MS over the years

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The Ming Sun Benevolent Society 民星總社 over the decades

The following photos describe a graphic depiction of the effects of some of anti-Chinese laws passed at the turn of the last century in Canada. The photo of the founders of Ming Sun (民星總社) at the top of this page shows exclusively, males only …two years after the Canadian “Chinese Immigration (Exclusion) Act of 1923“, and shortly afterwards, of what appears to be First Nations’ (American Indian) women in 1929.

Due to the low proportion of women to men, some Chinese men married First Nations (native American) women (Chinese exclusion laws prevented the migration of Chinese women/ spouses and families over to Gold Mountain).

Decades later, the appearance of children occurred…in particular, after 1947, when the Chinese Immigration Act was repealed, thus allowing Chinese women to emigrate to Canada.

Located in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood at 425 East Pender Street, is the original location of the Ming Sun Reading Room.

This old society’s original home was in a Victorian style residential structure.

The building stands today, and is considered to be one of two of the oldest such buildings in Vancouver’s oldest residential neighbourhood of Strathcona.

In 1928, the Society relocated to 268 Powell Street where it spent the next 45+ years …until the whole city block got supplanted by the Provincial Court and holding facility. The Ming Sun Reading Room Society then relocated to it’s current location, across from David Oppenheimer Park (named after the second Mayor of Vancouver).