Person

Chin, Nee Yeong

• 陳美貞
• 陳良惠

• Chin, Charlie

1895-1983

CHIN Nee Yeong (known in Canada as Charlie Chin) was born in China in 1895. He was a mere 13 years old when he stepped foot onto Canadian soil in 1908. Charlie, who arrived in Vancouver the year after the 1907 race riot in Chinatown, still sported a plaited queue. This resulted in him being teased by white boys who pulled at his hair.

Charlie soon found work as a cook with the Pacific Cable Board Cable Station. He lived and worked in Bamfield, B.C., which served as the eastern terminus of the trans-pacific telegraph cable.

In 1959, the company shut down the station. By then, Charlie had worked there for over 50 years. He then moved to Victoria, B.C. where his wife and daughter were living and soon found a job as a cook for Kiwanis Villa, a retirement community. He was also a pastry chef and baker.

Charlie was married twice. His first wife died in China but left him with two children: a boy and a girl. Shortly after, Charlie married a second time in China and had another son born there. Following the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the couple reunited in Victoria and added a daughter to the family who was born in Canada and named Grace (later known as Grace Wong Sneddon).

Later in life, Charlie became a dapper dresser. He always dressed for outings, and believed that impressions matter and “we need to dress like we belong.” Perhaps it was because he had been teased as an impressionable teen in Vancouver when he wore Chinese clothing and still had the long queue down his back.

His daughter, Grace, remembers Charlie accompanying her each year for “back to school” shopping. Grace recalls "we couldn't afford many outfits, but the ones I had were always good quality and fashionable." Although his wife had some difficulty understanding the purchases, Charlie explained, “She has to compete at and above their level.”

Charlie passed away in 1983.

Description supplied by collector/curator