Person

Mark, Yu Wah

• 麥有華

• Mark, You Wah
• Curly

1906-1965

MARK Yu Wah 麥有華 was born May 15, 1906 in China, in the village of Sar Tan Chyun 沙坦村; Toisan / Taishan county 台山; Guangdong province 廣東. (Coordinates for the village are: 22 07 30 N, 112 48 30 E)

Yu Wah was the second eldest male in his family. Traditionally, the eldest son had the primary responsibility for the welfare of parents and other family members and, usually, they were the first to be sent to Canada. However, Yu’s elder brother was not in good health—in fact, he died in 1923. So, Yu Wah was selected to go to Canada.

He sailed on the Empress of Japan and arrived in Vancouver on December 15, 1921 paying the Chinese head tax of $500 at the time. The spelling of his first name was recorded as “You” but later he chose to spell it as “Yu” to be more phonetically correct in his Toisan dialect.

Yu Wah planned to make Saskatoon his destination in Canada. The family confirms that is where he went, but they know he also spent time in Vernon, B.C. and in Grande Prairie, Alberta before finally settling in Vancouver.

His wife, LIU Li Ying, (aka Mary) 劉麗英, was born in Victoria, B.C. She was a third-generation, Canadian-born Chinese. When Yu Wah married LIU Li Ying (Mary), she lost her status as a British subject and could not automatically receive Canadian citizenship with the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947. The couple would eventually apply for and become Canadian citizens in 1954. A similar loss of status happened to one of Mary’s sisters when she too married a man from China.

The couple would have two sons: John Gee Ho MARK (b. 1947 in Vernon, B.C.) and Gordon Gin Gee MARK (b. 1948 in Grande Prairie, Alberta).

The boys were often told they had to study hard and learn to be proficient in Chinese because they would need it if they ever went back to China. Later, the sons realized they were told this because their parents were not Canadian citizens; they presumed that the Canadian government could send the family back to China at any time.

Yu Wah was an owner and cook of cafe shops in Grande Prairie and in Vancouver. He also owned and operated a grocery store on Arbutus Street in Vancouver.

Yu Wah’s sons recall: “For Christmas, he liked making fruit cakes for his extended family... To scrape the batter off the mixing bowl, he would curl his second finger and use it as a flexible spatula. He never had to look for a spatula and by simply washing his hands he always had a clean finger spatula to use again!”

Yu Wah passed away on January 29, 1965.

Description supplied by collector/curator