Connie Low
Picken, Cassidy
ENG 100-27
December 4th, 2019
Bridging the Gap: Gentrification in Chinatown and its Effects on Intergenerational Chinese-Canadian Communities
I remember loathing visiting the doctor as a child. I am certain it was the same for most kids since sharp needles and cold thermometers aren’t particularly inviting. Yet, that’s not the main reason I hated visiting the doctor. My family doctor is located in one of the side streets of Chinatown, right along Georgia Street and Gore Avenue. Every time we had to go to Chinatown I remember covering my nose and complaining to my parents that the smell would kill me. The pungent smell was a culmination of the stores that lined each street: the Chinese herbal medicine shops, markets full of produce, and the fresh fish caught just that morning. The smell was distinctly Chinatown.
However, as the Chinese-owned shops closed down over the years many elements of Chinatown’s culture and history have disappeared with them. The seniors and adults that used to gather and shop at these places no longer have access to the services and goods they rely on and they have lost the ability to participate in important parts of their culture; including cooking traditional meals using ingredients only found in Chinese markets, eating at Chinese owned restaurants, or participating in cultural traditions such as burning joss paper at funerals for dead ancestors. These same adults and seniors can no longer pass on their knowledge to younger generations which creates a gap between the different generations of Chinese-Canadians. The gap only widens when you note that many Chinese-Canadian youth only visited these spaces as young children and have no memory of the limited time they were able to spend as part of the community culture that Chinatown had created because all these spaces have closed down or all the residents have been displaced. In 2006 a Chinese population census of the Vancouver area showed that Chinatown no longer had the highest percentage of Chinese citizens, and that only 1.2% of the Chinese population in Vancouver was located there (Statistics Canada). This statistic is evidence of the displacement of Chinese residents from Chinatown. These are all symptoms of gentrification, which has infiltrated Chinatown and is washing away the culture Chinese-Canadians have spent so many years building up.
When Chinatown was first formed the purpose of the neighbourhood was to segregate Chinese immigrants and keep them away from white neighbourhoods and spaces as well as keeping them under control: “this was the double meaning of Chinatown– a safe haven for its inhabitants, and an enclosure” (Naram, 1). Despite this, the community of Chinese immigrants formed strong bonds and relationships and created an independent and self-sustaining community with locally owned and run shops where every store owner knew one another and the same went for nearly each customer. However, this social structure and community has been disrupted in recent generations due to the gentrification happening in Chinatown. In 2017, Kevin Huang, co-founder of the Hua Foundation, conducted a survey of Chinatown’s declining Chinese businesses and found that there was a “loss of 50 per cent of the area’s green grocers… 33 per cent of herbal stores, 60 per cent of fishmongers and 38 per cent of BBQ meats and butcher shops closed” in the last six years (Gold, Losing Chinatown). Affordable and locally owned shops and housing have been evicted, and the ones remaining are still being threatened by cost inflation and a declining customer base. Many of the older residents of Chinatown are being cast aside by the gentrification of Chinatown: “long-time Chinese residents are the garment, restaurant, factory, and janitorial workers who labour to make the neighbourhood what it is today. And, yet, the community they’ve built in Chinatown is being marketed and used to displace them” (Lowe, Class Struggle in Chinatown). Gentrification leaves no room for the Chinese-Canadians who have made Chinatown their home and helped to create the now fading culture that exists within it today.
Though this begs the question ‘why is Chinatown in particular being targeted by developers?’ This can be answered using the theory of “racial capitalism”. Racial Capitalism is a theory made by professor of law at Sturm College, Nancy Leong, who defines it as “the process of deriving social or economic value from the racial identity of another person”. This theory describes one of the major aspects of Chinatown’s gentrification: the inherent exotic and foreign appeal that Chinatown has to outsiders. Especially to developers who wish to capitalize on the existing image that a business in Chinatown would automatically receive. The ‘urban’ and ‘exotic’ image Chinatown has is appealing to youth who want to experience different cultures to seem more cultured themselves. These mainly upper-class clientele are participating in what is called “ethnic tourism”, and is described by Li Yang, a professor of geography at Western Michigan University, as “motivated by tourists’ search for exotic cultural experiences through interaction with distinctive minority groups and the desire of those groups to use aspects of their culture to create economic opportunities.” Nat Lowe, author at online publication The Mainlander, articulates that “culture and heritage attract (white) tourists and tourist money goes in the pockets of property owners, businesses, and capitalists, not workers and residents”. Wealthy developers displace local businesses and residents because they want to capitalize on ethnic tourism and make money by appropriating aspects of Chinese culture to use as a gimmick for their businesses.
While some might argue that the rebuilding of Chinatown into a tourist destination may have benefits for more learning opportunities and respect for Chinese culture, but these benefits would come at the cost of losing all the unique character of Vancouver Chinatown and any of its residents. The Chinatown would become a generic and palatable version of Chinese culture that plays into exoticism and cultural tourism. Most residents would end up being upper class and from outside of the Chinatown area with no connection to the historical significance of Chinatown or any of its community members. It would also mean that the Chinese-owned businesses that are pillars of Chinatown’s community would be closed down and replaced with wealthier businesses which would not cater towards any of the Chinese residents of Chinatown and most definitely not towards the elders who cannot speak english. This would lead to an even larger gap between generations because public spaces that would allow for intergenerational interaction would be torn down and no one would feel welcome.
When building proposals are made by developers in Chinatown they are most often met with backlash from local residents and activists who want to prevent the gentrification of Chinatown and the continuous displacement of its residents. An example that gained a lot of media coverage and traction was Ryan Beedie’s attempt at building a thirteen story luxury condo in the center of Chinatown in November 2017. His attempts were met with “rallies, mass mobilizations, and direct action” taken by the Chinatown Concern Group and Chinatown Action Group, who “demanded the site be 100% low-income social housing and a public intergenerational community space—not luxury condos” (Lowe, Class Struggle in Chinatown). These activist groups are made up of mainly working-class Chinese Canadians who rally together with older generations to work together in protecting Chinatown and preventing its gentrification. Chinatown Action Group, for example, have created a People’s Vision and have stated that they believe:
“We need a vision for the social and economic development of Chinatown that serves the people of the community, especially those who are most likely to be displaced by gentrification. Chinatown is not a collection of old buildings and exotic signs, but a living community that has been built over one hundred years.” (Chinatown Action)
The group has also made it adamant that they want to initiate more intergenerational relationships and to strengthen the community through building public spaces and holding events that cater to all generations and to bring people together to build back the sense of community that Chinatown had for so long before gentrification began. One of their plans is to launch “a community literacy program that provides language and skills training; other educational programs that teach history and anti-racism through storytelling, art and discussion” which would be an effective way to create new relationships and to strengthen Chinese-Canadians understanding of their own culture. Along with the Chinatown Action Group other organizations are working to teach Chinese-Canadian history and cultivate cultural engagement for Chinese-Canadian youth such as the Hua Foundation. The Hua Foundation’s co-founder Claudia Li expressed in an interview that she “[feels] there’s a common yearning between youth to learn and be proud of this neighbourhood”. Although the Chinatown Action Group has a more political and activist approach to bridging the gap between generations of CHinese-Canadians, the Hua Foundation uses more contemporary and cultural ideas targeted towards youth and working-class to facilitate a better understanding of Chinese-Canadian culture. The Hua Foundation’s Choi Project includes a guide to plantingChinesevegetables and how to use traditional Chinese farming techniques as well as a community class called ‘Cooking with Grandma’ which creates spaces for intergenerational relationships and communities to be built at the same time sharing and learning of culture is created. Both organizations bring together Chinese-Canadians in effective ways in hopes of preserving the Chinese-Canadian culture.
Despite the hardships that Chinatown is facing and the threat of gentrification looming over it, many residents and members of the Chinese-Canadian community are working to bring back the culture that was lost and are learning to adapt to the new form that Chinatown and its residents have taken. The actions taken to involve elders in the communities and those who cannot speak English with younger generations of Chinese-Canadians still has a long way to go, but there are hopeful groups centered around community that are continuing to advocate for Chinatown and its residents. While things are looking up with the knowledge that there are groups active against Chinatown’s gentrification, it is still an uphill battle. In August 2019, Beedie announced that they would be filing a petition to the BC Supreme Court to attempt to revive the building plans from 2017. The community of Chinatown is not yet safe from gentrification, and displacement will likely only increase in the future as pressure from companies like the Beedie Group come in on Chinatown activists.
I still go to Chinatown to see the doctor. I don’t remember much of what it looked like when I was young, but I definitely remember the smell and how much I hated it. The funny thing is that I had actually forgotten about the smell for a long time. It wasn’t until about a year ago I realized that all the old Chinese herbal medicine shops, markets full of produce, and the fresh fish marts aren’t there anymore. I realized that I no longer smell Chinatown.
Works Cited
Cheung, Christopher. “How Vancouver’s Youth Are Bridging Old and New to Protect Chinatown’s Heritage.” South China Morning Post, 17 Oct. 2017, https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1764263/how-vancouvers-youth-are-bridging-old-and-new-protect-chinatowns-heritage.
Gold, Kerry. “Losing Chinatown, Bit by Bit.” The Globe and Mail, Phillip Crawley, 12 Nov. 2017, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/vancouvers-chinatown-threatened-by-development-anddemographics/article33351575/.
Greer, Darryl. “Beedie Taking City of Vancouver to Court in Bid to Revive Controversial Chinatown Development Project.” Business in Vancouver, 28 Aug. 2019, https://biv.com/article/2019/08/beedie-taking-city-vancouver-court-bid-revive-controversial-chinatown-development.
Leong, Nancy. “Racial Capitalism.” Harvard Law Review, vol. 126, no. 8, June 2013, pp. 2151–2226. Jstor, doi:10.2139/ssrn.2009877.
Li, Eva Xiaoling, and Peter S. Li. “Vancouver Chinatown in Transition.” Journal of Chinese Overseas, vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 2011, pp. 7–23. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1163/179325411×565380.
Lowe, Nat. “Class Struggle in Chinatown: Ethnic Tourism, Planned Gentrification, and Organizing for Tenant Power.” The Mainlander, 16 July 2019, http://themainlander.com/2019/07/16/class-struggle-in-chinatown-ethnic-tourism-planned-gentrification-and-organizing-for-tenant-power/.
Naram, Kartik. “No Place Like Home: Racial Capitalism, Gentrification, and the Identity of Chinatown.” Asian American Policy Review, vol. 27, Mar. 2017, pp. 31–48. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=130356742&site=eds-live&scope=site.
“We Want Affordable, Intergenerational Community Spaces and Educational Programs.” Chinatown Action 2017, 16 July 2017, https://chinatownaction.org/solutions/community-programs/.
“Why Do We Need a People’s Vision for Chinatown?” Chinatown Action 2017, 16 July 2017, https://chinatownaction.org/home/why-3/.
Yang, Li. “Ethnic Tourism.” SpringerLink, Springer, Cham, 1 Jan. 1970, https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_80-1.