The Hongcouver | Why Chineseness sometimes matters when reporting on Vancouver

Mentioning ethnicity and cultural heritage carries a risk of racism, so why do it?

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An anti-school-strike protester from the BC Parents’ Federation, and Vancouver mayoral candidate Meena Wong. Understanding the motivations of both requires an understanding of their “Chineseness”. Photos: CBC, Ian Young

Published: 10:21am, 24 Sep 2014Updated: 11:49am, 23 Feb 2016

Is it always necessary for a reporter to mention someone’s Chinese ethnicity, origins or cultural heritage? Or is it never necessary? If the answer is sometimes, then when and why?

I’ve been thinking about these questions over the past couple of weeks. Being the Vancouver correspondent for an English-language Hong Kong newspaper (the majority of whose readership is ethnically Chinese) puts me in an unusual position among my Vancouverite peers. My frequent use of “Chinese” as an ethnic or cultural descriptor has variously resulted in accusations that I am anti-Chinese, pro-Chinese, anti-Canadian or even anti-Hongkonger.

So why mention when someone is (ahem) Chinese to any extent, ethnically, culturally or by birth? Two recent stories might help explain my point of view.

There was a great deal of interest in the decision of Hong Kong emigrant Meena Wong to enter Vancouver’s mayoral race. But why, asked critics, did I label her as hoping to become the “first Chinese mayor of Vancouver, one of the world’s most Chinese cities outside Asia”. Surely this was both inaccurate (Wong’s nationality is Canadian) and a bit racist? Why should Vancouverites worry one way or another about her Chineseness? And why label Vancouver, a Canadian city, to any extent Chinese? One reader had no problem with my referring to Wong’s Hong Kong connections, but took great exception to my description of her as Chinese – to his thinking, the two simply could not be conflated.

I happily stand by the description of Wong. In this case “Chinese” refers not to nationality but to ethnicity and cultural origins, since Wong was in fact born in mainland China before moving to Hong Kong as an 11-year-old. And her Chinese origins are important: a defining moment in Wong’s path towards political life was her parents’ persecution by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. Her Chineseness matters.

Ditto for my description of Vancouver; it’s a relevant descriptor of the city’s high degree of Chinese ethnicity, 29.4 per cent according to the 2006 census. The city has been shaped by waves of immigration from Hong Kong and mainland China, and Wong was part of that influx.

For what it’s worth, I’ve spoken to Wong several times since I first wrote about her. She has made no mention or complaint about my descriptions.