New | Outrage at demolition order for Chinese elders' Vancouver home
Distraught Chinese tenants of Vancouver benevolent home claim property developer is behind council's action to evict them
The Ming Sun Benevolent Society building in Vancouver’s Chinatown is not much to look at now, with its exposed timbers and chained windows and doors.
But for elderly Chinese tenants like Zhen Quangzhao, it was home. Zhen, aged in her 70s, and her fellow tenants have been evicted, ordered out by city authorities who want to demolish the structure, which dates back to 1890.
The charitable society, which has provided low-rent housing and other services to impoverished Chinese in the western Canadian city for almost 90 years, is furious.
I’ve lived here since 1995. Pitiful me... now, I have to find another home soon
Members say the tear-down order is a direct result of the botched demolition of a neighbouring building owned by businessman Tom Chow. They say Chow, who also owns the site on the other side of the Ming Sun building, covets their property for redevelopment and has repeatedly tried to buy it.
“I’ve lived here for 18 years, since 1995,” said Zhen in the Taishan dialect, sniffing back sobs as she packed her meagre belongings onto a handcart. “Pitiful me... now, I have to find another home soon.”
Zhen, aged in her 70s was allowed back onto the Ming Sun site on Sunday, December 8 to collect her belongings.
In the face of fierce criticism, the City of Vancouver on Tuesday put a temporary stay on the demolition, which had been scheduled for this week, to give the society time to remove an unstable brick veneer. David Wong, a member of the society, said it wanted the building back as it was before Chow’s building was torn down, a restoration process the society cannot afford.