Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
American Chinatowns (Zhou and Kim 2001). In Vancouver significant
disputes in the 1970s occurred between the pro-Taiwan Chinese Benevolent
Association and the Chinese Cultural Centre, a new entity claiming 3000
members that emerged squarely from state-based multicultural initiatives in
the early 1970s (Anderson 1991). The Cultural Centre represented a new
generation of immigrants, well-educated, democratic, integrationist and
savvy in their intersection with Canadian party politics. By the 1990s, how-
ever, an internal rift within the Cultural Centre pitted original board mem-
bers against a younger cohort, many of them recent arrivals entering Canada
as economic immigrants. They challenged older board members for being
insufficiently democratic and overly supportive of the PRC in the wake of
the Tiananmen repression in 1989 (Mitchell 1998). A turbulent episode in
Chinatown politics ended with the defeat of the reformers in 1993 elec-
tions, with traditionalists aided, it was alleged, by the long reach of the
Chinese state offering funding and logistical support.
Meanwhile, a stone's throw from the Chinese Cultural Centre, a very dif-
ferent organization has emerged. The United Chinese Community
Enrichment Services Society, much better known as SUCCESS, was estab-
lished in 1973, with its mandate 'to bridge the gap between newcomers to
Canada and Canadian society'.
19
Building from the new status achieved by
Chinatown in the late 1960s, the organization began as a three-year demon-
stration project, 'The Chinese Connection', whose aims were to break down
the historic isolation of Chinatown, to reduce barriers to integration and to
establish linkages with mainstream Canada. Especially under the energetic
leadership of Lilian To, Executive Director then CEO from 1988 to her
death in 2005, SUCCESS developed as a multi-faceted provider of settle-
ment services primarily to ethnic Chinese immigrants, though it has sought
to diversify its client base. Its level of activity is impressive (Guo 2006).
Operating from 11 centres and offices in Greater Vancouver, in its 2006-07
financial year it provided 240,000 client-services across a broad range of
settlement and multicultural areas (SUCCESS 2007). A third of the budget
of $22 million is generated through fees for services and fund-raising. The
principal community event of the year is the Annual Banquet and Gala, a
fund-raiser that in recent years has attracted 10,000-12,000 to a concert
with Canto-pop singers and other Hong Kong performers who donate their
services free. Politicians from all major parties attend the Gala, a key event
of the annual social calendar. A transnational cultural event, it is relayed
back to Hong Kong and televised in parts of East Asia. In 2008 SUCCESS
opened reception offices in Taipei and Seoul to offer pre-arrival orientation
to potential immigrants. Carrying its services overseas, SUCCESS is fol-
lowing the example of the globalizing state.
One of the SUCCESS ventures is a centre on Vancouver's Westside offer-
ing advice to BIP entrepreneurs to help them establish a small business in
