The history of this photograph is described in this article   - by Sidney Woo

The House On the Lot — people stories (skhistory.ca)

These notes below is according to my interpretation of the writing and understanding of the social, geographical and historical background of Kaiping and Kaiping people.

 

Long Sheet

The condition of this sheet of paper is in remarkably good shape. The photo that I received is amazingly detailed. With the help of technology, I can read everything. I am not sure if the real article can give me a better read. Credit to Ed Stachyruk.

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There is a wealth of information on this sheet.

This long sheet was a memorandum to recruit shareholders for a company to publish a newspaper called “Kaiping Ming Pao”.  This was issued on 20 of May 1921 (10th year of the Republic)

 

(Ming means bright, opposite of dark. Pao means report. Together it implies an enlightening newspaper. There is a Ming Pao in Hong Kong started in the 1960s. It is still in business today, with even a cross-Canada daily edition published in Toronto, also on-line. The present day Ming Pao has nothing to do with the Kaiping Ming Pao. )

 

Mission of the paper: to enlighten public intelligence, promote social education and enterprise, also serve as communication hub for oversea Chinese.

 

Capital funding: the goal was US$10,000, 2000 shares at US$5 each share. But would open for publication even with 70-80% of the goal. (Interesting even in those days in Canada, US dollar was the standard)

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Address: Address established in Chikan, Kaiping. (I was born in the town of Chikan in Kaiping. It was the second biggest commercial center of Kaiping. Today it is one of the top 5 towns in China, quite an honor. All around it, there were people who have gone overseas, especially USA and Canada, to find a living.)

 

Publishing frequency: Daily, but if funding is inadequate, would publish once every 5 days. (We are used to daily or weekly publication. 5 days seems very odd. Because I spent part of my childhood in Chikan, I can explain this anomaly. Towns in Kaiping have a “town day”, when farmers and merchants bring their goods in for sale. Other citizens come in for shopping, socializing and other businesses. The population of Chikan would swell to 5-10 times on town day. Town day is every 5 days, not 7 days, which is a Western tradition.) Kaiping Ming Pao would be published in Chikan. This 5 day option matched the business cycle in Chikan, Kaiping.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikan,_Kaiping

Share certificates: Temporary receipts for share payments would be issued by Planning Offices. When raised capital approached a feasible level, all share holders would elect a representative to return to China to help launch the publication. At that time, official share certificates would be brought back to Canada to exchange for temporary receipts, so as not to betray shareholders’ trust.

Also in this sheet were operating bylaws and policies, like board of directors, election and limits of power. Influence of Western management structure was evident.

 

Founders:  There were 24 founders, located at various places in Canada. The names of places were translated into Kaiping/Taishan dialect. It helps that I speak Kaipingese. Still I cannot locate some translated location names. At the top of the founders’ list was Mr. Fong Cheuk Wound. Majority of the artifacts in the Zenith café have his name on them. He was identified on this sheet as associated with Shanghai Restaurant in Edmonton, likely the owner. The Chinese name implied a restaurant as different from a café, meaning a bigger establishment. So he was relatively well off. Perhaps he could afford to be in the higher social and political hierarchy of the Chinese community at the time. Then come a question. How did the artifacts end up in Wynyard Saskatchewan?

 

Most of the founders were from Vancouver, two from Edmonton, three from Calgary, three from Victoria, one from Saskatoon, one from Lethbridge, one from Winnipeg, one from Prince George.  I cannot figure out where the remaining people were from. It seems one of them was from Windsor. One place sounds like Prince Alfred. I found two such places in Google: Nunavut and Ontario. The translation could easily sound like Prince Albert, which is in Saskatchewan. (I am leaning towards Prince Albert.)

 

There were sign ups. 27 sign ups were from Vancouver, three from Victoria, four from Moose Jaw, eight from Calgary, three from Lethbridge, two from Edmonton, one from High River (Alberta), one from Banff, one from Castor (Alberta), One from Ottawa, one from Penticton, one from Windsor, two from Prince Alfred, two from Prince Albert, one from Vernon. two from Burlington. There were a few that belong to cities that I cannot decipher.

Ottawa, Windsor and Burlington are cities in Ontario. I am not sure my interpretation of these names are correct, for one big reason: Toronto was not on the list.  Why would Toronto be on the list? Is it possible that the Chinese people has not migrated far enough eastward? If so, why would a place like Windsor be on the list?

 

Also listed are 32 staffers at the main temporary planning office in Vancouver. I don’t think those staffers got paid. There couldn’t be that much work to justify wages for them. They are more like volunteer positions.

 

Address of the planning office was listed as: Kwong Yee Lung, 137 Pender St. E. Vancouver, B.C.

 

One sign up from Victoria was a Mr. Quon Gok Nuan. I just learned he was from Canada Village in Kaiping. Yes there is such a village in Kaiping. There are only about 20 houses in Canada Village. These were all “luxury houses” built by workers in Canada who returned to Kaiping to retire. But in 1951, local conditions for them were so bad that Mr. Quon lead a decision for every resident of the village to come back to Canada. So Canada Village stands vacant today, as a government owned tourist spot.

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This shareholder recruitment document listed the number of founders and signups. The data show a large territorial spread extending from Vancouver Island to Winnipeg. This was the footprint of Chinese people at the time. I estimate the total Chinese population in Canada was about 40,000, spreading across half the south-western quarter of Canada. Population density was very thin. Having so many people on board to start a newspaper in China show a remarkable cohesiveness in the community.