Researcher Baoheng Jia Delivered Lecture at Center of Canadian Studies, CASS

　　On May the 25th, 2019, Ms Baoheng Jia (expert of history of Canadian Chinese, Senior Researcher of Institute of Oversea Chinese, Tuowei Thinking Tank and head of Canadian work station) delieved a lecture at Center of Canadian Studies, CASS.

　　The theme of Researcher Baoheng Jia was “Status and Influence of Canadian Chinese: History and Reality”. She pointed out that Chinese people began to move to Canada in the “Gold Rush” of 1857. When the gold rush ended in 1865, the two British colonies combined into British Columbia. Since the birth of Canada as a country in 1867, Chinese people played key roles in the construction of basic facilities in Canada. Many Chinese came to Canada as workers to build railways and roads, running laundries, groceries and restaurants. Due to the cultural bias, the Canadian elites looked down upon Chinese in early days; and the Chinese society within Canada also remained scattered itself. The dead Chinese were usually buried outside the cemeteries reserved for the white race. Shops for the white race were opened to Chinese only in fixed hours. In order to gain their own rights, Canadian Chinese made long struggles against the racial bias.

　　The Canadian New Immigration Act was published in 1967. As Canadian government adopted multi-cultural policy, Canadian Chinese ended their disgrace of over 100 years and began to merge into the local Canadian society. The new age of friendship between China and Canada opened when the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1970. Researcher Baoheng Jia pointed out that Canada is the country facing China across the Pacific and one of the earliest friends of China among main western countries. Since the reform and open up of China, the economic and trading communication between the two countries developed very fast; and the future potential still keeps developing.

　　After the lecture, participants from IWH and Center of Canadian Studies, as well as other institutes of CASS made lively academic communication with Researcher Baoheng Jia.