Sister Cities: Vancouver + Guangzhou
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.. During January 2005, David Wong was invited to be part of a delegation to Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) to initiate a year-long celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the sister cities Guangzhou and Vancouver; and the 10 year celebration of sister provinces, Guangdong (formerly known as Kwangtung) and British Columbia.

Leading this delegation was Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell. Included here are a collection of photos of friends and images of our successful visit.

This brief snapshot of my family history...and in fact, this very website, "GenerAsian", is a result of the requests by many new friends I met in China who wished to learn more about my family's history in Canada ... a story which I am very proud to share with you all.
Vancouver Mayor [now Senator] Campbell opening up the Sustainability Forum in Guangzhou. January 2005


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David is also intrigued to add that, during the Mayor's mission, he managed to locate and visit for the first time, both his father’s and mother’s ancestral villages... and finally saw the magical Diaolou (towers) that his grandmother had intrigued him with many a tales during his youth.

UPDATE:
We've just learned that an application to UNESCO for World Heritage Protection Status was made that includes both my grandparents' ancestral villages.

This initative is being led by respected Architectural professor and Heritage advocate, Dr. David Lung at the University of Hong Kong. The effort is to preserve the historic Diaolou towers that dot Kaiping and Taishan - proud eclectic towers that were built by contributions made by overseas Chinese during the early 1900's.

In fact, I'd like to explore the notion that the Diaolou are a result of some of the anti-Asian attitudes of the day. But for now, I'll save that thought for another day.

Success!

Our application to UNESCO has been accepted.

See our story here: Wong Family Dialou on UN World Heritage (June 28, 2007)
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Wong Family Genealogy ... going back 1,000 + years