In the morning, we went to Carrall Street in Vancouver’s Chinatown to learn about the Carrall Street Greenway and to observe the greenways on Carrall Street. The greenways are very convenient for cyclists since they is a bike lane for them to bike along the same street as cars. Also, the greenways provide broad streets for pedestrians to walk. Furthermore, there are many greenery on the greenways which slows down drivers.These shows that the greenways are suitable for pedestrians and bikers.
When we finished observing the greenways, we went on a tour that was based on the history of Vancouver’s Chinatown. The origin of Chinatown in Vancouver was at Shanghai Alley. In Shanghai Alley, there were many tailor shops, restaurants, and dormitories because majority of the population was men. Outside the alleyway, there were iron gates that were used to protect the alleyway. However the gates were not able to shield the Chinese. One day, a group of white men went to City Hall and made speeches about their hatred toward Asian communities. Later on, they rallied ten thousand men and charged to Chinatown, their first target. When the white men arrived, they destroyed building and injured Chinese civilians. Eventually, the men moved on their second target and failed to attack Japantown. Once the tour ended at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden, we went to Gastown to listen to the neighborhood plan and economic revitalization strategy that city planners made to help improve Chinatown. Helen and Wesley heard about how many businesses in Chinatown were struggling since majority of their products were available in other places. Also, they noticed that new residential development was growing in Chinatown which changed the historic neighborhood. Based on these problems, the city planners created a plan to revitalize Chinatown by thriving businesses district and restoring heritage buildings and historic sites. After we heard about the plan, we walked to a bakery to meet up with Doris. She is trying to form a youth organization in Chinatown. In order to fulfill her goal, she wants us to give her information about the different youth programs in Chinatown Community Development Center and advices to get a better knowledge about youth programs. The first advice that I would give to Doris is to make the youth in the organization have the motivation to build strong bonds with the seniors. My second advice is to connect with the youth in the program in order to discover their unique sides. The final advice is to make the organization have a vibrant, fun atmosphere. -Stephanie Chan
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We started our day today by taking the Skytrain to an area near Chinatown and Downtown. Our first scheduled event of the day was to meet up with someone named David Yurkovich (yes, another David, not to mention that we have three David’s in our group) who gave us a mini-tour around Carrall Street Greenway. Known as the green streets, the area’s environment is very eco-friendly as it is surrounded by many greenery, which serves the function of calming traffic. Aside from the trees, the street design and features also help promote safety for pedestrians and cyclists. Carrall Street is designed in a way where there are two main traffic lanes, and the fact that these lanes are narrowed favors pedestrian and street safety, which I think can attract more people to the area and thus promote the greenway. Another street feature that can further enhance the safety of pedestrians and bikers is its elevated bike lane, which separates bikers away from pedestrians and thus decreases the chance of injury. One thing I learned from David’s tour was that the whole street would be closed down for community events, which I envision something similar to the street fairs in San Francisco Chinatown to take place. Carrall Street seems to have a good balance for its visitors, although I feel that it may favor pedestrians and bikers a bit more.
After the tour on Carrall Street Greenway, we rushed to the meeting place for our next tour on Vancouver’s Chinatown, provided by a group named “Tour Guys.” When we arrived at the meeting area in front of the Art Gallery Museum, we didn’t see any tour taking place. Assuming that the tour already began, we attempted to catch up with the rest of the crowd which we found to be located a few streets away. Attempting to make my way through the large crowd, I slightly heard the tour guide informing the group about the history of Chinatown by listing some events that happened in certain years. Throughout the tour, I have learned that Vancouver’s Chinatown shares some similarities with SF’s Chinatown through its history and community. For instance, the benevolent associations in Vancouver’s Chinatown can be compared to the family associations that we have in SF’s Chinatown, since they both serve the function of helping with community struggles. Another common trait between the two Chinatowns is that a majority of the population are immigrants from the Canton province, which indicates that both towns are filled with Cantonese words on a daily basis. An issue that affects both Chinatowns is gentrification, where people from other neighborhoods are pushing into Chinatown and prices are being raised. A slight difference of Vancouver’s Chinatown is that there has been an ongoing debate on whether the neighborhood is undergoing gentrification or revitalization, which is a process in which a neighborhood is losing its prosperity. This is something that I don’t see, and I don’t hope to see in the future, in SF’s Chinatown. Another similarity was found between the Chinese immigrants in these two different cities, that both groups came to the West as laborers who worked in coal and gold mines and also as railroad workers. Despite the many similarities that the two Chinese communities share, there are some differences of the space usage and appearance between the two. First of all, the formation of the two Chinatown neighborhoods were originated from different aspects. The beginning of SF’s Chinatown was Portsmouth Square, today’s living room of the neighborhood, while Vancouver’s Chinatown originated from its Shanghai Alley. There are also some differences of the alleys in the two Chinatowns. In Vancouver’s Chinatown, many businesses took place in its alleys, such as laundry shops and grocery selling. On the other hand, the alleyways in SF’s Chinatown have many functions and features, including illegal activities, some merchandise selling, and many family associations. Both cities’ Chinatown now serves the purpose of tourist attraction, specifically on a Chinatown tour. Aside from the similarities and differences that Vancouver’s Chinatown shares with the one in SF, some facts and events that I learned from the tour stood out to me as I found them quite significant and interesting. During the beginning era of Vancouver’s Chinatown, its alleys lived over 1000 residents, which lead to the existence of bunk beds which can conserve space and live more people. Back then when resources were limited and everyone needed a place to sleep in, these bunk beds were out for rental periods of eight hours, and it costed one dollar for chinese workers and two dollars for white workers. A major event mentioned in the tour that struck me was the anti-Asian riot that took place in June of 1907, where a group of white men who were discriminating Asians roamed into Shanghai Alley and destroyed many buildings and businesses in Chinatown. The riot went on for about twenty minutes until the group migrated to Japantown and attempted to do the same act. Fortunately, residents of Japantown heard the news on radio stations and started to prepare themselves to confront this attack. This event marked an important time period in the history of Vancouver’s Chinatown. From the tour, I also learned that another wave of Chinese immigrants arrived in Vancouver in the late 1990s, the time period where Hong Kong was returned back to China and people were afraid of communism. The tour guide lead us through landmarks and alleys of Chinatown, and the tour ended at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s Chinese Garden. After the Chinatown tour, we went to meet up with city planners Helen and Wesley, who gave us a presentation on some information about Chinatown and a future vision and plan on the neighborhood. Helen shared with us the Chinatown neighborhood plan and economic revitalization strategy. In her presentation, I learned that Strathcona was the neighborhood where most Chinese people lived back then. An interesting fact that I found was that Chinatown is actually one year older than Vancouver the city itself. Following the presentation was our meet-up and “afternoon tea” with Doris and her co-workers, who are attempting to start a youth program that would help the community of Vancouver’s Chinatown. Through our conversation, we shared a lot about the role of our youth programs and also our personal thoughts and experiences. Topics that we’ve covered include how we became involved in the program, factors that motivate us to stay, and the community needs that would require the work of non-profit organizations. With the heart of starting a youth program in Chinatown, Doris and her team asked us questions and tips that would help her reach her goal. In my opinion, a comfortable place that can provide a feeling of ‘home’ is an essential aspect of retaining a youth group. Another tip that I would say to form a youth program is to find a topic or issue that the youth is interested in and that would help the community, which will motivate youths to stay involved and also make them feel that they have contributed into making a better community. With the remaining time of our day, we headed to the Aberdeen Shopping Centre to add some leisure time to our trip. The Skytrain brought us directly to the entrance of the shopping mall, which I find convenient for many local shoppers and visitors to the city. The escalator brought us to the lowest level of the centre that lead us into the entrance area where a design has captured my attention. I was quite fascinated with what I saw, a section with red-colored wood pieces and another with green-colored wood pieces that form together that seem to make the shape of a dragon. Retrieving my childish innocence, I walked through the middle of the “dragon” playing with the pieces of wood. The lobby then lead us into the area where all the stores were located. The shopping centre was a big area, consisting stores on several floors. There was a lot to explore in the mall, and what triggered my excitement after a long tiring day were all the Doraemon figures that I see in many of the stores. I also found the ramen noodle snack that brought back my childhood memories, which I no longer see in San Francisco. Despite the fact that we were all tired and exhausted, we still had to find a place to eat dinner. We headed back to the Richmond neighborhood and settled in a Shanghai cuisine for dinner. When we entered, the waitress told us that the restaurant was about to close and that we had to quickly order food. I guess this was one of the fastest times we have ever placed our order but we had to, and we also quickly consumed the food. After a long day of non-stop meeting with people and groups, we learned a lot about Vancouver’s Chinatown and finally ended our day. - Shirley Tsang Today we had tours planned all throughout the day. The first tour or presentation was by a man by the name of David. David was apart of the planning of the green way in Vancouver’s Carrol St.’s green way project. He talked about the basics of planning, green ways, and the geographic benefits and conflicts around and in Carrol St.’s planning. During his tour I learned that there are irrigation systems for rainwater and city trees everywhere that I didn’t bother to notice or really care because in all honesty, I thought they were there solely for vegetation and foliage but I learned that underneath every tree or so there is a system that brings and collects rainwater to help support the plant when man support isn’t able to reach it or maintain it. But maintenance hasn’t been conducted regularly and so the systems can’t function anymore because of human trash and debris (litter). The street’s design was both pedestrian and bike dedicated and leaves little room of cars and the sort. Something unusual to see in SF.
We then later attended a tour from a real tour group called “Tour Guys.” Not sure if the pun was intentional or not but we were led from downtown Vancouver to the heart of Vancouver Chinatown or its nickname: Gastown. The tour guide was friendly but used many filler words but I guess she was trying to be friendly and opening to the tourists. The tour overall was great and informative. It covered much about the history of Vancouver’s Chinatown and explained why it isn’t as dense as SF’s Chinatown. Vancouver’s Chinatown compared to San Francisco’s Chinatown has vast differences that isn’t just the population of it. For example, while walking down the street, we were told that each building were taxed based on how much stories there are in a building and for a floor to be considered a story it has to be 7ft. or higher. Many old buildings had a “2nd” floor that was only 6ft tall and was not able to tax because it was only a feet off. Nice way of cheating the system. After the tour guy’s tour we headed over to Gastown again and met Helen Ma and her partner Wesley. Helen Ma is in Vancouver’s planning department and constructed the Vancouver’s Chinatown Revitalization Plan. We looked over the plans and power while she explained the bases of it. The project revolved around getting the new shops have preserve some of Chinatown’s essence of history while having a touch of modern and permitted some buildings to have more floors. The plan also included ideas on how to get many of the vacant storefronts to be occupied once more. After meeting Helen and saying good byes, we went to our last stop to meet Dorris and her colleagues. Here is a little background check from what I had gotten out of today. Dorris wants to create a youth program in Vancouver Chinatown to the youth programs like AAA and YSRO. We went to give them advice on how to become something similar like us, how to grow, the avoidable flaws and how to be efficient to their cause. An interesting concept I heard from Dorris was about the night markets that Chinatown had before it was shut down under questionable “construction excuses.” I really hope that their Mahjong night was successful and that the tips we gave them was informative and helpful in anyway. This concludes our Day 5 trip in Vancouver, thanks for reading! -Aaron As I entered Chinatown, it felt divided from the rest of the neighboring neighbors like Gastown and Strathcona. As Strathcona is becoming less affordable as it was before, Chinatown is also becoming less sustainable. However, the difference I noticed as I entered Chinatown was the decrease in the amount of trash and homelessness. Perhaps it is because we were near the Sun Yat Sen Garden, the inner parts of Chinatown looks much nicer than the streets on the side of East Hasting.
Then we met David Yurkovish, the landscape planner of the the False Creek area. He explained to us the use of the green biking lane and the plants that were used to separate the bike lanes from cars. Although the addition of infiltration systems and storm drains decreased the number of parking spaces available, the infiltration systems provided a sense of safety for bikers and pedestrians. Yurkovish also explained the downfall of the storm drains. While it is suppose to let water drain through and into the tree roots, dirt and mud have clogged it. Despite the failure of the storm drains, that part of Chinatown became cleaner and more sustainable. After meeting with the Mr Yurkovish, we went on a Chinatown Walking Tour with on of the tour guides. The Tour guide was very detailed in explaining the historical context of each site we walked through. One of the significant sites we walked passed was the Shanghai Alley. Housing more than a 1000 people and a bustling alley with many businesses, the Shanghai Alleyway was where most Chinese people would go for their eight hour rented bed and do their laundries. It was, until a group of angry, drunk white mob decided to trash the place down. Despite the damage that was done to the town, Chinatown rebuilt itself. Then we met the urban planners of Chinatown, Helen and Wesley. They presented to us the statistical data of their work and the way Chinatown changed over the years. Urban planning really shaped the current Chinatown’s identity. The buildings, shops and historical sites of Chinatown requires people to carefully map out the cause effects of each and every building that has been built and see why they should establish a new building. As of now, the Chinatown we know is covered with many vacant store fronts, new emerging condos, and a mixed population, usually the people with lower income. -Steven Jiang Stepping into Canada and into the city of Vancouver provided me a whole new feeling of the environment. The fresh air and clean water made me fell in love with this place, as compared to Seattle. When I first arrived in Vancouver, I see this place as a big city. I feel that this city is less crowded as compared to SF and thus has more land and resources for individuals. The streets are pretty wide since Vancouver is a big city. People travel around the city through many different forms of transportation, such as by car, bike, bus, train, etc. Within all these forms of transportation, public transportation is significant and essential in maintaining a city's sustainability.
TransLink, Metro Vancouver's transportation network, is one of the main transit agencies in the city. Over the past years, this transit department agency participated in many of the city's major rapid transit line projects, which allowed people to commute faster on a daily basis to their workplace and other destinations. Some of these projects include the UBC line, the Expo Line, and the Evergreen Line. Currently, the Evergreen Line is still under the planning and construction process. The idea for this rapid transit project rooted from the city’s desire to create a Skytrain extension, which will connect tri-cities to downtown, providing more convenience for those who rely on or take public transit. One of the most commonly used public transportation is the Skytrain, which is also what we mostly rely on to get us to places in Vancouver. Compared to my experience with public transportation in SF, where I take a variety of public transportation such as the muni metro, bus, and sometimes BART, in Vancouver Skytrain is our main source of transportation that brings us to places conveniently. Skytrain in Vancouver can somewhat be compared to BART in our Bay Area. They both have many car trains that connect altogether that forms a single, long train. A slight difference between the two would be that Skytrain travels both on top of the bridge and underground, while BART travels mainly through the subway. Skytrain is also fast and reliable, in which it can travel to far-distanced places in a short amount of time. The fact that Skytrain can bring us to our destinations punctually with its accurate arrival time is something that Vancouver’s transportation system favors me. In Michelle’s tour, we also learned that TransLink is now planning to allow its passengers to use something called the compass card whenever they take public transportation. Similar to SF’s clipper card, this new compass card in Vancouver is designed to be used in the same way: to tap the card when you enter the station to ride the train, which increases convenience and efficiency. With compass card, passengers can also tap their cards to see how many zones they have traveled. This new system of paying for public transit is still in the testing progress, and currently the existing compass cards are only used by TransLink employees, although it had been outreached to college students and people who receive subsidized money. The TransLink agency has been trying to improve its transit system based upon the opinions from the public. Surveys were conducted, however the issue is the decline of the response rates. The challenging part for the authorities is planning at regional level, where they have to figure out the amount of transit service that people want. After Michelle and Nat’s tour which gave us the opportunity to travel the city and to walk through the Strathcona neighborhood respectively, we continued on our journey of food court exploration and settled to eat lunch at a food court (again) inside a shopping center. This is our second, consecutive (and hopefully the last) meal of food court food since we have arrived in Vancouver. We also explored around the shopping center after lunch, and I have found the taste that I haven’t had in three years. Trying a new flavor drink of Tim Hortons is a great way to revisit this cafe shop that I last tried on my last visit to Canada. However, I somewhat regret my choice of the chocolate drink, as it was too sweet and that I should’ve ordered a lemonade instead, but nonetheless it was worth to buy a drink that I couldn’t get in SF. We thanked Michelle and Nat for their time as we were heading to the False Creek in the Olympic Village area. After they head back to work, we continued to explore the area with our observation toolkit. Although it was a sunny day, shades in certain areas (may have) helped to keep us away from the sun (at least for a certain period of time). We also took this time period as an opportunity to take a break and rest for a while, after a long day of exposure to the sun. I have noticed the Olympic Village as a very nice open space with it being both pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly through the area’s designs and features. As the day proceeds to the time around sunset (you may assume that the darkness will begin to arise but it didn’t), we traveled through the Seabus, which in my opinion is similar to the concept of a water taxi, to the Lonsdale Quay Market, which is located in the Northern part of Vancouver. The Seabus brought us to the entrance of the market, and we started our exploration indoors. When we first walked inside, something that grabbed our attention was the giant chess and checker pieces as board games on the floor. Most of us stayed in the area and played with the pieces for quite a while. Then with the remaining time we had, we walked around the market with the heart to explore. Before we left the market, we brought some food from the local McDonald’s, since most of us felt hungry. For many of us, it was our first time trying maple flavored food from McDonald’s. We took the Seabus back to the other side of the harbor and the Skytrain back to the Richmond neighborhood, where we are staying as our home for these five days in Vancouver. The time now is long past the usual sunset, however darkness has still not yet invaded the sky (which you may find surprising). As we were searching for local restaurants to have dinner, we have finally settled to eat at a “real” restaurant. I guess we were glad that we didn’t had to consume a third meal of food court and finally had our first “real” meal in Vancouver. In the end, we were satisfied with the food as it came in large portions and overfed most of us. The sky finally started to turn dark as we go home. We have discovered a new fact that the sun in Vancouver sets at around 10 pm at night in the summer, which is pretty fascinating and can conserve a lot of energy! - Shirley Tsang There is a whimsical feeling about this city. The sun completely sets around 9:30pm, and the sun is literally up by 4:00am. That is only six and a half hours of darkness in Richmond, Vancouver compared to what—like 10 hours in SF? That's all it takes for a city to impress me really.
We rode the Skytrain early in the morning to meet up with Nat and Michelle(who has been oh-so kind to us throughout the trip, thanks for the free transit ticket!). I'll take this moment to talk a bit about my personal perspective of Canada's transit system, Skytrain in specific. I've taken Metro in China and HK at least a hundred times so that will be my comparison tool. China/HK -Huge stations -Convenience stores on upper floor -Elaborate transit card system(payment based on stops/distance) -Mechanized exit/enter zones -T.Vs in station and in train -Frequent trains(2-3 mins) -Extremely crowded(often cannot get on train) -2 warning alarms for door closure -Announcement system of sights/essential areas near station -No driver required -Supervisor at all times -Shopping malls linked directly to Skytrain -Moderately sized stations -Convenience stores(at certain stations) -Honor system(buying tickets unnecessary to ride train, but heavily encouraged—not enforced) -Free exit/enter zones(no blockage) -No source of entertainment in/outside of train -Frequent trains(approx. 90 seconds, though it usually ends up to be 3-4 mins per train) -Rarely crowded -Little warning time for door closure -No driver required -Occasional supervisors -Malls located near certain stations, but not directly connected to it My overall thoughts about Skytrain: Very elaborate and efficient transit system. It consistently brings you to where you need to go when you need to get there. The honor system for payment is questionable, but perhaps the people there are honorable enough to make it work. This may sound a bit strange, but I can’t help but feel that even through the less prominent hours of the day, the train comes extremely frequently. This results in many of the trains being rather empty which isn’t necessarily a problem—it’s just really odd to see. I guess I’m just use to the extremely compact China and San Francisco Metros. On the topic of San Francisco Metro, I don’t think it’s fair to compare it to Skytrain considering the landscape and area difference SF and the Vancouver area. San Francisco Metro and Skytrain are two extremely different transit systems, there is a pathway built specifically for Skytrain while SF metro runs through the streets and shares it with the rest of the traffic. I’m not saying that I'm content with San Francisco’s metro system, it's just that it might not be the best idea to implement a Skytrain type metro system in SF. DY Waking up to my first Vancouver morning, it was beautiful to see the surrounding from our 13th floor lodging. It seemed as though we were on top of the world. Anyways, we went on an amazing transit and planning tour from two great staff from Vancouver’s Translink, Michelle and Nat. They brought us from station to station talking about the development of the neighborhoods and transit. What really stood out to me was the greatness which is their Skytrain system.
Even though the Skytrain was only built to be a showcase for the 1986 World’s Fair, it had became an integrated part of Vancouver’s infrastructure and transit system, reaching a farther distance than our own BART system. Even though it reaches a longer distance, it actually has a higher rate of arrival with an average of about a 90 second wait. This is one of the things I admire about Vancouver transit system; it is so quick and reliable unlike our MUNI system who makes you wait the longest single second in the world. Vancouver’s transit system reliability should be a role model for all cities of all sizes. It shows the future of a city based on transit instead of cars, where transit is as reliable as a car. You can get to your destination without the worries being late because of a bus running late. This is the future of transportation. -David Trang Today we went back to Greyhound Station to meet up with Michelle and Nat.They talked about their transit system and i just compared it with our brat.
Their train come a lot more often and the estimated time is always correct.Unlike ours,bart doesn't come that often and the estimated time is always wrong.In order for the train to get to the next stop on time,they have to close the door in 1 minute.Even when someone is walking in the doorway,they forcefully close it.I feel like their train is more safe than our bart. When i was taking the train there is seats available,while the brat's seat it always taken. Overall I enjoy riding the sky train because it is never crowded and I can have a seat every time i get on.Another feature Is that,the train is traveling in the sky.I can tell where I am and sleep while knowing where I am.She also talked about why the station on Metrotown is getting a redesign.It was because is was very inefficient for people with disability.Since there is only one elevator, you get down and cross the streets.In order to go to the other side.Wish our transit was as nice as Vancouver…. AH Just yesterday we bused from Seattle to Vancouver. The moment we got out of the bus terminal, we were welcomed by Michelle, a trans link official, who passed to everyone these beautiful fare passes. Thank you Michelle!
I noticed the sky train station loosened their security as all gates are open and the only enforcement are live-cameras and signs saying the station expects people entering to have bus fares. The first day at Vancouver and we're riding the Sky Train which almost crushed my feet because I tried to stop it from leaving us behind. That's when I learned I made a terrible mistake and got separated from the rest of the gang who didn't race for the bus. Geez, I felt like an idiot but everybody didn't look at me as if they understood me as a struggling tardy traveler. Within a couple of seconds we made it to the next stop and got off to wait for the others. Then a train heading back to where we came from arrived so we went back to the others who stayed behind. I realized that these trains come very fast and aren't kind enough to pick up late goers. They leave every exact minute and they're actually artificial intelligence so no wonder they wouldn't consider circumstances for late passengers. Fourth day morning, we quickly got up and set out for an adventure in this new city! We walked out through the peaceful and sunny Richmond district to the Brighouse Station. I saw many business people and students coming in and out of the station, everyone is on a rush. We left on time thanks to the sky train's accurate arrival time. We met up with the magnificent Michelle again with her friend Nat for their tour of trans link, Vancouver and gentrification prevention. We started out with the tour of trans link by riding the sky train many times and I noticed, after the third time riding the sky train, that we stopped at a mall every stop. This system is very convenient for shoppers as the station is connected directly to each mall. When we stopped at Olympic Village, Michelle pointed out that this station was specifically where they wanted the Expo Line to be made at to fit the Olympics demand. Fourth day morning, we quickly got up and set out for an adventure in this new city! We walked out through the peaceful and sunny Richmond district to the Brighouse Station. I saw many business people and students coming in and out of the station, everyone is on a rush. We left on time thanks to the sky train's accurate arrival time. We met up with the magnificent Michelle again with her friend Nat for their tour of trans link, Vancouver and gentrification prevention. We started out with the tour of trans link by riding the sky train many times and I noticed, after the third time riding the sky train, that we stopped at a mall every stop. This system is very convenient for shoppers as the station is connected directly to each mall. When we stopped at Olympic Village, Michelle pointed out that this station was specifically where they wanted the Expo Line to be made at to fit the Olympics demand. Nat gave us some brief history of Chinatown and information about a freeway being built by the waterfront to allow drivers to go from Downtown to Chinatown district easily. He said everybody from Chinatown were against it but the city government tore down buildings within the district and made a highway (In the picture of above. Nat is on the left and Michelle is on the right. The highway is behind them.). Then that concluded the tour and we went back home for the days to come. I really liked the brief history Nat told us about Japanese Canadians being incarcerated by the government and selling their property for military funds because I was once a tour guide for SF Japantown. Trivia: Vancouver get their waters from rain water reservoirs, making the tap water slight cleaner then ours. Trivia: Vancouver dumped land into the Pacific Ocean to make itself bigger. -Andrew(Liang Fu) Wu On June 10, I went on a tour that was about the transit designs and Asian American community. During the tour, I learned about the history of Asian civilians in Vancouver. In the 1970s, many Chinese railroad workers and shipmen immigrated to Vancouver. New immigrants had to pay fifty dollars as an admission to enter Vancouver. As the number of Chinese immigrating to Vancouver increased, the admission payment went up to one hundred dollars and then five hundred dollars. Once the Chinese settled in Vancouver, they faced many Anti-Asian right and relocation. Around that time, many white locals disliked Asian people. They wanted to show their anger towards the Asians. One day, a large crowd of white civilians ran to Chinatown and Japantown and attacked the people who lived in Chinatown and Japantown. After that incident, white civilians displaced many Chinese people and incarcerated Japanese Canadians. Thus, Japanese Canadians never got back their properties that were taken away from white Canadians.
After the tour, I rode on different transportation like the Skyline trains, Translink trains and SeaBuses in Vancouver. I felt that Vancouver has many transits that were available to Canadians living in Vancouver which reminded me of San Francisco since San Francisco has transits like Muni buses, underground trains, cable cars and BARTs. However, what made me differentiate the difference between the transportation in San Francisco and Vancouver was the passenger transit system. In Vancouver, I had to line up whenever I waited for the train or bus to arrive. In contrast, I rode on the bus and train without lining up in San Francisco. This indicated the dissimilarity between San Francisco and Vancouver transits. Despite how Vancouver and San Francisco has contrasting ways for passengers to wait for transits, the transit systems distinguished their similarity. -SC |
AuthorYouth experience from their experiential learning trips. Archives
March 2019
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