oral histories

When did your family first come to Canada?

[My grandparents] came from a very small village in mainland China. They needed some way to sustain the villagers. So what they did they select some individuals in the village, usually, young men, and they pooled their resources and they paid their way to come overseas to get work. My grandfather was one of those that were selected. He landed in Vancouver, probably in the mid-1800s, and found work as a labourer working on the docks in Vancouver. He would work for a couple years, save all that money, then voyage back to China and give the money back to the village so the villagers could actually survive.

Can you describe your father’s journey to Canada?

There came a time when my grandfather was getting too old to do this back and forth between Vancouver and China. So the villagers said, “Well, you’ve got a young son now. You can send him in your place. My grandfather and the villagers paid that $500 head tax just to have my dad land in Vancouver when he was thirteen years old. $500 back in the early 1900s was quite a bit of money for the village but they did that. He was just a teenager and he ended up being a houseboy for a lawyer in the West End. He didn’t graduate high school but I think he got to grade nine, went back to China and got married.

Can you describe your parents’ journey to Vancouver?

Around the time of the communist revolution in China, my mother, father and oldest sister packed up whatever they could carry and fled to Hong Kong. They were there for a couple years and then the Second World War and the Japanese invasion happened in Hong Kong. When they boarded the ocean liners or ships. You either ended up in Peru, San Francisco or you’d come up north to Vancouver. My dad was here when he was a young boy so he knew what this place was about.

Why was Chinatown so important to your parents?

Chinatown became a very critical, important part of them adjusting to this place which is different. It gave them a piece of back home. My mom would still go and buy herbs or Chinese stuff like mushrooms or things that she knew was still part of her cuisine. She’d buy the ingredients from scratch in Chinatown, come home and make the soups. That was something that she knew about and she was used to.

I still remember when I was a little boy my mom would take the bus from Kits down to Chinatown on a Saturday morning to go buy groceries. She would start there and buy whatever the local produce would be, cabbages or carrots, something that they’d probably never seen in China. They would find it in Chinatown and mom would bring some back and say “Hey, I’ve never seen this before. Let’s try this out.” Then over time, my mom would feel comfortable going to Safeway.

Was there anything about Canada that surprised your parents?

I think both my mom and dad experienced racism back then. I don’t think they were surprised. I remember there were times I would hear certain things said to my mom and dad from other people very derogatory words or phrases. They never were resentful for it though. I think if they were surprised at something, they would be surprised at “Well, we’re trying and you’re still being racist against, you know. We’re trying. It’s not as if we’re not.” Having said that, maybe it wasn’t that surprising because that’s one of the reasons why they left Hong Kong. Vancouver was supposed to be a better place than somebody coming in and occupying your community.

Was there anything that made your parents feel especially Canadian?

One thing that made them very, very proud was the ability to vote. I was always proud to have my Canadian citizenship, to be a Canadian, to be in this place. For my mom and dad, the greatest thing that they’ve ever felt to be a Canadian was to be able to vote. They felt very, very fortunate to live in a place where you do have the freedom to do what you want, to be what you want, and you feel safe.

What did your parents miss about China?

I think, if anything, it was missing family that was left behind. It’d be very deep like that because my father had a sister that did not get out of communist China. Even over the years until he passed away, he was sending letters back and forth with his sister.

How is your wife’s family connected to Steveston’s history?

When we were going through the museum one day, we stumbled upon a picture of the Hong Wo General Store and there was this lady we called Aunt Jessie. Aunt Jessie’s always been at our family gatherings years and years ago. Aunt Jessie was married to this fellow but she was one of the daughters of the owner of the Hong Wo store. It’s amazing. Alanna’s father’s cousin is one of the daughters of Hong Wo.

What is your uncle’s connection to World War Two in Canada?

My uncle never talked about the war when we were growing up. He came to Vancouver during the war as part of this group of Chinese Canadians that wanted to fight and join the army. At that time, the Chinese did not have a vote. They weren’t considered to be Chinese Canadian, or Canadian. So they formed a unit and the unit was placed under British command because out of Hong Kong, they were Hong Kong citizens and would still be considered British. They were this suicide squad. They were spies. They were training as resistance fighters behind enemy lines in the South Pacific as part of this group called Operation Oblivion.

How did you come to live in Richmond?

When our first daughter came, we needed to find a place, a bigger place than just a one bedroom apartment in Kitsilano. We hunted all around. We went to North Shore, we went to Burnaby, we went all over the place trying to find neighbourhoods that I thought would resemble something like Kits. At that time, I was working for a house construction and development company and they were just opening up Steveston. One day at work, I decided to flip through the Steveston Neighbourhood Five Year Plan and said “Boy, this looks like a great community.” So we’ve been there for twenty eight years now. We were looking for the neighbourhood and to this day, I think Steveston still retains that whole neighbourhood feeling. That’s missing a little bit in the bigger city of Richmond.

Why do you volunteer?

It’s my duty to, kind of, make sure that I do give back, which [my family] would have done if they were young, if they were still here, if they were still able. If they could live to 200, they would still be giving back somehow. For me, the family migrated, and for us to carry forward the story of migration is for us to make sure that we provide some value back to the community for the ones that came before us to put us here.

I think my parents would not want me to make anybody else feel that they’re second class or they’re discriminated against because, you know, they’ve had that done to them. . . I’m, kind of, ashamed that we are still treating a part of our population in this country as a different class of citizen. You know, the Aboriginal People. In my work life and in what I do as a volunteer, I try to do my part in trying to say “Hey, as a Canadian, I feel ashamed. Let’s fix it.” We’re not treating others, again, to be second class citizens or another class of citizen in this country.