Chinatown, Calgary

Chinatown
Neighbourhood
Dragon dance in Calgary's Chinatown
Chinatown Location of Chinatown in Calgary
Coordinates: 51°03′03″N 114°03′54″W / 51.05083°N 114.06500°W / 51.05083; -114.06500Coordinates: 51°03′03″N 114°03′54″W / 51.05083°N 114.06500°W / 51.05083; -114.06500
Country	Canada
Province	Alberta
City	Calgary
Quadrant	SE
Ward	7
Government
• Mayor	Naheed Nenshi
• Administrative body	Calgary City Council
• Councillor	Druh Farrell
Area
• Total	0.2 km2 (0.08 sq mi)
Elevation	1,045 m (3,428 ft)
Population (2006)
• Total	1,361
• Average Income	$16,174

Calgary's Chinatown is a district of Calgary located along Centre Street in the northeast area of Downtown Calgary immediately north of the Downtown East Village. Calgary's Chinese Cultural Centre with its traditional architecture and decor (styled after the Temple of Heaven in Beijing ) is the largest facility of its kind in North America. The Dragon City Mall is also located in this district.

The area along Centre Street north of downtown and continuing for several blocks is also very Asian-influenced and is often thought of as the city's second Chinatown. International Avenue is also a major multi-ethnic centre in the city's southeast with considerable Asian influence.

The community has an area redevelopment plan in place. The postal code in this area is T2G.

Chinatown Calgary Celebrates 100 Years In 2010, Calgary’s Chinatown community celebrated 100 years of challenge, growth and prosperity on its way to becoming Canada’s third largest Chinese community by population and its largest in area. But 100 years marks only the time since Chinatown settled in its permanent home in Calgary. Its actual history dates back to the mid-19th century when the struggles for Calgary’s earliest Chinese citizens were just beginning.

Railroaded by the Canadian Government Upon completion of the rail line to Canada’s west coast (1885), the Canadian government reneged on its promise to provide Chinese rail workers return fare to their homeland. It also severely curtailed Chinese immigration, by way of a costly $500 head tax, leaving many displaced Chinese workers, predominately men, stranded in a strange land without their families.

Strength in Unity Compelled to form protective and culturally supportive enclaves with their fellow countrymen, Calgary’s first Chinese community took root beginning in the 1880s. It was located in the area of 8th Avenue and Centre Street on Calgary’s eastern edge near the site of today’s Glenbow Museum. A growing Chinese population, as well as a huge fire in 1886 that consumed much of the original Chinese district, forced the relocation of “Chinatown” south and west to 10th Avenue and 1st Street in the area today known as the “Beltline.” Less than ten years later, the Canadian Pacific Railway announced its plan to run tracks between 9th and 10th Avenues, as well as building the Palliser Hotel (now the Fairmont Palliser Hotel) and a railway station between Centre and First Street S.W. Again Calgary’s Chinese community was displaced as property owners took advantage of suddenly soaring land values in the area. In turn, around 1910, several prosperous Chinese merchants bought land in what today is the heart of Chinatown near 2nd Avenue and Centre Street south. City Council rejected a public call for a deliberately segregated Chinese community and elected only to pass a bylaw regulating sleeping and living space in houses. Over the next decade, many organizations such as the Chinese Public School, Chinese Mission, the Chinese National League and Chinese YMCA were established giving Calgary’s Chinese community substance and a sense of permanency, although at the time its population was considerably less than 1,000. With the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947, the City’s Chinese population soared, more than doubling between 1951 and 1961. Many Chinese newcomers, however, opted to live outside Chinatown and the community began to fall into disrepair.