Sojourners in the North

by Lily Chow

Hua qiao they called themselves — the Sojourners. Early Chinese settlers to BC lived a shadowy life. Sometimes feared, always misunderstood, these people farmed, mined, and lived in central BC with hopes of returning home rich to their villages. However, they were the victims of crime, beatings and death in a foreign land. Chow brings us forward from those early days of Chinese settlements to present day when Chinese citizens are celebrated for their role in BC's history.

Until Chinatown North , the impact of Chinese settlement on central and northern British Columbia has not been written about. Chow begins to fill that gap. She moves us from Barkerville during gold rush days to 20th century Prince George, where events in the "Middle Kingdom" often had disruptive influences on a small, isolated community half a world away.

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Vontel]

I became aware of this series of non-fiction, historical books about the immigration of Chinese workers in several different areas of British Columbia, and their contribution to the development of the province, as well as the hardships they encountered. Although I chose to start with the first one, I didn't read a lot of it before I couldn't renew it any longer. I will return to the series, although I may not read them in the order in which they were published. Well worth the time to read, and learn much more about some of the other 'creation myths' of the settlement of BC by initially mostly Europeans.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so few books on the history of the Chinese in places other than major urban centres, and for good reason: there is scant documentation. To write a book such as this takes serious archival research to find the few vestiges of fonds that survived to today. Years of detective work are necessary. I will be using this book as a reference for my own work in Chinese Canadian genealogy.

Copies of this book are available through Caitlin Press.

[René · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had the privilege of working shortly with Mrs Chow in Prince George in 1999. While this book is a valuable addition to our published memory covering the lives, challenges and contributions of Chinese immigrants, it sometimes loses its appeal by going into irrelevant details to provide snapshots of what records could be found of those early settlers.