Join the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC for a special evening reflecting on and celebrating the work of acclaimed writer, archivist, historian, and 2020 CCHSBC Honouree Paul Yee.
Paul will take us back to the beginnings of the “Saltwater City” exhibition he curated in 1986 which was featured at the Chinese Cultural Centre as part of Vancouver’s centennial celebrations. “Saltwater City” was the first exhibition to showcase artifacts, oral histories, and written records of Chinese Canadians living in Vancouver in the 19th and 20th centuries. His subsequent publication “Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver” (1988) won the Vancouver Book Award in 1989.
Speaking virtually from Toronto, Paul will also have a conversation with Jeffrey Wong from the Wong's Benevolent Association of Vancouver. They will explore Wong’s journey to document traditional practices in the association, archive generations of aging materials, and activate the society’s buildings in Chinatown with cultural activities.
We will also announce and recognize our winners of the Edgar Wickberg Book Prize, the Edgar Wickberg Undergraduate & Graduate Studies Prizes, the Larry Wong Prize for Chinese Canadian Community and Public History Prize, as well as the Drs. Wallace B. & Madeline H. Chung Prize for Chinese Canadian Community Archiving.
Join us for an evening of celebration, raffle prizes, and more! All proceeds go towards CCHSBC’s educational programming and scholarships.
Tickets:
Raffle Draw Prizes include:
This event is supported by the Chinese Canadian Museum Society of British Columbia.
Paul will take us back to the beginnings of the “Saltwater City” exhibition he curated in 1986 which was featured at the Chinese Cultural Centre as part of Vancouver’s centennial celebrations. “Saltwater City” was the first exhibition to showcase artifacts, oral histories, and written records of Chinese Canadians living in Vancouver in the 19th and 20th centuries. His subsequent publication “Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver” (1988) won the Vancouver Book Award in 1989.
Speaking virtually from Toronto, Paul will also have a conversation with Jeffrey Wong from the Wong's Benevolent Association of Vancouver. They will explore Wong’s journey to document traditional practices in the association, archive generations of aging materials, and activate the society’s buildings in Chinatown with cultural activities.
We will also announce and recognize our winners of the Edgar Wickberg Book Prize, the Edgar Wickberg Undergraduate & Graduate Studies Prizes, the Larry Wong Prize for Chinese Canadian Community and Public History Prize, as well as the Drs. Wallace B. & Madeline H. Chung Prize for Chinese Canadian Community Archiving.
Join us for an evening of celebration, raffle prizes, and more! All proceeds go towards CCHSBC’s educational programming and scholarships.
Tickets:
- General Entry - $10
- Entry with Raffle Prize Draw - $20
Raffle Draw Prizes include:
- autographed copies of Paul Yee's publications: A Superior Man (5 copies), The Bone Collector's Son (1 copy), Bamboo (1 copy), Chinese Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook (1 copy), Shu-Li and Tamara (1 copy), Shu-Li and the Magic Pear (1 copy), Shu-Li and Diego (1 copy), The Secret Keepers (1 copy), and What Happened This Summer (1 copy);
- Being Chinese in Canada: The Struggle for Identity, Redress and Belonging by William Dere (1 copy),
- Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada's Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui (1 copy),
- British Columbia: A New Historical Atlas by Derek Keyes (1 copy),
- 2 clocks from Ming Wo.
This event is supported by the Chinese Canadian Museum Society of British Columbia.
Paul Yee - Born in Spalding, Saskatchewan, author, historian, and archivist Paul Yee grew up in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Yee’s involvement with Chinese Canadian history dates back to his high school and university years with community engagement and academic research. He attended Lord Strathcona Elementary School, Britannia Secondary School, and earned degrees in Canadian History from the University of British Columbia (B.A., 1978; M.A., 1983). His M.A. thesis title is “Chinese Business in Vancouver, 1886-1914”.
Yee’s career as an archivist began as a summer student at the City of Vancouver Archives, and later a full-time archivist (1979-1987). He went on to work as the multicultural coordinator at the Archives of Ontario (1988-1991), and subsequently as a policy analyst at the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship (1991-1997).
Yee is an award-winning author whose writing has illuminated the experiences of Chinese Canadians in works of both fiction and nonfiction for children, young adults, and adults. His seminal publication, Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver (1988) won the Vancouver Book Award in 1989. Saltwater City is based on the exhibit titled the same featured at the Chinese Cultural Centre as part of Vancouver’s centennial celebrations - the first exhibit to showcase artifacts, oral histories, and written records of Chinese Canadians living in Vancouver in the 19th and 20th centuries. Yee’s children’s picture book, Ghost Train (1996), illustrated by Harvey Chan, won the Governor General’s Award for English-language children’s literature (text), and was produced as a play in 2001. Other notable titles from Yee’s prolific writing career, which include over two dozen books and an opera, include: Tales from Gold Mountain (1989), Struggle and Hope: The Story of Chinese Canadians (1996), and Superior Man (2015). While writing poetry and short stories in his free time during his career as an archivist and policy analyst, Yee began writing full-time in 1997 and is a member of the Writers Union of Canada (TWUC) and the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers (CANSCAIP).
While he has been living in Toronto since 1988, Yee was actively engaged in Vancouver’s Chinese Canadian community during his time here. Yee was a founding member of the Pender Guy Radio Collective, volunteer at the Vancouver Chinese Cultural Centre (1974-1987), member of Katari Taiko (Japanese drumming group), as well as member and editor with the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop, a group of writers with whom he published the anthology, Inalienable Rice (1979), and the Vancouver edition of Asianadian magazine (1980). In 2008, Yee donated his personal papers, photographs, audio recordings and other media to the City of Vancouver Archives; they have since been digitized and are available for research online.
Yee’s career as an archivist began as a summer student at the City of Vancouver Archives, and later a full-time archivist (1979-1987). He went on to work as the multicultural coordinator at the Archives of Ontario (1988-1991), and subsequently as a policy analyst at the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship (1991-1997).
Yee is an award-winning author whose writing has illuminated the experiences of Chinese Canadians in works of both fiction and nonfiction for children, young adults, and adults. His seminal publication, Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver (1988) won the Vancouver Book Award in 1989. Saltwater City is based on the exhibit titled the same featured at the Chinese Cultural Centre as part of Vancouver’s centennial celebrations - the first exhibit to showcase artifacts, oral histories, and written records of Chinese Canadians living in Vancouver in the 19th and 20th centuries. Yee’s children’s picture book, Ghost Train (1996), illustrated by Harvey Chan, won the Governor General’s Award for English-language children’s literature (text), and was produced as a play in 2001. Other notable titles from Yee’s prolific writing career, which include over two dozen books and an opera, include: Tales from Gold Mountain (1989), Struggle and Hope: The Story of Chinese Canadians (1996), and Superior Man (2015). While writing poetry and short stories in his free time during his career as an archivist and policy analyst, Yee began writing full-time in 1997 and is a member of the Writers Union of Canada (TWUC) and the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers (CANSCAIP).
While he has been living in Toronto since 1988, Yee was actively engaged in Vancouver’s Chinese Canadian community during his time here. Yee was a founding member of the Pender Guy Radio Collective, volunteer at the Vancouver Chinese Cultural Centre (1974-1987), member of Katari Taiko (Japanese drumming group), as well as member and editor with the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop, a group of writers with whom he published the anthology, Inalienable Rice (1979), and the Vancouver edition of Asianadian magazine (1980). In 2008, Yee donated his personal papers, photographs, audio recordings and other media to the City of Vancouver Archives; they have since been digitized and are available for research online.
Jeffrey Wong - Born and raised in Vancouver, Jeffrey Wong is a passionate history buff. He is Vice-President of the Wongs’ Benevolent Association and volunteer archivist for the association. He helped reactivate the historic Mon Keang classroom at the association in partnership with the Youth Collaborative for Chinatown to offer Cantonese Saturday School.