Mon Keang School ( zh, t=文彊學校) is a
Chinese school
A Chinese school () is a school that is established for the purpose of teaching the varieties of Chinese (in particular, Mandarin and Cantonese), though the purpose can vary to teaching different aspects of Chinese culture such as Chinese art, ca ...
located inside the Wongs' Benevolent Association Building at 123A East Pender Street, in the
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 ...
of
Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada. Classes have historically been taught in
Cantonese, the
prestige variety of
Yue Chinese.
History
Mon Keang School was established on the third floor of the Wongs' Benevolent Association Building in 1925.
Its objective was to teach Chinese cultural customs and the
Cantonese language to Canadian-born children of Chinese descent.
By 1937, Mon Keang was one of ten Chinese schools in Vancouver, with classes at these schools funded primarily by Chinese clan associations, the
Chinese Freemasons
The Tiandihui, the Heaven and Earth Society, also called Hongmen (the Vast Family), is a Chinese fraternity, fraternal organization and historically a secret society, secretive Chinese salvationist religions, folk religious sect in the ve ...
, and churches.
Like other Chinese schools of the time, Mon Keang only offered elementary-level language classes until after
World War II, when it became the first Chinese school to provide language classes at the secondary level.
Instructors at Mon Keang were mainly Chinese immigrants who exempt from the
Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 (now commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act) in effect at the time.
Wong Koon Fow, a teacher and principal of Mon Keang from 1936 to 1969, noted that the school officially used Cantonese to teach its students, but many of its instructors also used a mixture of both Cantonese and
Taishanese.
In 2011, the school stopped offering classes "due to declining enrolment and changing demographics that favour learning
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
over Cantonese“.
In 2016, the Youth Collaborative for Chinatown (青心在唐人街), a grassroots youth group based in Vancouver's Chinatown, began organizing Saturday School, a series of place-based, Cantonese-language classes through classes inside the former Mon Keang classrooms and field studies and trips to various other locations in Chinatown.
In 2024, the school was one of 12 nationally recognized sites nominated for "The Next Great Save" contest by the National Trust For Canada.
Building history
The school is housed in the Wongs' Benevolent Association Building, located on 123A East Pender Street, on its third floor. The building was originally constructed in 1910, but it underwent several renovations over the years, including some designed by Chinese-Canadian architect W.H. Chow, G. A. Southall, and later by J.A. Radford in 1921.
Mon Keang School was designated a "national historic site" in 2023, under Parks Canada's National Program of Historical Commemoration. Steven Guilbeault, the minister responsible for Parks Canada, made a press release on the designation on May 31, 2024.
References
External links
Mon Keang School {{lang, zh-hant, 文彊學校 Collection a digital collection of images and texts
Schools in Vancouver
Chinese-language schools
Chinese-Canadian culture in Vancouver
1925 establishments in British Columbia
Buildings and structures in Chinatown, Vancouver