Arlene Chan - The Chinese in Toronto from 1878

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arlene Chan, a third-generation Chinese, used her librarian skills to dig deep for the stories of people and places that she remembered from her time as a child growing up in Torontos Chinatown. She is the author of The Spirit of the Dragon: The Story of Jean Lumb (selected as a Choice Book by the Canadian Childrens Book Centre), The Moon Festival: a Chinese Mid-Autumn Celebration (shortlisted for the Silver Birch Award), Awakening the Dragon: the Dragon Boat Festival, and Paddles Up! Dragon Boat Racing in Canada. When she is not paddling in a dragon boat on Lake Ontario, she is in Chinatown looking for the next best restaurant. Arlene and her husband live in Toronto.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to so many individuals who took time to tell me their stories of life in Chinatown and to share their memories and photographs from precious family albums. Many thanks to Nelson Wong, Wendall Chin, Victor Wong, Mavis Garland, Gordon Chong, Albert Lee, Harry Tang, Shirley Hune, Bernice Hune, Doug Hum, Linda Chan, Monica Ssutu, Alfie Yip, Lin Yip, Roberta Lau, Keira Loughran, Stephen Siu, Harry Chong, and Susan Chong. My gratitude also extends to Ruth Lor Malloy, Lou Manning, and Matthew Law, who granted permission to include their photographs, but especially to Jens Ronneberger and Tam Kam Chiu, who brought my wish list to life with their cameras. Valerie Mahs landmark works on the early Chinese in Toronto were invaluable. The incredible resources of the Toronto Public Library particularly the Urban Affairs Library and Toronto Reference Library and the Toronto Archives helped my research immensely. The Multicultural History Society of Ontario was accessible and I thank Carl Thorpe, Dora Nipp, and Emily Beliveau for their advice, diligence, and patience. I am grateful to the scholars, researchers, historians, and journalists who have written about the Chinese diaspora, providing me with rich resources to tell the story of the Chinese in Toronto. One challenge was to shortlist the individuals and organizations that are described in this book, to the exclusion of so many others that merit a book on their own.

Barry Penhale, publisher emeritus of Dundurn, has been my guiding light for this book and other adventures. I thank him for his warm encouragement over the past 10 years. Special thanks are reserved for Jennifer McKnight and Matt Baker and their meticulous editing.

The scope of my research was limited almost exclusively to English language sources despite the increasing availability of information in Chinese, particularly on the Internet. I thank my husband, Leo, for his translations, and both Leo and my sister, Janet, for being my sounding board and wise counsels.

And, finally, I would like to acknowledge the thousands of Chinese men and women, whose labours and tribulations have contributed so much to the colourful and celebrated cultural mosaic of Toronto.

APPENDIX I

Chinese Canadians (Greater Toronto Area)
Appointed to the Order of Canada, 19762010

Source: Canadian Honours System: Orders, The Governor General of Canada, www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=72.

APPENDIX II

Chinese Canadians (Greater Toronto Area) Appointed to
the Order of Ontario, 19912010

Source: Order of Ontario Appointees by Year of Appointment Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/english/citizenship/honours/orderofontario_appointees.shtml#1987.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The complete bibliography is available at www.arlenechan.ca.

Across the Generations: A History of Chinese in Canada. http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/generations/index2.html.

Canada. Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration. Report of the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration Report and Evidence. Ottawa: Printed by Order of the Commission, 1885.

Canada. Royal Commission Appointed to Inquire into the Subject of Chinese and Japanese Immigration into the Province of British Columbia. Ottawa: Printed by Order of the Commission, 1902.

CBC News Online. Chinese Immigration. 2004. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/china/chinese_immigration.html.

Chan, Anthony, Chinese, In The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001588.

_____. Gold Mountain: The Chinese in the New World. Vancouver: New Star Books, 1983.

_____. Chinese Canada: Reflections on Historical Eras and Watersheds. Polyphony 15 (2000).

Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter. Chinese Canadian Historical Photo Exhibit. http://www.ccnc.ca/toronto/history/info/content.html.

Chinese Canadian National Council, Womens Book Committee. Jin Guo: Voices of Chinese Canadian Women. Toronto: Womens Press, 1992.

Con, Harry, et al. From China to Canada: a History of the Chinese Communities in Canada. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1982.

Dawson, John Brian. Moon Cakes in Gold Mountain: From China to the Canadian

Plains. Calgary: Detselig Enterprises, 1991.

Djao, Wei. Being Chinese: Voices from the Diaspora. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2003.

Forde, Jean. The Caribbean Chinese in Canada. Polyphony 15 (2000).

Goosen, Tam. Political and Community Activism in Toronto: 19702000. Polyphony 15 (2000).

Harney, Robert F. The Ethnic Press in Ontario. Polyphony 4, No. 1 (Spring/Summer, 1982).

_____. Heritage Languages in Ontario. Polyphony 11 (1989).

Hoe, Ban Seng. Enduring Hardship: The Chinese Laundry in Canada. Gatineau, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2003.

Huang, Evelyn, with Lawrence Jeffery. Chinese Canadians: Voices From a Community. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1992.

Johnson, Elizabeth Lominska. Cantonese Opera in its Canadian Context: the Contemporary Vitality of an Old Tradition. Theatre Research in Canada 17, No. 1 (Spring 1996).

Keefe, Patrick Radden. The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream. New York: Doubleday, 2009.

Lai, David Chuenyan. Chinatowns: Towns Within Cities in Canada. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1988.

Lau, Alice and Seimer H. L. Tsang. The Chinese Community, 1883-1983. Polyphony 9, No. 2 (1987).

Lee, Fatima. Chinese in Ontario. Polyphony 15 (2000).

_____. Food as an Ethnic Marker: Chinese Restaurant Food in Toronto.