In Alberta, Chinese people tended to settle in smaller
communities such
as Taber and Raymond where they found work as cooks or
agricultural labourers, and in some of the larger urban areas,
such as Lethbridge and
Edmonton. In the larger urban areas, many Chinese
immigrants settled near one another, thus building a cohesive
community up around them that eventually became a district of
predominately Chinese people.
There are several possible reasons for a group of people to choose
to stay within a culturally defined district, such as a Chinatown
or Little China. In some cases economic factors determined where
many Chinese lived. For many reasons, such as cultural barriers and
discrimination, the Chinese people struggled economically in
the early years and therefore did not have the financial means to
live in some of the more affluent areas of the larger urban
centres. Economics aside, Chinese people also gravitated towards
the inner-cities in response to the racism they faced upon arrival
in Canada. Many of the earlier Chinese immigrants did not expect to stay in
Alberta, as they had plans to live in Alberta only for a
short period of time, make some money for their families and return to their homeland. In such
cases, it made sense for these people to only adapt to the new
Canadian culture as much as was necessary, therefore, if they
could organize a subculture that allowed them to maintain their
diet, or foodways, religion, language, and perhaps
even their style of dress. As a result, Chinatowns or
little China provided the Chinese immigrants with a valuable
service. Not only did these areas serve as social gathering places,
they were also areas that served as shelters within strange cities
that allowed the Chinese people to maintain a strong sense of
their cultural identity -- and such shelters were very important
during times when discrimination, and racism were rampant.
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This digital collection was
produced with financial assistance from Canada's Digital
Collections initiative, Industry Canada.