|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Canada (5) Chinatown and Women
|
Chinatown
and Women
|
| |
參加二次世界大戰勝利慶典的一群華人婦女 一九四五年
(加拿大國家檔案館惠借﹐加拿大駐台北貿易辦事處提供)
|
The Canton House (廣東酒家) in
Nanaimo''s Chinatown years after May-ying worked there |
Historical
Background
Chinatown--
four stages: budding, blooming, withering, extinction or reviving
In the old days, Chinatown
was regarded by the white community as a segregated,
mysterious ghetto of prostitution, gambling, opium-smoking, and other
vices, but it was considered by the Chinese people as a
home where they could find pleasure, comfort, and
companionship; it was a sanctuary where they were
secure from threats and discrimination.
|
Imbalance
in Sex Ratio of Chinatown Residents
1921 census--sex ratio
Vancouver 10/1(5,790 males
and 585 females)
Edmonton 30/1 (501 males
and 17 females)
Regina 60/1 (246 males and
4 females)
Ottawa 30/1 (273 males and
9 females)
Halifax 60/1 (138 males and
2 females)
|
|
Women''s Situations
Although Chinese workers at
the turn of the century worked in places like fish canneries and
organized themselves, racism forced them out of wage labour, except for
domestic work as cooks or houseboys. They were forced to open their own
small business in small towns across the country. Until quite recently,
Chiense men usually had no choice but to work in restaurants,
laundries, grocery stores, coal mines, or on farms. In the
family businesses, women could always be found
workind side by side with their husbands or fathers day and night while
still being responsible for raising large families.
Through the years
of Head Tax, the Exclusion Act, the Depression and the two World Wars,
daughters speak of watching their mothers working endlessly.
They themselves often experienced a double load of work and
school. Social life was very limited. . .
However, these hardships
forstered a new and more intimate relationship between mothers and
daughters. Many of the older women spoke little of no Enlgish and had
few friends. In their isolation they turned to their daughters for
comfort and help coping with the new society. Children acted as their
mothers'' eyes and ears--their communication link to the outside
world.
...Reading the words of
these women, we were struck by the lack of bitterness or regret.
What does come through, however, is their quiet resolve for a better
life for their children and grandchildren. ...(Jin
Guo 20)
Literary
Treatments: The Concubine''s Chidren, Disappearing Moon Cafe
|
TOP
The
Concubine''s Children
The photograph May-ying
affixed to the false papers she used to enter Canada in 1924.
May-ying and
relatives in mainland China:
Half of the
image of May-ying with Chow Guen. In the original, they were
posed as man and wife; he stood behind her chair. |
Above:
May-ying and newborn Ping.
Printed on the back is:
"Made in Canada."
Left: The concubine''s eldest
daughters, Ping and Nan, on Chinese soil |
|
May-ying,
Chow Guen, Hing (Winnie) and her brother
|
Left: The photograph which
stood on May-ying''s dresser alongside the one of her youngest, Hing
(right), taken in a Vancouver studio. So taken was May-ying
with dressing her as a boy that she commissioned a portrait;
in the original, mother and daughter stood hand in hand.
May-ying''s ''family'' portrait with
Hing and newly-procured Gok-leng, the son she always wanted.
|
Winnie and her father leave for the
church. 
Winnie and her mother
|
TOP
|
References & Acknowledgments:
- Lai, David Chuenyan. Chinatowns: Towns
Within Cities in Canada. Vancouver: University of BC P, 1988.
- Lee, Wai-man. Portraits of a
Challenge: An Illustrated History of the Chinese Canadians. Council
of Chinese Canadians in Ontario, 1984.
-
Special Thanks to --
Canadian Museum of
Civilization and The Canadian Trade
Office in Taipei for providing the information and the precious
photographs on this page.
|
|
|
|
