Artist Donna Seto takes readers on a tour of Vancouver's Chinatown in new illustrated book

Courtney Dickson · CBC News

· Posted: May 18, 2025 10:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

Vancouver creator Donna Seto spent a batch of clip successful Chinatown arsenic a kid; she went market buying with her parents successful the neighbourhood; she got aesculapian attraction there, and her grandma lived conscionable extracurricular the community. 

She truly got to cognize the country erstwhile she joined the section ft patrol to support the assemblage safe. 

But Seto has besides seen it change. 

"I went to schoolhouse overseas and coming back, you spot that quality there," she told CBC's Margaret Gallagher. 

"Up and down Keefer Street erstwhile I was a kid, you utilized to odor that sweetness of those oranges. I don't odor that anymore; there are precise fewer market stores near successful Chinatown."

Years later, Seto started coating antithetic buildings successful Vancouver's Chinatown for fun. But the effect to her enactment connected societal media showed her conscionable however important the assemblage has been to Chinese Canadians for many, galore years.

"Chinatown is simply a surviving community. It is simply a surviving history."

Now, she's released a postulation of her illustrations on with stories from assemblage members, a past of the buildings and archival photographs of the neighbourhood entitled Chinatown Vancouver: An Illustrated History, published by House of Anansi Press.

Chinese Freemason building

On the country of West Pender and Carrall streets stands what immoderate radical picture arsenic the gathering with 2 faces, Seto said. 

"When you look astatine 1 side, connected the Pender side, you spot these beauteous recessed balconies and these beauteous floor-to-ceiling windows. But connected the different side, the Carrall side, it's conscionable benignant of plain."

Built successful the aboriginal 1900s, that gathering was the archetypal location of the Chinese Freemasons, which Seto said connected the assemblage to different parts of the world. 

The Chinese Times

Nearby, a painted reddish ceramic gathering with greenish trim stands proud. That's wherever the Chinese Times was based. 

The paper published regular from 1914 until 1992, according to Simon Fraser University. 

Legally, the gathering is 2 storeys high, though it appears to beryllium three. 

"You benignant of spot this benignant of narrow, abbreviated benignant of mediate storey," Seto explained. "A batch of the buildings successful Chinatown person what's called a mezzanine floor. It's astir astir six feet high. The typesetters were really connected that mediate level … due to the fact that they really spent the full time sitting down; you didn't person to basal up. So it was OK for it to beryllium a abbreviated floor."

Ming Wo Cookware

Ming Wo Cookware near Chinatown successful February 2020 aft much than 100 years serving the community, archetypal arsenic a hardware store and past arsenic a room store. The family-owned concern inactive has 2 locations elsewhere successful Vancouver, but the Chinatown determination was a staple for many, Seto said. 

"There's rumours that the ladies successful Chinatown utilized to play mahjong connected that mezzanine floor," she said.  

The Ming Wo building was 1 of the archetypal paintings Seto did.

"I conscionable emotion the cornice up apical and the information that it has that aged Ming Wo Cookware benignant of etched up connected determination and the green." 

Chinese Benevolent Association

Seto says the Chinese Benevolent (CBA) building, built successful 1909, is 1 of the astir important buildings successful Chinatown. 

Its sage greenish overgarment occupation astatine the apical of the building, wrought-iron railings, recessed balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows basal retired among plainer ceramic structures nearby. 

Seto said the gathering is linked to aboriginal merchants successful the neighbourhood, and galore person known it arsenic the location of Cathay Importers. 

The Chamber of Commerce was located successful the building, arsenic was the archetypal Chinese hospital, oregon makeshift clinic, Seto said.

Preserving history

Seto said it's important to sphere the stories and the past of Chinatown for younger generations to spot themselves reflected successful Canadian culture. She hopes her publication supports that work. 

"When I was increasing up, I didn't spot myself successful history, I didn't spot myself successful Canadian identity," she said. 

"The Chinese did a batch of large things, and I deliberation we request to person much and much conversations astir that."