Chinatown to mark national historic site designation in May
Chinatown was granted National Historic Site designation in 2011, but it took until 2013 for this to be announced and then another four years for plaques marking this distinction to be unveiled, which they’ll be in a few weeks.
“There’s a whole long story,” said Fred Mah, a longtime Chinatown activist.
Under the Harper government, cuts and underfunding at Parks Canada, which oversees sites and monuments, didn’t help and, somehow, even simple steps like figuring out what details to include on the plaques dragged out, according to Mah and others who have been involved in gaining wider recognition for Vancouver’s Chinatown.
Still, on Wednesday, it was an enthusiastic Mah who spoke in English and Cantonese about a day of celebration that’s being planned for May 13 when the national historic-site plaques will finally be unveiled. He encouraged young people to fight for UNESCO World Heritage recognition of Vancouver Chinatown and talked of his own connection to some of Chinatown’s most significant stories, which will be highlighted.
There was Wong Foon Sien, known as Chinatown’s unofficial mayor, who travelled to Ottawa more than 10 times between the mid-1940s and early ’50s, fighting to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act and for recognition of rights such as family reunification.
“I immigrated (to Vancouver) in 1949 as part of this reunification,” said Mah. “Because of (Wong’s efforts), I was able to take advantage.”
The national designation doesn’t bring any funds or carry any mandate to protect buildings at a time when the area (basically Pender Street from the Millennium Gate near Carrall to Gore streets) is surrounded by rapid construction of new condos and businesses, with more development pressure to come when the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts are removed.
Mah took the chance to ask Vancouver Coun. and Deputy Mayor Geoff Meggs, who attended the conference, to consider closing streets around Chinatown Memorial Plaza, which runs alongside the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Garden and a monument to Chinese-Canadian war veterans.
Meggs said: “There are some big decisions coming to council in the next while. These have been very, very hotly debated ... And those decisions are now up against this background of what you have done in getting this heritage designation.”
“Timing is everything. At this moment, if there is a signal that all three levels of government are ready to do something and work together, it will have been worth the wait,” said University of B.C. history Prof. Henry Yu, who has also been part of various efforts to bring attention to the intangible cultural value of Chinatown. “What’s the next step? This brings leverage for federal programs and resources, so that (the designation) isn’t just a marker (in the form of a plaque.)”
In the meantime, the city is backing a Chinatown History Windows project, which is installing a series of large-sized, vintage photos into storefront windows. These have been colourized and stylized to look modern by Chinese-Canadian graphic artists Vincent Chau, Side Cho, Herman Ho and Catherine Clement, who is curating the project. Some are of well-known figures, such as Douglas Jung, the first Chinese-Canadian member of Parliament. But Clement has also been digging into stories about the music scene of Hogan’s Alley and a little-known Chinatown photographer, Yucho Chow.
To tell the story of Ho Ho Chop Suey, a popular restaurant that operated in Chinatown until the 1980s, one of the first of these windows features an image of Wong Foon Sien, sharing a meal with African-American singer and actress Lena Horne.