Vancouver Chinatown isn’t what it used to be, and some say that’s a good thing. Others who long for yesteryear aren’t so sure.
A longboard store featuring new styled skateboards dominates a street once the sole domain of tea shops. In a sense, what’s happening in Vancouver’s Chinatown happens all over the developed world. Its part of the gentrification that has enveloped Vancouver Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside.
“We’re quite pleased with the way this is working out. It’s diversification,” Gil Tan, the real-estate director for the Chinese Freemasons, said to the Globe & Mail.
“Somebody did ask, ‘Is that appropriate to have a longboard shop in Chinatown?’ But I said the only way to revitalize this area is to bring people in. I like those shops. It’s kind of fun.”
But others take a different view
“I would encourage these people setting up businesses to see their social role as gentrifiers,” said Ivan Drury, an activist currently working with the Carnegie Community Action Project. His group has organized several protests.
