About meMy name is Rachel Wong and I am a Communication and International Studies student at Simon Fraser University.
I am a first generation Chinese-Canadian who lives in the Greater Vancouver area. Though I do not live in Vancouver's Chinatown proper, I go to school nearby and volunteer in the neighbourhood, and I am a frequent visitor of the area. As a Chinese-Canadian, I see Chinatown as a reflection of my roots and heritage here in a place that I call home. |
This project came about from my class on Political Communication at SFU (CMNS 432).The focus of the project was to choose a site of political struggle and to discuss its historical importance and how that history and struggle has impacted the way that the site is used and viewed today.
Using archival and historical research to further inform my understanding, I will look into how Chinatown became a site for political and cultural struggle for the Chinese, its historical and current importance, and the ways in which Chinatown has changed over time. |
My fascination with Chinatown started in Grade 11.When my class learned about the Chinese race riots that happened in 1907 - in the city that I call my home - I was devastated. Further, I had learned a very sad truth: that the Chinese was the first - and to this day, the only - ethnic group that had legislation imposed against them to stop immigration. From then on, I began to be more aware of the racial tensions that existed in our "multicultural mosaic" country: First Nations territory, the Komagata Maru incident, Japanese internment camps, the Doukhobors, and others.
As a Chinese-Canadian, learning about the history of Chinese-Canadians that came before me was important. These were the people that afforded me and other Chinese-Canadians in my generation the rights and privileges that we enjoy today. As my research has found, and as this site shows, being Chinese-Canadian in Vancouver was not always easy. |