Vancouver’s Chinese Canadian Museum represents something new to me. I lived in Vancouver for five years and only learned of its existence after I left. Luckily, I got a chance to visit it on my trip there when I took a five-day trip to the west.
The Chinese Canadian Museum is worth the $15 admission. You can also get a family pass for $35 for two adults and three children. Key to making the admission worth it involves going for a complimentary guided tour available in English or Chinese at different times.
As an aside, if you have the luxury of picking when you visit, you should pick some time after mid-2025 because, according to my guide Huabin, that’s when construction will finish.
When I visited I only saw a fraction of the museum. Some aspects that I did not get to see in December 2024 were the gift shop and rooftop garden. The museum should span the whole Wing Sang (永生) building – about four townhouses wide, four stories tall – but I only got to see about a quarter of it (with the exception of The Paper Trail exhibit which spanned the whole floor).
The map above comes from the museum’s guidebook. I marked the areas that I explored in green. Clearly, there was much more potential.
Guided tour to the Chinese Canadian Museum worth it
On the day that me, my pal and his family went, we were the only people who attended the guided tour. I am unsure what the tour would be like with strangers, but I thought the de facto private tour was beneficial because:
- I didn’t have to read the exhibits
- Our guide, Huabin, was knowledgeable, and the tour made the museum an interactive dialogue
- It was free
- I felt I understood more about the exhibits with Huabin’s explanation
Another pal that went to this museum previously commented that it was good but small. I didn’t feel it was small because I spent two hours there, mostly thanks to the engrossing tour.
What I saw at the Chinese Canadian Museum
The Chinese Canadian Museum focuses on history of the Chinese in Canada but naturally centres around Vancouver. For example, the third floor’s sole exhibit was entitled Period Rooms: School Room and Living Room, literally a living room and classroom with period furniture that reflected what was formerly in the Wing Sang building.
Overall, you’ll see exhibits of letters, memorabilia, art, sculptures, furniture, historical documents and audiovisual material. Some major historical themes that the museum focused on include:
- The Canadian Pacific Railroad and the Chinese bachelor workers who built it
- Head tax and the Chinese Exclusion Act
- The Wing Sang building and its history.
Broadly, the museum focused on the 1880s to the 1940s. It doesn’t really touch on some other Chinese Canadian histories like modern achievements (Adrienne Clarkson being the first Chinese Lieutenant Governor), or Chinese businesses like the opium factories in Victoria, laundromats or restaurants.
To speak Gen Z, I felt the “vibe” of the museum was somewhere between slightly negative and neutral. It felt negative compared to the British Museum, but it wouldn’t put you to tears like some of the museums in Nanjing, especially the Lijixiang Comfort Station which focused on Japanese soldiers and Chinese comfort women — grown men were crying in there; I was just glad I didn’t spend too much time reading the contents.
It’s a historical museum, not a contemporary museum. Of course, there’s a lot of potential – I only saw a slither of what you might see once construction is done.
The Paper Trail exhibit
The Paper Trail was the most significant exhibit that took up the most floorspace in the museum. It talks about the head tax and the Chinese Exclusion Act. You’ll see a lot of immigration documents that were donated by families who had to pay the head tax as well as others who entered Canada under circumstances which exempted them from paying the tax or being excluded by the eventual Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923.
The guided tour was especially useful here because without which these immigration documents might seem like mere coloured sheets of documents, some with photos, some in green and some in orange. These colours and photos speak to scrutiny and immigration class that evolved as Chinese immigration to Canada got harder.
Will you enjoy the Chinese Canadian Museum?
For $15, I thought it represented pretty good value for about two hours of entertainment and enrichment. Most of the time was spent with the guided tour.
I am unsure if you’ll relate to the museum’s message, even if you were Chinese or Chinese Canadian. In Toronto, there’s a group called Second Generation Chinese Canadian – ironically most attendees are immigrants. In a discussion, the host of that group, who immigrated from China with his parents, said he doesn’t associate his Chinese Canadian experience with those who have experienced the railroad, head tax and other elements of the Chinese Canadian experience, rather he associates more with other Chinese Canadians whose parents have gone through the Cultural Revolution and other events in China.
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