple has migrants grouping together in a free area. The first main wave of Chinese migrants, mostly men arrived in North America in the 1850’s after the economic and political chaos in China as well as with the hopes of finding wealth and riches in America with the California gold rush (PBS.com). China at the time was facing massive issues with a growing population far outstripping the available food and labour supplies. China throughout much of its history had its population around 100 million people. Under the peaceful Qing dynasty, China saw its population double from 150 million in 1650 and then to 300 million by 1800. By the late 19th century, it had reached 450 million. The result of that was a lack of land available for migration.  This overpopulation as well as placing a strain upon the existing government, as while the population size increased, the government did not. Making even low-level officials responsible for upwards of 100,000 people (afe.easia.columbia.edu, 2009). On top of this was western imperialist powers.

With the start of globalization in the late 1700s and early 1800’s, European states began trying to bring in countries like China into the newly forming world economy. China largely ignored these advances, as they did not feel like they would benefit from trade with them. However, there was a large gap in terms of military might between the western powers and that of China. With China then being defeated in a series of military confrontations they were forced to signed treaties with European countries that strongly favoured them versus China. The result of these treaties became open access to Chinese ports first to European, and then to American and Japanese traders. (afe.easia.columbia.edu, 2009).

This combination of Western interference on its Economy as well as overpopulation left China unable to provide for its citizens. As a result of this and political unrest, many rebellions soon broke out. The Taiping, Nian, Moslem, and Boxer rebellions all took place at roughly the same time. During the Taiping Rebellion, rebel forces took control over large portions of the country. These rebellions caused the government to divert its military power across to different provinces, this further weakened whatever central power they had (afe.easia.columbia.edu, 2009). The combination of all these factors made migration to places like North America a very attractive prospect.

The first Chinese immigrants to Canada came following the gold rush down south in California. As the gold rush in California was ending, the rush was just beginning in the north. A second wave of Chinese migration occurred when news of the Gold Rush eventually reached China. (library.ubc.ca, n.d). The gold rush and British Columbia eventually garnered the nickname “Gum Shan” which translates to “Gold Mountain” in English. This moniker and exaggerated stories of wealth, such as the “streets being paved in gold” (Storyhive, 2019, 1:52) attracting many immigrants excited for new opportunities. However, for those who came life wasn’t as amazing as they thought. During these early days of the province, labour shortages forced the colony to turn to Chinese contractors to recruit Chinese labourers to manual backbreaking work such as building trails and wagon roads, draining swamps and digging ditches. The prosperous gold rush however, soon ended. By 1865 BC was facing a slowing economy. With less and less jobs being available, there became increasing number of unemployed Caucasian workers. They placed the blame on the Chinese for taking away their jobs (sfu.ca, n.d). While in reality this was more likely due to the fact many of the new Chinese immigrants were willing to work both longer hours for less money, as well as being willing to working jobs other men did not want to work such as washing laundry, or being cooks or servants (sfu.ca, n.d).

Perhaps most famously though, the Chinese worked on the Canadian Pacific railroad. The Canadian Pacific railroad runs across Canada, connecting coast to coast. For Chinese labours working on the railroad, they often worked the difficult and dangerous positions such as blasting rock to make way for the track. Rising discrimination at the time meant that there was no protection from this dangerous work, with the railroad company even excluding Chinese in their accident figures. Reporting no injuries or death sometimes even when they had occurred. Today it is a common saying amongst Chinese Canadians that “a Chinese worker died for every foot of the railroad through the Canyons.” While this is an exaggerated saying, however, the lowest estimates say about 600 Chinese workers died in the construction of the railroad which is more than 4 for every mile (Con, 1982, p.24).

Early Chinese migrants to Canada then were simultaneously not welcome yet exploited. As early as 1860 a form of the 1885 Chinese head tax was proposed. In 1860 the colony of Vancouver Island proposed a poll tax of $10 for every Chinese person within the colony. While this tax was opposed by the citizens of Victoria it wasn’t for benevolent reasons. Amor de Cosmos a prominent citizen of Victoria and later second premier of British Columbia had this to say about the Chinese at the time: “ They may be inferior to Europeans and Americans in energy and ability; hostile to us in race, language and habits and may remain among us as a Pariah race; still they are patient, easily governed and invariably industrious… Hereafter, when the time arrives that we can dispose of them, we will heartily second a check to their immigration”. (Con, 1982, p.43). Other forms of policies of the legislation was created against the Chinese later. Notable of these is the Statues of BC no.2 in 1875 which disenfranchised both Chinese and Aboriginals, preventing them from voting (Li, 1998, p.32).

As work on the railroad was completed the movement of labour shifted to Vancouver and the racism and discrimination previously discussed came the creation of Vancouver’s Chinatown. Early buildings were shoddily built with wood and often on the marshy land found in the area at the time. Health and sanitation problems were rampant, as the area quickly became overcrowded and many of the buildings were not built along the sewer line (Con, 1987, p.65). In the first part of the 20th century, Vancouver’s Chinatown was clearly viewed by both city officials as well as the public as a menace that needed to be condemned and contained.

Although a community was forming, providing support and homes for many migrants. The increasing anti-Asian sentiment was still there. Chinese were segregated socially, economically and politically. Examples of this is listed in the brief chronology of Chinese Canadian history presented by SFU: “they were not permitted to sit on the lower floor of the Victoria Opera House but had to sit in the upper gallery. Chinese people were not permitted to swim in the City's Crystal Swimming Pool. A permit was required from the sheriff for interracial marriages. In 1912, the Legislature of Saskatchewan, passed an Act to prohibit Chinese restaurants, and other small businesses, from employing White women. Similar acts were later passed in British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario. The regulation led to protests not only from Chinese merchants but also from White women. Eventually this discriminatory regulation was replaced by an Act requiring merchants to apply for a special permit to employ White women. This employment issue was soon followed by Chinese student strikes over educational segregation. In 1921, 90 Chinese children under Grade 4 in Victoria had been placed in a segregated school and only about 150 Chinese students in senior grades were mixed with about 6,000 White children in public school. In September 1922, the Victoria School Board lined up all the non-segregated Chinese students and took them to a segregated school. Parents told their children to return home and began a strike. In 1920, the Federal Government passed a bill to disqualify persons from voting federally if they were not permitted to vote provincially. As a result, professional societies could exclude anyone whose name was not on the voting list, without specifying race. Hence, Chinese people could not become lawyers, pharmacists, or doctors in British Columbia.” (sfu.ca, n.d).

These discriminatory policies created a sense and need for unity in the face of hostility from the larger white community. This unity resulted in the consolidation of social relations in Chinatown. Around this time the media had an ongoing attack on Vancouver’s Chinatown as a drug infested and unhealthy neighborhood. This was at the same the Chinese Immigration Act was passed by the Canadian Parliament. This act banned Chinese immigration to Canada. The bill had massive effect upon Chinatown, halving its population by 1941. This led to the demolishing of the buildings on both sides of Canton Alley in 1949 (Benivolski, 2017). In a response to the bad image presented to the public Chinese Benevolent Association formed a “Self Improvement Committee” to counteract the negative public image. The Chinese community also started taking measures to improve the image of Chinatown and to reshape it to meet the expectations of a prevailing white ideology. Starting from the 1930s, various Chinese associations made efforts to promote Chinatown as a culturally exotic tourist attraction that offered Oriental cuisine, Chinese artifacts, and folkloric festivities to the public (Li, 2011).

The Rise of Chinatown

Chinatown started its rise in the 1970s largely due money and investments from the then economically strong Hong Kong. Due to its open-door policy in terms of immigration at the time, there were many new immigrants coming from Hong Kong that were relatively wealthy. The result of this was revitalization of both the Chinese population within Chinatown and Chinatown itself. The new immigrants and their wealth brought a variety of beautification and cultural projects into the area. The results of this we can still see to today; mounted were bilingual street signs with both English and Chinese as well as the installation of traditional Chinese styled lamp posts. More than just the aesthetic of the streets the 1980s also many old buildings were renovated, as the now iconic Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden as well as the Chinese Arch which resides in front of the Chinese Cultural Centre being installed in 1986 and 1987 respectively (Benivolski, 2017).

While this revival was enabled by the new wealth brought by Hong Kong immigrants, it was also largely due to changing government ideology and popular culture of the time. Anderson in his paper discussed how through the 1950s and 1960s, there was a gradual shift in emphasis in Canada's language of race from the “presumed biological differences between the world's populations, to the 'ethnic' or cultural distinctions that were also assumed to separate them. That which was once the fearful embodiment of an alien and inferior 'stock' had by 1969 become—in the words of a government report— "an inestimable enrichment that Canadians cannot afford to lose.”” (Anderson, 1988, p.144). This marked a substantial shift in ideology that originally discriminated the Chinese less then 50 years earlier. This is evident in the two iconic parts of Chinatown we discussed earlier; the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden and the Chinese Arch. Having both been completed in time and for Expo ’86 in Vancouver, it marked Canada and Vancouver marketing and display Chinese culture instead of actively hiding it away. This change showed the multi-culturalism policies that Canada was promoting.

This change was paralleled in parts within popular culture as well. In the 1970s Chinese culture became more mainstream showing up on TV shows and movies. This was no more evident than with the stardom of Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee was an American born Chinese and with his powerful screen presence as a muscular, strong, and proud Chinese American man created a new archetype; “The Asian-American male hero” (McDermon, 2017). “Lee’s indelible image was crafted as a rejection of those diminished roles (Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan archtypes). And the most essential aspect of that image is his body, stripped to the waist, corded and quivering with muscle. It is the centerpiece of dozens of fight scenes, which Lee choreographed himself, and is frequently revealed with slow, deliberate pageantry.”(McDermon, 2017) The combined change in government ideology and growing popularity of Chinese culture in popular culture made Chinatown into a tourist location.

Chinatown today

            Chinatown today has seen a steep decline. A community created by turmoil is now victim to it. Its decline has landed on the National Trust for Canada’s annual list of Top 10 Endangered Places. “Relentless development” in Chinatown. The charity cited the proximity to the busy business district and to the neighborhood of Downtown Eastside as dangers. The charity also warning that “Without better control on new development and efforts to sustain local businesses, Chinatown’s unique character will be lost,” (Quan, 2019). The government policy reaction to this is The Chinatown Neighbourhood Plan & Economic Revitalization Strategy created in 2012. The neighbourhood strategies goals are to; “address complex community issues through immediate, community-based, action-oriented efforts. This plan reflects over a decade of community and City efforts to identify issues, develop revitalization policy and plans, and implement projects on the ground. As such, the Chinatown Neighbourhood Plan is more than a report card of actions taken, it provides a coherent and comprehensive approach to revitalizing the Chinatown neighbourhood that will guide community planning efforts in the years to come. Vancouver’s Chinatown is one of the largest in North America and regeneration of this neighbourhood is of great significance to neighbourhood residents, the regional population, as well as national and international stakeholders.” (City of Vancouver, 2012, pp.6)” Its visions for the direction of Chinatown are as listed:

1. Heritage Building Preservation
2. Commemoration of Chinese-Canadian and Chinatown History
3. Public Realm Improvements
4. Convenient Transportation and Pedestrian Comfort
5. A Sense of Security
6. Linkage to the Nearby Neighbourhoods and Downtown
7. Youth Connection and Community Development
8. Attractions for Vancouverites and Tourists
9. A Community with a Residential and Commercial Mixture
10. Diversified Retail Goods and Services
11. A Hub of Social and Cultural Activities. (City of Vancouver, 2012, pp. 7)

Despite of this strategy being in place, Chinatown has continued to decline. The Vancouver Chinatown Food Security Report show that between 2009 and 2016, almost 50 percent of Chinatown's cultural food assets such as grocers, fish stores, barbecue meat stores and butcher shops, Chinese dry good stores, and traditional Cantonese bakeries and restaurants were lost. Another large drop was among food-service retailers which shrank from 36 in 2009 to 16 in 2016, a loss of 20 businesses. The report also state that there were 33 new food-service retailers that opened up in the same time frame but notes that these businesses "tend to cater to higher income brackets and differ in terms of cultural specificity and/or orientation compared to the traditional Cantonese food service retailers that were in operation in 2009" (Takeuchi, 2017). This is an issue for the low-income community of Chinatown. Census data from 2006 show that the unemployment rate in Chinatown was 13.3%, more than twice the figure for the whole city. While the average household income in Chinatown was $29,986, compared to City average of $68,271 (City of Vancouver, 2012, pp.12). Many restaurants and food services open previously were catered to the Chinese population who lived there and was consequently wasn’t priced for higher income brackets. While the report focuses upon the lens of food security the loss of these business is also part of the fear of the loss of the cultural identity of the area as well. The report in many ways echoes the fears of gentrification in the area, with less and less Chinese food service retailers and restaurants the fear is that Chinatown is losing its cultural identity that makes it a Chinatown. Following along with the study, it also analyzed five other documents/strategies that related to food policy within Chinatown: the Vancouver Food Strategy, Chinatown Neighbourhood Plan and Economic Revitalization Strategy, Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan, Downtown Eastside Social Impact Assessment, and Healthy City Strategy. The report states that these documents only recognize fields such as architecture or the fine arts as culture but not food. As well as critiquing that cultural food assets aren't recognized as contributing to local food security, citing that "The rapid, recent loss of cultural food assets in Chinatown is, in part, a manifestation of municipal policy that falls short of providing meaningful recognition and support for systems that exist outside of formally recognized structures.” (Takeuchi, 2017) On the surface the cities policies are meant to be inclusive as well as promoting diversity. However, the report claims that they exclude, overlook, or fail to recognize the cultural role that food plays in communities. For instance, the authors point out that one of the objectives of the Vancouver Food Strategy is to "improve access to healthy, affordable, and culturally diverse food". However, the authors explain that although food is recognized by policies, it is separated from culture. In other words, when culture is the primary focus, food is excluded from discussion and not viewed as integral to culture. "We believe that this is a factor that has contributed to the rapid loss of cultural food assets in Chinatown," states the report (Takeuchi, 2017). The loss of this culture and vibrancy is visible as you walk down the streets of Chinatown today. Compared to a decade ago the streets were still lined with busy boisterous businesses, today the streets are lined with closed metal gates and shuttered businesses instead.

The decline of Chinatown is plain to see, it is important to acknowledge the work being done as well as the values of Chinatown. In 2015 Heritage BC gathered public opinions surrounding intangible heritage values of Chinatown. Those who participated in the report spoke about how Chinatowns long history and existing infrastructure and how Chinatown embodies the experiences of the Chinese Canadian migrants in British Columbia. (HeritageBC, 2015, pp.4). The report contained concerns echoed in many other reports; that the Chinatown’s traditional small businesses, community spaces as well as spaces in particular for Chinese seniors were in anger of disappearing (HeritageBC, 2015, pp.4). Some of the recommendations in the report were having intergenerational cultural activities for Chinatown as well as the creation a tourism office within Chinatown, something that does not exist currently. Participants also pointed the need to maintain traditional small business while helping developing new entrepreneurships. Finally was also the availability of housing and services for the seniors that continue to live there, as well as fostering new communities in the area (HeritageBC, 2014, pp.4) The report while merely contain public opinion, it serves a good framework for the vision of building the future of Chinatown. What made Chinatown unique was a blend of its culture, history as well as community. To not include the community aspect of Chinatown would be to lose what makes Chinatown special.

Conclusion

            Chinatown is a place of great historical and cultural importance. It represents the struggles and journey of Chinese Canadians. Perhaps in that way it still is as, representing the inclusion and the spread of Chinese communities, having no longer being forced to live in Chinatown. Regardless of this, there is strong public opinion regarding the future of Chinatown. Some want gentrification, some want the preservation of all the past and some want something in between. However, one thing is for certain. Just as how the creation of Chinatown was the result of cultural and governmental policies, the preservation of Chinatown will also come down to these policies. It is important to consider that revitalization of the area must come with consideration for the community of Chinatown itself. The key is not just an economically bustling district. Instead the revitalization of Chinatown must strive keep its cultural identity and local community and not just become another solely tourist attraction.

References

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