Bill and Sue-On Hillman
www.hillmanweb.com
Present

CHINESE IN CANADA
An Epic Struggle Across Three Centuries
www.hillmanweb.com/chinese

This is their story and how they succeeded
in spite of violent racism and ongoing discrimination.
CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
PART 1:
a. Railroad Building and Discrimination
b. The Truth About the Chinese Head Tax
PART 2: Successes
PART 3: Six Related Photo and Art Albums
PART 4: Chinese Head Tax Monument in Brandon
PART 5: My Story by Sue-On (Choy) Hillman
PART 6: Visit to our Toisan Village 2017
PART 7: Visit to Sue-On's Birth Home in China
PART 8: The Choy Family Story
PART 9: The Chinese Canadian Museum
*** Over 17,000 Chinese came to Canada from 1881 through 1884 to work as labourers on CPR's Trans-Continental Railroad. They encountered a hostile reception in British Columbia. The Chinese workers died in accidents, landslides, cave-ins, explosions and from disease, drowning, extreme weather, malnutrition, and lack of health care. Blasting tunnels through the mountains of B.C. made it the most dangerous, time-consuming, and deadly section of the railroad. They were paid around half of what other workers made ($1 a day to the $2–$2.50 paid to other labourers). Their supervisors on the railroad, in addition to paying them so little, forced them to buy supplies and food from the company store. They were assigned and did the jobs that other workers refused to do. One Chinese died for every mile of track laid down through the Rocky Mountains between Calgary and Vancouver.

*** Those who survived building the railroad often couldn’t afford to return to China -- nor were they allowed to bring their families to Canada. They were left without jobs in hostile territory. Thousands drifted in near destitution along the completed track. All of them remained nameless in the history of Canada. The Asian community met with further discrimination from the press, labour unions and politicians. This resulted in violent outbursts against them -- the worst of which was the Vancouver Race Riots.

*** The government rewarded them by imposing a $500 head tax and later banning Chinese immigration entirely with the passing of the Chinese Immigration/Exclusion Act.
Despite all the obstacles, the Chinese in Canada went on to serve in two world wars and to succeed beyond all expectations in all walks of Canadian life. This is their story. . .  and the story of generations to come.

 

Their Story:

PART I:
a. Railroad Building and Discrimination
www.hillmanweb.com/chinese/epic

b. The Truth About the Chinese Head Tax
www.hillmanweb.com/chinese/epic/tax.html


PART II: Successes
www.hillmanweb.com/chinese/epic/successes.html
 


PART III. Six Related Photo and Art Albums

www.hillmanweb.com/chinese/photos
 
 


RELATED PERSONAL STORIES AND SITES

PART IV. Chinese Head Tax Monument in Brandon

www.hillmanweb.com/monument
Plus Eight Feature Photo Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
 


PART V: My Story by Sue-On (Choy) Hillman

www.hillmanweb.com/mystory

www.hillmanweb.com/soos
 


VI. Visit to our Toisan Village 2017

Click for full-size collage
www.hillmanweb.com/china2017/toisan.html
 


VII. Visit to Sue-On's Birth Home in China
that she left when she was two years old

Click for full-size collage
www.hillmanweb.com/china2017/home0.html
 


VIII. Chinese in Mantoba: The Choy Family Story

 https://www.hillmanweb.com/legacy
 
 


IX. The Chinese in Canada Museum

 https://www.hillmanweb.com/chinese/museum.html


OFF-SITE REFERENCES


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Bill and Sue-On Hillman
Eclectic Studio
www.hillmanweb.com

E-MAIL CONTACT:
hillmans@wcgwave.ca