City wants Chinatown made a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Designation could boost tourism and help protect historic buildings, professor says
Chinatown is a designated heritage district at all three levels of government — municipal, provincial and federal.
Now the city wants to make it a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“There are literally hundreds and hundreds of these designated sites all over the world,” said UBC history professor Henry Yu. “In essence the designation recognizes that this spot is important and significant, basically in human history.”
Yu is part of an advisory committee that has worked on the city’s “Historical Discrimination Against Chinese People in Vancouver” initiative.
It recommended that Vancouver issue a formal apology for discrimination among Chinese-Canadians. Council agreed this week, and will acknowledge “past legislation, regulations and policies” of old Vancouver councils toward Chinese residents.
When council gave a grant to help create the B. C. Sugar Refinery in the 1890s, for example, it stipulated that B. C. Sugar could not hire Chinese workers. At one point it was even city policy to not hire Chinese workers.
Councillor Raymond Louie moved the motion to make the apology.
“I think it recognizes a period of time where the city was actively participating in racial discrimination against Chinese people,” said Louie.
“We’ve done significant research to show that. The city should take its place in history alongside the federal and provincial governments in recognizing that its actions were wrong.”
The UNESCO World Heritage designation may take five to eight years to complete.
“There’s a process that takes a while before UNESCO would be in a position to recognize it,” said Yu, speaking over the phone from Kyoto, Japan.
“The other ( thing) is you have to earn it, by coming up with things like a management plan. You have to come up with a plan of how to manage Chinatown, in terms of maintaining its value.
“How are you going to handle the huge influx of tourists that are going to come? Because once you’re a UNESCO World Heritage Site, you’re on the map, so to speak.”
Chinatown has been in the news recently because the historic neighbourhood is under pressure from developers. A controversial redevelopment proposal, 105 Keefer, brought out hundreds of speakers, the most to speak on one project in decades.
The rezoning of 105 Keefer was rejected by council, but a proposal for a smaller building that fits within existing zoning will go before the development permit board on Monday.
Yu thinks the prospect of World Heritage designation may give the city more sense of Chinatown’s value.
This could help preserve the many unprotected historic buildings in Chinatown.
“Conservation is a form of development,” he said.
“Conservation isn’t trying to preserve and freeze something, it’s a way of developing an area in a managed way, so that we identify the things that we value and we manage those.”
World Heritage designation isn’t just about protecting old buildings, however.
Yu said when Malacca, Malaysia received UNESCO designation it helped bring in tourists that spurred all sorts of new street life.
“Malacca was kind of a ghost town, and now every weekend, tens of thousands of people come and there’s street food and all kinds of activity,” he said.
“It’s not about just the buildings, that’s the key thing, it’s about the cultural life.
“To me it’s perfect for ( enhancing) what we know and love about Chinatown — the sights, the smells, the food spilling out onto the sidewalk.
“We’ve heard again and again from people that this is what Chinatown is, not just the buildings. It recognizes that value and then manages it, conserves it.”