Chinatown, Victoria
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The Chinatown in
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...
is the oldest
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 ...
in Canada and the second oldest in North America after
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. Victoria's Chinatown had its beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century in the mass influx of miners from California to what is now British Columbia in 1858. It remains an actively inhabited place and continues to be popular with residents and visitors, many of whom are
Chinese-Canadians , native_name = , native_name_lang = , image = Chinese Canadian population by province.svg , image_caption = Chinese Canadians as percent of population by province / territory , pop = 1,715,7704.63% of the ...
. Victoria's Chinatown is now surrounded by cultural, entertainment venues as well as being a venue itself. Chinatown is now conveniently just minutes away from other sites of interests such as the
Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre The Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre (SOFMC) is an indoor arena located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and is the largest arena in British Columbia outside of Vancouver. It is primarily used for ice hockey, previously the home arena of the ...
,
Bay Centre The Bay Centre (formerly the Victoria Eaton Centre) is a shopping mall in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is bounded by Douglas, Government, Fort, and View streets, in the city's historic centre.Ward, Robin (November 17, 1990). "A world ...
, Empress Hotel,
Market Square The market square (or sometimes, the market place) is a Town square, square meant for trading, in which a market is held. It is an important feature of many towns and cities around the world.Royal BC Museum Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum (sometimes referred to as Royal BC Museum) consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The museum is loca ...
states that it "was known for its maze of alleyways and courtyards, containing everything from movie theaters and restaurants to gambling dens."Seeking a New Home

Archive
.
Royal BC Museum Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum (sometimes referred to as Royal BC Museum) consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The museum is loca ...
. Retrieved 27 January 2015.


History

The discovery of gold in the Fraser Canyon in 1858 led to a sudden surge in immigration to
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
from California, about one third of which was Chinese. Within a year, immigration to the colony directly from China began as news spread of the gold find, but the
gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
was only one reason many Chinese citizens immigrated.
Famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...
,
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
or
war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
in their homeland also encouraged the voyage across the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
to Victoria (on the Crown
Colony of Vancouver Island The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia. ...
en route to the
Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...
, and later to
Barkerville Barkerville was the main town of the Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada, and is preserved as a historic town. It is located on the north slope of the Cariboo Plateau near the Cariboo Mountains east of Quesnel. BC Highway 26, which ...
and the mainland's many other goldfields). The majority of the population was from South
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, in
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
province. Later, the construction of the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
would continue to bring Chinese workers. Initially a collection of crude wooden huts, Victoria's Chinatown rapidly evolved into a dense neighborhood of businesses, movie theaters, schools, churches, temples and a hospital. It did gain a dark, seedy reputation however, because of opium factories, gambling dens and brothels. Chinatown grew steadily over the years until its peak in 1911, when it occupied an area of about six city blocks in the north end of downtown Victoria. This area included two blocks of Herald Street, two blocks of Fisgard Street, and two blocks of old Cormorant Street. The block between Store Street and Government Street has since been renamed Pandora Avenue, and the block between Government Street and Douglas Street is now part of
Centennial Square Centennial Square is a plaza in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the City of Victoria. The Victoria Police Station, city hall and McPherson Playhouse are adjacent to the s ...
. In 1911, Victoria's Chinatown housed 3,158 people, almost more than the entire population of downtown Victoria (including Chinatown and Harris Green) in 2001. From the late nineteenth century to the first decade of the twentieth century, it was the largest Chinese settlement in Canada. Victoria's Chinatown suffered a period of decline between the 1920s and the 1970s, shrinking dramatically both in size and in population. In the 1980s, significant revitalization efforts were undertaken, most notably the construction of the
Gate of Harmonious Interest The Gate of Harmonious Interest (同濟門, Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysi ...
on Fisgard Street (at Government Street). Ongoing revitalization over the years has included the introduction of coffee shops, cafes, studios, and workshops, as well as a small condominium development in Dragon Alley.


Today's Chinatown

Victoria's revitalized Chinatown is a popular area for tourists as well as for the artistic community. The focus is the 500–600 block of Fisgard Street, including famously narrow
Fan Tan Alley Fan Tan Alley (番攤里) is an alley in the Chinatown neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It runs south from Fisgard Avenue to Pandora Avenue at the block between Government Street and Store Street. Named after the Chinese ga ...
, the old Chinese School and a small selection of historic buildings and Chinese businesses. Many historic buildings have been well preserved in Chinatown and also in the larger area it once occupied along Government Street, Herald Street, Store Street, and Pandora Avenue. The modern Chinatown continues to be a key component of
Downtown Victoria Downtown Victoria is a neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the city centre and the central business district for the City of Victoria, and the Greater Victoria regions. Characteristics The downtown area is an e ...
with its many tourist attractions, hotels, bars, restaurants, movie theaters, services, and shopping areas. The district was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...
in 1995. It was considered as potential addition to Canada's Tentative List of nominations to become a
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
, but has yet to be nominated. Some of the tourist attractions of Chinatown are the previously mentioned Fan Tan Alley (originally a private walkway, now home to offices and retail shops), and its ornate
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 ...
, The ''
Gate of Harmonious Interest The Gate of Harmonious Interest (同濟門, Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysi ...
''. The stone lions that are part of the gate were built in
Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
(Soochow), one of Victoria's sister cities. Many of Chinatown's most historical and important places are out of public view, like the
Tam Kung Tam Kung () or Tam Tai Sin () is a sea deity worshiped in Hong Kong and Macau. In Chinese folk legends, Tam Kung was one of gods who could forecast the weather. He was born in Huizhou Prefecture. It was said that he could cure patients in hi ...
Chinese Temple Chinese temple architecture refer to a type of structures used as place of worship of Chinese Buddhism, Taoism or Chinese folk religion, where people revere ethnic Chinese gods and ancestors. They can be classified as: * '' miào'' () or ''di ...
, which is the oldest of its kind in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.


See also

* Historical Chinatowns in Nanaimo *
Chinese Canadians in British Columbia The history of Chinese Canadians in British Columbia began with the first recorded visit by Chinese people to North America in 1788. Some 30–40 men were employed as shipwrights at Nootka Sound in what is now British Columbia, to build the fi ...
*
History of Chinese immigration to Canada There has been a significant history of Chinese immigration to Canada, with the first settlement of Chinese people in Canada being in the 1780s.Chan, Anthony B. 013 July 302019 May 22.Chinese Canadians." ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. Ottawa: His ...
*
Chinese head tax in Canada The Chinese Head Tax was a fixed fee charged to each Chinese person entering Canada. The head tax was first levied after the Canadian parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 and it was meant to discourage Chinese people from enterin ...
*
Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration (1885) The Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration was a commission of inquiry appointed to establish whether or not imposing restrictions to Chinese immigration to Canada was in the country's best interest. Ordered on 4 July 1884 by Prime Minister John ...
*
Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 The ''Chinese Immigration Act, 1885'' was a Canadian Act of Parliament that placed a head tax of $50 () on all Chinese immigrants entering Canada. It was based on the recommendations published in the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration in 1 ...
*
Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, known today as the Chinese Exclusion Act (the duration of which has been dubbed the Exclusion Era), was an act passed by the government of Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, banning most forms o ...
*
List of historic places in Victoria, British Columbia This is a list of historic places in the City of Victoria, British Columbia entered on the Canadian Register of Historic Places, whether they are designated federally, provincially or municipally. For a list of historic places in the remainder of ...


References


Further reading

*Dunae, Patrick A., John S. Lutz, Donald J. Lafreniere, and Jason A. Gilliland. "Making the inscrutable, scrutable: race and space in Victoria's Chinatown, 1891." (Essay) '' BC Studies'', Spring, 2011, Issue 169, p. 51. *
Tradition in Felicities Celebrating 155 years of Victoria’s Chinatown

Archive
.
Royal BC Museum Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum (sometimes referred to as Royal BC Museum) consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The museum is loca ...
. 12 September 2012.


External links


Victoria Chinatown
University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

Victoria's Chinatown: Land Utilization, 1909 (British Columbia Archives)

2001 Downtown Neighbourhood Profile (The City of Victoria)


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20051102022606/http://www.moorepaterson.com/heritage.html Heritage Restoration: Dragon Alley (Moore Patterson Architects)
''Inside Chinatown'' by TouchWood Editions
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Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
Chinese-Canadian culture in British Columbia Ethnic enclaves in British Columbia Heritage sites in British Columbia Historic districts in Canada National Historic Sites in British Columbia Neighbourhoods in Victoria, British Columbia