[BCMA] Media Release: 50th Anniversary of Chinatown Fire

Tue Oct 5 16:49:44 PDT 2010

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Subject:	Media Release: 50th Anniversary of Chinatown Fire
Date sent:	Tue, 5 Oct 2010 16:04:53 -0700
From:	"Arvon" <arvon at nanaimomuseum.ca>

Media Release

September 27, 2010

Four Chinatowns, one fire, and many memories.

On September 30, 1960, the largest fire in Nanaimo's history destroyed
the Pine Street Chinatown. To commemorate the anniversary of this
colossal event, Nanaimo Museum will open the new feature exhibit
Discovering Chinatown this Thursday.

"This exhibit honours Nanaimo's Chinese Community and opens in
recognition of the 50th anniversary of Nanaimo's Chinatown fire," says
Debbie Trueman, the museum`s general manager.  

While few physical vestiges of Nanaimo's once thriving Chinese community
remain, the story of Chinese settlement offers fascinating insight into
one of Nanaimo's oldest, and the important economic and cultural role it
played in the city's development. This exhibit will tell the story of
Nanaimo`s Chinatown through photographs, artifacts, film and more.

Origins of Chinese Settlement in Nanaimo

Gold rushes brought many Chinese to North America in the mid-1800s;
first to the United States, then to Canada. But in Nanaimo, coal was the
lure, especially during the winter months when cold weather in the BC`s
interior discouraged gold mining. Most of the Chinese who came to
Nanaimo were from Guangdong Province (Canton delta region) and the four
counties of Toi-san, Sun-wui, Hoi-ping, and Yin-pang.

Like other immigrants, they followed the footsteps of countrymen or
relatives seeking a better life. From the mid-1800s, population
pressures, limited land opportunities, floods, famine and political
instability caused many to leave despite the Chinese government's
prohibition against emigration.

The First Chinatown (1860s - 1884)

The first Chinese arrived in Nanaimo in the 1860s to work as labourers
for the Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company. They lived mainly in
company-built structures in the Esplanade and Victoria Crescent area. By
the mid-1880s Nanaimo's Chinese community was the third largest in
British Columbia, after Victoria and New Westminster.

The Second Chinatown (1884 - 1908)

Chinese were perceived as unfair labour competition in the local mines,
especially during times of high unemployment. This was a racist era and
non-whites were often victimised. In 1884, amid growing tensions the
company relocated the Chinese quarter outside city limits. The Chinese
residents cleared the forest, levelled the site, and erected the
buildings themselves, at no cost to the company.

The second Chinatown was a self-contained and self-supporting community,
with its own merchants, doctors and entertainers. In 1908, Mah Bing Kee
and Ching Chung Yung bought 43 acres of company land, which included 
the
second Chinatown site. To offset the cost of the purchase, they raised
rents. In response, the residents formed the Lun Yick Company (Together
We Prosper) and with the help of 4000 shareholders from across Canada,
purchased nine acres of land from the coal company near the intersection
of Pine and Hecate Streets. The residents then moved the entire
community and its buildings to the new location.

The Third Chinatown (1908 - 1960)

By 1911, Nanaimo's third Chinatown was well established, with buildings
on both sides of Pine Street. The population and economic vitality of
the Pine Street Chinatown waned in the early 1920s due to a decline in
the coal industry and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. The area became
increasingly derelict until it was destroyed by fire on September 30th,
1960. By this time the majority of the population had dispersed
throughout Nanaimo or relocated to larger Chinese communities in Canada
and the United States.

The Fourth Chinatown (circa 1920s) 

During the 1920s, an extension to the third Chinatown known as "lower"
Chinatown or "new town" developed on nearby Machleary Street. This
extension was significant in that land ownership was no longer tied to a
lease arrangement with the coal company or land bought collectively.

Nanaimo's Chinese settlers had a unique impact on the City's history.
Like all pioneers, they struggled against many obstacles and ultimately
had to fight for recognition as Canadian citizens. After World War II,
the removal of discriminatory immigration policy and acceptance of
official multiculturalism allowed people of Chinese descent to take
their place at all levels of Canadian society.

The Nanaimo Museum is located at 100 Museum Way in the Vancouver 
Island
Conference Centre. For more information, please call 250-753-1821, or
visit www.nanaimomuseum.ca <http://www.nanaimomuseum.ca/> . 

-30-

-- 
Mark Corbett
Cell: 250-619-8265
Email: markcorbett65 at gmail.com

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