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Review Of David Chuenyan Lai, Chinatowns: Towns Within Cities In Canada, Robert Stoddard

Department of Geography: Faculty Publications

In the past, a Chinatown was “a self-contained urban enclave” where nearly all Chinese people, their businesses, and their social institutions were confined. Today, however, a Chinatown “is an ill-defined perceptual area because its characteristics, structure, images, and townscape have changed over time.” Lai classifies Chinatowns into four types, one of which, an old Chinatown, is the topic of most of the book. He summarizes the history of Old Chinatowns as involving four stages: budding, blooming, withering, and reviving. For example, Chinatown in Victoria experienced these four particular stages during the following periods: 1858-1870s, 1880s-1910s, 1920s-1970s, and 1980s. The Chinatowns …