Artist’s Vancouver Chinatown paintings trigger nostalgia wave as community looks to overcome a surge in hate crimes, vandalism and graffiti
- A once vibrant community and haven for newcomers, Vancouver’s Chinatown saw its decline exacerbated by the pandemic, with vandalism and hate crimes normalised
- Residents and supporters are fighting back, including watercolourist Donna Seto with her paintings of old buildings close to the community’s heart
Donna Seto’s vibrant and detailed watercolours give a hint of Vancouver Chinatown’s glorious past.
In one she depicts a yellow building that houses the Chin Wing Chung Society, a haven for newcomers to the Canadian city over a century ago, with on its ground floor the popular New Town Bakery that sells pineapple buns, char siu bao pork buns, and egg tarts with Hong Kong-style milk tea.
Another painting features Bamboo Terrace, a well-known supper club in the 1960s the exterior of which was decorated with large green bamboo leaves outlined in neon lights. Seto, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, painted it from an archival photograph.
Canadian-born and ethnically Chinese, she is part of a mini renaissance in a neighbourhood that has witnessed a steady decline since the late 1980s.
