CHINATOWN: A TOWN WITHIN A TOWN

      Racism In Chinatown    

 by Chris 

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    In China there were many people who were displeased with China's southeast environment. It was very crowded and everyone was very poor. The Emperor and later, the government was very controlling and it was almost impossible to improve your life. In addition, there were floods and earthquakes to deal with. Very few people were able to move away because it cost so much and because they were fined a head tax by the country they wanted to move to. In spite of all these difficulties many, many brave Chinese immigrants made their way to Canada, and to Calgary, Alberta. Each one came hoping for a better life for them and their family.

In order to move to Canada, Chinese immigrants  had to pay a large sum of money to even move to the country. This was called a Head Tax. No other ethnic group were charged a head Tax when immigrating. Each immigrant spent years and years paying off this head tax. This prevented them from being able to get ahead or bring their families over from China to live with them in Canada. Some families were separated for years and years and sometimes even forever.  

When they got across the Pacific Ocean they only got treated worse. Once in Canada, the white men used them as cheap labor on the Canada wide railroad. Because they were so cheap they were used or exploited by using them to do the work involved with dynamite. This job was so dangerous that the white men didn't even think about doing it. The Chinese immigrants placed crate after crate after crate of deadly explosive tubes into an unstable hole under tons heavy rubble and then ran, hoping to get out of the tunnel before the explosion happened. Many didn't..  

    Once the railway was completed all of the Chinese men were shunned and forced to live in a small part of the city called Chinatown. The white people didn't want them to live in their part of the city. So Chinatown was, in the beginning, a symbol of the racism that was evident in Calgary. The only people who lived in Chinatown were the Chinese men who tried to scratch enough money off of the Golden Mountain to send a small portion to their families back in the Middle Kingdom (China) so that eventually they could come too. Calgary's Chinatown was first established in the early 1890's and was located on the corner of Center street South and Ninth Avenue East, across from the Canadian Pacific Railway station. After 1901, more and more Chinese arrived in Calgary so a larger Chinatown was needed. Because of this a second Chinatown was created. In 1910, the second Chinatown was once again forced to move. 

Due to the foresight of several rich Chinese, property was bought, the site of today's Chinatown. This group of wealthy Chinese people paid $18,000 and for $22,000 they build a two story brick building to house businesses. This building on Center Street and 2nd Ave NE is still standing. 

 

The white men were furious because Chinese people seemed to be taking all of their jobs even though the only jobs that the Chinese men could have were laundries, servants for rich people and other "woman's jobs". Even though the jobs that the Chinese were taking, were jobs that the white men wouldn't even consider doing, the white men were so furious that they came in huge mobs and destroyed Chinese laundries and other businesses and even worse, the white men never got prosecuted because even the law was against the Chinese population and treated them unfairly. 

    Today there are no more angry mobs that rampage through Chinatown with rocks and pitch forks to destroy the Chinese laundries. There is no more head tax to make the Chinese poor and miserable. There is no more Chinese men being blown up by dynamite in the making of the railroad. There isn't a law that says that Chinese people have to live in Chinatown. There is no restriction on the jobs or careers of Chinese people. The people in China do not think there is a Golden Mountain in Calgary but the Chinese people will always have the memories of how horribly their ancestors were treated. There are still people who abuse or make fun of the Chinese so don't think that you are completely off the hook cause we all still owe the Chinese big time.     

Here are some times when the Chinese were taken advantage of or abused:

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