The Hongcouver | Potent symbols of the new Vancouver, served up on a Rolls-Royce’s ‘CHINA’ plate

Could there be a more confronting emblem of Vancouver’s new demographic order than a gleaming black Rolls-Royce Phantom, with a personalised “CHINA” number plate?

As the limousine pulled away from us on Cambie Street, I got to thinking about the potency of that symbolism.

There’s no doubt that the luxury car industry has witnessed rapid expansion in Vancouver, coinciding with the rush of Chinese millionaires to the city. About 37,000 rich migrants moved to British Columbia from 2005 to 2012 under the federal government’s now-defunct Immigrant Investor Programme, of whom 66 per cent were mainland Chinese. If you include Hongkongers and Taiwanese, the proportion rises to 81 per cent. Nearly all of these settled in greater Vancouver.

The data to support this assertion is not clear, but it doesn’t seem far-fetched judging from the boom in high-end car dealerships in the past few years.