The Chung Collection's Chinese Canadian History

The Early British Columbian Experience in the Twentieth Century

Jul 5, 2009 Allan Cho

The Chung Collection is emblematic of the growth and progress of British Columbia and Canadian History, even before the age of multiculturalism.

Housed in the Rare Books and Special Collections division in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, the Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection consists of 25,000 items, covering three main aspects of BC history: 1) the voyages of discovery to the Pacific Northwest of the Americas; 2) the Chinese experience in Canada including early immigration, the BC gold rushes and the building of the CPR railway; and 3) the Canadian Pacific transportation system. Valued at $5 million dollar, the Chung is designated as a national treasure by the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board.

The Pacific Northwest and the Beginnings of British Columbia History

This collection, which contains rare books, maps, photographs and the painstakingly restored replica of the ship Empress of Asia, is a treasure of UBC Library. The collection is focused on Dr. Chung’s areas of interest, including the experiences of Chinese in British Columbia and across North America, the journals and maps of early European explorers of the Pacific Northwest, and historical items from the Canadian Pacific Railway. In May 2008, a librarian archivist, was hired to catalogue the Chung Collection using software, digitization techniques and standard cataloguing systems.

Empress of Asia

The showpiece of the Chung Collection is a four-metre long model of the CPR luxury ocean liner Empress of Asia, the pride of Canada's maritime fleet in the early 20th century. Chung purchased in 1990 a model of the ship that had ended up in a basement north of Toronto after more than thirty years of neglect. Made by Fairfield Shipbuilding of Govan Scotland, the shipyard that built the Empress of Asia, the model was built to show Canadian Pacific Steamships what the ship might look like once completed. When told that the model would take three years and $35,000 a year to restore, Wallace Chung decided to do it himself, which took an astounding 4,000 hours of labour over six years.

“The Chinese Experience in Canada, 1850-1950”

The Chung Collection is also displayed online for the world to see. In a collaborative project using photographs, letters, government documents, ephemera, directories and other items from both the Chung Collection and the Yip Sang fonds at the City of Vancouver Archives, the online Chung Collection highlights areas of Chinese immigration, work and social and cultural life in British Columbia not on display in the physical collections.

Because of the national importance of the Chung collection, designated as Canadian Cultural Property in 2001, the digitized items is used to illustrate the themes of Chinese Canadian immigration history while being accompanied by a narrative that will be created to provide context for these collections. The Chung Collection is a reminder of the rich history of Canada, and the multicultural spirt that binds the nation.

The copyright of the article The Chung Collection's Chinese Canadian History in Chinese History is owned by Allan Cho. Permission to republish The Chung Collection's Chinese Canadian History in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Empress of Asia