The State of Asian Canadian Publishing

The state of Asian Canadian publishing is still a work in progress. Journalism, creative fiction, cinema, filmmaking, theatre, dance, comedy, are just a few of the genres which still lack a defined niche in contemporary Asian Canadian arts and culture. Not only are they interdependent, they are reliant on a medium to expose, examine, and intellectualize their quest for art. Experiments have been made, but not to much avail, and certainly not enough. This poses difficult questions for the industry: who's reading Asian Canadian content? Is there a need for it? Ryerson School of Journalism graduate Justin Lee wrote a fascinating article about the state of flux of Asian Canadian magazines.

Miguel and MacLean are researching an upcoming Jasmine article on the lack of pornography available for Asian females. The topic raises the obvious question of whether Asian women even view pornography. Similarly, are second-generation Asian-Canadians even interested in magazines like Banana and Jasmine? After speaking to many Asian-Canadian female friends, the general consensus is, despite being thrilled to see a magazine catering solely to them, most wouldn't buy it. Criticisms include mediocre writing, uninspired or trivial topics and an overall lack of focus. Even Jasmine's own Miguel is not impressed. "There's no central article that makes me want to pick up the magazine," she says. "[The first issue] was very scattered. Jasmine's still trying to find its footing."

Six years later, things have changed, but to what degree? The plethora of magazines that the article mentions no longer exist, and only one continues to survive, although in different shape and form. There seems to be a real need for a leader in the publishing industry, something that can define a niche for Asian Canadians.

East is East in Vancouver, BC

East is East is a middle-eastern and Indian restaurant located in the heart of Vancouver, BC. Produced by University of British Columbia students, Anoop Randhawa, Bikram Singh, Gavin Atwal, Ivy Islam, and Paul Aulakh in their History 485 - Asian Migrant Communities in Vancouver Restaurant Group Project 2009, East is East Broadway documents the multicultural diversity that food presents in an urban city.

Welcome to the Revised Asian Canadian Writer's Workshop

This is the new Asian Canadian Writer's Workshop (ACWW). What is "Asian Canadian?" Canadians of Asian ancestry comprise the largest visible minority in Canada, at 11% of the Canadian population, and is the fastest growing. Most "Asian Canadians" are concentrated in the urban areas of southern Ontario, the Greater Vancouver area, Montreal, and other large Canadian cities. In Canada, the term 'Asian' is pan-continental, in contrast to the United States which uses a Sino-centric definition of "Asian". According to the Statistics Canada in 2006, East Asian and Southeast Asian population is 7%, South Asian population is 4%, and West Asians make up the rest of the total Asian population. If you're interested in Asian Canadian issues, this is the site to come to.

In 2007, UBC officially launched the Initiative for Student Teaching and Research in Chinese Canadian studies (INSTRCC). Built from the ground up by students over a three year period, INSTRCC is the first stage of a permanent commitment to teaching and research focused upon the role of Asian Canadians in the building of Pacific Canada. Supported by the commitment of its participating students, faculty, and community donors, INSTRCC focuses on recovering the complex story of “Chinese Canada” as both a geographical concept--capturing the long-standing ties of the west coast of Canada with the Pacific region--and as a historical framework built from processes of migration and trade that have linked North America to Asia and the Pacific for hundreds of years.

This is an exciting time in Asian Canadian Studies. A new generation of writers, cultural producers, visual artists, filmmakers, and academics are being bred. Stay tuned for more!

What is Pacific Canada?

What is “Pacific Canada”? Pacific Canada is a perspective on Canada’s history, present, and future that recognizes the crucial importance of our long standing links to the Pacific region. As a corrective, it recovers histories that have been ignored or erased, and offers a new vision of Canada’s present and future. The first stage, focused on the central role of Chinese Canadians in our collective history, inaugurates a long term commitment at UBC to explore Pacific Canada. Over the next ten years, an academic historian at UBC, Henry Yu, will guide his students in creating oral history projects that will engage community with digital technologies in re-creating and remembering the past for the present. Here is one of INSTRCC's earliest student projects, "Eating Global Vancouver."

Chinese Head Tax Project at UBC

The federal government’s Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP) recently awarded a UBC project that involves students interviewing elders from B.C. communities. The idea is to preserve and archive Chinese-Canadian experiences from 1885 to 1947, during the times of the restrictive Chinese Head Tax and Chinese Immigration Act. The first project from this grant was created in 2009 by UBC students, Jennifer Yip and Alejandro Yoshizawa, for the IKBLC-INSTRCC collaborative Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP), this film called Vancouver’s Chinatown: Past, Present, and Future uses the historic buildings of Chinatown as a way to explore the history and importance of this community to Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada. This video is the first of a series of student-based projects that will be created throughout the three-year period of the CHRP.

Asian Canadian Cultural Organization

The original idea of an Asian Canadian organization with a focus on student activism at University of British Columbia was a concept conceived back in October 2006. What originally was a bid for student and youth involvement in the city’s Anniversaries of Change 2007 events inspired awareness for a need of an organization to promote Pan-Asian consciousness on campus. Thus, the Asian Canadian Cultural Organization (ACCO) was born.

Since its constitution in September 2007, ACCO has been actively promoting greater awareness on issues pertinent to Asian Canadians on UBC campus and in the community. ACCO’s mandate includes supporting Asian Canadian cultural performers and artists in the community, providing a safe space for discussion, and commemorating the richness of Canada’s neglected Asian history through academics and social outreach. Within its first year, along with movie screenings of Better Luck Tomorrow and Eve and the Fire Horse, ACCO has organized two major successful events: Outpost: Asian Canadians Reframed Exhibit and UnConference. The next generation of Asian Canadian leaders are born.

The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia (CCHSBC)

The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia was created in 2004 after many years of planning by Ed Wickberg, professor emeritus of history at UBC. Its vision? As a non-profit, participatory provincial organization dedicated to broadening our shared understanding of history of the Chinese in British Columbia through research, documentation, preservation and education, the CCHS aspires to:

1. To provide resources and support to members in their research in family, business and community histories of the Chinese in British Columbia.
2. To encourage participation from all British Columbians and Canadians in documentation, preservation, research and public education on Chinese Canadian history in British Columbia.
3. To be acknowledged and respected as a resource centre on the history of the Chinese in British Columbia.
4. To collaborate with institutions and organizations to promote and share the history of the Chinese in British Columbia

One of the many projects that the CCHS has conducted is: Chinese Canadians and First Nations: 150 Years of Shared Experiences focuses on an important and unrecognized component of BC’s history: the relationships between Chinese Canadians and First Nations people of the province. Most projects looking at the Chinese in early British Columbia have focussed on our history in relationship to the gold rush, the building of the railroad, in the fishing and agricultural industries and the development of Chinatowns in Victoria and Vancouver; however the Chinese community was also in contact with First Nations peoples, sharing experiences of exclusion, racism, perseverance and love. Chinese and the First Nations people have in fact had an interesting and complex history together in British Columbia, however, this history has gone largely unknown and unrecorded.

The History of the Asian Canadian Writer's Workshop (ACWW)

Welcome to our new website! The Asian Canadian Writer’s Workshop originated in the late 1960’s during the time of the Vietnam War, the African-American movement and other Third World minority movements. In Vancouver, the Cultural Revolution in China influenced local politics and unleashed the first of a series of Asian immigrant waves beginning with those who fled the 1967 riots of Hong Kong. During those times, a group of UBC students, inspired by a radicalized visisting Asian American professor began the process of re-examining their history and identity. They formed the Asian Canadian Coalition, hosted a conference and created historical exhibitions on campus. The ACC’s Chinese component was called Gah Hing, the Japanese component was the Wakayama Group.

During the 1970s, some of the Wakayama group started the Powell Street Revue and produced “Images for the First 100 Years,” a slide show which later became a documentary film. The Chinese Canadian Writer’s Workshop formed to publish the Gum San Po (1974) as a way to educate the community and provide its creative outlet for its1 writers. Gum San Po lasted only two issues but saw the debut of Sean Gunn’s satirical piece, “Lofaantown,” a tour guide’s view of the ‘occidental’ Vancouver in response to numerous tireseome tourist articles about visiting (inscrutable and exotic) Chinatown.

Some members went on to establish Pender Guy, an English language Chinese Canadian radio program on Co-op Radio (1976-1981). The program provided coverage of up-to-date events and issues in the community as well as locally produced music, historical documentaries and creative skills. During this period, much of the leadership was provided by Garrick Chu who unfortunately passed away in late 1979.