Inside Chinatown

History, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Regional Interest, Vancouver Island,

Ancient Culture in a New World

By (author): Robert Amos, Kileasa Wong

ISBN 9781894898911

Hardcover | Publication Date: August 18, 2009

Book Dimensions: 10.125 in x 9.375 in

160 Pages

$29.95 CAD

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About the Book

Victoria’s Chinatown is Canada’s oldest Chinese neighbourhood and has a lineage unbroken since 1858. With large-format colour photos and photocollages, Robert Amos and Kileasa Wong take you behind the doors of the 29 private clubs that make up the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, where you’ll see the gilded altars, antique art and ornate furniture that grace the meeting halls. Through stunning pictures and text in both Chinese and English, you will meet the club members and take an inside look at the culture of this complex community. Inside Chinatown is sure to become a landmark publication chronicling the vibrant heritage of Chinese Canadians.

Inside Chinatown was voted Monday Magazine’s Non-Fiction Book of the Year, and authors Robert Amos and Kileasa Wong were presented with a 2010 Outstanding Achievement Award from BC Heritage for their work on Inside Chinatown.

About the Author(s)

Robert Amos has published eleven books on art—including five bestselling volumes on the life and work of beloved Canadian artist E. J. Hughes—and was the arts columnist for Victoria’s Times Colonist newspaper for more than thirty years. Amos was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1995 and is an Honorary Citizen of Victoria. He lives in Oak Bay, British Columbia, with his wife, artist Sarah Amos.

Kileasa Wong was born Wu Chewan in Hong Kong, the daughter of a family from Chaozhou in the northeast corner of Guangdong Province. She moved to Canada with her husband in 1974 and is now the secretary of Victoria’s Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and the editor of the Victoria Chinatown Newsletter. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a master’s degree in education from the University of Victoria, and is the foremost teacher of traditional Chinese painting in Victoria. She is also the principal of the Chinese Public School on Fisgard Street. Kileasa lives in Victoria, BC.

Reviews

“A highly readable history of the Chinese community in Victoria. Its beautiful, respectful pages make an important contribution to our understanding.” —Times Colonist