A Level Playing Field
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Chinese community held Vancouver’s Chinese Students Soccer Team in high esteem.
Community members saw the players as local heroes who embodied a sense of pride, strength, and hope for the future. Out on the field, the game’s rules applied equally to all, regardless of race or economic background. When the team won the Iroquois Cup in 1926 and the Mainland Cup in 1934, spontaneous victory parties and firecrackers erupted in the streets of Vancouver’s Chinatown. In 2011, the team was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
“We were faster. They were big but slow. We ran rings around them. We played a kick-and-run game. As soon as we got the ball, we kicked it away and chased it. Sometimes we spoke Chinese in the game, shouting things like ‘Watch him!’ or ‘Don’t let him through!’ The other team didn’t know what we were saying, so they sent a letter to the club, asking the president to stop us from speaking Chinese. We went to the meeting and said, ‘You speak in English and we don’t understand English.’ So they let us speak Chinese.” – Spoon Wong, soccer player
Portraits of a Community
A remarkable collection of studio portraits taken during the late 19th century onward reflects the diverse Chinese population of British Columbia.
The photographs mark significant milestones such as weddings, graduations, birthdays, and family reunions. For families in particular, the discriminatory head tax placed a tremendous financial burden on Chinese immigrants seeking to bring their loved ones to Canada. Some families were wealthy and could afford these portraits frequently despite the head tax. In contrast, others had to save money for a long time to pay for a single photograph. The studio portraits suggest a kind of success, even as the camera’s flash disguises the diverse struggles and contexts behind these moments.
Yucho Chow’s Studio
Yucho Chow (周耀初) immigrated from Kaiping (Hoiping), Guangdong, in 1902 and ran a photography studio in Vancouver’s Chinatown from 1907 to 1949.
Unlike the many studios that served only white customers, Asian studios such as Yucho Chow’s welcomed patrons from every walk of life, including Asians, Africans, Eastern Europeans, Indigenous Peoples, and mixed-race families. At affordable rates, Yucho Chow provided passport photos and stylized portraits with painted backdrops and props. He also ventured out to photograph the neighbourhood and community events. Yucho Chow was known for keeping his studio open 24 hours a day, and his motto was “Rain or Shine. Anything. Anywhere. Anytime.”
Regaining the Right to Vote
Won Alexander Cumyow (溫金有) was born in 1861 in Port Douglas, British Columbia, and is the first person of Chinese descent known to be born in what is now called Canada.
His parents, who were Hakka people from southern China, ran a general store for gold prospectors. Won Alexander thus became a fluent speaker of Hakka, Cantonese, English, and Chinook jargon—languages that supported his role as a court interpreter and community leader. In 1872, British Columbia passed legislation to disenfranchise Indigenous and Chinese people. After that, Won Alexander fought tirelessly to regain the right to vote. Decades later, when ceaseless community efforts led to the restoration of Chinese Canadian voting rights, Won Alexander, then 88 years old, cast his vote in the 1949 federal election.
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