Person

Mah, Quong Chin

• Mah, Gene
• Mah, Hoy Seng

1908-1974

MAH Quong Chin, also known as MAH Hoy Seng, was born in September 1908 in [廣東 Guangdong] province. He would be known as Gene Mah in Canada.

He arrived in Canada in 1923, and settled in Edmonton, where he learned to speak and write English. He worked as a cook and a waiter in various restaurants around Alberta.

He returned to China in 1926, and married JONG Siu Oy in an arranged marriage. The couple had two daughters: Lun Un (b. 1927), and Lun Fee (b. 1930). A few years later, facing the likelihood of never being allowed to re-enter Canada since he was not yet a Canadian citizen, Gene had to return to Canada alone.

In 1950, the Canadian government permitted Gene’s wife to join him in Canada, while his two daughters had married and remained in China. The reunited couple settled in Three Hills and then Drumheller, where Gene co-owned a menswear store—Joffre Men’s Wear. The couple had three more children in Canada: Ellen/Siu Lun (b. 1951), Betty/Bet Lun (b. 1954), and Tommy/Fui Tum (b. 1954).

After selling the menswear store, Gene opened his own restaurant—the Dallas Café. It was known for serving excellent coffee, and for its joint Western and Chinese Canadian menu. He hired white waitresses, while in the kitchen, he employed Chinese cooks, one full-time English dishwasher, and a part-time Ukrainian dishwasher.

The restaurant closed twice a year. On Christmas Day and New Years’ Day, Gene’s cooks prepared an authentic multi-course Chinese dinner feast for the restaurant’s staff and their extended families. He also invited the elderly Chinese men who lived in a nearby bachelors’ apartment.

The Mah family was one of the first Chinese families in Drumheller with Canadian-born children. As they exclusively spoke the [台山 Toisan / Taishan] dialect at home, the two younger children did not learn English until they attended school. Gene encouraged his children to integrate into white Canadian society by joining school activities, participating in sports, attending church, and babysitting for other families. Their Canadian-born children were honours students throughout their school years, as Gene and his wife encouraged their children to focus on schoolwork to transcend the limited opportunities they were afforded as first-generation Chinese immigrants.

Gene was also involved in various other business endeavours. He owned and rented out three houses, and was also a member of the Chinese Freemasons. His family recalled, “Gene carried himself with quiet, confident dignity. Known as a hard-working, successful entrepreneur, he was treated with respect by other Drumheller businessmen.”

In 1963, Gene and Siu Oy’s daughter, Lun Fee, immigrated from China with her two sons to join her husband who had settled in California. Five years later, she visited Drumheller, reunited with her parents, and met her younger siblings for the first time.

Gene and his wife retired from the restaurant in 1969 and moved to Calgary. Siu Oy passed away in 1973, while Gene passed away on October 31, 1974. They never reunited with their eldest daughter; Lun Un immigrated from China to Calgary in 1975.

Description supplied by collector/curator