Unveiling Chinese Presence and History in Quebec City's Lost Chinatown

Abstract

Chinatowns in Canada are markers of Chinese history and immigration, playing an important role in promoting and sustaining Chinese social networks, community identity and sense of belonging. During the early twentieth century, numerous Chinatowns developed in Canadian cities and towns. Today, aside from those in major cities, they cease to exist with little record of their existence.

This thesis will investigate a widely forgotten Chinatown that once existed in Quebec City’s Saint-Roch neighbourhood during the twentieth century. Emerging in the 1930’s as a small concentrated street of Chinese residents, Chinatown expanded to a network of Chinese restaurants, businesses and institutions spanning Quebec City by the 1960’s. Over the last decades of the twentieth century, urban renewal projects and French language laws pushed Chinese businesses and families out of the city, dispersing into the suburbs and other Canadian cities. Today, there are little physical remnants of the lost Chinatown and little documentation of its existence and characteristics. Many residents of Quebec City, including those of Chinese ethnicity are unaware a Chinatown once existed. Quebec City’s Chinatown is lost, both physically and within the collective memory of the city.

Through interviews with past Chinese residents of Quebec City and archival research, this thesis uncovers and documents Quebec City’s lost Chinatown, its Chinese restaurants and the stories of its community. Chinese restaurants played a vital role in the Chinese population’s formation of a close community, providing spaces to gather and belong. Stories from past residents frame the restaurant as a multifaceted space of community, family, cultural exchange and resiliency. Referencing the importance of the Chinese restaurant, the thesis culminates in an event proposal held at the only remaining Chinese restaurant from Quebec City’s lost Chinatown, Wok n Roll. The event will unveil Quebec City’s lost Chinatown and share the unheard stories of its past residents. The preservation of these narratives and architectural spaces where they unfolded, through both formal documentation and storytelling, is essential to safeguarding the rich history of Quebec City’s Chinese community for future generations.