A photo of early Chinatown looking north from Johnson Street, ca. 1880. Image G-07895 courtesy of the Royal BC Museum and Archives.
During the World War I era, Victoria’s Chinatown was booming. The 1910s were part of a larger period of economic growth and increasing permanency for Victoria’s Chinese Canadian community. Victoria’s Chinatown was not untouched by World War I, and while many Chinese Canadians contributed to the Allied war effort, they were also highly involved in the 1911 Chinese Revolution that dominated the decade. This time of development, expansion and contributions to the war effort at home and abroad was not without its negatives. On-going economic and immigration discrimination meant that Chinese Canadians were treated as second class citizens by the Anglo-Canadian majority in Victoria.
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