Tales of Chinese-Canadians in Vancouver through the decades brought to life, from their struggles to cultural impact
- The Museum of Vancouver’s latest exhibition focuses on the history of Chinese-Canadians in British Columbia, its first such show in 20 years
- Items on display include slot machines from illegal gambling dens, old restaurant menus and reminders of the country’s head tax on Chinese immigrants
Three mini slot machines used in an illegal gambling den in the 1940s are among the many objects on display as part of a new exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver focusing on the history of the city’s Chinese-Canadians.
The slot machines are owned by Gary Eng, 65, whose father Joey was a professional boxer before later running a gambling den for about 20 years from the 1940s. They are tiny, about six by eight inches (15cm by 20cm), with reels that turn automatically rather than by the pull of a lever.
“It looks more like a safe than a slot machine,” Eng says with a chuckle. “There were only nickels and dimes at the time. I had to drill one of them to open it because there were coins still in there and I couldn’t find the key.
“We have three left; they used to have a hundred of them,” he says, adding that his father probably sold most of the slot machines, keeping three for old times’ sake.
Catherine Clement, an unofficial historian of Vancouver’s Chinese-Canadian community, says gambling was kept quiet in the city back then. “We’ve often talked about the gambling dens that existed in Chinatown, but nobody alive has ever seen them,” she says. “They were usually hidden away in the middle of a building.”
Titled “A Seat at the Table”, the Museum of Vancouver exhibition, which runs until January 2022, explores Chinese immigration over the decades to the west coast city and the wider province of British Columbia.