City councillors to examine a proposal to restore Chinatown’s historic clan society buildings
Randy Shore
Sun
VANCOUVER – The clan associations have been a vital economic and cultural force for 100 years in Chinatown, but their once-glittering buildings have fallen into disrepair.
Next week, city councillors have a chance to help reverse the slide when they consider a proposal to put up $500,000 to begin the rehabilitation process.
Under the plan, societies can receive grants of up to $100,000 to plan for repairs by putting up $20,000 of their own money.
The tall, narrow buildings mainly speckled along two blocks of Pender Street are iconic, defining the look of Chinatown and, in turn, Vancouver‘s identity.
You don’t need to be a Wing or a Mah to feel some kinship with these buildings and their historic neighbourhood.
If you grew up here, Chinatown is surely a source of colourful memories.
But if you are a Wing or a Mah, or a descendant of the city’s Chinese pioneers, the clan associations are an important institution, hailing from a time when the Chinese community was economically and socially marginalized.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of the city’s Chinese immigrants were men, living in a new world without family. The clan associations, organized mainly by surname or home county in China, provided them with a social network in Vancouver.
Most were also affiliated with clan associations in Chinatowns in San Francisco and New York and with clan societies in China, making them a potent economic network.
Walk down Pender Street today and you will see and hear that some of the buildings are thriving.
The Mah Society building is still beautifully decorated with crafts and historic photographs. The Lim building was built in 1903 and houses a massive ancestor altar.
Others have lapsed into disrepair, their upper floors scantly used or hosting noisy mah-jong games in their meeting halls.
Despite the decay, the clans and their buildings are vital to the future of Chinatown, according to Vancouver city planner Jessica Chen.
“Of 32 heritage buildings in Chinatown, the clan associations own 12,” she explained. “From a heritage preservation point of view, their participation is critical.”
The clan associations are long-term property owners in Chinatown, not just by choice. Some of the societies have written constitutions that do not allow the society to ever sell their buildings.
According to a city report to council, the societies have been hamstrung in their efforts to modernize and preserve the buildings by elaborate and unwieldy decision-making structures, limited financial resources and a lack of in-house expertise, due mainly to their history as member-based community organizations.
But with the city’s advice the 11 societies owning the 12 clan buildings formed the Chinatown Society Heritage Buildings Association to pursue the rehabilitation.
“This program is really crucial to the revitalization of Chinatown, and so are the clan associations,” Chen said.
Chinatown, in a sense, is a victim of more recent waves of immigration to Vancouver and the spread of Chinese commerce across the region. With Chinese businesses ubiquitous in Metro Vancouver, Chinatown is no longer the economic hub that it once was.
But the clan associations continue to draw thousands of people each month into the neighbourhood for meetings and cultural events, keeping local businesses and institutions alive.
Rehabilitation is a large and expensive task, warned Chen.
The first phase will cost $500,000 just to plan rehabilitation for five buildings.
“If this is thing worth doing, the clans, government and the community will have to come together to make it happen,” Chen said.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
