Wayson Choy

2011-10-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

Wayson Choy

Wayson Choy, novelist, memoirist, and short-story writer was born in Vancouver in 1939. He was raised in Vancouver's Chinatown by both his adoptive parents and his extended community. His award-winning memoir ‘’Paper Shadows’’ offered a remarkable portrait of life in Vancouver’s Chinatown in the 1940s, during World War II. In his memoir he transmitted cultural heritage and demonstrate the impact of the war on himself as a young child and on his family in Vancouver.

During 1940s Chinese people believed in ghost and superstition. Choy had fearful ghost dreams which disrupted his sleep. He called their keefer Street house as ghost house. Before they moved to Keefer Street house that house was empty for long time. Nobody wanted to live in it because of their ghost belief. They believed in such superstition as “In Chinatown, there were at least two categories of ghosts. The Chinese who died in Vancouver became harmless, familiar ghosts and belonged to the first category.’’

In the memoir, Choy talked about the tradition of naming of a first child. Names not only serve a legal purpose but also convey social, cultural and spiritual meaning for the family and its community. In old China, the act of naming a First Son, a First Grandson, involved the advice of numerologist and astrologist, fortune teller diving appropriate meanings and symbols. Six week after of Choy’s birth, his grandfather took an overnight ferry to Vancouver to announce the formal name for his grandson that he selected from a political motto: “Way Sun,” which means “to rehabilitate”. His grandfather’s generation believed that names were portent and significant.

Choy also talked about the racism and discrimination that Chinese immigrant faced in 1940s in Canada. Whenever a stranger knocked the door they hid themselves feared of immigration officers or city health inspectors who showed up announced. Chinese immigrants were not treated equally. Emigration from China was a capital crime. When the Canadian Pacific Railway was constructed Chinese were brought in from China to help build the railway. ‘’ As soon as the CPR was completed, the Federal Government moved to restrict the immigration of Chinese to Canada. The first federal anti-Chinese bill was passed in 1885. It took the form of a Head tax of $50 imposed, with few exceptions, upon every person of Chinese origin entering the country. No other group was targeted in this way.’’ (http://www.ccnc.ca/redress/history.htm)

Choy talked about the impact that had on him, his family and as well as on community during World War II. The women and children felt unsecured when their husband left them alone to work. They would not open the door for any strangers. If anyone had knocked the door they would peer through the glass door to see if they know the person. They kept their lights off fearing that enemy would drop the bomb if they see lights. During that time all the people were very precautious. ‘’Throughout the Vancouver at night during war years, the street cars and other vehicles had their headlights taped up, so that only silt of light shone through. No one was allowed to drive faster than fifteen miles an hour. ‘’

The ‘’Paper Shadows’’ memoir transmit Vancouver Chinatown’s cultural heritages, their tradition, belief and immigrant’s story and as well as their life style during World War II to our current generation .