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Revision as of 02:43, 26 October 2014

It has been suggested that this article be merged into History of Chinese immigration to Canada. (Discuss) Proposed since October 2014.

As of 2011 there are over 450,000 ethnic Chinese in Metro Vancouver. Vancouver received the title of being, outside of Asia, the "most Asian city" due to its large ethnic Chinese population. Vancouver had ethnic Chinese residents when the city was founded in 1886. According to Graham E. Johnson, the author of "Hong Kong Immigration and the Chinese Community in Vancouver," people with origins from Hong Kong "have been especially notable in the flow of international migrants to British Columbia which, for all intents and purposes, has meant the Vancouver region." The city is sometimes called "Hongcouver" due to the size of the Chinese population.

Richmond, in Greater Vancouver, had more ethnic Chinese residents than White residents in 2013. Ian Young of the South China Morning Post described Richmond as "the most Chinese city in North America."

History

Around 1980 Toronto's ethnic Chinese population became the largest in Canada. Until then, Vancouver had the largest ethnic Chinese population in Canada.

In the 1990s a wave of Chinese from Hong Kong came to Vancouver. Levels of Chinese coming from Hong Kong declined after the Handover of Hong Kong in 1997.

In 1992 Vancouver had the second largest ethnic Chinese population outside of China, with San Francisco having the largest such population.

By the 1990s white residents of some Vancouver neighborhoods criticized ethnic Chinese for demolishing older houses and building larger, newer houses in their place. Brian K. Ray, Greg Halseth, and Benjamin Johnson, authors of "The Changing ‘Face’ of the Suburbs: Issues of Ethnicity and Residential Change in Suburban Vancouver," wrote that many existing Whites perceived the ethnic Chinese and their new houses as being "an assault on traditional meanings associated with suburbia."

In 2006 there were 396,000 ethnic Chinese in Vancouver.

By 2012 most Chinese arriving in Hong Kong were from the Mainland, with some Chinese coming from Taiwan.

A 2013 study by Dan Hiebert of the University of British Columbia predicted that by 2031 the Chinese population of Vancouver would be 809,000.

By 2013 wealthy Mainland Chinese investors were buying property in Vancouver. Some existing members of the Vancouver community, including ethnic Chinese, criticized the new investors, arguing that they were driving up housing prices. Ayesha Bhatty of the BBC wrote that "experts say there's little evidence to back up the fears."

Geography

Ethnic Chinese are located throughout Vancouver. 40% of the residents of a large portion of Southeast Vancouver are ethnic Chinese. The Granville and 49th area within South Vancouver also has a Chinese population. The Vancouver Chinatown is the largest Chinatown in Canada.

In 1981 the vast majority of ethnic Chinese in Greater Vancouver lived in the Vancouver city limits. At the time Chinese were concentrated in eastern Vancouver, around Chinatown. By the mid-1990s ethnic Chinese had moved to Kerrisdale and Shaughnessy. In those communities ethnic Chinese built large modern-style housing in place of Neo-Tudor and other style houses from the early 20th century.

Richmond has a high concentration of ethnic Chinese. Ethnic Chinese make up 80% of the residents of "The Golden Village" area, which contains many Chinese businesses. Douglas Todd of the Vancouver Sun wrote "Richmond remains the most striking bastion of Chinese culture". Richmond had few Chinese in 1981, with most census tracks having fewer than 5% of their populations being ethnic Chinese and with no census tract having over 10% of its population be ethnic Chinese. By 1986 the proportion of Chinese in Richmond was increasing; in 1986 ethnic Chinese made up 8.3% of Richmond's population.

Areas of northern Coquitlam also have ethnic Chinese. The Halifax Street and Kensington Street area of central Burnaby has a Chinese community.

Demographics

In 2006, according to Statistics Canada data, the numbers of visible minority Chinese in Greater Vancouver included 168,210 in Vancouver city, 75,730 in Richmond, 60,765 in Burnaby, 20,205 in Surrey, 19,580 in Coquitlam, 5,835 in Delta, and 3,770 in New Westminster.

Language

Historically Cantonese was the primary language of Vancouver's Chinese community. By 2012 Mandarin was displacing Cantonese. Cantonese and Mandarin are commonly spoken in Richmond.

Commerce

Many Chinese malls which contain businesses catering to Chinese speakers are located in Richmond.

Media

The Vancouver Sun operates Taiyangbao (simplified Chinese: 太阳报; traditional Chinese: 太陽報; pinyin: Tàiyáng Bào), a Mandarin-language newspaper.

Education

In 1998 a group of parents of Chinese origins asked the Vancouver School Board to establish a new school. The school board opted not to establish the school. The requested school would have used school uniforms, assigned more homework than other public schools, and, in the words of Paul Yee, author of Saltwater City: Story of Vancouver's Chinese Community, "bring in discipline" and "back-to-basics subjects".

Politics

In 2001 the Richmond Canadian Voters submitted three candidates for the Vancouver City Council, including two ethnic Chinese, but none of them won seats. Yee wrote that the public perceived the party as being "Chinese" "due to its leadership and conservative positions on group homes and liberal public education".

In 2013 a petition arguing that Chinese-only signs were a problem in Richmond was submitted to the city council. The City Council responded by ignoring the petition.

By 2014 the group Putting Canada First, which criticizes having Chinese-language signs in Greater Vancouver, was established. That year, its spokesperson, North Vancouver resident Brad Saltzberg, wrote a letter arguing against having Chinese language signs to the city council of West Vancouver. The Mayor of West Vancouver, Michael Smith, criticized the movement.

Religion

As of 2011 over 100,000 of the ethnic Chinese in Metro Vancouver were Christians, making up about 24% of the total population. 14% of the total population of Metro Vancouver ethnic Chinese stated that they were Buddhist.

Metro Vancouver had Chinese Protestant and Chinese Catholic churches. Of the protestant churches there are over 110 in the area. Church services are held in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin.

There are over 26 Chinese Christian organizations in Metro Vancouver. They include theological organizations, radio stations, magazines, and newspapers.

Notable residents

• Jim Chu, Chief Constable of the Vancouver Police Department
• Wong Foon Sien, journalist and social activist

References

• Bloemraad, Irene. "Diversity and Elected Officials in the City of Vancouver" (Chapter 2). In: Andrew, Caroline, John Biles, Myer Siemiatycki, and Erin Tolley (editors). Electing a Diverse Canada: The Representation of Immigrants, Minorities, and Women. UBC Press, July 1, 2009. ISBN 0774858583, 9780774858588. Start p. 46.
• Johnson, Graham E. "Hong Kong Immigration and the Chinese Community in Vancouver" (Chapter 7). In: Skeldon, Ronald. Reluctant Exiles?: Migration from Hong Kong and the New Overseas Chinese (Volume 5 of Hong Kong becoming China). M.E. Sharpe, January 1, 1994. ISBN 1563244314, 9781563244315. Start p. 120.
• Ng, Wing Chung. The Chinese in Vancouver, 1945-80: The Pursuit of Identity and Power (Contemporary Chinese Studies Series). UBC Press, November 1, 2011. ISBN 0774841583, 9780774841580.
• Ray, Brian K., Greg Halseth, and Benjamin Johnson. "The Changing ‘Face’ of the Suburbs: Issues of Ethnicity and Residential Change in Suburban Vancouver." International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. Volume 21, Issue 1, pages 75–99, March 1997. Published online December 16, 2002. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.00059.
• Yee, Paul. Saltwater City: Story of Vancouver's Chinese Community. D & M Publishers, Dec 1, 2009. ISBN 1926706250, 9781926706252.

Notes

1. ^ "Vancouver’s Chinese flock to Christianity more than Buddhism" (Archive). The Vancouver Sun. February 5, 2011. Retrieved on October 22, 2014.
2. ^ FlorCruz, Michelle. "Vancouver Anti-Chinese-Language Movement Focused On Chinese Language Signs, Advertisements" (Archive). International Business Times. July 17, 2014. Retrieved on October 20, 2014.
3. Johnson, p. 120.
4. ^ Young, Ian. "Chinese numbers in Vancouver, Toronto to double by 2031." South China Morning Post. Saturday April 6, 2013. Updated Tuesday April 9, 2013. Print title: "Chinese in two cities to double by 2031." Retrieved on October 20, 2014.
5. Ng, p. 7.
6. ^ Bhatty, Ayesha. "Canada prepares for an Asian future" (Archive). BBC. May 25, 2012. Retrieved on October 20, 2014.
7. "Vancouver: Gateway to Alaska." Cruise Travel. March/April 1992. Lakeside Publishing Co. ISSN 0199-5111. Vol. 13, No. 5. p. 13.
8. Ray, Halseth, and Johnson, p. 82.
9. Ghosh, Palash. "Vancouver’s Skyrocketing Housing Prices: Are Mainland Chinese Investors To Blame?" (Archive). International Business Times. December 17, 2013. Retrieved on October 20, 2014.
10. Bloemraad, p. 62. "As evident in Map 2.2, those of Chinese ethnicity are dispersed throughout the city,"
11. ^ Todd, Douglas. "Mapping our ethnicity Part 2: China comes to Richmond" (Archive). Vancouver Sun. May 2, 2012. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.
12. ^ Ray, Halseth, and Johnson, p. 88.
13. Ray, Halseth, and Johnson, p. 82. "Vancouver's elite inner suburban neighbourhood of Shaugnessy, as well as its middle class neighbour Kerrisdale, have attracted considerable media and academic attention in recent years due to a significant increase in the number of Chinese residents and the replacement of early twentieth century homes inspired by traditional English architecture (often neo-tudor) with monster homes that draw heavily on postmodern architectural styles." - The sources in footnote 4 date to 1993 and 1995
14. "Profile of Diversity in BC Communities 2006 Vancouver" (Archive). Government of British Columbia. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.
15. "Profile of Diversity in BC Communities 2006 Richmond" (Archive). Government of British Columbia. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.
16. "Profile of Diversity in BC Communities 2006 Burnaby" (Archive). Government of British Columbia. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.
17. "Profile of Diversity in BC Communities 2006 Surrey" (Archive). Government of British Columbia. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.
18. "Profile of Diversity in BC Communities 2006 Coquitlam" (Archive). Government of British Columbia. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.
19. "Profile of Diversity in BC Communities 2006 Delta" (Archive). Government of British Columbia. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.
20. "Profile of Diversity in BC Communities 2006 New Westminster" (Archive). Government of British Columbia. Retrieved on October 24, 2014.
21. ^ Crowe, Paul. "Dharma on the Move: Vancouver Buddhist Communities and Multiculturalism" (Chapter 6). In: Harding, John S., Victor Sōgen Hori, and Alexander Soucy. McGill-Queen's Press (MQUP), June 1, 2014. ISBN 0773590498, 9780773590496. Google Books PT 112.
22. Yee, p. 213.
23. Yee, p. 215.
24. Li, Wanyee. "Finger pointing in Richmond Chinese signage debate not constructive" (Archive). Vancouver Observer. March 26, 2013. Retrieved on October 19, 2014.
25. Seyd, Jane. "Chinese signs questioned in West Vancouver" (Archive). The Vancouver Sun. July 14, 2014. Retrieved on October 20, 2014.

Further reading

• Anderson, Kay. Vancouver's Chinatown: Racial Discourse in Canada, 1875-1980 (Volume 10 of McGill-Queen's Studies in Ethnic History, ISSN 0846-8869). McGill-Queen's University Press (MQUP), November 4, 1991. ISBN 0773508449, 9780773508446. - See profile at Google Books
• Ironside, Linda L. Chinese- and Indo-Canadian elites in greater Vancouver : their views on education (Master's thesis) (Archive). Simon Fraser University. 1985. See profile at Simon Fraser University.
• Teo, Sin Yih. "Imaging Canada: Tracing the Cultural Logics of Migration Amongst PRC Immigrants in Vancouver" (Master's Thesis) (Archive). University of British Columbia (UBC), 2003. - See profile at UBC.

External links

• Taiyangbao - Chinese edition of the Vancouver Sun
• "In pictures: Vancouver's Chinese community." BBC.

• Articles to be merged from October 2014
• Asian-Canadian culture in Vancouver
• Chinese-Canadian culture
• Ethnic groups in Vancouver