Tale of two cities: Vancouver and Hong Kong both eye an uncertain future

Sunset, June, 1997 by Peter Fish

In Richmond, British Columbia, street names ring with tweedy Canadian reserve: Alderbridge, Hazelbridge, Westminster. It is the buildings lining these streets that surprise. The sleek Aberdeen Centre promises that "visitors will be delighted with the lively features," including fashion boutiques and fortune-telling. Virtually all the center's shoppers are Chinese.

The end of this month marks a turning point in this Vancouver suburb. On July 1 the People's Republic of China takes control of the crown colony of Hong Kong from the British. No place except Hong Kong itself eyes this change with more nervous anticipation than does greater Vancouver. Or, as it is sometimes called these days, Hongcouver.

"To the 19th-century Chinese, British Columbia was Golden Mountain," says Angela Kan, executive director of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Vancouver. "Vancouver was Salt Water City." As Kan explains, Chinese immigration to Canada's west coast parallels Chinese immigration to the western United States: in the 1860s, Chinese worked British Columbia goldfields; in the 1880s, they built the trans-Canadian railway. Parallel, too, was the discrimination they suffered. Chinese could not vote, could not enter professions. They could not own property, except in the downtown blocks centered around Pender Street.

Today, Pender Street remains the heart of Chinatown. Market stalls display dried eel and bok choy. When you tire of shopping, you can retreat to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. But the Chinese community has expanded far beyond its historical confines. And immigration is not merely an interesting facet of Vancouver's past.

"Vancouver is an immigrant city," says Don DeVoretz, economics professor at Simon Fraser University. "Much like New York at the turn of the century." Canada changed its immigration policy in the 1960s to welcome people from around the world - giving particular favor to the well educated and affluent. In the 1980s, many Hong Kong residents, skittish about the coming change in government, discovered Vancouver as a refuge.

Today the Chinese population of greater Vancouver numbers almost 300,000. Suburbs like Richmond are 25 percent Chinese. You can join in early-morning tai chi in Queen Elizabeth Park; you can read three competing Chinese-language newspapers, including Ming Pao, one of the largest Chinese dailies in North America.

This influx has made Vancouver more cosmopolitan. But it has also stirred hard feelings. In leafy neighborhoods like Shaughnessy and Kerrisdale, Hong Kong immigrants have been criticized for building houses out of scale. They are said to be standoffish. "We wanted the immigrants to hit the ground running," says DeVoretz dryly. "But we didn't want them to hit the ground running and hop into a Mercedes."

In fact, notes Kan, wealthy immigrants are few. More common is the plight of Hong Kong professionals who cannot find jobs in British Columbia. "If they have high hopes," she says, "they may be very dissatisfied." But the stereotypes persist. One Vancouverite says he hears whispers on buses: the Chinese have all the good jobs. "It is not something that is always said," Kan explains. "You feel it somehow."

Feelings, whispers on buses. To Americans accustomed to more strident prejudice, these examples seem tame. But beautiful, easygoing Vancouver cherishes its reputation for tolerance. Discord stands out.

Now, as Hong Kong enters a new era, Vancouver wonders if it is entering one as well. Says DeVoretz, one incident like Tiananmen Square may spark the emigration to Vancouver of thousands of Hong Kong residents - holders of Canadian passports, relatives of Canadian citizens, legally entitled to enter Canada immediately. "It is," he says, "an exciting time."

At the Aberdeen Centre, you can buy a booklet, "200 Questions About Canada." Written in English and Chinese, it offers preparation for the Canadian citizenship test. Questions include: Give an example of how you can care for Canada's natural heritage. Give an example of how you can show responsibility by participating in your community.

Heritage and community: abstract notions hard to achieve in real life. British Columbia is still Golden Mountain. But it shines for more people than Canada ever expected. Vancouver is still Salt Water City. But the saltwater Pacific has never seemed so narrow. As for a book like "200 Questions About Canada," 200 questions are only the beginning.

Chinese Cultural Centre, 50 E. Pender St., Vancouver; (604) 687-0729. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, 578 Carrall St., Vancouver; 689-7133. Aberdeen Centre, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond; 273-1234.