A Chinese Canadian is a person of Chinese descent or origin who was born in or immigrated to Canada. Considered from the perspective of China, they are a group of overseas Chinese. In 2001 there were 1,094,700 Canadians of Chinese descent, making them Canada's seventh largest ethnic group.
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2 Prominent Chinese Canadians 3 Education 4 Given names 5 Chinese-born 6 Canadian-born 7 Chinese illegal aliens in Canada 8 See also: |
Many workers from maritime provinces of China arrived to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 19th century. Many of these workers accepted the disadvantage of working long hours with minimal wages in order to support their large families that remained in China because they could not get permission to enter Canada. Their willingness to endure hardship to get paid enraged fellow non-Chinese workers who thought they were unnecessarily complicating the labour market situations. From 1885 the Canadian government began to charge a substantial head tax for each Chinese person trying to immigrate to Canada. In 1935 the Canadian government banned Chinese immigration completely.
Some of those Chinese Canadian workers settled in Canada after the railway was constructed. But most could not bring the rest of their family, not even their immediate family, to Canada because of government restrictions and enormous processing fees. Their contacts with non-Chinese were restricted as well, officially and unofficially. They established Chinatowns and societies in undesirable sections of the cities.
Some educated Chinese arrived in Canada during the war as refugees. Since the mid-20th century, most new Chinese Canadians come from university-educated families, one of whose most essential values is still quality education. These newcomers are a major part of the "Brain Gain" the inverse of the infamous "Brain Drain", i.e., Canadians leaving to the United States of America.
There was a significant influx of wealthy Chinese from Hong Kong in the early and mid-1990s. These Chinese immigrants were worried about the pending handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China and Canada was a preferred location, in part because investment visas were significantly easier to obtain than visas to the United States. Vancouver, Richmond, and Toronto, Ontario were the major destinations of these Chinese.
Some second-generation Chinese Canadians are sent to after-school Mandarin Chinese and/or Cantonese Chinese schools to maintain or improve their Chinese language ability. Many, but not all, first-generation parents encourage or persuade their children to attend the science, engineering, or commerce faculties of universities, since they consider only those studies lead to a stable career and prominence in their society or societies.
Most Chinese Canadians have the Romanization of their Chinese given names as their middle name, or the other way around, but generally prefer to be called in their English name. Some have French names, and those from Macao generally already have Portuguese names. However, some consider their names easily pronounced by non-Chinese, so their only given name is in Chinese. However, there are those whose first and middle names are entirely Western.
Many first-generation children who spend their entire childhood and adolescence in Chinese regions may find, without proper guidance, that it is extremely difficult to fit into the mainstream Canadian culture, and have thus isolated themselves individually or in a small group of Chinese-speaking Canadians. Among themselves they discuss Chinese popular music, news, and books, in Chinese. This trend may continue into university and after that into work, where they get employed in a Chinese Canadian-owned company. A small number of isolated Chinese Canadians immediately return to their birth countries or the USA after they receive their education in Canada.
On the other hand, there are also those newcomers who try hard to participate in various aspects of Canadian society and strive to speak native-level English or French. But such embraces of Canadian culture do not necessarily guarantee a successful fit into Canadian society. They still find it difficult to get into any of the careers of their choice. As a result, some such people also have to return to China. But due to their high degree of acculturation into Canadian culture and the growing distance from Chinese culture, they sometimes have a difficult adjustment back into their Chinese society, most noticeably linguistically.
The most recent Canadian census showed that 29% of immigrants from China cannot speak either official language; the highest level among all measured countries of origin. Taiwan came in third at 13% (behind India at 15%). This likely reflects the relative ease which which Chinese persons, as the third-largest ethnic group in Canada (behind old-stock English and French Canadians), can conduct themselves exclusively within the Chinese community. It may also reflect the recent nature of Chinese immigration to Canada.
Some refer to those Chinese Canadians of later generations as "CBC" (Canadian-born Chinese), a parallel to ABC (American-born Chinese). While the name emphasizes their Chinese-ness, some "CBCs" themselves use it as well, usually simply out of convenience and may not fully agree with it. These people also sometimes refer to themselves as "Bananas" since they may look asian, yet they do not speak Chinese or share very little with the Chinese culture.
Some of the labeled "Jook-sing" reject the possibility that China has anything to do with themselves as individuals.
Groups of Fujianese refugees illegally arrived on Canada by boat in poor conditions in the late 20th century, but virtually none of them became Canadian citizens or residents and were mostly sent back to the People's Republic of China in a few months after time in isolated detention camps.History
Prominent Chinese Canadians
Within Canada
Oversea Canadians
Education
Given names
Chinese-born
Canadian-born
Chinese illegal aliens in Canada