[BCMA] Barkerville CEO launches Who Am I? Exhibit at Wuyi University in China

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Poster for the Who Am I? Exhibit on the front of the Guangdong Overseas Chinese Museum



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The assembly of the satellite exhibit at Wiyu University in process.



For Immediate Release


Barkerville CEO launches Who Am I? Exhibit at Wuyi University in China


November 21, 2013 (Barkerville, BC) – Barkerville Historic Town's interactive multimedia photographic exhibit Who Am I?: Bridging the Pacific from Guangdong to Barkerville and Back recently started its next chapter at Wuyi University’s Museum of Overseas Chinese in Guangzhou, China.


Barkerville’s Chief Executive Officer, Judy Campbell, was present to open the exhibit November 11 as part of a larger conference of museums from all over the world making presentations at Wuyi University.  The exhibit was officially bequeathed to the Museum of Overseas Chinese by Prince George Mayor Shari Green, as part of a twinning relationship between Prince George and Jiangmen, with the hope of increasing greater cultural understanding and access to Chinese markets for northern BC products.


“Wuyi University, particularly the Overseas Chinese Research Centre, is extremely excited about bringing these photos and stories home,” said Campbell. “The emotion they felt about this was evident.”


The wildly successful heritage initiative, which was funded in part by the Omineca Beetle Action Coalition, has received much attention on its current tour of China, including an October 23, 2013 opening by the Governor General of Canada, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston at an event attended by the Governor of Guangdong Province. It is hoped that the Who Am I? exhibit, which focuses on the strong historical and cultural ties that British Columbia has with Guangdong Province, can help develop and deepen relationships that will build a strong foundation for future economic interactions.


The exhibit, comprised of some 60 panels and more than 1600 photographs, allows viewers to scroll through photographs mounted on iPads in the hopes of identifying some of the mostly anonymous Chinese immigrants who contributed much to the gold rush in Barkerville in the 1860s.


The vast majority of Chinese who made their way to Barkerville came from Guangdong Province. The opening of the exhibit in that region represents a huge opportunity to fill in some of the historical gaps involving the interpretation of Barkerville’s historic Chinatown, home to the oldest ethnic Chinese structure in Canada, the Chee Kung Tong National Historic Site.


As part of a larger museum conference at Wuyi University, Barkerville signed an agreement with the Guangdong Museum of Overseas Chinese for the management of the Who Am I? exhibit, while successfully installing a smaller, permanent satellite exhibit in a gift ceremony from the city of Prince George.


Plans have been launched to create a bilingual book covering the exhibition, and many worldwide connections have been established with museums around the globe with similar interests. Barkerville is looking forward to the development of academic partnerships that will add to the knowledge of the Chinese community in Barkerville and our Chinese collections. The University hopes to send scholars to Barkerville as early as next year.


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Media Inquiries


Dirk Van Stralen | Marketing and Communications Specialist


B  A  R  K  E  R  V  I  L  L  E     H  I  S  T  O  R  I  C     T  O  W  N

Box 19 | Barkerville, BC | V0K 1B0


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