Vancouver Chinatown REvitalization

Vancouver is known as one of the most Chinese/Asian cities in the world, and its Chinatown is, undoubtedly, extremely prosperous in history that truly shape the city into being what it is today. Vancouver’s Chinatown not only serves as a cultural center for individuals of Chinese descent, but also a critical historical landmark as well.  It is self-evident that Vancouver Chinatown is extremely important, and the preservation of the area is crucial for the city. The city of Vancouver certainly understands this, and decided to revitalize Chinatown while keeping its historical beauty. This would further spread the rich history and Chinese culture contained in Vancouver Chinatown throughout the city. The project of revitalizing Chinatown is a long-term project planned by the city; Vancouver has been setting milestones for themselves since 2001, and this “project” is still undergoing today.

Vancouver’s Chinatown had gone through quite a long history from when it first started to develop in 1880. Chinatown first started as a place merely for Chinese immigrants and industrial laborers to settle, but it soon developed and blossomed into one of Vancouver’s biggest and most influential commercial and residential districts. There were many hurdles throughout Vancouver’s growth to what it is today. One notable example of this is the when the city tried to implement a highway to run through Chinatown. In the 1950’s, the city of Vancouver wanted to put a highway to run through Chinatown. This caused the community to react negatively. Consequently, the city was forced to abandon the thought and left Chinatown as it was.

-David Liang

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