Vancouver, my home town, is Canada’s third largest city. We are a bilingual nation. thanks to Quebec. (Full disclosure: I was born with 100% Franco-Canadien blood.) But the bicultural nature of life in my city has always been its Sino-Caucasian character. Part of the culture of growing up in this city are chinese cuisine and our Chinatown—a leagacy of workers imported to provide manual labour for the railway that united our country. (Vancouver’s home province of British Columbia became part of Canada with a promise from the nation to complete a railroad to Vancouver.)
I identify with my fellow Canadians of Asian heritage who are born and raised in the Anglo culture of Vancouver. By being raised here, we are English by culture. I was adopted by English people so the Anglacanization of my environment was complete. Many Canadians of Asian decent have parents who maintain cultural traditions; they are raised biculturally and I think they are the lucky ones. Some of us, and Isabel Chang is one of us, are driven to understand ourselves through a return to a passion for our roots. I did that. I found my birth mother and rebooted my genes. Isabel’s project, “The Gods of Chinatown,” is a creative celebration of her re-ignition.
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