Cumberland BC: The Cumberlander Articles Section
Chinatown · 28th September 2010
Editor, with permission
After seven years, John Leung’s dream of a picnic shelter in Cumberland’s Chinatown Heritage Park is becoming a reality.
By Scott Stanfield - Comox Valley Record
Published: September 28, 2010 3:00 PM
John Leung’s eyes light up as he harkens back to the days when Cumberland contained a thriving Chinese community.
His body language helps illustrate the story about his father, who arrived in the village from China in 1925, took up farming after sustaining a mining-related injury, and purchased a store in 1929 that became the Leung Gang company store.
“The building is still there but it’s a restaurant now (The Gatehouse Bistro & Gallery at Penrith and Third),” said Leung, whose father met his future wife in Cumberland Chinatown.
“I’m the last Chinese-born in Cumberland.”
The 77-year-old Leung is vice-chair of the Coal Creek Historic Park Advisory Committee, which raised about $18,000 to build a picnic shelter in Cumberland’s Chinatown Heritage Park.
Construction of the 20x20-feet structure was completed on the weekend.
“This has been my pet,” said Leung, who has waited seven years for the shelter to become a reality. “I wanted something to commemorate the Chinese.”
Next to San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century, Leung said Cumberland contained the second largest Chinatown in North America, populated by nearly 3,000 residents. It pre-dated Chinatowns in Victoria, Vancouver and New Westminster.
The picnic shelter will contain an information wall with updated news and photographs, recreating days gone by when Cumberland Chinatown featured a bulletin board with news printed in calligraphy.
“As the news comes in to Chinatown, one fellow wrote the calligraphy pasted on the wall,” Leung said. “Every day there were stories about China on this bulletin board. This is what I’m trying to create back.”
The bulletin board will be placed underneath the shelter, along with four picnic tables, two of which have been donated.
The Coal Creek committee — which raised funds by selling T-shirts that featured a dragon and coal cart — is now raising money for two additional tables.
Leung is a father of four and grand-father of 10 who was recognized as Cumberland Citizen of the Year in 1991. Besides the picnic shelter, he has devoted numerous hours to cleaning the Chinese cemetery.
By Scott Stanfield - Comox Valley Record
Published: September 28, 2010 3:00 PM
John Leung’s eyes light up as he harkens back to the days when Cumberland contained a thriving Chinese community.
His body language helps illustrate the story about his father, who arrived in the village from China in 1925, took up farming after sustaining a mining-related injury, and purchased a store in 1929 that became the Leung Gang company store.
“The building is still there but it’s a restaurant now (The Gatehouse Bistro & Gallery at Penrith and Third),” said Leung, whose father met his future wife in Cumberland Chinatown.
“I’m the last Chinese-born in Cumberland.”
The 77-year-old Leung is vice-chair of the Coal Creek Historic Park Advisory Committee, which raised about $18,000 to build a picnic shelter in Cumberland’s Chinatown Heritage Park.
Construction of the 20x20-feet structure was completed on the weekend.
“This has been my pet,” said Leung, who has waited seven years for the shelter to become a reality. “I wanted something to commemorate the Chinese.”
Next to San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century, Leung said Cumberland contained the second largest Chinatown in North America, populated by nearly 3,000 residents. It pre-dated Chinatowns in Victoria, Vancouver and New Westminster.
The picnic shelter will contain an information wall with updated news and photographs, recreating days gone by when Cumberland Chinatown featured a bulletin board with news printed in calligraphy.
“As the news comes in to Chinatown, one fellow wrote the calligraphy pasted on the wall,” Leung said. “Every day there were stories about China on this bulletin board. This is what I’m trying to create back.”
The bulletin board will be placed underneath the shelter, along with four picnic tables, two of which have been donated.
The Coal Creek committee — which raised funds by selling T-shirts that featured a dragon and coal cart — is now raising money for two additional tables.
Leung is a father of four and grand-father of 10 who was recognized as Cumberland Citizen of the Year in 1991. Besides the picnic shelter, he has devoted numerous hours to cleaning the Chinese cemetery.