Start of the Century: Eye of a Phoenix

Anti-Chinese immigration regulations, political turmoil in China, and social hostilities in Canada influenced early twentieth-century Chinese Canadian women’s choices to immigrate, their status in Canada, and how they expressed their identities through fashion. Many pioneering Chinese immigrants came to Canada as labourers to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. However, when the Canadian government imposed the first Chinese Immigration Act in 1885, every Chinese person was required to pay a $50 head tax to enter Canada. In 1923, the Canadian government introduced the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigration completely. These regulations forced many Chinese Canadian families to be separated for decades and led most Chinese Canadians to live in racially isolated communities known as Chinatowns. 

The objects in this gallery, Eye of a Phoenix, came from the Museum of Vancouver, the Vancouver Archives, and private collections from the Vancouver-based artist Jeanette Lee and Toronto-based historian Paul Yee. Together, they demonstrate how under racism, economic hardship and marginalization, clothing became a powerful way for Chinese Canadian women coming of age between 1910 and 1920 to communicate intangible cultural identities. 

Clothing was also a cultural battleground between generations, revealing differences in self-fashioning and identity formations. Many first-generation Canadian women with Chinese heritage wore traditional Chinese clothing to express their ethnic identity as a strategy against racial oppression and discrimination. They also used handmade Chinese accessories to teach Chinese culture, history and beliefs to their children to preserve cultural knowledge and connections. In contrast, most second-generation young Chinese Canadian women adopted Western clothing and styles. These women hoped to use Western fashion to highlight their “Canadianess” and symbolize their willingness to assimilate into mainstream Canadian culture. These second-generation Chinese Canadian women often combined Chinese accessories made or brought by their elders, such as timepieces, shoes and handbags with Western clothing. Their self-fashioning practices reflect a hybrid identity between both cultures that is uniquely Chinese Canadian. 

A photograph by the Vancouver-based artist Jeanette Lee. A pair of Chinese-style slippers shows how first-generation Chinese immigrants use Chinese fashion to teach their Canadian-born children and grandchildren cultural pride.