I wrote this post in honour of Lunar New Year and the changing of the zodiac from Rabbit to Dragon. When I was growing up, deriving the date for Lunar New Year (LNY) was akin to dark magic. We never understood when it was, and my grandparents kept track by consulting their Chinese lunisolar calendar. They also followed it for their birthdays, so we had three important events we couldn't understand. Here's is help in understanding the Lunar New Year, its zodiac, and capped with a story about the Chinese Mother of Dragons - Lung Mo.
Author: wanderernolonger
Accredited Genealogist® professional in the region of Canada Western Provinces (BC, AB, SK, MB). I love sharing what I've learned through blogging and public speaking. Member of genealogy societies across the country. My specialities are Western Canada and Chinese Canadian genealogy, and I have a deep interest in SOE F136.
How to navigate Order-in-Council records, part 1: real life at LAC
In the next posts I will explain Order-in-Council records: what they are and how to find them. This post explains researching at the national archives in Ottawa, Ontario. If you'd like to start with the first one, see "Rev. Chan (陳) Sing Kai’s entry to Canada - a rare head tax refund tale using OIC… Continue reading How to navigate Order-in-Council records, part 1: real life at LAC
Rev. Chan (陳) Sing Kai’s entry to Canada – a rare head tax refund tale using OIC records
The paying of head taxes was front page news but the refunding of head taxes was shrouded in murk. Even today, finding the supporting documentation at the national archives with the friendly assistance of reference archivists and librarians was barely doable.
Reflecting on 2023
2023 is roaring to a close. If you're like me, you're simultaneously trying to relax while also checking off everything on your to do list. (How's that working out for you? :-)) I can barely wrap my head around what our community has accomplished this year. We have a new, permanent, dedicated museum. New records… Continue reading Reflecting on 2023
Why do we care about the C.I.9s? – a guest post by Robert Louie
In this post I am delighted to share an essay by Robert Louie where he talks about the C.I.9 Transcription Project, a project by a group of community historians in my group Genealogy for Asian Canadians.
New releases of C.I.9s for Vancouver and Victoria – 2023
We began 2023 with about forty-eight thousand C.I.9s and we end with almost double. The questions that come up for me are: Is this it? Do we have all the C.I.9s now?
Review: Road Work: Street photography from the 70s & 80s, by Greg Soone
A love of art has enriched my life in countless and unexpected directions. When I remember those long, slow, frequently wet days spent at galleries, it's with a sense of peace and quietude that is missing from my normal life. Greg's work reminds me of all of it - from gallery to street - and underneath all of that, to my family.
The startling details of a Chinese Case File, pt. 4 – How to get your ancestor’s file
This is the follow up post to "Chinese Immigration Act Case Files: Finding aids at LAC," written exactly three years ago. In that post, I'd hoped to one day acquire a Canadian Chinese Case file. Now I have seen four and they are everything I'd hoped - and feared - they would be. For my community, simultaneously ignored by some systems while being overdocumented in others, it feels right that we reacquire the information collected about us.
The startling details of a Chinese Case File, pt. 3 – stories & tools for analysis
In this series, I have focused on one Chinese Case file as the source material and applied an intensive analysis to the correspondence. My advice to all those who have acquired one or more Case Files: Go slowly. Take your time processing. Write a story.
The startling details of a Chinese Case File, pt. 2 – What happened to George’s sons?
When I reflect on this story about George Sing's ten year battle to bring his sons Gee and Get to Saskatchewan set against the backdrop of the Second Sino-Japanese War where twenty million Chinese died, I'm reminded of another sorry tale in Canadian immigration history. A high-level immigration official, when asked how many Jews should be admitted to Canada during the Second World War, said, “None is too many.” This xenophobic quote has been ascribed to Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King and Immigration Director Frederick Blair and is probably neither but shows the attitude at the highest levels of government. Canadian Immigration, helmed by Blair, was deaf to the pleas of Canadians desperate to shelter their relatives living under the threat of war and too many died as a result of his "careful control" of Canada's borders.