Issue 03: August 2012
Visit the Portal Website
Chinese Canadian Stories: Uncommon Histories from a Common Past is a UBC Library and SFU Library initiative funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Community Historical Recognition Program.
Community Engagement
Canada Day Celebration at the Richmond Public Library
In celebration of Canada Day, Chinese Canadian Stories (CCS) partnered with the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia (CCHSBC) to organize a booth display at the Richmond Public Library on June 30th showcasing games, animal balloons and the CCS mobile kiosk. The CCS team unveiled the mobile kiosk to the public for the first time, and young visitors played the Gold Mountain Quest computer game developed by CCS.
We are now inviting institutions or organizations across Canada to collaborate with us by becoming a host venue for our interactive kiosks. Visit one of our mobile kiosks at the Ottawa Public Library and Vancouver Public Library this coming Fall.
Over 200 visitors visited our booth that afternoon to explore Chinese Canadian history.
The CCS kiosk available for host venues. (above)
Gold Mountain Quest Now Available Online
Gold Mountain Quest is a video game which enables players (typically from grades 5 to 7) to explore historically accurate artifacts in the fictional town of Gold Mountain.
A joint product of the work of students from the Centre for Digital Media at Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver and Vancouver-based Catstatic Interactive, Gold Mountain Quest is an exciting new tool for learning about Chinese Canadian history.
This particular project (or process) began in 2006 at UBC. Professor Peter Ward and Professor Henry Yu led a team of student researchers to record data of over 97,000 Chinese in the Chinese Head Tax Register. This database now contains 20 columns of information for each of these 97,000 names.
In 2008, with the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software, a team of students led by Professor Sally Hermansen at UBC was able to map the data. After twenty (20) community-based meetings with Taishanese/Zhongshanese-speakers, the researchers were able to determine the locations of origin of the immigrants.
Chinese Canadian Stories, which began in 2010, has worked with Stanford University’s Spatial History Lab to create digital visualizations of this data. Not only is there a database of the Chinese Head Tax Register, now patterns of data are also available for analysis.
Chinese Head Tax Searchable Database
We would like to thank our Montreal Chinese Canadian Stories supporters, who spent a sunny Sunday May afternoon with our Montreal team for the showing of Montreal Portraits. Afterwards, everyone in attendance had the chance to view the portal website and the resources it currently has to offer.
Nous voudrions de féliciter les supporteurs/supportrices des Histoires sino-canadien qui nous joindre pour l’après-midi d’un dimanche ensoleillé. Notre équipe Montréal les ont montrésPortraits de Montréal. Ensuite, toute le monde ont pu explorer le portail site-web et les ressources.
Expressing Our Thanks
We would like to thank all who have supported us over the course of the project. With your participation, dedication and enthusiasm, Chinese Canadian Stories has produced resources which will educate Canadians for generations to come.
Montrealer Timothy Chiu Man Chan
Timothy Chiu Man Chan (陈超万), un leader dans la communauté chinoise de Montréal, était le premier entrevue de notre équipe Montréal. Malgré son programme chargé, il s’est assis avec Al Yoshizawa et Elena Kusaka de HSC â l’hiver 2011. Découvrez l’interview ci-dessus.
There are many stories from the Sino-Vietnamese communities across Canada, still untold. Wendy Phung, one of our talented researchers and a filmmaker, recently interviewed her father Luan Van Phung who came to Canada as a Sino-Vietnamese refugee.
Interview with Senator Lillian Dyck
There aren’t many Canadian Senators who advocate for both the First Nations communities and the Chinese community. In this beautiful portrait, Lillian Dyck, the first female First Nations senator and first Canadian-born Chinese senator, tells Chinese Canadian Stories the story of being “not just Chinese.”
Project Partners
UBC Library
Simon Fraser University Library
Simon Fraser University Teaching and Learning Centre
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
Initiative for Student Teaching and Research in Chinese Canadian Studies
UBC Learning Exchange
The Critical Thinking Consortium
Centre for Digital Media at Great Northern Way Campus
UBC Department of History
UBC Faculty of Applied Science
UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
UBC Faculty of Arts
For all the latest news, visit
http://chinesecanadian.ubc.ca
To bring the Chinese Canadian Stories Kiosk to your town, please contact Allan Cho.
Questions & comments? Please contact:
Allan Cho
Program Services Librarian
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
1961 East Mall, Vancouver, BC
V6T 1Z1
Phone: (604) 827-4366
Fax: (604) 822-3242
