How Vancouver's Chinatown, rich in history but plagued by poverty, fights for survival
Chinatowns are often portrayed as gritty underworlds riddled with prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking. Some of this is rooted in truth, but that unfair depiction is largely the result of rampant xenophobia and cultural ignorance, especially in the West.
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In
a series of articles , the Post explores the historical and social significance of major Chinatowns around the world and the communities that shape them.
In Chinatown Vancouver: An Illustrated History, author and self-taught artist Donna Seto has immortalised a neighbourhood from a bygone era in paint.
The book, published in May,
features watercolour paintings of buildings – some over a century old – in the 140-year-old Chinatown in Vancouver, Canada, recalling the area's once glorious past.
'People really love [the book] because it paints Chinatown in a colourful, happy way. And I think a lot of people who love Chinatown want to see it that way,' says Seto, a Chinese-Canadian political scientist at the University of British Columbia.
The cover of Chinatown Vancouver: An Illustrated History. Photo: Donna Seto/House of Anansi Press
Donna Seto is an author and self-taught artist. Photo: Donna Seto
She vividly remembers Chinatown in the 1990s, when it was the only place where the local Chinese community could buy Chinese ingredients, as well as fresh seafood and meat.
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