24. LEAVING CHINATOWN



My brother died in February 2012. With the exception of time in Toronto to attend Ryerson, he had always lived in Niagara Falls. First on Park Street, then on Gail Avenue and finally at St. Paul Avenue in the defunct restaurant.

When I returned from Victoria, BC with my husband, son and his family in the spring to pay our final respects and see the grave marker in place, I believed it would be my last visit to Niagara Falls.

At the gravesite, we planted hardy perennials and friend Robert Wong volunteered to water them regularly until they took hold.

I lit joss sticks, bowed three times each in front of the plot for my father, my mother, and my brother. I was good to go: leave and not ever come back.

I believed that there was nothing left for me in Niagara Falls and yet over the intervening years, memories of my parents and my brother have filled my sleep and tugged me subconsciously back to Niagara Falls: to attend Ching Ming in June 2017 and to begin this blog.


My connection with Niagara Falls Chinatown was first severed in 1971. I had graduated from grade 13 and was university bound but more significantly, I got married to a non-Chinese man. My parents cut their ties with me but fortunately not forever.

I never set foot into 226 Park Street, my childhood home, again. By the time my parents had forgiven me, they had sold the building and moved to a house – a regular, suburban looking house with a peaked roof – on Gail Avenue.

I do not know if I had caused my parents such shame that they felt compelled to leave Chinatown, or if the time was just right to do so.

I have learned that I can move away from Chinatown but having grown up there, I can never truly leave it behind.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1. INTRODUCTION

Niagara Falls had a Chinatown? I didn't know that - a common response when I began to tell non-Chinese Niagara Falls residents about my research. Ostensibly, I had returned to Niagara Falls in June 2017 to mark Ching Ming - a time to pay respects to ancestors and tidy their graves. But inside, I wanted to know anew the place where I grew up. How does one learn: about belonging when the existence of place has been denied? about a place no longer there? when those whom you belonged to and with have passed on? Chinatown in Cantonese is called tong yan gaai ; translated literally means "Chinese people street". And so it was with the Niagara Falls Chinatown of my childhood except it was more like two streets - Park Street and Erie Avenue - rather than one. The last Chinatown buildings were demolished in 2014. My parents and brother are deceased. Only a few Chinese who knew Chinatown and/or are willing/able to talk about their experiences remain. Yet, I wa...
Read more

12. CHINESE LIVES

Neither the city directories nor census records offer much insight into the work and personal lives of Niagara Falls residents. 1911 census did record more information about work life in terms of hours worked per week, weeks employed in 1910, as well as total earnings. However, the information required for the 1921 census was less specific. Similar to the 1911 census, earnings for the preceding year were recorded; however, the number of hours, days, or weeks worked was not requested. Consequently, inferences about wages in terms of one employer paying more than another, or certain employees being treated differentially, or if room and/or board were deducted cannot be made. At the same time, entries are often illegible or omitted. Many Chinese men indicated that they were married but clearly their wives were not living with them. There was one exception gleaned from the 1911 census. HARRY CHON lived with his wife, Rebecca Chon (b.1889, imm.1908) and their daughter, ...
Read more

49. NIAGARA FALLS VISIT 2025

Image
In June 2023, I visited Niagara Falls for a couple hours. Friend Betty drove us from her Richmond Hill home to Fairview Cemetery so I could tend to my family’s grave: weeding, planting new flowers, and paying respects. Lunch with long-time family friend Robert Wong completed the visit. Now two years later, I returned once again: staying a few days. On this occasion, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter accompanied me for their first Niagara Falls experiences. We took in the majesty of the Niagara River as well as the carnival atmosphere of Clifton Hill. Present times were suffused with memories of growing up in Niagara. On Clifton Hill, I looked for any identifying remnants of the old Honeymoon Gift Shop where I had spent a couple summers reminding tourists not to smoke while perusing the fireworks for purchase. Walking towards the Falls, we entered Table Rock House. Self-serve aisles of merchandise had replaced the island counters where I, as a summer student hire, had been quizzed by...
Read more