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Post by harc3 on May 12, 2006 22:39:48 GMT -5
We have just been looking at a chinese section of a cemetery and discovered they were all male. Is it possible the women are buried in a different part of the cemetery? We found it rather odd that there were no womens names at all!
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Post by helen on May 13, 2006 5:31:38 GMT -5
There were probably no women that migrated. What era are you looking at? In New Zealand we had few women up to 1940, as only men migrated.
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Post by harc3 on May 13, 2006 10:26:39 GMT -5
We know for sure that my father in-laws mother was here, as he was born here. We think she died when he was only one or two, around 1915 or so. We have just read that it was common then to return the remains to China, after first being buried here for a few years. My father in-law apparently went back to China as a young boy for a short while so we think that it is possible that he took her home. The section of the cemetery we were looking at is all males, buried from the late 1940's to early 1960's. The practise of returning remains to China was apparently stopped here around 1930. We will have to search the other section of the cemetery to see if there are any Chinese women there.
We have only just started our search for family but are so amazed at the things we are learning, not only about my husbands family but Chinese immigration to Canada in general. We are so glad we did this!!
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Post by Woodson on May 13, 2006 11:46:31 GMT -5
...We have just read that it was common then to return the remains to China, after first being buried here for a few years. ... The practise of returning remains to China was apparently stopped here around 1930. I think the major reason is due to the Japanese invasion of China and the subsequent occupation of Hong Kong. Once the USA entered the conflict with the Pearl Harbor bombing the pacific Ocean was closed to all non-military vessel. |
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Post by Woodson on May 13, 2006 11:56:32 GMT -5
We have just been looking at a chinese section of a cemetery and discovered they were all male. Is it possible the women are buried in a different part of the cemetery? We found it rather odd that there were no womens names at all! This is primarily due to the $500 Head Tax the Canadian government imposed upon all Chinese entering the country. Plus there were restrictions that limited the groups of Chinese, such as merchants, who were permitted to bring their family over. To top it off the Chinese Exclusion Act came into effect on July 1, 1923. Kind of ironic that Canada a country of immigrants made such a proclamation on its national day. |
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Post by helen on May 13, 2006 23:33:49 GMT -5
Chinese associations in New Zealand Since the goldfield days, the Chinese have organised clan and regional associations, and larger quasi-political groups for mutual support. When times were hard, the associations lent money to the destitute and the sick (the Chinese were excluded from many social benefits), and helped to repatriate them to China. A 19th-century Dunedin benevolent society, the Cheong Shing Tong, organised the repatriation of dead bodies and exhumed bones. Since most Chinese immigrants had no family in New Zealand, the associations would also undertake the annual tomb-sweeping ceremonies for their deceased www.stevenyoung.co.nz/chinesevoice/history/goldseekers.htm - history of our early generations in N Z |
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