Chinatown

Vancouver, youthful and sparkling city that it is, has a reputation for being light in the history books. A great city, yes. A historical treasure? Not so much.

That is, until you stroll the streets of Chinatown, where history feels like a living, breathing, vibrant being coursing the avenues along with you. Chinese immigrants arrived during the Fraser Gold Rush in the 1850s to build railways—under brutal conditions, with long hours and minimal pay. And many stayed, despite prejudicial head taxes and immigration laws: by the turn of the century, 2,100 lived in Chinatown. Canadian law at the time prevented them from becoming architects, and so residents were forced to yield to western builders to construct the shops that line Keefer and Pender Streets today — a melding of East meets West, where Eastern recessed balconies meet Western Edwardian details: cornices, pediments, columns.

Probably the most famous of all — the Sam Kee Building at Pender and Carrall Streets—is a mere six feet wide, holding the Guinness world record as the shallowest commercial building in the world. When Pender Street was expanded in 1912, the city of Vancouver expropriated all but six feet of the property without compensation to owner Chang Toy. He built the tiny building anyway, now fronted by the only glass sidewalk in Chinatown.

Today, Chinatown is the largest of its kind in Canada — second only to San Francisco in North America. Mandarin and Cantonese are the mother tongues in 30 percent of Vancouver homes, making Chinese the largest ethnic “minority” group. And it’s one of the greatest sensory experiences in the city. From the shouts of produce and fish merchants to passers-by and the neon lights of Foo’s Ho Ho or the Only Seafood Café (the longest surviving family-owned café in Vancouver), to the mouthwatering aromas of restaurateurs stirring up local specialities and the mega-watt colours that decorate storefronts and shops. Don’t forget to try the amazing dim sum this area has to offer.

On weekend evenings in the summer, Keefer and Pender Streets transform into a bustling open-air night market with vendors hawking fake Rolex watches while elderly men engage in heated games of mah jong.

A walking tour through Chinatown can be an exhilarating, at times exhausting experience. But that’s covered, too: a meditation in the serene grounds of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, a remarkable oasis in the heart of it all, and the only authentic classic Chinese garden outside of China, is the perfect yin to the community’s yang.

EAT:

Garlic squid—defining that elusive fifth flavour known as umami—at Phnom Penh (244 E. Georgia St., 604-682-5777).

DRINK:

Cardamom and vanilla bean houseinfused vodka cocktails at Wild Rice, where modern Chinese cuisine marries locally harvested ingredients (117 W. Pender St., 604-642-2882).

BROWSE:

Exquisite antique pieces, teapots, lanterns and more at Peking Lounge (83 E. Pender St., 604-844-1559)