Recently, my mother and I decided to revisit Chinatown. As members of the Chinese diaspora, it had been a long time since we had visited. I recall going to Chinatown in my childhood to visit my great grandparents at their senior home. My memories of Chinatown itself is murky but I remember the noises and busy activity of many people in their everyday lives. The scent of familiar authentic Asian foods and sounds of Chinese languages being spoken in the busy marketplace are some of the few memories that remain.
Walking towards Chinatown through East Downtown was eerie. The streets were devoid of Chinese people. Instead, neither coming or going groups of homeless people sat or stood on the street. Shopping carts full of belongings and makeshift shelters lined the streets I walked past. While most of the homeless people ignored me and my mother as I walked past some approached us asking for spare change. Clouds of cigarette and marijuana smoke filled the air in place of the smells of food. The signs of drug use and extreme poverty grated against my old memories. I held tighter to my mother’s arm as we saw the same sights street after street. Police sirens blared distantly at first and then louder and louder as the flashing lights passed us. Finally, my mother stopped and asked one of the people on the street a question that made me pause. “Is Chinatown this way?” She asked a man who was trying to open a shop door. The streets had become unrecognizable to my mother who felt lost. I felt a deep sense of isolation and discomfort as I walked past boarded up shops and the run-down historic buildings. The sense of familiarity, safety and belonging had been replaced by danger and despair.
Chinatown was established as a response to anti-Asian legislation and the racial prejudice Chinese workers faced after completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1885, the Chinese head tax was enacted to restrict immigration and was replaced with the Chinese Exclusion Act to ban Chinese Immigration from 1923-1947. Chinese workers found themselves out of work and without enough money to go home, so they banded together to create their own community. Local laws segregated Chinese immigrants from the rest of the city. Where the Millennium Gate stands now was drawn the physical segregation line between the Chinese neighborhood and the rest of the city. Chinese Canadians back then were not allowed to own any property or operate any businesses beyond Taylor Street. Chinatown became a haven where they could live, work, and survive. Chinese immigrants and their descendants created a resilient and vibrant community despite the discrimination and Anti-Chinese laws present. The Chinese diaspora has since evolved and migrated to places like Burnaby and Richmond where business and communities thrive today.
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a significant increase in Anti-Asian sentiments. From 2020-2021 Anti-Asian hate crime cases increased in Vancouver by 717%. Cases of assault on those of Asian descent and rampant vandalism had a heavy toil on the sense of belonging and security the Asian Community feel in Chinatown. When I visited Chinatown just a few days after Chinese Lunar New Year, I saw that the historic lion statues outside of the Chinese Cultural Centre had been defaced with red and blue paints. The recent incidents show that to protect this historic site the City of Vancouver needs to do more to discourage Anti-Asian Hate crimes and increase the security in Chinatown.
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