As the Chinese Lunar Year of the Horse begins, Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown Storytelling Centre has become a hotspot for people wanting to learn more about the neighbourhood\u2019s vibrant history.<\/p>\n
The East Pender Street museum is home to Canada\u2019s first permanent exhibit space dedicated to telling the stories of the Chinese Canadian journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t about Chinese history, this is about the Chinese presence in Canada. So this is, in essence, a Canadian story 100 per cent,\u201d said spokesperson Ramona Mar.<\/p>\n
With dozens of permanent and rotating exhibits, the centre showcases stories and art.<\/p>\n
One studio, with its own photobooth, is dedicated to the work of Yucho Chow, who arrived in Vancouver in the early 1900\u2019s. Chow rose from poverty to become Vancouver\u2019s first and most prolific photographer of Chinese descent.<\/p>\n
The center says it\u2019s always looking for more stories to tell, such as the ones of Chinese Canadian Pacific Railway workers, building families with the Indigenous peoples of Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came here, and worked very diligently, at half the pay of white workers, to help join Canada coast to coast to coast,\u201d Mar explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of the men who stayed had relationships with Indigenous women. And as they went further into the province, we know there are special relationships amongst them, so we are trying to track Indigenous-Chinese stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heather Lockhart, a tourist visiting from Calgary, says she stopped by to learn more about the city\u2019s Chinese history this Lunar New Year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s wonderful that Vancouverites and visitors have access to all these photographs, all these stories, all this history about Chinese heritage in Canada. And this is really where it all begins. I feel very fortunate to be here, and I\u2019m absolutely inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Education Manager Claire Lloyd says the centre is busy preparing for the upcoming Lunar New Year parade this Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic way to celebrate Chinatown and Chinatown\u2019s culture, and everything that Chinatown has to offer,\u201d said Lloyd.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a really important time to celebrate all that\u2019s good about Chinatown.\u201d<\/p>\n
After years of change, Mar says some visitors can\u2019t believe what a vibrant, go-to destination Chinatown once was.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s is so much to still see, and the Chinatown Storytelling Centre is part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Chinese Lunar Year of the Horse begins, Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown Storytelling Centre has become a hotspot for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-483943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}