Chapter 9 - by Lina Grajales

Chinese-Canadian.

“What would white people think of us? We were Canadians now, Chinese-Canadians, a hyphenated reality that our parents could hardly accept.”

Kids were embarrassed by their parents’ behaviour as they followed Old China traditions. Father resisted to behave according to was acceptable in Chinatown Vancouver: Stop this all of you!...how could he dare tell the Old One, his ageing mother, that what was appropriate in a poor village in China was shameful here?” …Still, he wanted his children to have both the old ways and the new ways.

Poh-Poh wasn’t told anything about peering into the neighbours’ garbage cans, as she looked for glass fragments to do her chimes. She was stubborn and had the respect and consideration of her family. But being a Chinese elderly woman, she never enjoyed consideration from Canadian society…before dying, she was taken to the basement of St.Paul’s hospital, where the sick Chinese were allowed to stay…