[BCMA] BARKERVILLE delegates make historic trek to China - CORRECTED

Thu Nov 19 12:16:47 PST 2009

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: 	BARKERVILLE delegates make historic trek to China - CORRECTED
Date: 	Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:31:06 -0800
From: 	James Douglas <JDouglas at barkerville.ca>
To: 	Barkerville Historic Town <barkerville at barkerville.ca>

*_For Immediate Release_*

*BARKERVILLE delegates make historic trek to China*

*Barkerville** BC*, November 17^th , 2009 – Representatives from western 
North America’s largest living history museum have made an historic trip 
to Guangdong Province, China.

Judy Campbell, CEO of Barkerville Historic Town, and William G. 
Quackenbush, Barkerville’s Curator, joined Barkerville Heritage Trust 
liaison Lily Chow and a Canadian federal Senator in Guangzhou last week, 
marking the start of an eleven day research expedition aimed at better 
understanding Barkerville’s beautifully preserved Chinatown and its 
extensive collection of archival records, photographs, and artifacts - 
many of which were brought by early Chinese immigrants from Guangdong 
province.

The trip – which commenced November 10^th – was jointly arranged by the 
Barkerville Heritage Trust, Barkerville’s operating and managing 
partner, and the Overseas Exchange Association of Guangdong Province, in 
order to provide Barkerville’s management team opportunities to meet 
with Chinese tourism officials, government policy makers, and academic 
and museum professionals.

“We were honoured that a delegation from the Guangdong Overseas Chinese 
Affairs office visited Barkerville in 2006,” said Ms. Campbell, 
Barkerville’s Chief Executive Officer. “And this past summer the Chinese 
Consular General in Vancouver, Mr. Liang Shugen, helped us celebrate the 
designation of Barkerville’s Chee Kung Tong building as a National 
Historic Site of Canada – an event that has already increased Chinese 
interest in Northern British Columbia and the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast 
regions.”

“If we are to continue to build a meaningful relationship with China 
that will ultimately result in a cultural exchange and increased tourism 
to British Columbia, then it is important for us to return the visit we 
received from these Chinese officials in 2006, and to acknowledge the 
continued attention paid to us by the Chinese Consular General,” 
Campbell concluded.

On November 11^th , Ms. Campbell and Mr. Quackenbush traveled with Mrs. 
Lily Chow and Senator Lillian (Quan) Dyck to the Kiaping area of China’s 
Guangdong Province, to visit the Senator’s ancestral village. Senator 
Dyck’s father - Yok Lee Quan - immigrated to Canada from Canton, China 
in 1912.

The group then moved to Jiangmen on November 13^th , where Ms. Campbell 
and Mr. Quackenbush made a joint presentation to the Overseas Chinese 
Research Centre at Wuyi University. Selia Tan Jinhua, a researcher from 
Wuyi University who traveled to Barkerville this summer for the Chee 
Kung Tong dedication ceremony, later brought the Canadian delegates to 
the home villages of some of Barkerville’s most prominent Chinese 
community members. The party returned to Guangzhou on November 15^th to 
meet with the Director of the Guangdong Museum and other tourism officials.

This week Ms. Campbell and Mr. Quackenbush travel to Tianhe, Guangzhou 
to meet with the Managing Director of British Columbia’s Trade and 
Investment Representative Office for South China before heading home to 
Barkerville on *November **21^st *.

- 30 -

* *

*About Barkerville Historic Town*

Barkerville Historic Town is the largest historic site in Western North 
America (www.barkerville.ca <http://www.barkerville.ca/>). Barkerville 
is provincially, nationally and internationally recognized for its 
historic significance associated with its place in western Canada’s gold 
rush era and the role the gold rush played in BC joining Canada. 
Barkerville is widely known as a “must see” for travel itineraries in 
western Canada. The historic town is also a significant contributor to 
the Cariboo regional economy and is widely regarded as a unique 
component of the regional identity.

The Barkerville Heritage Trust, as Barkerville’s operating and managing 
partner, works in conjunction with the Province of British Columbia, the 
owner and statutory guardian of Barkerville’s heritage resources, to 
ensure that Barkerville is efficiently managed, entertaining and 
educational to visitors, and financially stable as the premier heritage 
resource and tourism attraction for the Cariboo. The ultimate aim is to 
maintain and enhance Barkerville’s position as a nationally significant 
heritage resource and tourism attraction for British Columbia and Canada.

Barkerville is situated 80 km east of Quesnel, British Columbia in the 
foothills of the Cariboo Mountains, close to Troll Mountain Ski Resort 
and Bowron Lake Provincial Park. The nearby community of Wells (8 km 
from Barkerville) is the service and housing centre for the area 
(www.wellsbc.com <http://www.wellsbc.com/>) and is itself a dynamic 
cultural community, home of Island Mountain Arts, the acclaimed Toni 
Onley Artists’ Project, the International Celtic Harp School 
(www.imarts.com <http://www.imarts.com/>), the dynamic indie music 
festival ArtsWells (www.artswells.com <http://www.artswells.com/>), and 
the Sunset Theatre (www.sunset-theatre.com 
<http://www.sunset-theatre.com/>). Wells is also situated close to a 
wide variety of winter and summer outdoor activities.

*About the Overseas Exchange Association of Guangdong Province*

The Overseas Exchange Association of Guangdong Province is a non-profit, 
non-government organization voluntarily set up by personages from 
various circles in Guangdong. With the vision of "strengthen the 
friendship, promote the communication, reinforce the cooperation", the 
association builds up a link for overseas Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau 
compatriots to improve the communication with Guangdong in the fields of 
commerce and trade, Science and technology, culture and education. Since 
the establishment of the association in July 1992, fruitful achievements 
have been reached to assist Overseas Chinese in investing, trading, 
setting up public welfare and charities in China, and to assist domestic 
enterprises and organizations in professionals recruitment, capital and 
technique as well as the setting up of their representative offices or 
agencies abroad. www.gocn.southcn.com/english 
<http://www.gocn.southcn.com/english>.

* *

*Media Inquiries*

*
*

*James Douglas*

Marketing and Communications

Barkerville Historic Town

Box 19

Barkerville, BC V0K 1B0

250-994-3302 ext. 41

888-994-3332 toll free

250-994-3435 fax

james.douglas at barkerville.ca <mailto:james.douglas at barkerville.ca>

www.barkerville.ca <http://www.barkerville.ca>

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