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As part of Asian Heritage Month, Metro Morning presents a week-long series that focuses on the largest Asian community in this city: the Chinese.
Through the stories that make up this five-part series, we experience the struggles and the triumphs of Chinese newcomers to Toronto as they integrate with and add to the existing community.
Monday: Astronaut Wives
Lu Zhou meets one of a growing number of Chinese women who keep a home in Toronto while their husbands live and work in China. Helen (not her real name) was one of these so-called "astronaut wives," whose job is to play Mrs. Somebody to their wealthy but mostly absent spouses.
Tuesday: Traditional Chinese Medicine
Dr. Mary Wu is at the forefront of the struggle to make traditional Chinese medicine a part of Ontario's mainstream health-care system. Now, politicians are starting to listen to Wu because a growing number of voters are Chinese immigrants who rely on traditional healing techniques. Several new studies suggest that incorporating those cures could save billions of dollars in health-care costs.
Wednesday: Mental Health
For decades, Raymond Chong has struggled against the perception in Toronto's Chinese community that mental illness is a form of "demonic possession" that should be kept secret within family circles. Now, the head of the only agency supplying mental health services to the city's growing South Asian community is getting help from volunteers as he fights the stigmas and superstitions surrounding this taboo subject.
Thursday: Falun Gong 
Members of Falun Gong are persecuted and imprisoned in China, and the movement, which once had millions of adherents in China, is banned.
Mary Wiens tells the story of a young Chinese immigrant who grew up believing the Falun Gong was an evil cult which brainwashes its members. Today, Masha Loftus says learning the truth about the Falun Gong has helped her become an independent thinker but at the same time it means she can never return to her homeland.
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