Introductions

Imogene L. Lim, PhD, Professor, Vancouver Island University, Founding Board Member, Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC

BAM! POWW!! ZAP! KA-BOOOM!!! KLUNK!

The format of the graphic novel is familiar to many as the comic book writ large. Where else do you find word balloons containing dialogue all written in cap letters, as well as onomatopoeia followed by triple exclamation points for punctuation? The classic story follows a hero who is pitted against adversity, endures privations, does battle, and finally overcomes hardships.

Escape to Gold Mountain has all of these elements. It covers the 150-plus years of the history of the Chinese in North America. During the gold-rush days of the mid-1800s, western North America, in particular, was known to the Chinese as Gam Saan or Gold Mountain. When traveling to Gam Saan, the Chinese made no distinction specifically between Canada and the United States. As a history and as a graphic novel, this book is unique in providing parallel stories of the Chinese in both countries.

If your family was part of the first wave of Chinese immigration, the story in this book is yours, too. It is also personalized by being told through one family over five generations. Imagine your great-great-great grandfather arriving in Gam Saan and facing adversity solely for being Chinese, while today you have the full rights of citizenship. Escape to Gold Mountain takes you from the nineteenth century into the twenty-first, giving voice and face to various characters, from politicians to the common man and woman, placing their lives in the context of the time that began with restrictive legislation.

The histories of the Chinese in the US and Canada are similar yet different, affected by their respective government’s policies on immigration and the resultant legislation. In the United States, Chinese were excluded in 1882. Rather than outright exclusion, Canada created barriers to discourage Chinese immigration. When the US Exclusion Act came into force, Chinese labor was still needed to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, if it was to be completed on schedule. One of British Columbia’s stipulations for joining Confederation was the promise of being linked by rail to the rest of the country. This nation-building task was completed in 1885—the same year that Canada implemented a head tax of $50 on Chinese immigrants and which increased to $500 in 1903; the Chinese were the only immigrant group who paid such a fee or tax. In 1923 Canada passed its own Chinese Exclusion Act.

These various acts affected Chinese abroad and those already here. At $500, the cost of immigration to Canada in 1903 was prohibitive; the amount was equivalent to two years’ wages or the price of a house lot in Vancouver. The result was a community primarily of men. Those who could afford to bring wives and have families were relatively few in number. In many cases, families were separated, with wife and child(ren) in China and husband in Gam Saan. During the period of exclusion, 1923–47, fewer than fifty Chinese immigrated to Canada.

Even if born in Canada, Chinese were not citizens of the Dominion of Canada until 1947. Section 18 of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 required anyone “of Chinese origin or descent in Canada, irrespective of allegiance or citizenship” to register with the Chief Controller of Chinese Immigration within twelve months of the Act to obtain a certificate. Without it, the individual could be fined $500 and/or be jailed for a year. My mother, born in Vancouver, BC, held registration certificate #18620 (dated June 20, 1924), while my father, born in Cumberland, BC, was #6278 (dated March 17, 1924); they were six- and five-years old, respectively. On each certificate was written: “This certificate does not establish legal status in Canada.”

In effect, legislation was based on racist policies enacted by federal, provincial, and municipal governments. The titles of two books on early Asian immigration say it all: White Canada Forever (Ward, 1978) and A White Man’s Province (Roy, 1989). After surviving the dangers of building the railway, especially through the Fraser Canyonwhere the death toll from accidents and harsh conditions was high, Chinese were restricted in what they could do and where they could live.

Many today are probably unaware that historic Chinatowns were, in part, an outcome of government policies. Viewed as undesirable immigrants, Chinese were allowed to live in certain areas, often marginal; this may not be so apparent in the twenty-first century city. As well, some of these Chinatowns “disappeared” from the physical landscape and were remembered only by former residents and descendants (as in Nanaimo or New Westminster, BC). Others were not even towns within towns but separate locations.

For example, my father’s birth certificate reads “Place of Birth: Chinatown, near Cumberland, BC.” Only in 2002 did that Chinatown become part of the town of Cumberland. Today we view historic Chinatowns as places to visit to have an “authentic” Chinese meal, experience other aspects of Chinese culture (such as a Lunar New Year’s Parade), and perhaps to learn something about Chinese Canadian/American history.

In the US, the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act occurred in 1943, while in Canada it occurred in 1947. If Canada had not signed the UN Charter of Human Rights, this event may have been delayed. Although Canada followed the early policies of the United States regarding the Chinese, it also led by being the first nation (in 2006) to offer an official apology for its anti-Chinese policies, including reparations. The US Senate passed a similar resolution in 2011, though without compensation, followed by the House of Representatives on June 2012.

The graphic novel is a way to make such history accessible to people who might find the subject “dry,” or who don’t like reading or find it difficult. Escape to Gold Mountain offers perhaps the perfect vehicle to reach that wider audience, for “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Until school curricula include Chinese Canadian/American history as part of a larger discussion on national history, this book bridges that knowledge gap.

This format also allows the reader to visualize individuals as just plain folks—they are your relatives, your neighbors—not people to be suspicious of or feared. There are no caricatures of the slant-eyed, buck-toothed, or conical-hatted individuals that have been frequently used to stereotype Asians; in Wong’s drawings, we see real people. For those more familiar with Chinese Canadian/American history, notable individuals are readily recognizable (e.g., Douglas Jung, Jean Lumb, Wong Foon Sien, Wing Luke, and Judy Chu).

These individuals are heroes and role models who have worked at gaining social justice for their communities. Those who endured and fought the good fight may not

be the masked or caped superheroes in the comics, but they were (and still are) the ones who pushed against barriers to make a better life for their descendants and ultimately for all citizens of Canada and the United States. Escape to Gold Mountain acknowledges their contributions to the larger society, for they are the heroes upon whose shoulders we stand.

Bettie Luke, Vice President, “Ho Nam” Luke Family Association at The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience; Chair, Chinese Expulsion Remembrance Project

When issues of Chinese immigration, hardships, and discrimination surface in the content of Escape to Gold Mountain, they strike echoes in my heart because they reflect the stories of my family and other Chinese community families I knew while growing up in Seattle, Washington. During World War II, while my oldest brother, Wing Luke, was in the Army fighting for the United States, our family was evicted from our hand-laundry business when the landlady tripled the rent.

During the same time that Canada imposed a Head Tax on Chinese immigrants, towns throughout the US randomly imposed taxes on the Chinese under a ridiculous range of conditions: taxes on dwellings, on miners, and on laundries and other businesses. Sometimes taxes were collected more than once. An informal “tax collection” existed in my home town until the 1960s; whispered stories told of policemen collecting “protection money” from Chinatown businesses.

The US Chinese Exclusion Laws had an impact on our lives for decades. I never knew what it was like to grow up with grandparents or other relatives. When I first learned about the Chinese being driven out of Seattle in 1886, I asked my father if he knew anything about that event. He told me that an uncle was present but was spared expulsion because he was the Mayor’s houseboy—a prime example of the power of politics and the politics of power.

In the twentieth century, in a very different example of politics and power, my brother Wing Luke was the first person of Asian ancestry to be elected to public office in the Pacific Northwest. Despite smear campaigns implying he was a Communist, Wing won the election for Seattle City Council by the largest margin in the history of the city. He was actively involved in changes to open housing, fishing rights, and historic and cultural preservation.

David H.T. Wong’s Escape to Gold Mountain is a seminal example of how the power of images can convey oftforgotten events more deeply than words alone. The reader is immediately engaged—visually, cognitively, and emotionally—captivated by a deep and long-lasting impression.

As an artist and multicultural education trainer for thirty-five years, I believe this book to be an exceptionally effective example of conveying stories that may be considered sensitive and painful, but need to be told. The use of line drawings is deceptively simple—graphic depictions of characters and stories that disarm the reader, reduce resistance, and open minds to important information. Ultimately, the reader is pulled in, making this book an effective teaching tool for all ages.

It is not easy to emerge with a healthy Asian-Pacific-American identity when subjected to many decades of racism. Hopefully, “long-time” immigrants can now recognize that their necessary “survival mode” deprived them of rights they deserved and can now stand up for. Likewise, younger generations will learn about the price paid by the “long-timers” and acknowledge those whose shoulders they stand on.

In February 2011, I organized a rally and march to recognize the 125th anniversary of the Chinese being driven out of Seattle in 1886. Since Chinese were rounded up and taken to the docks to be shipped out to San Francisco, the Chinese Expulsion Remembrance Project (CERP) organized a reverse march: gathering at the docks, we marched into Chinatown as a statement that “We Are Here to Stay!”

More recently, on June 22, 2012, I took part in the Chinese Remembering conference in Idaho, which focused on possibly the worst crime against Chinese in the US: the massacre of thirty-four Chinese miners on the Snake River in 1887. The place is now called Chinese Massacre Cove. I organized the dedication ceremony of a granite monument inscribed in three languages—English, Nez Perce, and Chinese. It represented a gesture of healing.

That the organizers of this event were almost all non-Chinese is a tribute to the fact that, across cultural boundaries, they did not see this horrific crime as a “Chinese problem” but an American problem, which needed to be publicly addressed with justice and healing.

Escape to Gold Mountain carries the same message.

Dr Connie C. So, Senior Lecturer, American Ethnic Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Despite profound contributions to the Americas for more than 150 years, the story of the Chinese in the United States and Canada remains mostly unacknowledged. David H.T. Wong’s graphic novel, Escape to Gold Mountain, stunningly documents the historical prejudice, discrimination, and hostilities faced by Chinese Americans and Chinese Canadians. While focusing on the Wong family’s epic journey from Southern China to North America, the author skillfully recounts a larger story about the Chinese people in the Americas.

My family emigrated from Hong Kong to the United States in 1969, when I was four years old. We left to rejoin my mother’s family, already in the United States. Since the mid-nineteenth century—after the Opium Wars, drought, and famine in Toisan/Taishan, and the occupation of the country by foreigners—my maternal ancestors had sought opportunities in “Gold Mountain,” the name given to the United States. But America was not a welcoming land of gold; instead, Chinese immigrants were often greeted by prejudice, outrageous taxes, and physical violence.

Overcoming the hostilities, many Chinese immigrants, like the Wong family profiled in this novel, adapted and made the new country home. Growing up, I heard many family stories about my Toisanese/Taishanese great-great-great maternal grandfather, a gold prospector in California; my great-great maternal grandfather, a translator at Angel Island detention center; my maternal great-grandfather, a labor contractor and the founder of the Woo Family Association in Seattle; and my maternal grandfather, a member of the US military police. While there was overt discrimination, there were still more economic opportunities and a greater possibility for a more promising future for their children in the United States.

Like many others, my mother’s family was separated by wars and immigration laws. It was not until after the 1945 War Brides Act that my maternal grandmother (and other Chinese women) could finally join their husbands in the US. After changes to the Immigration Law of 1965, my mother could finally join her family. I grew up in the predominantly Asian-American neighborhood of Beacon Hill in Seattle, Washington, where the consequences of this historical separation of families was widely felt. Yet, during my entire secondary-school education, the stories of Chinese Americans and other Asian and Pacific Island Americans, were noticeably absent.

Using historical documents, excerpts from interviews with elderly residents, and finely detailed illustrations, Wong captures the pain, frustration, and courage of early Chinese pioneers and their contemporaries and makes it understandable for readers of many age groups. This was information I actively sought as a young student. The result of Wong’s efforts is a moving portrait of a heroic people collectively resisting oppression, adapting to an unfriendly land, and ultimately transforming it into a home for their descendants.

Thank you, David, for writing our collective story.