Vancouver's Chinatown: Racial Discourse in Canada, 1875-1980

by Kay J. Anderson

This is a highly praised study of race, racism, and cultural assumptions worldwide using the history of Chinese emmigration to Canada and the development of Vancouver's Chinatown as its base.

Genres: Nonfiction, Geography

323 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1991

Reviews

[Jing · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in the library searching for Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and came across this book. I’m Chinese immigrant who lived in Canada for over 5 years and I don’t really know much about the generations of people who came here before me. I had just moved into Chinatown a few months ago and wanted to know more about the history of the neighbourhood.

Numerous racist quotations from pre-1940s in the book appalled me.

European cultural hegemony is a central theme of the book and it’s used to explain much of the treatment of the Chinese community. That made me think.