My ancestor 我的祖先
查看加拿大華人歷史 維基百科 Wikipedia: Chinese Canadian history
第二次大規模的中國移民是在第二次鴉片戰爭後（天津條約同意向外國輸出中國苦力）。當時的中國移民從廣東省台山縣，來避開國內的貧窮和政治不穩定狀況。來加拿大的廣東人大多數都是從香港進入加拿大。
I am still contemplating my story weaving my friend’s.
I am facilitating antiracism group with Quaker. We are reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin K. We meet once a month by zoom.
This month, we shared our stories inspired by the chapter on “The offering” (p.31). We shared our stories of our ancestors when they came to Canada.
El (Anonymous) shared that on mother’s side, her grandparents were Holocaust survivor.*
On her father’s side, her great grandfather was who surveyed the railway across Canada with other people. I know that many Chinese were recruited to Canada to construct the railway.
In hearing her story, I felt pretty heavy and I did not know why.
Today, Victoria day, it’s holiday, relaxed. I just checked Wikipedia And discovered: (The following is translated by meta-AI)
"The second large-scale Chinese immigration occurred after the Second Opium War (Treaty of Tianjin allowed China to export labor to foreign countries). At that time, Chinese immigrants from _Taishan County, Guangdong Province_ came to escape poverty and political instability in their home country. Most of the Cantonese people who came to Canada entered through Hong Kong."
Note:
- The Second Opium War was a conflict between China and Western powers (including Britain, France, and the United States) in 1856-1860.
- The Treaty of Tianjin was signed in 1858, allowing China to export labor to foreign countries.
- Taishan County is a county in Guangdong Province, China, known for its significant emigration to foreign countries, including the United States and Canada.
- Cantonese people refers to people from the Guangdong Province, who speak the Cantonese language.”
My parents were born in Taishan County. In my memoir, I had described how I felt when I first entered into their house in 1980 in my root searching journey.
After I emigrated to Canada, once in a while, I went to visit my great uncle, who is the older brother of my paternal grandmother. My great uncle was born before 1900. Before he had dementia, he told me that he had helped our national father, Dr Sun Yat Sun to hold his suitcase when Dr Sun visited Toronto. He said that he was 14 years old. I trusted him. I guess Dr Sung came to Toronto to raise funds for the Revolution which overthrew Ching Dynasty in 1911. Two months before my great uncle passed away when he was 105 years old, he was totally disoriented. When I visit him in nursing home, I asked him, When you carried Dr Sun’s suitcase, was it heavy? He said, “ Oh , yes! It was.”
He has four children. My husband helped with his funeral. During the comforting feast, he was pretty naïve, and asked my uncle, “ How come each one of you four siblings were four years apart? Is that coincidence or planned?”
My uncle giggled and whispered, “My father needed 4 years to save enough money which is CAN$500 to pay the head tax in order to go back to see his wife in the county.”
Anyway, on that night, when El shared her story of great uncle who designed the railway, I felt quite heavy and could not figure out why.
Another scene emerged last week:
It was Summer 2022, I went for 8 days retreat / workshop in Loyola House: Listening to Indigenous Voices. When talking about what European did when they came to Canada… this railway was mentioned. When the railway was done, and on the first day, it went from east to west and back, the European leaders showed the Indigenous people: look at our civilization, how powerful and modernized we are. (Some thing like that.)
Now I have more clue that these three stories were weaving in me…The complexity seems was the cause of my heaviness on that night.
Her great grandfather designed the railway, the great uncles from my Taishan county helped to build the railway, while the Indigenous people who believed in sharing land watched the train running across the Turtle Island and being manipulated to sign the treaties.
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*After one week, our conversations continued. I asked her for clarification, she continues to share: Her great grandparents on mother’s side were killed by Nazis. Her grandparents went to USA and started their challenging immigrant life. Grandpa got lice in job plucking chickens, cried at night with frustration. He later got a steady job as dress maker.
On her father’s side, one of her great grandfathers were George Monroe Grant who surveyed the railway and wrote the book Ocean to Ocean in 1873 with other people.
I know, El felt sad that her great grandfather did not know the experience of other people who originally lived here.
We experience sorrows and joy when remembering our past. It is a gift from God that their meaning gradually unfold when the time comes.
