Celebration in Nanaimo Chinatown, n.d.

Black and white photograph of a large group of Chinese children holding banners and flags

This historic photograph of a community celebration in Nanaimo—featuring numerous banners and flags, ribbons pinned to each child’s shirt, and a Chinese dragon costume in the foreground—reveals an often-overlooked aspect of Chinatowns. Today these neighbourhoods are associated with restaurants and other businesses, but there are also important services provided to local residents that foster a sense of community and maintain cultural traditions, such as Chinese language schools and kung fu and tai chi classes. Karen Tam, who has looked at many historic images like this one in the course of her research, says that Chinatowns are “living organisms,” and that the presence of children in this photograph attests to the health and growth of Nanaimo’s Chinese community in the early twentieth century.

Celebration in Nanaimo Chinatown, n.d.

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