Vancouver's Chinatown
Subtitle: racial discourse in Canada, 1875-1980
By: Kay J. Anderson.
Series: McGill-Queen's studies in ethnic history ;; 10
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: 1991
Place of publication: Montreal; Buffalo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 323
Subjects: Chinese -- British Columbia -- Vancouver -- History; Chinatown (Vancouver, B.C.) -- History; Vancouver (B.C.) -- History; Vancouver (B.C.) -- Race relations
Description: Popular wisdom maintains that the colourful Chinese quarters of Canadian, American, and Australian cities owe their existence to the generations of Chinese immigrants who have made their lives there. The restaurants, pagodas, and neon lights are seen as intrinsically connected to the Chinese and their immigrant experience in the West. Kay Anderson argues, however, that "Chinatown" is a Western construction, illustrative of a process of cultural domination that gave European settlers in North America and Australia the power to define and shape the district according to their own images and interests. --
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-310) and index.