As more Chinese newcomers call Halifax home, early signs of a Chinatown emerge

[someone123]

I thought this article was interesting: https://globalnews.ca/news/4137211/a...natown-emerge/

The area they are talking about is Barrington/Inglis/Victoria Road/Queen Street.

[Keith P.]

When the BMO relocated to their new premises on SGR they established a Chinese presence in the branch with services available in Mandarin, I believe.

[someone123]

An article on a riot from 1919 that targeted Chinese-owned businesses:

https://globalnews.ca/news/4970734/a...ts-in-halifax/

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by someone123

An article on a riot from 1919 that targeted Chinese-owned businesses:

https://globalnews.ca/news/4970734/a...ts-in-halifax/

I recall reading about those riots before, seemingly resulting from a dangerous combination of ignorance, racism, and likely PTSD before anybody knew about PTSD.

Very sad and unfortunate events from a different time in Halifax's history. One has to wonder if this event, or latent attitudes that existed before and after this event, may have had some effect on Halifax never having formed a 'Chinatown' like many other Canadian and American cities in the late 19th/early 20th century.

Another case of the 'good old days' not actually being so 'good'...

[someone123]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I recall reading about those riots before, seemingly resulting from a dangerous combination of ignorance, racism, and likely PTSD before anybody knew about PTSD.

Very sad and unfortunate events from a different time in Halifax's history. One has to wonder if this event, or latent attitudes that existed before and after this event, may have had some effect on Halifax never having formed a 'Chinatown' like many other Canadian and American cities in the late 19th/early 20th century.

I wonder about this too but then again the riots that happened in Halifax were tame compared to a lot of other cities. It sounds like there were no fatalities from this for example. Anti-Chinese sentiment was certainly not a Halifax-specific thing either.

These stories from the early 1900's remind me of what you might hear from a developing country today. The standard of living, education levels, communication, policing, etc. were probably similar in a bunch of ways. Lots of ignorant people with very tough lives.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by someone123

I wonder about this too but then again the riots that happened in Halifax were tame compared to a lot of other cities. It sounds like there were no fatalities from this for example. Anti-Chinese sentiment was certainly not a Halifax-specific thing either.

These stories from the early 1900's remind me of what you might hear from a developing country today. The standard of living, education levels, communication, policing, etc. were probably similar in a bunch of ways. Lots of ignorant people with very tough lives.

Good point, perhaps it was mostly due to the size of the city and/or its Chinese community not being large enough to support a localized Chinatown, as much as anything else.

I get the feeling that Halifax wasn't exactly a happy place in February 1919, only being a year and two months out of the Explosion, along with those returning from WWI. I imagine that it wouldn't have taken much for situations like this, fueled by misinformation and displaced anger, to boil over into conflict and violence.

It helps to drive home the point that, although currently not perfect, things are much better in Halifax now than they were 100 years ago.

[q12]

These Unlikely Canadian Cities Are A Hot Spot For Chinese Home Buyers

March 6, 2019
by Isabelle Khoo

Interest in Canadian real estate is back up among Chinese home buyers. But a new report found that properties in Canada’s biggest cities, Toronto and Vancouver, are no longer the highest in demand.

Chinese buyers are now flocking to properties in Halifax and Calgary, according to a report by Juwai.com, a real estate portal that connects Chinese buyers with international listings. In 2018, interest in Halifax shot up by 394 per cent, while interest in Calgary grew by 234.4 per cent.

https://torontostoreys.com/2019/03/c...buyers-canada/

https://torontostoreys.com/2019/03/c...buyers-canada/

[MonctonRad]

Not necessarily a good news story. We all know what Chinese investors did to the real estate market in Vancouver. If these are new immigrants coming to live in the city that's one thing. If they are just offshore investors looking for somewhere to shelter or launder their money, that's something entirely different altogether.

Do we know if this newfound interest in Halifax represents the former or the latter? I would be interested to know.........

[q12]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Not necessarily a good news story. We all know what Chinese investors did to the real estate market in Vancouver. If these are new immigrants coming to live in the city that's one thing. If they are just offshore investors looking for somewhere to shelter or launder their money, that's something entirely different altogether.

Do we know if this newfound interest in Halifax represents the former or the latter? I would be interested to know.........

Probably too early to tell, however the housing market in Halifax is very hot with a lot of inventory selling immediately after being put up for sale.

Just look at the red on the viewpoint.ca map:

https://www.viewpoint.ca/map

[FutureofHalifax]

Originally Posted by q12

https://torontostoreys.com/2019/03/c...buyers-canada/

Exciting news for Halifax!