Uncovering the Untold: South China Morning Post Highlights the Legacy of Chinese Immigrants in Canada

Canada’s Chinese Exclusion Act split up families, some for good. A new museum tells their stories.

…When Clement put out the call for the CI documents, Bev Wong (no relation to Richard Wong) went through her late mother’s papers and found not one but two such certificates. One was issued to Ng Yew, her paternal grandfather, the other to Chen Sing, her maternal grandfather. “When I grew up, we didn’t talk about that. Nobody talked about it, nor would they tell us,” says Wong, 79, of her grandparents’ experiences settling in Canada. Her second-generation parents never told her about the racial and financial hardships her grandparents faced, because they didn’t know either, and they were keen to integrate into the community, as was Wong’s generation. Not until many years later did Wong learn more about Chen and his life in British Columbia, which was fictionalised in a 2017 children’s book called The Railroad Adventures of Chen Sing, by George Chiang. Born in China around 1860, Chen was an orphan who grew up in poverty. One day, he heard of an opportunity to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia.

Bev Wong’s grandfather Chen Sing arrived in Canada in 1876. His story was fictionalised in a 2017 children’s book. Photo: courtesy of Bev Wong

Bev Wong’s grandfather Chen Sing arrived in Canada in 1876. His story was fictionalised in a 2017 children’s book. Photo: courtesy of Bev Wong

Arriving in 1876, he worked as a tea boy, bringing tea to Chinese railway workers and earning C$1 a day. Such low pay meant clearing the C$800 debt he owed a labour contractor to take him to Canada would take years. Given the lack of Chinese women in the country at the time, Chen was lucky to find a wife. They had six children, all of whom were issued the CI45 cards for locally born Chinese Canadians….

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