Toisan Pride (Southern Cantonese, Taishanese, Hoisanese): Canadian Toisanese, eh?

Welcome to Toisan Pride

Toisanese (Hoisanese is the REAL pronunciation; and Mandarin speakers call it "Taishan" or Taishanese") were among the first Chinese-Cantonese immigrants to hail to the United States from the Guangdong/Guangzhou Province of Southern China in the Pearl River Delta, west of Hong Kong.

Many Hoisanese immigrants came to the U.S. starting in the 19th century to help build railroads, and eventually stayed to establish laundromats, restaurants, etc. and worked hard to build a better future for their families. Some famous Hoisan folks include: U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Chef Martin Yan (Yan Can Cook); Hawaii Senator Hiram Fong, Hong Kong Martial Artist Donnie Yen (star of IP MAN), Actor James Hong, Former California Treasurer Matt Fong; Actress Anna May Wong. For more Toisan/Taishan background history, click on Wikipedia.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Some day, I plan on updating it but Blogger isn't the greatest with blog templates so I appreciate your patience! I welcome comments, stories, photos, Toisanese/Say-Yip history, anything about our wonderful people to toisangirl@yahoo.com.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Canadian Toisanese, eh?

Aloha everyone, summer is winding down and school's starting up signaling the advent of the fall season. Much to my surprise, I'm discovering large populations of Toisanese folks in places I never thought of - in the SOUTHERN U.S. (Mississippi - check them out on Facebook under "Mississippi Delta Chinese R Us") and CANADA (GAH-NA-AI) (Vancouver, Montreal, Regina, and my cousins who hail from Edmonton).

I had tears in my eyes after viewing this poignant documentary "In The Shadow of Gold Mountain," by filmmaker Karen Cho (2004), a fifth-generation Canadian of mixed heritage who traveled from Montreal to Vancouver to interview the last surviving Canadian Toisanese immigrants and their experiences with the Chinese Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act: http://www.nfb.ca/film/in_the_shadow_of_gold_mountain

Thanks to YeeYee74 for sharing it!

3 comments:

Lori W23.1.12
Argh! Blogger ate my comment!

Just wanted to leave a comment saying that I'm glad I found your site (and ran running off with your Hom Gnui Jann Gee Gnuck recipe). My family used to live in Mississippi though they've spread out to other places in the US now. Now I have to check out their site as well!
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snjean31.10.12
i'm one of the Toisan folks in MS you're talking about. we were featured on Andrew Zimmern's "Bizarre Foods America." we come on at the 21 min mark - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBRyY-zwBtM
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snjean31.10.12
i just checked the link and the whole episode has been deleted. here are few clips from the travel chanel:

http://www.travelchannel.com/video/blues-recap-with-andrew (2:40)

http://www.travelchannel.com/video/pig-tails-and-black-eyed-peas
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Why I'm a TOISAN GIRL

My beloved mother passed away in 2003 followed by my father's passing in 2005, just a few days before he would've met his new grand daughter (my first child). My parents were 1st generation immigrants from the Hoisan Yup (County) just south/southwest of Guangdong (Canton) who ended up in Los Angeles, California in the 1960s. My older brothers were born in Hong Kong and I was born in the City of Angels, so I'm a 2nd generation Toisanese girl.

Hoisan-wah was my 1st language and I retained it because both sets of grandparents only spoke Hoisan-wah and broken English or "Chinglish." I always wondered why we were the only ones who spoke "hilbilly Cantonese" when everyone else in L.A. was speaking Hong Kong Cantonese. I was taught to be ashamed of my dialect because it people said my family hailed from the "countryside" of China.

But I discovered that back in the 1800s when the first Chinese immigrated to the U.S. to build railroads - many were from Toisan. That in itself was a noble act on behalf of ALL Chinese people . Toisanese and the Say Yip people paved the way for ALL CHINESE (Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers, etc.) to gain citizenship and access to the U.S.

So I'm proud to be a Toisan Girl, proud that my people were brave enough to withstand discrimination and poor working conditions to carve a new life for them and their families. So instead of looking down on Toisanese, all other Chinese should be grateful to the Toisanese/Say Yip ancestors who had the wherewithal to be the FIRST to arrive in the United States.

I started this blog as a voice for myself and other Toisanese folks. I don't know how many people I'll reach but when I get an email or a comment, I'm tickled and thrilled to hear about other Toisanese out in the world whether in New Zealand, Peru, Malaysia, Queens, NYC, Alabama, Vancouver or Alhambra, California. Here's to Hoisan people everywhere - be proud!