From feeling neither entirely "Chinese" nor "Canadian," Vancouver's Chinese weathered the hard times of racism and economic depression and found themselves embracing a new identity that was both "Chinese" and "Canadian" during the deeply intense period of Japan's invasion of China and later the Second World War. This paper argues that Vancouver's Chinatown was a transnational community whose existence and vitality were not only predicated upon the strength of its internal organizations but also upon its trans-Pacific linkages and movements. It also argues that wartime social and cultural changes led to the first creation of "Chinese Canadians," a double identity that had been born long before the official introduction of Canada's multicultural policy. The two generations of immigrants and Canadian-borns also became welded together during the war, actively supporting China's and Canada's war effort. Finally, this essay closes by highlighting the "double-edged" blessing of a double identity under the effects of local and global historical processes, which were mirrored in the wartime stigmatization of Japanese Canadians, the destruction of the Sing Kew Theatre and the postwar dwindling of trans-Pacific ties with the onset of the Cold War and Maoist socialism in China. '

Over the century 1880-1980, settlers of Chinese origin in Vancouver, British Columbia have been perceived primarily through the nexus of a racial category that defines them as pre-eminently "Chinese" or "Oriental." Similarly, their place in the urban landscape, "Chinatown," has in one sense been a product of host-society categories and institutional practices that have acted to single Chinatown out, and to render it continuously a place apart. The point of departure for this thesis is the view that "race" is not an objectively given biological trait, but an idea, defined by the significance people attach to it. It is an idiom around which have been erected epistemological distinctions of insider and outsider, "we" and "they." In view of the problematic nature of race, it is argued that one of the tasks of the social science of race relations is to uncover the socio-historical process by which racial categories are themselves constructed and institutionalized over time and in certain contexts. In developing this argument, the thesis demonstrates the role played by place and the state in the continuous making of a racial category, the "Chinese." The significance of place is identified for its role as the historically evolving nexus through which the racial category is structured. It is argued that "Chinatown" - like race - is an idea, a representation that belongs to the white European cultural tradition and the intention of the thesis is to trace the career of its social definition over the course of a century. In so doing, the claim is made that Chinatown reveals as much of the "West" as it does of the "East." Ideas of place and identity would not be so enduring or effective, however, but for the fact that they have been repeatedly inscribed in the practices of those with the power of definition. It is argued that the three levels of the Canadian state, as the legislative arms of a hegemonic "white" European historical bloc, have granted legitimacy to, and reproduced the race definition process through their national, provincial and neighbourhood practices. This process continues through the long period when "Chinatown" was reviled as a public nuisance, promoted as a "Little Corner of the Far East," reconstructed as a "slum" and finally under the aegis of multiculturalism, courted in the 1970s by the Canadian state precisely for its perceived "Chineseness." Underlying these changing definitions of Chinatown, it is argued, is a deeper racial frame of reference that has been continuously re-created through discriminatory and more subtle ways as part of the exercise of white European cultural domination. Lying behind the career of the racial category, therefore, is the history of the relationship between place, racial discourse, power and institutional practice in a British settler society. The study is undertaken with a view to uncovering those relationships and by way of a contribution to the recent rediscovery of place in human geography. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

From feeling neither entirely "Chinese" nor "Canadian," Vancouver's Chinese weathered the hard times of racism and economic depression and found themselves embracing a new identity that was both "Chinese" and "Canadian" during the deeply intense period of Japan's invasion of China and later the Second World War. This paper argues that Vancouver's Chinatown was a transnational community whose existence and vitality were not only predicated upon the strength of its internal organizations but also upon its trans-Pacific linkages and movements. It also argues that wartime social and cultural changes led to the first creation of "Chinese Canadians," a double identity that had been born long before the official introduction of Canada's multicultural policy. The two generations of immigrants and Canadian-borns also became welded together during the war, actively supporting China's and Canada's war effort. Finally, this essay closes by highlighting the "double-edged" blessing of a double identity under the effects of local and global historical processes, which were mirrored in the wartime stigmatization of Japanese Canadians, the destruction of the Sing Kew Theatre and the postwar dwindling of trans-Pacific ties with the onset of the Cold War and Maoist socialism in China. ' / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This is a project about a specific group of peopleand place: the Chinese elderly in Strathcona, Vancouver. The parameters are cultural, social and physical. It is about a traditional culture at a crossroad with a North American culture, the implications being a critical exchange. I have proposed a living space that combines the closeness of a private world and the openness of an active and meaningful public face. The design of the housing addresses not only the area's need for elderly housing, but social and architectural perspectives as well. The private housing component is combined with a community (public) part - a daycare - and a semi-public part - the lounge, both of which allows the participation of the residents as well as the community. The lounge is a space for small exhibitions and performances. The semi-private component consists of a dining facility with kitchen, a small reading room (family room), a laundry and a clinic (beauty parlour). This combination means a dynamic connection of the public and the private faces. Through the use of the community's own design language and ideas from Asian housing and village designs, I have linked together a world of singular intracacies to create a rich sphere - one that will begin an urban repair through a breakdown and restructuring of the integral components of a place and the idiosyncracies of a culture.

This is a project about a specific group of peopleand place: the Chinese elderly in Strathcona, Vancouver. The parameters are cultural, social and physical. It is about a traditional culture at a crossroad with a North American culture, the implications being a critical exchange. I have proposed a living space that combines the closeness of a private world and the openness of an active and meaningful public face. The design of the housing addresses not only the area's need for elderly housing, but social and architectural perspectives as well. The private housing component is combined with a community (public) part - a daycare - and a semi-public part - the lounge, both of which allows the participation of the residents as well as the community. The lounge is a space for small exhibitions and performances. The semi-private component consists of a dining facility with kitchen, a small reading room (family room), a laundry and a clinic (beauty parlour). This combination means a dynamic connection of the public and the private faces. Through the use of the community's own design language and ideas from Asian housing and village designs, I have linked together a world of singular intracacies to create a rich sphere - one that will begin an urban repair through a breakdown and restructuring of the integral components of a place and the idiosyncracies of a culture. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

This study attempted to link parental beliefs to parenting behaviors and adolescent outcomes within specific domains. The study also explored whether parental warmth moderated the relationship between parenting behavior and adolescent outcomes. A sample of 60 Chinese immigrant families from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan participated in the study. One primary parent and one adolescent aged between 13 and 18 from each family answered surveys related to parental goals, parenting behaviors and adolescent competence in the moral, prudential and learning/academic domains. Findings offer confirmatory evidence for associations between parental goals and parenting behaviors and between parental goals and adolescent competence in all domains. Parenting behaviors were related to adolescent competence in the learning/academic domain only. No mediating effects of parenting behaviors nor moderating effects of parental warmth were found. Results are discussed in terms of Smetana's (1997) notion of domain-specificity, parental goal-parenting behavior congruency (Hastings & Grusec, 1998), and age and cultural relevance in regards to the chain associations found between parental goal, parenting behavior and adolescent outcomes.

As research into acculturation increases, two competing models have emerged. The unidimensional model posits that heritage and host culture identifications have an inverse relationship, whereas the bidimensional model proposes that the two identifications are orthogonal. In the first study we compared these models in 164 Chinese-Canadian students, and found that the two dimensions were viable and had a distinct pattern of non-inverse correlations with aspects of personality. These findings remained after controlling for basic demographic characteristics. In the second study, we compared the two models in a sample of 157 Chinese-Canadian students, and again found that the two dimensions were viable and had a distinct pattern of non-inverse correlations with self-construal and psychosocial adjustment. The findings for adjustment remained after controlling for extraversion and neuroticism. We argue that, for both conceptual and empirical reasons, the bidimensional model is a more useful conceptualization of acculturation. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Applying the "age" lens, this paper asks: how can intergenerational programming move the current Vancouver Chinatown Revitalization process towards a more ageintegrated and life course-oriented approach? In addition, a meta-question is: How can intergenerational programming assist diverse populations (i.e. younger and older people) collectively search for new meanings for Chinatowns in transition? The qualitative and quantitative methods used in this research include reviewing literature, primary documents, city documents, unpublished works, and conference papers. Basic demographic analyses, community interviews, and surveys were conducted. As a member of the Vancouver Chinatown Revitalization Committee and intern at the City of Vancouver, personal observations were also made between 2002 and 2004. This research adopts the Community for all Ages model to evaluate Vancouver's Chinatown revitalization process and makes recommendations that move it towards intergenerational programming - a mechanism to respond to key challenges from the "age lens": changing age demographics, the diversifying Chinese-Canadian community in Vancouver, and aging institutions in Chinatown. Challenging traditional theories of generations and assimilation, the results of this research illustrate the need for planners, policymakers, and community workers to recognize the diverse stories and experiences along the age continuum and to adopt a life-course approach in moving communities from age-segregation to age-integration. Identifying some key issues for implementation and future research, this study has implications for the application of intergenerational programming in Vancouver's Chinatown but also in other Chinatowns currently facing similar challenges. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

As research into acculturation increases, two competing models have emerged. The unidimensional model posits that heritage and host culture identifications have an inverse relationship, whereas the bidimensional model proposes that the two identifications are orthogonal. In the first study we compared these models in 164 Chinese-Canadian students, and found that the two dimensions were viable and had a distinct pattern of non-inverse correlations with aspects of personality. These findings remained after controlling for basic demographic characteristics. In the second study, we compared the two models in a sample of 157 Chinese-Canadian students, and again found that the two dimensions were viable and had a distinct pattern of non-inverse correlations with self-construal and psychosocial adjustment. The findings for adjustment remained after controlling for extraversion and neuroticism. We argue that, for both conceptual and empirical reasons, the bidimensional model is a more useful conceptualization of acculturation. Implications of these findings are discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study attempted to link parental beliefs to parenting behaviors and adolescent outcomes within specific domains. The study also explored whether parental warmth moderated the relationship between parenting behavior and adolescent outcomes. A sample of 60 Chinese immigrant families from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan participated in the study. One primary parent and one adolescent aged between 13 and 18 from each family answered surveys related to parental goals, parenting behaviors and adolescent competence in the moral, prudential and learning/academic domains. Findings offer confirmatory evidence for associations between parental goals and parenting behaviors and between parental goals and adolescent competence in all domains. Parenting behaviors were related to adolescent competence in the learning/academic domain only. No mediating effects of parenting behaviors nor moderating effects of parental warmth were found. Results are discussed in terms of Smetana's (1997) notion of domain-specificity, parental goal-parenting behavior congruency (Hastings & Grusec, 1998), and age and cultural relevance in regards to the chain associations found between parental goal, parenting behavior and adolescent outcomes. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate