The older parts of Chinatown are a mish-mash of tall narrow wood-and-brick buildings squeezed in beside each other.
The newer parts represent a glimpse into the future: Shiny spacious towers. Glass from waist-high to ceiling. Tiled floors, no linoleum. Off-white blinders and handicapped access.
The rise of these new creations in this historic Vancouver neighbourhood has startled local residents. So have changing demographics and cultures.
Back in the day, wrinkly Chinese seniors in trucker caps would sit outside, drink McDonald’s coffee and spit onto the sidewalk after taking a drag on their cigarettes. Now bearded white men vape in new, pristine cafes.
Chinatown is changing on many levels — residentially, commercially and culturally. While the area struggles to retain or adjust its identity, the community continues to evolve.
Residents here resist the idea Chinatown is dying, even if the neighbourhood’s high point in the 1970s is gone. They live there. They eat there. They grow there. They know Chinatown is alive because they are alive.
All it requires is investment, said blogger Melissa Fong at a May discussion panel at SFU Woodward’s about a documentary on Chinatown.
The film, Everything Will Be, missed the liveliness of the community, argued Fong. “The depiction of decay and dying is false.”
There are ways one chooses to depict a community, she said. “Parts of Chinatown are thriving and they’re not shown in the film.”
A PhD candidate in planning and geography, Fong said signs of decay are due to disinvestment.
Chinatown may be decaying in parts but it is not dead, she said. It is changing.
WALK OF CHANGE
Sau Jan Yeung lived in Chinatown from age four to 21, attending Strathcona elementary and Britannia secondary school.
While walking through the residential area, the 41-year-old mother of two noted the changes in the neighbourhood she once knew. Corner stores have become cafes. The Italian store Benny’s Market remains, however, sitting at Union Street and Princess Avenue. The “Benny burger” was a treat for Yeung and her little brother when they could get it.
Homes in the neighbourhood now have more trees and plants. “We didn’t think about ‘curb appeal’ back then,” Yeung said.
The homes were more grey or brown. Chinese like monochromatic, she said. “It’s all colourful now.
Yeung said, “[Before] they would renovate inside to rent out to tenants.”
That was how people wanted to spend their money, she said. More tenants meant more money.
“Now there’s plaques everywhere,” she said, about the black and blue City of Vancouver heritage plaques adorning old homes. “They weren’t there before.”
Yeung also saw an increase in housing supply. The corner building on Heatley, across from a park, used to be a warehouse. Now it’s housing.
St. Francis Xavier Catholic school on Georgia Street and Princess Avenue? That’s more housing, too.
There’s also an increase in security consciousness. Townhouses and Strathcona elementary are gated up. “Before, you could just walk through or bike through,” Yeung said.
“You didn’t have to go around the whole block.”
On the weekends, Yeung remembered kids playing basketball at the school at any time of the day. Now there are locked gates barring the way and the courts are empty.
In one section of the fence, it appeared some kids pulled a corner back to crawl through into the basketball court, but the school repaired the hole.
YOUTH WANTED
Retired businesswoman Fannie Kung moved her general store three to four times in the 40 or so years she owned it. Now she spends her time volunteering at the Chinese Community Library Services Association across the street from Strathcona elementary.
“I will see how the train goes and follow it,” she said. “I won’t stick to old things.”
In the past, Kung said, residents wouldn’t go out to eat because they were saving money to buy a home. “[Today’s] generation likes to enjoy now. Live in the moment.”
When asked if there’s anything she wanted to hang on to, Kung said she hopes Pender Street will remain the same.
“It’s not Chinatown. It’s international town.”
One of Fong’s biggest fear is “guys like [real estate marketer] Bob Rennie, the benevolent white guy type.” She doesn’t like the idea of a “white guy” swooping in to save a community by becoming a collector who preserved its cultural artifacts.
In the documentary, Rennie laments that no one is saving Chinatown.
UBC School of Community and Regional Planning adjunct professor Nathan Edelson, speaking on the May discussion panel with Fong, said the Chinese community needs to take on part of the responsibility for saving its character.
Historically, the Chinese had a monopoly within Chinatown, he said, acknowledging their hegemony was mostly due to racism and segregation.
As the population moved out, the Chinese left a gap behind, Edelson said.
He called for an analysis of how much and what kind of retail is needed for the “Chinatown” feel.
“What is the urban design of Chinatown?” he asked.
Hua Foundation program assistant Nicole So wants “authenticity.” During a recent interview, she used the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden as an example.
The Chinese garden is a tourism icon but those types of “zen” gardens, in history, were intended for scholars and wealthy individuals. Everyday Chinese citizens would never gain access to them.
In contrast, the gardens that Chinatown’s residents know and live with are their backyard vegetable gardens with leafy choi and vines twisting around homemade trellis of bamboo sticks and string.
When it comes to businesses, So said, “The problem is who do these [new] businesses serve?”
“Everyone” hates the Starbucks, she said. “The businesses that work in Chinatown are the cha chaan teng like New Town and Gold Stone.”
Cha chaan teng is a Chinese tea restaurant with an affordable menu, usually Hong Kong-style cuisine.
Phnom Penh, a Vietnamese-Cambodian restaurant, is also an example of good change, said So. “The flavour suits the area.”
The 22-year-old UBC graduate wants to be part of a future that is respectful to the heritage, culture, environment sustainability and character of the actual community. “Not make Chinatown a museum but a living, breathing community with a heartbeat and a soul.”
To achieve this vision, So believes new energy is required. She wants youth to learn about social responsibility and join the discussion.
“Seniors are important, but what about us?” There needs to be space for youth, she said.
While she wasn’t sure of how that would happen, she was sure of one thing: Chinatown won’t be the same as it always has been. But it will remain resilient.
dmwcheng7@gmail.com
@writerly_dee
