Note: Edmonton, located on the north bank of the North Saskatchewan River, was incorporated as a town, population 700, in 1892 and as a city, population 8,350, in 1904. Strathcona, located across the river to the south, was incorporated as a town in 1899, and as a city, population 5,579, in 1907. In 1912 it became part of Edmonton, total population just over 30,000.
Chung Kee (Gee), also known as John Kee, the first Chinese to settle in Edmonton, arrived by stage coach from Calgary late in May 1890, to establish a laundry, as noted in the Edmonton Bulletin. He was accompanied by another gentleman, presumably his brother Chung Yan, who returned to Calgary. Chung’s laundry was located close to the offices of the Edmonton Bulletin whose publisher, Frank Oliver, reflected the prejudices of the time when he advocated that Alberta could do well without Jews, Chinese and Mormons. Oliver became active in provincial and federal politics, but his views did not gain enough support for Alberta to pass restrictive legislation against East Asians as was to be the case in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. In Alberta, Chinese property owners could vote in municipal, provincial and federal elections. Later, in 1913 Justice Beck of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench ruled that the Dominion Government of Canada, through the Head Tax, prevented Chinese men from bringing their wives to Canada and was therefore responsible for Chinese men turning to gambling, opium and prostitution. This sympathetic attitude had its affect in Edmonton where magistrates such as George Massie, frequently dismissed cases brought against Chinese, or levied minimum fines.
Two years after the arrival of Chung Kee, the railway between Calgary and Edmonton was completed. Other laundrymen arrived from Calgary to seek work because laundries in Calgary were closed and under quarantine due to an outbreak of smallpox in that city. In 1893 Chung Kee returned to China for a visit and his brother Chung Yan from Calgary took over the laundry temporarily, bringing down complaints on his head when he banked hot ashes near a stable, causing a fire.
In 1899 there were only thirteen Chinese men in Edmonton, working in the town’s sole Chinese restaurant and two Chinese laundries. There were perhaps half a dozen more across the river in Strathcona, which was to be united with Edmonton in 1912. For over a decade, Chinese residents were so few and scattered that they did not need a focal point for their socio-economic activities. A small Chinatown began to emerge in downtown Edmonton in the early 1900s after a few Chinese merchants established their businesses at the intersection of Namayo Avenue (now 97 Street) and Rice Street (101A Avenue) to cater to a growing Chinese population.
Edmonton boomed in the years before World War I, expanding westward leaving the Chinese area now on the eastern fringe of the downtown. Unlike the cities of Calgary and Lethbridge, Edmonton did not designate an area for Chinese development. Not for decades was such a plan developed. An Edmonton Bulletin reporter visited this budding Chinatown in May 1908 and left what is one of only a handful known contemporary accounts: “ It is estimated by the police and by the Chinese themselves that there were between 250 and 275 Chinamen resident in Edmonton. Several of the stores hold every kind of Chinese merchandise, with restaurants and underground dives, where the Chinamen spend their leisure time. In the back room behind the store the indolent ones loll and recline on chairs and tables, smoking cigarettes and talking to one another in their chop-stock sort of language. Here are also tables where it is supposed the game of fan-tan is played at night. In the Chinese stores queer wares are on sale. Down in the basement of the building every foot is utilized and the entire under part of the building is connected from end to end with mysterious doors and passages. The basement is fitted with bunks and beds. In one room a half dozen Chinamen lay in various stages of bliss induced by the smoking of opium.” This account has to be taken with a grain of salt because neither the 1906 nor the 1911 census puts the number of Chinese residents this high. It is said, however, that around this time Edmonton had twenty opium dens and thirty gambling joints.
According to the national census, the Chinese population in Edmonton rose from 154 Chinese (150 males, 4 females) in 1911 to 518 Chinese (501 males, 17 females) in 1921. In 1911, Chinatown covered an area of about three city blocks bounded by Jasper Avenue, Elizabeth Avenue, Fraser Street and Namayo Street. By 1921, Chinatown had expanded eastward from 98 Street (former Fraser Street) as far as 95 Street (former Kinistino Street). Its some 500 residents accounted for only one per cent of the city’s population. Without any family life and amenities in Chinatown many men indulged in gambling, prostitution, and opium smoking to alleviate their loneliness and while away their idle hours. Local Methodist and Presbyterian missionaries organized English and religion classes to help them spiritually and materially. In addition, clan associations provided services essential to their “bachelor” members and organized social activities for them during the Chinese New Year and other festivals. The Chinatown community was dominated by people surnamed Mah, Wong and Gee, giving rise to the Mah Association in 1913, the Wong Society in 1917, and the Gee Association in 1920. (Fig. 2) A Chinese Dramatic Club was formed in 1919. In 1911, Edmonton searched for ideas to celebrate the coronation of King George V. The Chinese community suggested that a convalescent home be built. Their idea was rejected and they were asked to contribute a float to the parade instead.
The Chinese of Edmonton greeted the 1911 Revolution with enthusiasm willingly cutting off their queues. Members of the Edmonton Chinese community were opposed to the 1912 Act passed by the Saskatchewan Legislature, which banned the employment of white women in Asian run restaurants. Pon Yin who was preparing a protest was arrested as part of a police raid on an Edmonton gambling den. He later sued the city for false arrest and won. Also, a number of the young Chinese men were politically active, particularly in the cause espoused by Sun Yat-sen, and they later joined the Edmonton branch (formed in 1914), of the Chinese Nationalist League (the Kuomintang), a political party. Sun did not come to Edmonton, but in February 1911 he lectured in Calgary on his Three People’s Principles. His journey across the Prairies later that Spring bought him support and money.(Canton). His Edmonton followers were elated at the news of the successful revolt on 10 October 1911, but later, in 1913, when Sun broke with Yuan Shihkai’s government, his Edmonton supporters formed a “Dare to Die Brigade” to go to China to fight. They were trained by Morris Cohen (later known as General Two-Gun, and a Shanghai bodyguard to Sun), but before they could leave for China the crisis was over when Sun fled to Japan,. When war broke out in Europe, the brigade were encouraged by the city of Edmonton to march in patriotic military parades . Their offer to serve as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, however, was turned down. They disbanded with some of their members going to China to help Sun’s cause. After 1919, a number of Edmonton Chinese learned to fly at the Keng Wah flying school in Saskatchewan and left to fly in China. Edmonton boasted of the first Chinese woman pilot in Canada. Mrs. Annie Lee ran a restaurant on Jasper Avenue near 109 St. and was a local Chinese opera star as well as a flyer. In 1921 it was reported in the Edmonton Bulletin that “quite recently Edmonton Chinese have received cheques for inventions in respect of airplanes and wireless plants.”
That same report states: “Without exception the Chinese residents of Edmonton are of the upper strata of Chinese society; they come from the merchant and farmer classes of the Flowery Kingdom. They hail from the southern portion of China; the Cantonese coolie classes are not represented, neither are the more belligerent races from the northern sections of the republic.”
By 1921 the opium dens had gone and there were less than a half dozen gambling places. It was estimated that there was around one hundred Chinese children in Edmonton, forty of them in public schools. Attendance in the Sunday schools in the churches in the city was so strong that a Chinese Christian Association opened its own suite of rooms including classrooms in its own building at 100 Ave and 106 St. Two years later, 13 January 1923, the Chinese Drama Club, with the sponsorship of the Women’s Press Club staged a Chinese play for the general public. “General Chen Hing Ming’s Rebels” was a great success.
Up to mid-1923, the Christian members of the Chinese community were being integrated into Edmonton society, but the proclamation on July 1 by the federal Liberal government of the Chinese exclusion act, indicated how harsh and unwelcoming Canada was to become. Like their contemporaries, Edmonton Chinese ceased to participate in Dominion Day (1 July) celebrations and no longer sought to become naturalized Canadians (British subjects). They looked to the Freemasons and the Nationalist League for hope. When Sun Yat-sen died 12 March 1925 a large memorial service was held in Edmonton. In December 1923, the Edmonton Branch of the Nationalist League added its united voice to the protest against American and European occupation of the custom house in Guangzhou, but by 1927 it divided into left-wing and right-wing factions. As many members of the three clan associations and Dramatic Club were also Kuomintang members, the entire Chinese community split into two factions. Some community-minded Nationalist League (KMT) members such as Charlie Yat Wah, Lim Hing Yee, Henry Mah and Gordon Chan formed a non-political Huaqiao Gongsuo (Chinese Public Benevolence Association) in 1929 and tried to unite the community. The Association also extended its social service to the Chinese people in northern Alberta, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. It was active in raising funds to help the poor and unemployed in Chinatown and to help China to fight the Japanese.
The Great Depression hit Edmontonians, including unemployed Chinese men, hard. The Alberta government allowed Chinese on welfare less than half the daily amount given to whites. A sit-down strike by Calgary Chinese drew attention to this discrimination. The amount paid to Chinese was increased, but not to the level paid to others. The Alberta government offered to pay the way for any elderly member of the Edmonton Chinese community who wished to return to China, but there is no record of anyone accepting. Like other Chinese communities on the Prairies, Edmonton’s experienced a decline in its numbers.
After the Second World War, Edmonton’s Chinatown became a skid row, part of the Boyle Street area, where there were already cheap hotels, rooming houses, shabby theatre, taverns, dance halls and second-hand stores. Most of the Chinese had moved to better residential neighbourhoods as they became better off economically and more accepted by the white public. The Chinese who remained in Chinatown were mostly elderly single males who could not afford better accommodation, or newly arrived immigrants, who could not speak English and did not have much money. With steady depopulation, businesses in Chinatown continued to decline both in number and in variety , and many Chinese voluntary associations in Chinatown closed or became defunct. With the revision of the exclusion act in 1947, allowing for some reunion of families, Chinatown began slowly to be re-invigorated. Three young men who arrived in Edmonton in the early 50s: Henry Mah, Kim S. Mah and Ned Lee went on to be leaders in the last three decades of the 20th century.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the future of Chinatown was uncertain. Renewed interest came from students from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. They came to study at the University of Alberta and stayed to help build the community and Chinatown. One of the most outstanding was Kim Hung, who, as leader of The Chinese Benevolent Association, was able to win support from all levels of government and from within the community to build the re-located heart of Chinatown, following the destruction of much of the old one on 97th street to make room for Canada Place.
In 1973, one-third of Chinatown’s 260 residents were seniors; the remainder comprised mostly low-income people. The 27 Chinese businesses were concentrated on the west side of 97 Street between Jasper and 102 avenues. In July 1973, the city considered widening the west side of 97 Street by 2.5 metres and this would wipe out the remaining commercial strip of Chinatown. In August, the Chinese Benevolent Association, the Chinese Nationalist League, the Chinese Freemasons, and other Chinese associations set up a “Save Chinatown” Committee but it did not have support from many Chinese people who felt that Chinatown was going to die sooner or later. In April 1977, the Chinese Merchants’ Association, the Chinese Dramatic Club, the Chinese Freemasons, and other Chinese societies formed the Edmonton Chinatown Planning Committee and worked with the city to prepare a new Chinatown plan. Meanwhile, in 1977, a Chinese Elders’ Mansion was completed on 102 Avenue between 96 and 95 streets.
In July 1979, a Chinatown plan, designed by Stephen Iu, recommended the demolition of Old Chinatown and the creation of a Replaced Chinatown in a four-block area straddling 102 Avenue between 95 and 96 streets. It also recommended a ceremonial square at the intersection of 102 Avenue and 96 Street and a Chinese arch spanning 96 Street just north of Jasper Avenue. In September 1979, City Council approved the Chinatown Plan in principle. Notices were sent to Chinese business owners telling them to vacate their premises before 30 April 1981: several operators closed their doors permanently while others relocated to the nearby Jasper East Block or moved to other parts of the city. By the end of l981, Old Chinatown was obliterated and the site was occupied by Canada Place, the headquarters of the federal government’s regional offices.
In August 1980 City Council approved the Replaced Chinatown plan in principle but it has been revised several times. Its preliminary designs included several projects such as a Chinese garden, a parkade, Chinese arches, and other cultural elements. These projects, approved by Council in September 1984, were included in the final report of the Mayor’s Task Force on the Heart of the City. The Replace Chinatown Plan was between Jasper Avenue and 102 A Avenue, and extended from 96 Street to 95 Street.
Meanwhile, certain projects had started while the design of the Replaced Chinatown was still being reviewed. For example, the Chinese Benevolent Association succeeded in raising nearly $1.6 million from the provincial government and the Chinese community to build Edmonton Chinatown Multicultural Centre, next to the Chinese Elders’ Mansion. The Centre was officially opened in February 1985. In December 1986, city council approved the construction of a Chinese arch/gate as a symbolic entrance to the Replaced Chinatown. The arch/gate spanned 102 Avenue (Harbin Road) and was designed by Shenzhen Gardens Design and Decorative Engineering Company. The government of Harbin, sister city of Edmonton donated the cladding materials, and financial support came from the Chinese community, the city, the Alberta Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Alberta Department of Tourism. The Chinatown gate was officially dedicated on 24 October 1987. In 1989, the Chinese Benevolent Association bought a property with the intention to build a health centre in Chinatown. In 1991, Tower Two of the Chinese Elders’ Mansion was completed. Chinese associations in Old Chinatowns such as Chinese Freemasons, the Chinese Benevolent Association, the Wong and the Mah societies had also re-established in the Replaced Chinatown. By the early years of the 21st century a Chinese Garden emerged on the north bank of the North Saskatchewan river, the fruit of the labor of the Chinese Garden Committee.
Today, Replaced Chinatown covers a large area bounded by Jasper Avenue and 103 Avenue between 97 and 95 streets , and is officially known as Chinatown South. Since its development in 1980, business has not grown as rapidly or been as prosperous as expected mainly because the population base remains small and most the area’s residents were elderly Chinese and not great consumers. In 1995, for example, Chinatown South had only 33 Chinese business concerns. Shun Tak Restaurant, Mai Mai Restaurant and a bakery had closed because of insufficient customers. In spite of Chinatown’s proximity to Edmonton’s city centre, it has so far failed either to achieve its development potential or to attract industry, commerce and resident to the Boyle street area. Nevertheless, it is the home of Chinese elderly people and the focal point of Chinese social activities. It still a vibrant spot in downtown Edmonton, especially when the city centre is deserted and virtually dead in late evenings.
During the late 1970s, while the fate of Old Chinatown was still uncertain, an embryonic New Chinatown with a few Chinese stores (such as Tai Fat Grocery and Hing Lung Store, relocated from Old Chinatown ) emerged on 97 Street north of the Canadian National Railway overpass and 105 Ave. By March 1986, New Chinatown, officially known as Chinatown North, had been established on 97 Street between 105 and 108 avenues. It had twenty-five business concerns, including six restaurants , five grocery stores and fourteen firms ranging from import companies and bakeries to book stores . Unlike Old Chinatown and Chinatown South (a Replaced Chinatown), Chinatown North had no Chinese organizational or residential buildings. The Chinese stores, widely spread out along 97 Street, were operated by Vietnamese Chinese or Chinese people from Hong Kong. The reasons they gave for their choice of location were low rent, proximity to Old Chinatown, available space at the right time, and nearby low-rent residential areas favoured by Vietnamese or Vietnamese Chinese in the McCauley district. Edmonton’s Vietnamese and Vietnamese Chinese communities mushroomed after July 1979 when Canada agreed to accept up to 50,000 Indochinese refugees over two years, through a partnership arrangement between the federal government and private sponsors.
During the early 1990s several Vietnamese Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese developers acquired properties and constructed commercial plazas such as Asia Square, Far East Centre, Mai King Market Place and Centre 101 between 97 and 101 streets. Strictly speaking , these developments are neither malls nor plazas but commercial complexes that occupy an entire or partial city block.
Today Chinatown North exhibits a net-like pattern covering city blocks from 97 to 101 streets between 105 and 107A avenues. Its business and customers are quite different from those in Chinatown South. For example, in May 1995, Chinatown North had 126 business concerns, ranging from restaurants and supermarkets, beauty salons, and women’s and children’s clothing stores and enterprises such as goldsmith and jewellery shops, serving specifically a Vietnamese clientele. Unlike some other New Chinatowns in Canada, Chinatown North is a New Chinatown with some institutions because it is next to Vietnamese and Chinese residential areas. In 1955, it had two secular association (Indo-Chinese Senior Citizens Association of Edmonton and Edmonton Chao Chow Benevolent Association) , two temples (Wong Tai Sin Temple and Temple of Tin Hou, Guan Sheng and Guan Yin) and one church (Chinese Catholic Church).
In 1998 the City constructed an arch/gate known as Xi Lin Men (the Gate of Happy Arrival) which spans 97 Street close to the Avenue of Nations (107A Avenue). It was built to commemorate the arrival of many Vietnamese immigrants and immigrants of other ethnic groups. Next to the arch is a circular mound around which twelve decoration columns, each depicting the animal of the year and the cycle of sixty years, were erected.
In March 1995, across the river in the revitalized Old Strathcona district, the Strathcona Chinatown Mall opened in the former Prudham’s Shoppers Park at the south-eastern corner of the intersection of 104 Street and 80 Avenue in. It was a shopping mall and not a Chinatown. It closed and was replaced by an organic food store and other non- Chinese commercial outlets in 2002. Another Chinatown, so-called, exists in West Edmonton Mall. The anchor store is T&T and there are tea shops, etc flanking it.
Edmonton entered the 21st century with two Chinatowns, the result of the destruction of the original Chinatown’s commercial center to make way for Canada Place. The approved Chinatown Development Plan called for the revival of the old Chinatown focused on the axis of 96 St and 102 Ave. This is now the cultural heart of the Chinese Community, particularly to its long established members whose roots go back a century or more. It is here where the community’s activities and facilities are concentrated. Regrettably, the distinction between Chinatown—a living community—and the new Chinatown—a commercial and tourist attraction, north of 105 Ave on 97 St.—has been missed by Edmonton city planners, who once again are poised to change the face of Chinatown by running the Light Rail Transit (LRT) through it.
Chinese businesses in Edmonton have been scattered throughout the city from the beginning. Edmonton has been particularly well served over the years by excellent, well-appointed Chinese restaurants. Edmontonians love Chinese food. Old timers speak lovingly of The Cathayan, The Purple lantern, The Seven Seas, The Maple Leaf Café, and The Lingnan (originally operated on 97th St. by Phil & Yin Pon, and which survives today in a different location under the stewardship of Miles Quon). More recently. people remember the restaurants (Bamboo Palace, My Lai, Jumbo, Dynasty, and China garden) of Ned Lee, the person who, more than anyone else, popularized dim sum in Edmonton.
