Chinese Canadian Children's Literature In Relation to Diakiw's Canadian Commonplaces

Conference paper given by Carolyn Kim

at "The Fun of Reading: International Forum on
Canadian Children's Literature"

June 28, 2003

© Carolyn Kim. Reproduced with the permission of Carolyn Kim.

On June 28, 2003 Library and Archives Canada held "The Fun of Reading," a children's literature forum for educators, librarians and lovers of books of all ages. One of the speakers invited to the Forum was Carolyn Kim, who is working towards a master of children's literature at the University of British Columbia. She gave a presentation on how Canadian children's literature has the task of reflecting the mosaic of a multicultural Canada. According to Kim, the Chinese are arguably the most well represented Asian group within Canadian children's literature. Chinese-Canadian writers and illustrators such as Sing Lim and Paul Yee form the foundation for further stories to be told of the Chinese culture in Canada. Ms. Kim has generously agreed to share her paper and references on the Web portal of Library and Archives Canada.

Table of Contents

Introduction
History of the Chinese People in Canada Represented in Canadian Children's Literature
Builders of the CPR
Immigration Stories
Racial Prejudice
China's History Represented in Canadian Children's Literature
Foot-binding Practices
Communist China
Intergenerational Community
China's Folk and Fairy Tales
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction

Canadian children's literature is an evolving body of work that has the unique and immense task of reflecting the "mosaic" of multicultural Canada, which is often a term used in comparison to the U.S.'s identity of being a "melting pot" of cultures (Swainson, p. 93). What does this term "mosaic" really mean in describing Canada's culture? Is it merely a neutral term used to describe a vague conglomeration of fragmented peoples living in a common land? One Regent College professor commented that Canada is considered to be the most post-modern country in the world today. In its recognition and inclusion of all cultures, Canada is known as a highly fragmented society, possessing no uniform or overriding identity. However, Jerry Diakiw, former superintendent of schools with the York Region Board of Education, challenges this commonly held view:

I am convinced that it (Canadian culture) is tied together by a number of commonplaces which most Canadians consciously or unconsciously accept, promote and take pride in, commonplaces which permeate many aspects of our society and reveal some central truths about our country (p. 42).

It is among the regional, cultural, linguistic and religious diversity of Canada that Diakiw stresses all regions and cultural groups can relate to common Canadian threads. There are ten categories that he identifies to be Canadian commonplaces (p. 42, 43 summarized):

1. wilderness land;
2. diverse and distinctive regions: Quebec, the Maritimes, the Prairies, for example;
3. a democratic, multi-faith nation with remarkable freedoms;
4. a nation with a strong sense of social welfare;
5. home of our First Nations;
6. a nation of immigrants;
7. a nation state founded initially on the cultures of France and England;
8. a nation of enormous resources;
9. a nation of rich cultural traditions in the arts, sports and popular culture; and
10. a peace-keeping nation for the world and a partner with all nations.

This paper will refer to #3, #6 and #8 of Diakiw's commonplaces of Canadian identity to Canadian children's literature that reflect the history of the Chinese people in Canada as well as China's history.

History of the Chinese People in Canada Represented in Canadian Children's Literature

Diakiw's remarks in #6 of his Canadian commonplaces that Canada's identity is, "A nation of immigrants. We cherish our multicultural mosaic, our immigrant culture-this immigrant culture has forever attracted adventurers, inventors and entrepreneurs." (p. 42, 43). This necessitates the acknowledgement of the Chinese community, such a large cultural group that has contributed so significantly to the history and culture of Canada. This paper will look at China, a large cultural group that has existed in Canada almost a century before its Confederation. Within Canadian children's literature, the Chinese are arguably the largest represented Asian group due to the long history and significant number of Chinese people living in Canada's society. Chinese history in Canada is marked by the arrival of Chinese gold-miners in British Columbia from San Francisco in 1858. Their historical arrival marks the gateway of a continuous Chinese community in Canada (Moments of Chinese Canadian History Web site).

A milestone in children's literature of the narration of Chinese culture in Canada is Sing Lim's West Coast Chinese Boy. This true account of Lim's childhood growing up in Vancouver's Chinatown in the early 1920s consists of multiple stories about Lim's family relationships with the community and other ethnic groups, bear paw feasts and festivals make this book not only a historical read, but truly enjoyable one. Also, readers will be delighted to find embedded folk tales on the origin of foot-binding practices as well as [Lim's] letters to his mother who passed away when he was fourteen years old. Sing Lim's life story also shows how his interest in art was peaked. West Coast Chinese Boy is accompanied by colour monotypes and pen-and-ink drawings by Lim himself.

Builders of the CPR

From 1880 to 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway employed thousands of Chinese workers in arduous, dangerous work that separated them from their families and risked their lives, with many even dying. Three books that illustrate the builders of the CPR are: Deborah Hodge's award-winning, The Kids Book of Canada's Railway and How the CPR was Built, Paul Yee's Ghost Train and Tales from Gold Mountain.

A two-page dedication in Hodge's The Kids Book of Canada's Railway and How the CPR was Built outlines briefly the plight of the Chinese workers being underpaid and far from family. There is also an acknowledgement of the Chinese helping pull in a crucial supply boat through a deep, narrow channel of the Fraser River.

In addition, Paul Yee portrays events of the Chinese participation in the building of the CPR combining both factual and magical expressions in Ghost Train, winner of the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature in 1996. This picture book is darkly illustrated to capture the grief and loss of a young peasant girl who lost her father to the building of the CPR. The relevance of this story is that retribution is made for the lost bodies and souls during the dangerous building of the CPR through the magical art of this girl. This story gives a real sense that the memory of the thousands of Chinese who died to build the railway will not be forgotten.

Similarly, a story from the collection in Tales from Gold Mountain, called Spirits of the Railway is another tribute to the lost souls of the Chinese railway workers. As well as, Rider Chan and the Night Rider in this set of stories is written during the times of the Chinese arrival to the New World during the gold rush. This is another story laced with magic as the main character, Rider Chan, the postman for his fellowmen meets the ghost who had gold-mined with Rider Chan's brother. Out of their own selfish desires, they had ended up killing each other. Hardship also came in the form of greed and betrayal among the Chinese in the fight for survival in the New World.

As much as Canada is identified to be an immigrant country, it has also fallen short of treating its citizens equally. When many Canadian Caucasian men died during the building of the CPR, their bodies were recovered for proper burial whereas there was no attempt to find the bodies of the Chinese workers. Certainly these stories imply that the truth of the past will be understood and that those lost will not be forgotten.

Immigration Stories

Award-winning stories of the Chinese people's contemporary immigration experience exist in Canadian children's literature. Reminiscent of Sing Lim's West Coast Chinese Boy recount in episodic style, A Little Tiger in the Chinese Night, winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award for Best Canadian Children's Book in 1994, describes the difficult paper work and slow process it took for Zhang's family to join him in Montreal in the mid 1980s.

Also, The Boy in the Attic, a picture book by Paul Yee, is about a seven-year-old boy's immigration experience from China to a big city in North America. Having been displaced, he finds that he is very lonely. However, he has the ability to see the ghost of a boy living in his attic from the nineteenth century. Through friendship with this boy he realizes he must move on with his life, learn the language and find new friends, especially when his family will move again to a better house after his father's promotion. Yee's story is a kind of time travel story reminiscent of a Canadian novel by Janet Lunn, The Root Cellar. Though different genres, there is a parallel story line in that both main characters are unhappy in their new environment and travel back in time and make friends with those in the past. They realize that they don't belong there either and discover that their new reality is in fact home for them.

Share the Sky by Ting-Xing Ye is another contemporary picture book immigration story of a little girl who leaves China to join her parents who have been living in North America for some time. She can continue her love of kite flying and be who she is and more in this strange, new country.

Roses Sing on New Snow: A Delicious Tale is another award-winning, witty tale by [Paul] Yee in which Maylin's secret recipe chosen as the emperor's favorite dish is discovered, but cannot be replicated. The message of the story implies that Chinese living in the New World produces a new culture, different from life in China. It is a mix of the old tradition with new flavours and is unique to those living in the New World, North America.

This repertoire of immigration stories for the Chinese to Canada reflects that indeed, Canada is a desirable place to live. In Diakiw's statement in #3 of his outline of Canadian identity states that Canada is a democratic, multi-faith nation. Politically, Canada's democracy was something the Chinese had never lived with before and finally, Canada's economy, as Diakiw comments in his full statement of #8, "is one that permits one of the highest standards of living of any nation in the world." Historically there were many more employment opportunities than in China. Despite the hardships and obstacles of finding equality in Canada, the Chinese endured in hopes of a better life than in China. The Chinese literature available to Canadian children reveals this struggle and desire of the Chinese to make Canada their home.

Racial Prejudice

The Chinese have faced racial prejudice since they first arrived to [sic] Canada. Julie Lawson writes in her historical note for White Jade Tiger:

Anti-Chinese feeling grew steadily throughout the 1860s and 70s, and in 1878 the Legislature passed a Bill to exclude Chinese from all public works. For politicians seeking election, an anti-Chinese stand was imperative. However, all British Columbians wanted the railway - the Canadian Pacific Railway that would unite Canada from sea to sea. And if it couldn't be built without the Chinese, then they would grudgingly accept the Chinese (x).

A contemporary story by Paul Yee, Breakaway is a moving novel about the confusing sense of identity that second generation Chinese youth face in Canada. The main character, Kwok-ken Wong, hopes to escape his family life on the farm through a soccer scholarship. When he realizes that it is not his talent that is not being recognized, but his ethnicity that is his disadvantage, Kwok stops trying to escape and comes to respect his stubborn father.

Well known Canadian author Sarah Ellis' story, Next-Door Neighbours is about a shy girl, Peggy, who seeks companionship with her neighbours, George and Sing, who is a Chinese servant boy. In fact, Sing is an adult, infantilized by the term 'boy', who is locked in the basement of his employer's house every night. In an interview with Ellis, Judith Saltman writes, "Ellis says that child-readers respond to this book more openly than to the others. 'I've been to schools,' [Ellis] says, 'where teachers have gone into it with children. The children want to talk about racial prejudice, moving, shyness. Kids have these experiences.'" (p. 10). Ellis is respectful of how she paints the character of Sing, showing him to be relational, creative and able to relate to others about one's humanity. It is his character that stirs Peggy and George's sense of the "wrongness of intolerance and racial prejudice in the pain of Sing's life." (Saltman, p. 10).

These stories reflect Diakiw's third Canadian commonplace: "Canada: A democratic, multi-faith nation with remarkable freedoms. Equity is enshrined in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but we are nevertheless a nation marked by equity struggles yet unfolding, for First Nations, women, people of colour, and French Canadians" (p. 42).

China's History Represented in Canadian Children's Literature

While stories of Chinese history in Canada mentioned above exist in Canadian children's literature, there are notable books on Chinese history in China written by some well-known Canadian writers. These stories further contribute to Canada's value for upholding a "multicultural mosaic…immigrant culture" (Diakiw, #6, p. 42, 43).

Foot-binding Practices

The torturous tradition in China, known as foot binding was in practice up to a century ago. White Lily by Ting-xing Ye, is a short poignant novel and the only children's book in Canada that describes this significant aspect of China's history. Poetically written phrases like, "…tears rolled down her cheeks, like pearls from a broken necklace," create stirring images, drawing the reader into a different world. And a different world it was. As mentioned earlier, Sing Lim's West Coast Chinese Boy euphemistically tells of this practice in a folk tale told by Lim's mother.

Communist China

A Little Tiger In the Chinese Night by Song Nan Zhang, is a wonderfully written and illustrated autobiography. Zhang's calling as an artist from when he was young child grows and is honed through the intense history of China during the Communist China.

I decided to tell and paint the story of my life to help me understand it. Is one life important out of one billion Chinese lives? It was important to me. Perhaps it will give others some insight into the human dimension of China over the past half century. For one billion lives are made up of a billion individual lives, each as important as any individual life anywhere in the world. (p. 5)

Zhang's story, though just one, opened up a world which is vital for others to read about in understanding the background from which the Chinese are coming from. His story could not be recounted by anyone else and the events of China at that time could not be witnessed in this way through anyone who had not gone through it.

Another highly acclaimed book, Forbidden City, a Novel by William Bell, gives the account of a Canadian reporter's son's experience of the Tiananmen Square tragedy, which Zhang experiences from his new home in Montreal. The perspective of these events by a non-Chinese Canadian author affirms that there is interest and interaction with the Chinese people and culture, supporting Canadian identity of being a multicultural mosaic.

Intergenerational Community

Intergenerational community is an important value in Chinese culture. Canadian children's literature acknowledges this in Paul Yee's newest picture book, The Jade Necklace, a story of Yenyee's voyage to the New World at the turn of the nineteenth century. Her family is left behind and as her duty to ensure the safety and happiness of the merchant's daughter; she rescues his daughter from a drowning accident. In doing so, she finds the jade necklace her late father had given her. The merchant repays Yenyee for rescuing his daughter by granting her wish of having her mother and brother come from China to live with them. An elder showing respect to Yenyee for her integrity guarantees what is most important to her. In this, we see a community being formed of families helping other families. This book touches again upon Diakiw's eighth Canadian commonplace in its identity that it is a favorable country to live and that it is open to immigrants which is an opposite message to Yee's Ghost Train in that Canada has failed to recognize multiculturalism in the past.

China's Folk and Fairy Tales

A culture's values can be learned through its folk and fairy tales. Canadian children's authors have produced tales that refer to Chinese myths: Three Monks No Water by Ting-Xing Ye and The Dragon's Pearl by Julie Lawson. Furthermore, there is a special set of original folk tales of Chinese life in Canada. This book, mentioned before and worth mentioning again, is Paul Yee's award winning Tales from Gold Mountain. His eight original tales take the form of fairy tales complete with intriguing characters, spirits and magical retribution. They are folk tales in that they speak of the culture that is unique to the Chinese living in Canada. One example is the cultural bias towards half-Chinese people, which is told in the story, Gambler's Eyes and the prohibited marriage of a Chinese girl living in Canada to a Caucasian man in Forbidden Fruit.

Canada's identity of being a multicultural mosaic (Diakiw, p 42, 43 #6), an integral part of Canadian children's literature, is reinforced as in The Jade Necklace, but also questioned in Ghost Train, a story that reveals how the Chinese are still haunted by the lack of recognition and retribution for the lost lives of the Chinese workers during the building of the CPR.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I'd like to summarize a few points, first about the writers of Chinese Canadian children's literature. As we've seen today, writers of Chinese Canadian children's literature can be of both Chinese ethnicity and Caucasian descent. Similarly, illustrators of Chinese children's literature are not restricted to only Chinese illustrators such as Simon Ng and Harvey Chan, but to Canadian illustrators such as Suzane Langlois in Share the Sky by Ting-Xing Ye, or Paul Morin who illustrated Julie Lawson's retelling of The Dragon's Pearl. Robert Munsch with his story called, Where is Gah-Ning? and Stefan Czernacki's Paper Lanterns are also examples of Canadian author/illustrators of Chinese children's literature. There is also Ange Zhang, a Chinese Canadian illustrator who has drawn for American Chinese picture books such as Grandfather Counts and for Canadian picture books containing no Chinese content at all such as The Fishing Summer and Thor. And certainly, Chinese children's literature has had even deeper roots in America with the Chinese having an older history there.

But today's talk is to focus on the Canadian commonplaces outlined by Diakiw, which we saw highlighted in some of the books I have shown you today, with the overriding theme of immigration. You may also have noticed an emphasis on three Chinese Canadian writers and illustrators, Sing Lim, Song Nan Zhang and Paul Yee who is by far the most prolific Chinese Canadian author of children's books in Canada. These three authors form the foundation for further stories to be told of the Chinese culture in Canada. All three did not intend to write for children originally. Sing Lim was an artist and print shop owner while Song Nan Zhang first and foremost considers himself an oil painter before a children's book writer. Both were encouraged by others to write their life stories in the form of children's picture books. Paul Yee was a writer for adult books before being asked to write a book that second-generation Chinese children could relate to. Not just being the first Canadian to write a children's book ever written about Chinese immigration or having the largest repertoire of books written, these three authors are significant in that their works uphold a high standard of art and narration for children. Many educators believe that reflecting multiculturalism in children's literature is vital:

We continue to need high-quality literature that reflects many cultures and the changing population of our schools. All readers should be able to find their own cultural heritage reflected in the literature they read (Huck, p. 22).

Huck also writes, "All children deserve a chance to read about the lives of children in other lands" (Huck p. 441). Children not only deserve this chance, but it will become a necessity for fellow classmates to be able to respect and relate to one another in Canadian schools. This can be achieved through the books they read which can facilitate a greater and deeper understanding of differences more importantly, similarities. Thus, children can learn to embrace the fact that Canada is an immigrant country, taking pride in its growing values of equality and diversity.

Bibliography

Bell, William. Forbidden City. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1990.

Cheng, Andrea. Illustrated by Ange Zhang. Grandfather Counts. New York: Lee "&" Low Books, 2000.

Diakiw, Jerry. "Children's Literature and Canadian National Identity: A Revisionist Perspective." Canadian Children's Literature, no. 87, vol. 23:3, fall, 1997.

Egoff, Sheila and Judith Saltman. The New Republic of Childhood. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Ellis, Sarah. Next-Door Neighbours. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 1989.

Hodge, Deborah. The Kids Book of Canada's Railway: And How The CPR Was Built. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 2000.

Huck, Charlotte. Children's Literature In the Elementary School. 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2001.

Jam, Teddy. Illustrated by Ange Zhang. The Charlotte Stories. Toronto: Douglas "&" McIntyre, 1994.

 -- . Illustrated by Ange Zhang. The Fishing Summer. Vancouver: Douglas "&" McIntyre, 1997.

Lawson, Julie. Retold by Julie Lawson. Illustrated by Paul Morin. The Dragon's Pearl. Ontario: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Lim, Sing. Westcoast Chinese Boy. Montreal: Tundra, 1979.

Memories of Chinese Canadian History Web site: www.ccnc.ca/toronto/history/timeline.html

Saltman, Judith. "An Appreciation of Sarah Ellis". Canadian Children's Literature, no. 67, 6-18, 1992.

Swainson, Donal. "Multiculturalism and Canada History". Canadian Children's Literature, 35/36, 93-95, 1984.

Valgardson, W.D. Illustrated by Ange Zhang. Thor. Toronto: Douglas "&" McIntyre, 1994.

Wallace, Ian. Written and illustrated by Ian Wallace. Chin Chiang and the Dragon's Dance. Vancouver: Douglas "&" McIntyre, 1984.

Wieler, Diana. Illustrated by Ange Zhang. To the Mountains by Morning. Vancouver: Douglas "&" McIntyre, 1995.

Ye, Ting-Xing. Illustrated by Suzane Langlois. Share the Sky. Ontario: Annick Press, 1999.

 -- . Illustrated by Harvey Chan. Three Monks, No Water. Ontario: Annick Press, 1997.

 -- . White Lily. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2000.

Yee, Paul. Illustrated by Gu Xiong. The Boy in the Attic. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 1998.

 -- . Breakaway. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 1994.

 -- . Illustrated by Harvey Chan. Ghost Train. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 1996.

 -- . Illustrated by Grace Lin. The Jade Necklace. Vancouver: Tradewind, 2002.

 -- . Illustrated by Harvey Chan. Roses Sing On New Snow: A Delicious Tale. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 1991.

 -- . Illustrated by Simon Ng. Tales from Gold Mountain. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 1989.

Zhang, Song Nan. Written and Illustrated by Song Nan Zhang. A Little Tiger in the Chinese Night: An Autobiography in Art. Toronto: Tundra Books, 1993.