Biographical/introduction of participants

 

Lauren: Tell me a little bit about yourself

 

Mrs. Mark: I’m Jean Mark and I live in Toronto. I am retired… I’m busy as a landlady and grandmother. I just became a grandmother for the first time. 

 

Mrs. Fung: And my name is Yen… I’m a mother of three, grandmother of five, and I live in Saskatoon. 

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Relationship to Riversdale and Chinese community in Saskatoon

 

Lauren: Tell me a little bit about your experience growing up in Saskatoon and your relationship to the Chinese community there.

 

Mrs. Fung: We went directly in 1952, we immigrated to Canada. We came by boat… We landed in San Francisco and we took the train up to Vancouver where our father met us and he was doing business in Tisdale. But because they have six partners in that restaurant and their two families had already arrived and they thought it was too crowded and it wouldn't sustain so many families. So my father bought a business at a small village called Weekes, and [we] went to school there…from 1952-1962. And in 62, I went to Saskatoon to go to university.

 

Lauren: I wanted to ask a little bit about your relationship to Riversdale, given its history of having a large concentration of Chinese-owned businesses?

 

Mrs. Fung: Jean didn’t stay in Saskatoon long enough to have a Riversdale experience, but I stayed. So after I came to Saskatoon in ‘62, she came in ‘63, and her younger brother came in ‘64. And then our parents sold their business at Weekes and came up to Saskatoon and started Orient Trading at the corner of Avenue C and 19th street next to the Golden Dragon… And so they ran businesses until they retired, and then they flipped it…to our brother…and his wife. So they ran it for a while and then they let it go. As for myself, in connection with Riversdale…we were already in university when our parents came into that area, so we didn’t actually live there, or I didn’t anyways. 

…

After I got my B.Ed, I taught one year of school. Then I got married and I stayed home 11 years to raise the three children. And then after, I guess then I didn’t want to go back to teaching because with young children at home, I didn’t want to be able to say hey, I can’t go to work, I’m going to stay home. So I thought I’d go into business for myself. So that’s when I came into Riversdale…off 22nd street…I was on 22nd, where I had one small…health food store, and I started a restaurant called Genesis. So I owned that little mall and I had a gift shop in there, so I was involved in that area. And also because my parents were at 19th and C, [we] were connected, I guess, and looked out for each other. 

 

Lauren: How long did you run the health food store?

 

Mrs. Fung: For 15 years. And you see, I started Genesis in 1981…Genesis [was] originally supposed to be a macrobiotic restaurant, and so I need[ed] a specialized vegetarian chef. 

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I [later] flipped the restaurant over to Philip, and I backed out of the restaurant. But I kept a health food store for a number of years here, so then I had a bit of family life. When you run a restaurant, you don’t have much of a family life. So the kids are happy [I was] back home, [I] look[ed] after them for a while. But I had time then to do volunteer work. We helped raise funds to create Juniper [House], the senior housing on F and 19th.

…

[The Chinese benevolent association and the (Mark?) association] donated three lots to us to build Juniper, which gave us a foundation to approach the government to get grants to build the senior complex there. But three lots was only 75ft, 25ft each. And the builder thought it wasn’t quite enough to build. So then we…raised money to buy the house next door… so that we built Juniper there… I was [on the] original board, but then when it was open and running, I resigned. And then I went on to be with Open Door and International Women of Saskatchewan (IWS). Just volunteer work. 

 

Lauren: Wow, that’s very cool. Do you still spend time volunteering at Juniper House today?

 

Mrs. Fung: I still do volunteer. And also at our church, we do once a month the church group ha[s] a potluck at Juniper House just so that the seniors could get together and socialize. And the younger people at our church, they come also just to entertain them the same. 

 

Lauren: Could you walk me down Riversdale - are there any places that come to mind that you could mention?

 

Mrs. Fung: Oh, there were lots…It was all the avenue C from 19th on the east side, was all brought up and they build new condos in…And then the next block if Farmers Market…And our father’s store is called Orient [Trading], right on the corner…next door was the Golden Dragon.

…

[There was] also a restaurant and it’s also a Chinese couple that bought it and they call[ed] it Yummy… But they also sold it, so I don’t know who’s running it now. And of course the Mandarin restaurant on C and 25th. 

…

And…Chung Wah, the grocery store that’s been owned by a number of people as well. 

 

On cultural preservation: 

 

Lauren: What are some things that you would like to make sure doesn’t get lost through future generations? 

 

Mrs. Fung: Well, I think especially in Riversdale they were allowed Chinese businesses…but then they encouraged their children to be educated. And so the second generation are professionals and third generation and they’re not going to go back to running laundries and restaurants. So those businesses are now passed on to new immigrants. So education is very important, get the children to stay in school, be educated so they have more choices as to what they want to do in life. 

…

We have the very few second generation go back to the business that was the former generation’s, and that’s the change that makes Chinese [people] resilient. 

 

Lauren: What are some ways that those who do not go back to continue their family’s business can preserve Chinese culture and community in Saskatoon?

 

Mrs. Fung: How do we pass our culture to the next generation? It’s through talking to them, celebrating our traditional celebrations, like Autumn festival. So we can keep our tradition alive. 

 

Further discussion about the history of the CHinese community in Saskatoon: 

 

Mrs. Fung: I didn’t go to [Saskatoon] until ‘62, so it was even our father’s time in the 20s. They used to have a restaurant called ABC… There’s a lot of racism at that time. And I remember my dad telling me that they even [would] bring a horse into the restaurants, you know, to do damage… 

 

Lauren: Was it his restaurant? 

 

Mrs. Fung: Well, [the ABC] wasn’t his restaurant, but it was run by Chinese…

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But then, the one when we came in ‘62, there was a Paris Cafe…the Paris Cafe is very still known by Chinese people coming in from small towns. They always had a place to go. There’s a Paris Cafe to connect…

 

But [my dad] told me when he first came, he went to PA, and they didn’t pay him for the first three months. So he said, ‘I have a wife back home. I have to support our family, do you intend to pay me?’. So they said ‘yes, it’s $13 a month’. But…at the time, I think maybe 10 or 20 cents a load, so you know, wow, $13 a month. That means it’s only less than $200 a year, and they charge $500 for head tax, so can you imagine how  hard the Chinese had to save? So what they did was they borrow[ed] from each other and when they needed, they…paid the head tax, and then they get together again and help[ed] each other pay that head tax. So a lot of people came over having to pay $500. It’s a lot of money at that time. Can you imagine? $13 a month?

 

Now, the government reimbursed $20,000 per person, but only the surviving spouse or the original person can collect them. So that would be [the] equivalent of the value of $500, $20,000.

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That’s a lot of money, but they managed because there’s that community to help one another. When we came to Saskatchewan, whenever we go visiting, if there’s a Chinese restaurant in town, we go in [and] say hello and they welcome you like family, you know, like [a] long lost relative. Because it’s…you’re from the same ethnic group…

 

Lauren: Would you say that the community was tight knit?

 

Mrs. Fung: Absolutely, yeah. If you’re Chinese, [it’s] for survival.