Vancouver / Names / C / Chinese

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Chineses

In the city directories 1940 · four people at four addresses

The directories print four people named Chinese at four addresses in 1940 in two of the city's neighbourhoods. No first name or initials tie one address to another: we can't tell if they're one family.

Reserve this family's book, freeThe name in every directory we hold from 1901 to 1945, at every address, each line with its page, to read here or save as a PDF. About $29 when orders open.

Where the Chineses lived

Each pin is on its own block, numbered as the households below. Today's land, parks, main roads and local areas: City of Vancouver Open Data (Open Government Licence – Vancouver).
  1. 1

    1 East Pender Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Times Chinese, in printers 1940

    Next door in 1940: Ying Wah Co at 15. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    529 Gore Avenue

    Strathcona, 1940

    • Nationalist League Chinese 1940

    Next door in 1940: Horne Lee at 523 and Tanacar Gar at 575. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    518 West Hastings Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Consulate Chinese 1940

    Next door in 1940: crossley ins ltd at 516 and Mitchell-Foley at 522. The block, door by door

  4. 4

    5 West Pender Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Freemasons Chinese 1940

    Next door in 1940: Modernize Tailors at 1 and Fong Lai at 7. The block, door by door

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown (3) and Strathcona. Each neighbourhood's page shows its trades, its people and every street in it, the way the directory printed them.

The story, address by address

In 1940 the directory lists Times Chinese, in printers, at 1 East Pender Street. Nationalist League Chinese is listed at 529 Gore Avenue in 1940. In 1940 the directory lists Consulate Chinese at 518 West Hastings Street. Freemasons Chinese is listed at 5 West Pender Street in 1940.

Today

1 East Pender, 529 Gore and 5 West Pender still have their buildings from before 1946, 5 West Pender on the Vancouver Heritage Register; the City no longer lists 518 West Hastings, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Riders in costume in a Chinese parade on East Pender Street, past the Kwong Yee Lung Co.
1936–1938 Riders in costume in a Chinese parade on East Pender Street, past the Kwong Yee Lung Co.. Not at the house at 1 East Pender: no archive photo of the first block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 300-101. Public domain.

Every line as printed

All 4 lines printed under the name through 1945, each with its page at the Vancouver Public Library.
1940

British Columbia and Yukon Directory, street section

The book of the Chineses

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Chinese name in each Vancouver directory we hold from 1901 to 1945: everyone printed under it at every address, their work from the name sections, who lived next door, and the page behind every line, to read here or save as a PDF to print or give.

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Another name, or a house

Sources

Henderson's and successor city directories for Vancouver, read by us line by line: the street sections for 1905, 1915, 1925, 1935, 1940 and 1945, and the name section for 1930 and 1940 where we've read it (Vancouver Public Library, BC City Directories). Names are shown through 1945, as printed. Close spellings are grouped, as on the house pages, since a family's name was often spelled differently from one year to the next; one name can still be several families, and we join lines only where the first names or initials agree. Many Chinese, Japanese and other residents weren't named by the canvassers, so they can't be listed by name: their houses' pages say where. More family names under C. Want a name removed? Tell us.