Chinatown: Victoria's Forbidden City
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- The story of Canada's first Chinatown and the country's first war on drugs.
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*Described Video version: • The Forbidden City (wi...
There's so much more to the history of Canada's Chinatowns and the country's Chinese Canadian heritage-do not stop with us. Our aim is to make our channel a gateway drug. A great starting point, which proved an invaluable resource for us, is Simon Fraser University's community-based research initiative 'From C to C: Chinese Canadian Stories of Immigration': www.sfu.ca/from...
This episode doesn't even break the surface of what is a deep well of stories, historical figures, and pivotal events through which Chinese immigration shaped the course of the country's history. In our eyes, we no longer think of the colonization of Canada through the lens of two nations interacting with the Indigenous, but three. So next time you step through a paifang or Chinese arch in your town or city, or see a Chinese restaurant or street sign, we hope you stop and consider the historical weight behind them.
We've barely touched on the construction of the railroad, we haven't even mentioned the riots in Vancouver, we haven't focused on the Chinese diaspora across the nation, nor have we even uttered a word about Chinese Canadian cuisine-down the road, there's a whole series of episodes to make if the channel survives.
Notes:
The image we included as a depiction of Lee Chong (his name is spelled differently in many different sources-the frontrunners being Lee Chong and Lee Chang) is only that: a representation. One of the roadblocks to this episode was the fact the era of Chinese Canadian history from 1858 to 1900 is sparsely documented (or too expensive for us to license). Lee Chong would/should be considered a Founding Father of Victoria, but there is no visual evidence for him-only written documentation, newspaper ads, and signage-and we think that puts sharing his story at a disadvantage. We want to bring history to life so viewers are able to picture/identify with historical figures regardless of the country's shoddily documented past, so when there is no visual record of a historical heavyweight like Lee Chong we supplement their presence with edited, historically accurate portraits of other people. To us, it's the same thing as modern re-enactments with actors-if not more accurate. For Lee Chong, we found a photo of a late 19th Century, Southern Chinese, gentleman-a business magnate. His wife? Well, the Canadian Consulate General of Hong Kong and Macao referred to the image we used as being a portrait of Mrs. Kwong Lee (that's the only way she's ever referred to)-we suspect it was a portrait of a different Chinese Canadian woman that has been run through a rumour mill, but it remains historically accurate in terms of location and time period. Our other option was to have black silhouettes or omit their characters entirely-we hope you agree it was worth it to do it this way.
If other arches were built between 1912 and 1981, we could not find them. We referred to a research exhibit (which included a focus on the arches) put together by the University of Victoria that used to be available to the public a few years ago, but has since been made private, solely for the eyes of students of the university (which is pretty lame).
Addendum (there's much more than this):
The Chinook Language (or Jargon). We initially had a section in the episode dedicated to outlining how Chinese immigrants were able to build successful businesses in a land of many different alien languages . The tool they used to communicate was a jargon developed solely in the Pacific Northwest for the purposes of trading and communicating between the plethora of different nationals who flooded there during the gold rush(es). Due to the episode's length, and the fact the Chinook language deserves its very own episode, we had to cut it.
The Bachelor Society of Chinese Canadians up to World War II. In previous cuts, we had a section detailing some of the ramifications of the Head Tax Bill (a bill that required all Chinese immigrants to pay hundreds of dollars to enter the country-in modern times, tens of thousands). We had to cut it to keep the pace moving, but the focus was on the fact that the vast majority of Chinese immigrants were men-98% or so. Chinese women were either married or sex workers, and the Head Tax made it impossible to bring families across the ocean. It's a story for another episode focused on Vancouver and Alberta.
If you're ever in Victoria's Chinatown, check out the totally-not-a-tourist-trap Fan Tan Cafe because the food there is great.
This episode is a little longer than our usual ones-we cover a lot-but there's always more to every story. Be sure to check out the description for resources and some episode notes (we always seem to max out the character count allowances).
Please come back... we _all_ miss you terribly. 🤗🥂 *hugz from the Atlantic coast🍁
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😊o
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although this video is four years old, I feel it is incumbent on the channel to monitor
the comments section and weed out the blatantly, and not so blatantly, racist comments.
it is one of the duties of running a youtube channel, since the platform itself has no
commitment to following its own professed community guidelines.
that would eat into its profits too much.
Being a Chinese Canadian born in Victoria and my great great father coming to Vancouver in 1910 paying head tax and going through the exclusion act this was so informative.
It's excellent that you know your family's history.
I'm guessing you must have already checked out the Chinese Heritage Museum in Fan Tan Alley that opened last year. My wife (also Canadian Born Chinese) and I were there a month ago and loved it!
Sorry we treated yall so badly.
awesome content. This should be taught in every Canadian school. Please tell us more about Victoria.
I am a tour guide in downtown vancouver and these videos are so valuable! Thanks for your hard work!
Well done. Im chinese i did not know about this part of history of victoria
I'm so glad you guys made a video of Victoria! Tons of rich history here, and you started with a big one!
We had a great time getting to know Victoria and, of course, this is one of many stories to tell about the city-we figured we should go big while we had the opportunity! We have some extra videos that will come out down the road and a Canadiana Short or two, but we definitely need to get back as soon as possible-we didn't even get into the intriguing history of The Empress, let alone all the other rich history of the area. Thanks for watching!
In Market Square, right next to Chinatown, there is a big commemorative plaque explaining how Victoria had 13 legitimate opium factories around the turn of the century. The Crown is well versed in the use of addiction as a social engineering tactic.
Crown Royal 👑
How do you only have 12k subs?! Production quality is far too good for low subs to last.
Most of the younger generation are just to mesmerized by their stupid smart phones , sadly.
Those smart phones are how they’re watching TH-cam.
Your statement didn’t answer the question.
They are at almost 70K subscribers now.
As a previously unhoused occupant of Victoria, I can confidentially guarantee all viewers there are still plenty of opiates haunting fan tan Alley's reputation.
I am from Seattle, Wa, USA. I love your videos. Seattle's Chinatown (now called the International district) is so much like Victoria's, with such a powerful history.
I love learning about our neighbor to the North. I wish we learned more of Canadas history is school and just in general, Im 44 years old and its all new to me.
Hammerson Peters and Canadiana are my new info bingeing obsessions. :)
We still find it incredible when neighbours to the South check out our episodes! Thanks for watching and the kinds words. There's a heck of a lot of American tie-ins this season coming up!
Hi Alice, when talking to Canadians, you spell neighbour, and colour with a u.
Cheers from Vancouver.
I am so, so deeply enraged that the Canadian school system failed to inform me Chineese immigration was literally made illegal... I am in tears and dismay.
The Canadian school system is lacking in many ways, but people can only work with what they've got. Once in a while you get a good teacher that tries to bring in new material outside of the curricula.
I’m quite surprised really. Even in the US, we learned about our Chinese Exclusion Act.
@Saffarts even in the US??? Thats just downright.... unfair... how can the US school system do a better job?
There government run, new political group in power =new textbook made
My great grandfather was one of the crew building the railway. And that as all I know. Since my grandfather passed away, the history seems to be lost.
Amazingly great piece and well told. I knew most of it, as I lived in chinatown for years. Glad that you didn't hold the punches.
As a Canadian and current resident of Victoria I can only feel shame that our first Prime Minister was such a drunk racist SOB. This dark and dreadful history was, and still is not, taught in our schools and should be. Great upload….well done.👍🏾
Yes but lots of whites were mistreated and used for slave labour in Canada too ie: mine workers not just Asian rail builders or Indigenous residential school victims in Canada and maybe he was a drunk but think of all the opioids that have come from Asia too. History should be taught but given proper context as well. Look how they tore out Old Town in the Victoria Museum now too just want to rewrite history.
I learned all of this at my small school in the interior of BC actually. And we definitely did not cover more than the mandated minimum curriculum.
I can promise, you don't need to preface that you are a Canadian on this channel.
You can almost guarantee that everywhere in the world people were xenophobic in the past with a few exceptions at the crossroads of different cultures. There is nothing to feel ashamed about, it was not your actions and Canada is not exceptional in this. Even today, China will not give foreigners Chinese citizenships even if you marry a Chinese citizen and many non-Western countries are this way.
I learned about this in high school in Ontario over 10 years ago. To be fair, it was only a quick note about the time Macdonald was Prime Minister as most of the topic was on the Federation of Canada and they should have gone into more details about it but, at least this topic was mentioned unlike Residential Schools.
Bad history in this vid. The Spanish had the first fort at Nootka called fort san miguel. If you study history the fort the americans built was in Clayquot, they were avoiding the Spanish. The Spanish seized British ships at Nootka, which became known as the nootka incident. Part of the seizure of ships and prisoners were the 50 chinese brought to build the fort. The British prisoners and Chinese were shipped back to San Blas Mexico. Until the Spanish and British resolved the matter, avoiding war. One of the British officers was a chap called Collnet. He complained while voyaging to mexico as a prisoner that the Spanish wouldn't let him soak his biscuits in tea first before eating them, it was hard on his false teeth. I see this a lot where its almost racism at play to deny that the Spanish were here, keep it all just white and british. Please study real history. Google nootka incident. Google Spanish in the Pacific northwest.
1:56 I think it's very dangerous wording to say that Chinese migrants colonized alongside European settlers. Saying settled would be more appropriate as the Chinese were merely taking up opportunities in a European-made system.
Standing in the square near fan tan alley really makes me feel like I can begin to imagine what it could’ve been like all those years ago
i like the way he presents history. no sugar coating. but showing the optimistic outcome. it gives the measurement of how far we've come in inclusion. thank you. literally no body should be angry with the way this is presented.
Victoria is such a creepy/haunted place =) it's awesome! great video!
Oxymoron
In the US, we tend to have an idealized version of Canadian history, one in which Canada is the nicer part of North America. In fact, it was settled by the same Europeans as the US and lots of Canadian policies mirror those of the United States. The US even went so far as to forbid Chinese immigration for several decades - even though they were the primary builders of our railroads, certainly helped fuel our dynamic economy. And I can't finish this paragraph without disclosing that they also faced violence, even murder, at the hands of White Americans. I can't do justice to their story here in the United States.
I wish this gentleman was my history teacher. This show needs to be placed on all streaming services to educate everyone
Mom dad get the popcorn, they are back. No Fluff just history, I love this channel.
Small correction but at 3:43 it is spelled the "Frazer river", should be Fraser. Great video.
I doubt the production team actually made the map. They probably found it somewhere and just used it as a visual. Don't blame them.
@alukuhito it's their responsibility. They're telling stories reprentative of Canadian culture. These sorts of mistake matter at times. Love the channel though. Also, so everyone knows, the Fraser river is pronounced "fray-zer" and not "fray-zier" "fray-zsher".
@@OnwardsUpwards It's just a depiction of a map. No map is accurate, particularly old ones.
So interesting. Maillardville /Coquitlam BC would be interesting to look at. Fraser Mill was employing Chinese. The people in power did not like they where not spending there money but where sending back home. That was the reason to sent the curé Maillard back east and recruit French Canadian that had large families and would stay and spend in the region... The rest is for you to tell us. (I am sure Société Maillarville -Uni would be there to help). This is what I remember from when I was living in Coquitlam. Thank you from Italy
An Italian in Coquitlam?
5:23 The sign on top of that Pai Fang says "The Great Qing Empire". This might not be politically correct, if it came out of another mouth. But I'm Chinese American. (By the way, I also think if something it true, then it's true no matter who says it. So I'd be perfectly fine if a white person said what I'm about to say.) The sign clearly had no legal meaning, because certainly no one would recognize that piece of land as a part of the Empire. But perhaps it betrayed a certain psyche of the Chinese diaspora. Those who put up that sign clearly did not care to integrate into the new society in which they lived. There is no excuse for the Canadian or the American laws of exclusion and those laws were immoral. But the early Chinese immigrants might not want to be included. If one doesn't want to be included, then should one be surprised at being excluded.
@Daver G Was this meant to be a reply to my comment? I said nothing about Chinese putting up barriers and certainly nothing about it being "perfectly fine." I commented on things like the Chinese exclusion act in Canada and the US which banned Chinese from immigration and naturalization. Both countries have apologized for those mistakes. I don't know enough about the current BC's tax code or Chinese housing regulations to say anything and did not. I am at a loss as to how your allusion of a double standard is related to anything that I wrote.
Canada's cities were ghettoized, often by choice. Europeans moving here naturally gravitated to communities in which they could speak their own language & enjoy their own culture. Rural towns/districts were also very ethnic oriented. Old world prejudices/conflicts came with them. Only in the late 60s did I see any positive change in general attitudes. That said, our Chinese citizens were treated horribly by just about everyone.
Lived in Victoria my whole life, I knew alot about this but still learned some new facts! Very cool and informative.
Well done. Except ... the purpose of the anti-opium laws and the Empress Hotel were to send the Chinese community of Victoria a message?? Those laws were essentially a public-health measure, and the CN/CP hotel was essentially a hotel - there was one in every city the railway serviced, wasn't there?
Victoria is my hometown and I love it’s China town-amazing food, history, architecture, fresh veggie stores, and many wonderful shops. The provincial museum does a good job of providing the shameful, racist history too and I love supporting the people who work and live in China town today.
I never knew Victoria Chinatown had such an interesting story behind it especially the fan tan alley which I’ve been to. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like a nice place to visit next time I have vacation time.
Wow your channel is amazing
Wow! best video you guys have made so far. Curious where the old maps you show came from? They are so detailed and very easy to read.
Thanks! A lot of the time we source old maps through the David Rumsey Map Collection. Thankfully their scans are all Creative Commons, otherwise we would be stuck with low-res alternatives-or nothing historically accurate (all the maps in this episode are specific to the time periods we focus on). Rarely, Library and Archives will have a good size map we can use, which was the case for the city plan map in this episode (late 1800s). I would strongly suggest browsing through the David Rumsey Map Collections because there are some incredible gems there from all over the world-there's even a map from the 1500s that has the Atlantic Ocean titled "Mer du Canada" (Canadian Ocean).
I should also say, sometimes we literally colour the maps in photoshop to make them more readable. We had to in our episode about Marie-Josephe-Angelique, for example. In this episode, we had to alter the rail map of Canada (1898 I believe) so that a collection of perfect squares formed a full map.
@@Canadiana thanks for sharing!
I used a few search keywords in the archive to see what came up. Amazing how extensive it is.
Very cool! Love this so much. Thank you
Important stories like this one can get lost in history, so I'm thankful Canadiana is telling these stories.
Thanks for putting together such an excellent documentary. :) Very interesting and informative. I'm glad you didn't leave out how shamefully racist my white ancestors were to the Chinese. Canada must learn from its history of bigotry if we are to make any moral progress whatsoever.
Canada has quite the ugly history.
As a resident of Victoria I found this vary informative. Thank you!
Dude these videos are great! Very glad I discovered this channel.
Thanks so much for putting this together. I knew bits and pieces but had no idea of the full history of Chinese immigrants in BC.
This is hardly the full history.
I live six block away, never really been in that part though. Honestly most of downtown is still like how it was back then, pretty shady
I’ve always wondered whether the term “pâté chinois” (shepherd’s pie), came as a result of it being what was fed to the Chinese railroad workers.
Great episode as always
Thanks for watching!
July 1 will be the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Maybe Justin will do a photo op.
Your videos are great. Please tell me how I can create more awareness about your channel. I want to help you guys to continue making videos like this.
Thank you for the kind words. We're still trying to crack that nut ourselves, the bottom line is: sharing and word-of-mouth. We've seen a lot of traffic come from Reddit occasionally, so we're always grateful to see videos posted there. Otherwise, letting people know about our channel in any way (even those who think Canadian history is boring) is the best we can hope for. For the channel to survive, we need funding, and our primary source is Patreon-not everyone is in a situation where they can contribute in that way of course, but it's the key to making this project sustainable. Our primary goal is to garner more views though, so just spreading the word is more than generous and we thank you for doing so.
Ok just out of curiosity why do people call us North America all the time? Instead of just Canada
I'm so sad to see our Chinatown being lost to non chinese businesses
@Yrch Math, move to Jamaica you won't be sad anymore...
@@JerubbaalgodSlayer haha why so mate
I'm not Canadian, but I love this channel! Very interesting. I lived in Anacortes, close to Victoria. I've been to Victoria many, many times. I had no idea there was this history there. Totally interesting! And in high school, my friend and I snuck into the pool at the Empress Hotel! My motives were the girls we snuck in with. I had no idea the history was significant.
A most beautiful people city...the best kept secret in Canada.
this is SO good. i'm from Victoria and didn't know any of this stuff.
Amazing video - Shoutout from duncan bc!
Thanks! We have a few more extra videos on the way we shot while we were in the southern end of Vancouver Island. We have a pretty lengthy Canadiana Short about Nanaimo and some secret stuff that's a ways away. Stay tuned for more Vancouver Island!
It's easy to still find the opium poppies in Victoria, people grow them in their gardens without even knowing it.
Wow, very informative, can’t believe I never learned this in school. Awesome video!!
Great vid, Canadiana! I too am Chinese Canadian, & a Victoria resident, and Victoria's Hidden City revealed several items new to me. Much appreciated!
I arrived to BC in 1971. All noodles sold in Chinatown were mandated to be labeled as "Imitation alimentary paste". Sounds yummy, eh?
lived here my whole life and didnt know most of this!
I live around Vancouver/Van Isl and there is a big asian/chinese/japenese community and i never stop hearing the phrase "!!!They're taking over our country!!!!" It's annoying, and straight up incorrect. I hope you guys come back to the island! (after the pandemic of course)
I heard Duncan used to have a china town as well
Born and raised here in Victoria the 1990s were the best. Today your lucky if you don't get mugged downtown. All the alleys have drug addicts smoking meth shooting up. Our homelessness issue is disgusting thanks to former mayor Lisa helps. This city has turned into trash. I don't understand why they're making it seem so nice. A 2 bedroom apartment goes for $2500 a month. Nothing included. It's overpriced.
Every city in North America has a "homelessness issure". But, yeah, it's all the fault of your former mayor.
There were still drugs in the 90s 🙄 y'all are more creative than professional fiction authors.
Instant subscribe! You deserve way more views
That is THE WRONG symbol for medicine. That's the symbol for thieves, merchants, and messengers.
Very interesting, thank you! Just don't know if I should laugh or cry about the outrageous things the truly stupid want people to tolerate and believe. Same going on everywhere today, just not as obvious...yet.
Like what?
@@Skelstoolbox : Racism/genocide
Enjoying your videos of Canadian history 👍❤️🇨🇦💗
Thank you for discovering herstory, here in the US they are tyring to rewrite history.
:) WOW! Well DONE INDEED! I remember my Grandfather worked at the Empress Hotel, making pastries for them.. Unfortunatly never knew him as he passed the year I was born:( So I know out family had roots back there. ALL the BEST and THANKS MUCH for sharing!
As an fyi for those who don’t know, Victoria’s Chinatown is a whole 3 blocks. Not square, mind you... just 3 blocks.
I grew up near Vancouver and have been to Victoria many times. I still haven't even tried opium. To be honest, I've never even seen it.
Can you share links to the racist Kipling quotes? or give me an idea where to find them. I like to study Kipling but the only quotes on the subject of Canadian Chinese I can find are him arguing against the "Oriental Ban". Albeit in his epically insensitive and tone deaf fashion. So I would like to read where he takes an opposite opinion.
I lived for close to 10 years in Victoria. I had no idea about all this. Thanks for this history lesson.
You sound like John Adam's offspring.
Not a bad thing.
That white car haven’t moved that guy must be lazy
Thank you, Adam, excellent research and content.
that is a powerful story!
cool!
I live in victoria
Such an exceptional video! Thank you!
Dude I love this- hella in depth
Terrific ! Loving this Canadian content.
If BC's Social Studies curriculum is the same level as this video my friend Tom wouldn't end up being a Chemistry nerd
He doesn't need to speak. The hand gestures say it all.
How cool. I live I Saanich. Love Chinatown
The SFU link is broken, is there a new site?
Politicians are now trying to destroy it.
You say they stuck together like they had a choice. This video showcases exactly why we should be taking down Sir JAM statues and get him off the 10 dollar bill. This and his treatment and the genocide of indigenous people. Everyone should know how disgusting that man was.
Victoria has been my home for the past 12 years (originally from Southwestern Ontario). This city, and the Island at large continue to astonish me daily. There is so much to discover here.
Borned raised and an Irish landed well ok our Dad amd family sure the ell are!..Eat breathe such magical memories of this hot spot of estorical land!! Bless your heart and your teams hearts for engaging in such lovilyness.
Look deeper into King George. Look at the correlation between Canada and the US revolution and the world wars, including the one we’re in. Great video on the history of Victoria and the colonial disruption there.
Interesting to hear about this --- as this is my city!:) Chinatown is my favorite spot:)
So interesting. TY!
Did the Canadian government copy the American government in terms of the Chinese immigrants?
I don't know how you shot a video in Victoria with no police, no by law, and no flailers. It's literally a police state.
No, it's not. I've been there.
@@hilariousname6826 Yes it is
great video , thanks . I live in Victoria and your lesson brings me back to grade school . cheers .
A story as old as time…
Incredible knowledge
Good facts about my home town.
Unfortunately, the intoxicated man weaving the tail throws it all off.
Alberta was settled by Mississippi Carolina Kentucky aria residents in the mid 1800's... on word of... also because of 1813-1814 and established relative phycological processing by Order OF!
Farther more settled by descendants of Russia Ukraine, Hutterites. not one from the cities, all from very distanced places far away from there metropolises and deceiving problems from excessive population size. your not an Albertian if you arn't, MA BANNAH SHIZAH UNT YA UNTER HOZIN!
I found your content last night, looking forward to learning all about canada!
Im from there, my favorite places to shop!
Fantastic video. Love learning about the wild past of Victoria bc.
Sorry, who?
Great video!!! But tuck in your shirt!!!
Ecxelente video, Gracias 👍🏽