Chinatown and Little Italy is a business revitalization zone (BRZ) created by the City of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, roughly comprising the informal

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

and

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

ethnic enclave In sociology, an ethnic enclave is a geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity, and economic activity. The term is usually used to refer to either a residential area or a workspace with a high concentration ...

s in the city's inner neighbourhoods. The boundaries of the BRZ includes only the "commercial strips" within those enclaves and the BRZ itself straddles the official neighbourhoods of McCauley and

Boyle Street Boyle Street is a neighbourhood located in central Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, immediately east of the downtown core. The neighbourhood is bounded by Grierson Hill to Rowland Road until Alex Taylor Road and then Jasper Avenue east until 82 Street ...

History

Chung Kee or John Kee, was the first Chinese to settle in Edmonton, arriving by stage-coach from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

in late May 1890 to establish a laundry. In 1899 there were only 13 Chinese men in Edmonton, one restaurant and two laundries, about half lived in Strathcona. By the early 1900s a small Chinatown began to emerge after several Chinese merchants arrived to establish their businesses at the intersection of Namayo Street (contemporary 97 Street) and Rice Street (contemporary 101A Avenue). By 1911 the original 13 Chinese people residing in Edmonton had swelled to 154 (150 males, 4 females) and by 1921 it increased further to 518 (501 males, 17 females). From covering an area of 3 city blocks in 1911 (bounded by Jasper and Elizabeth Avenue as well as Fraser and Namayo Street, to expanding eastward as far as Kinistino Street (Modern 95 Street). Despite this substantial increase in size of the Chinese community, the Chinese people still only accounted for 1% of Edmonton's population. In 1911, some 150 Chinese happily greeted the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...

by cutting off their queues and celebrating, though

Sun Yat Sen The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radia ...

did not visit Edmonton, he did visit Calgary in February 1911. In 1913, when Sun left the government of

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...

, Chinese Edmontonians formed a "Dare to Die Brigade" to go to China and support him. Trained by Morris Cohen (also known as General Two-Gun Cohen) they never got the chance to go to China, as Sun fled to Japan. In 1914, at the start of the First World War the Dare to Die Brigade offered to go to Europe to fight, however their request was turned down and they were disbanded. When Dr. Sun Yat Sen died in 1925, a large memorial service was held in Edmonton. Edmonton's Current Chinatown consists of two parts, Chinatown South is the older part, easily recognized by the presence of the

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

Gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...

and other Chinese-themed

street furniture Street furniture is a collective term for objects and pieces of equipment installed along streets and roads for various purposes. It includes benches, traffic barriers, bollards, post boxes, phone boxes, streetlamps, traffic lights, traffic ...

. Chinatown North lies just to the north of its older counterpart. Chinatown North also includes a large Vietnamese presence and blends into the multicultural "Avenue of Nations" (107 Ave) which runs east-to-west along the northern edge of both Chinatown and Little Italy. The Edmonton Remand Centre located at 9660 - 104 Avenue is in the process of being closed and relocated to a new facility at 127 Street & 186 Avenue in early 2013. The facility will be turned over to Alberta Infrastructure to determine its future once it is vacated and decommissioned by corrections.

Chinatown & Little Italy Business Association

The smaller enclave of Little Italy lies just few blocks to the east of Chinatown. By the early 21st century, it had ceased to be an area of major Italian settlement but continues as a shopping district.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinatown And Little Italy, Edmonton Chinese-Canadian culture in Alberta European-Canadian culture in Alberta

Shopping districts and streets in Canada Geography of Edmonton Tourist attractions in Edmonton Business Revitalization Zones in Alberta