by Gillian Chan
Cover background: Detail (colourized) from black and white photo, Pender Street, ca. 1929, Stuart Thomson photo, City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 99-2466.
Image 1: National Archives of Canada, Edouard G. Deville, C-016715.
Image 2: British Columbia Archives, B-03625.
Image 3: British Columbia Archives, D-00336.
Image 4: British Columbia Archives, F-00197.
Image 5: City of Vancouver Archives, DIST P168.1.
Image 6: Vancouver Public Library, 10442.
Image 7: Arnold Genthe, Library of Congress, FN 2332.
Image 8: Ontario Multicultural History Society.
Image 9: City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 99-1529, photographer: Stuart Thomson.
Image 10: City of Vancouver Archives, photographer: Philip T. Timms, CVA 677-611.
Image 11: British Columbia Archives, C-07921.
Image 12: British Columbia Archives, PDP03732.
Image 13: Courtesy of the Trail Historical Society.
Image 14: Map by Paul Heersink/Paperglyphs. Map data © 2002 Government of Canada with permission from Natural Resources Canada.
Glossary: Chinese characters by Lu Yimin and Huang Wei.
Thanks to Barbara Hehner for her careful checking of the manuscript, and to Dr. Anthony Chan of the University of Washington, author of such books as Gold Mountain: The Chinese in the New World, for sharing his expertise.
For all those who came before
Author’s Note
Many people helped with the creation of this book and I would like to extend my thanks to all of them. In particular, I owe a huge debt to my husband, Henry Chan, who not only listened patiently as Mei’s story unfolded, but who also was my translator, reading a whole year’s worth of The Chinese Times on microfilm, allowing me to build up a picture of what life was like in Vancouver’s Chinatown in 1923. In Vancouver, Larry Wong was a wonderful friend and resource, patiently listening to my endless questions and finding me the answers. The staff of Vancouver Public Library’s Infoact service did a marvellous job pulling together many primary sources; this was of particular use in finding out what school life would have been like for Mei. In Toronto, Paul Yee was generous with his time and expertise, reassuring me when I thought I had written myself into a corner! Finally, my thanks go to Anne Sarndall, who is always my first reader.
— G.C.
About the Author
Gillian Chan had a wandering childhood, “as my family moved every two years, following my RAF officer father, around England and Europe. Books were always very important to me because of this, providing me with something to do until I made new friends.” Even today Gillian reads about four books a week — “more if I’m not writing, less if I am. I normally have a book on the go on each floor of the house.” Books also gave her many ideas about what she wanted to do with her own life, including writing them herself. Another dream was to work in a field that allowed her to deal with the past, as history was always a passion. “I thought that I might like to be an archaeologist who wrote books about my discoveries.”
After being a high school English teacher for ten years, Gillian realized her dream of becoming a writer in 1994. Her first book, Golden Girl and Other Stories, was shortlisted for the Mr. Christie’s Book Award. A companion collection, Glory Days and Other Stories, was also a Christie nominee, and made the shortlist for the 1996 Governor General’s Award. An Ocean Apart was shortlisted for the CLA Book of the Year Award and the Red Cedar Award, and won a commendation for the Arts Hamilton Award for Children’s Book.
It was when she turned to writing novels that Gillian was finally able to combine her writing with her love of history. The Carved Box, her first novel, set in Upper Canada in 1801, grew out of her exploration of Canadian history. Having grown up in England, one of the first things that Gillian did after she and her husband moved to Canada in 1990 was read as much as she could about the lives of the early pioneers, marvelling at the hardships they had endured. Her next novel, A Foreign Field, sprang from her fascination with the period of World War II, but a new element was added as Gillian realized that her own uncle had trained in Canada during the war. “He became the inspiration for my main character, a young British pilot who lies about his age in order to enlist.”
Gillian’s husband is Chinese by birth and has many family members living in Canada. Listening to their stories of how and when they came to Canada led to Gillian’s interest in the early history of Chinese immigrants to Canada. She became fascinated by how these immigrants overcame so many obstacles in order to make better lives for their families — obstacles that included prejudice, poor working conditions and legislation designed to limit their entry into the country. During her preparations for this book, Gillian travelled to Vancouver several times, walking the streets that would have been familiar to Mei. Her husband read and translated Chinese newspapers for her from the period in which the story was set so that she could give an accurate picture of what life was like in Vancouver’s Chinatown at that time.
Gillian’s characters become very real to her — so much so that she often talks about them as if they are real people, and feels their sorrows and joys. “One day my husband and I were talking over dinner when our son came in and said, ‘Why are you and Daddy so sad? Why are you crying, Mum?’” The answer: They were sad because of something that had happened to Mei!
Gillian’s most recent book, A Call to Battle in the I Am Canada series, is about thirteen-year-old Alexander MacKay, who is determined to enlist — despite his father’s wishes — during the War of 1812.
While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Chin Mei-ling is a fictional character created by the author, and her diary is a work of fiction.
Copyright © 2004 by Gillian Chan.
Published by Scholastic Canada Ltd.
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ISBN: 978-1-4431-1984-9
First eBook edition: September 2012
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