Wanderers between Cultural Boundaries: Exploring the Individual Expressions of Chineseness in Newfoundland By Mu Li A Dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies In partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Folklore, Faculty of Arts Memorial University of Newfoundland October 2014 St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador Abstract With less than 2000 members, the Chinese community(-ies) of Newfoundland and Labrador represents the province‘s largest ―visible minority.‖ The Chinese have had a commercial presence since 1895 but their cultural impact has been less visible. My doctoral dissertation examines the Chinese community(-ies) of Newfoundland and Labrador, focusing especially on the St. John‘s area. It traces the experiences of the largest ―visible minority‖ of the youngest province of Canada. Through historical description, fieldwork observation and interpersonal interviews, it documents contemporary Chinese traditions in Newfoundland and explores how individual Chinese Newfoundlanders who may be different from each other in terms of birthplace, language, occupation, socioeconomic class, immigration time and other social and cultural aspects, perceive and present their personal versions of Chineseness. My research challenges the stereotypical notion of the homogeneous Chinese community in Newfoundland and draws attention to the intra-group differences which is highlighted through individuals‘ folkloric practices such as foodways, festival celebrations and cultural performance to comprehensively present how the image of "Chinese in Newfoundland" is established and developed. i Acknowledgement 2014 marks the 6th year of my stay in Canada and now I am at the final stage of my studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Upon reflection of my studies and time at university, I feel that I owe many people a big ―Thank you.‖ The first person I would like to express my gratitude to is my very respected, intelligent, diligent, considerate and humorous supervisor Dr. Diane Tye. I started to bother Diane before my departure to Canada; at the time, I was debating whether I should continue my further education overseas instead of working after my graduation with a Master‘s degree at Peking University. One night, I received an email from Diane Tye, who told me that the School of Graduate Studies decided to offer me another $7,500 on the top of the doctoral fellowship from the Folklore Department. This email eased my worries about my financial situation and completely changed my life track, directing me to the life that I wanted. On the morning of September 8, 2008, I was warmly welcomed by Diane, who showed me around the Department of Folklore and introduced me to other faculty members and staff. Diane‘s easy-going personality and warmth reassured me that I would have a wonderful life in Newfoundland. Diane is the best supervisor that one can ever expect. The encouragement and support from Diane has been the dynamic of my study and research. With the invaluable help of Diane, I was able to publish my first English article about the jokes of the contaminated Chinese Sanlu Milk, give my first lecture on the topic of ―Chinese in Newfoundland‖ to undergraduate students of her Folklore 1000 class at Memorial University and provide the first conference presentation at the 2010 annual meeting of the Folklore Studies Association of Canada (FSAC) in Montreal. In addition, assisted with Diane‘s strong recommendation, I have been the recipient of several research grants and awarded various scholarships from different sources even outside the field of ii folklore. I still remember that Saturday morning in 2010 when Diane and I sat side by side to edit my application for the Trudeau Foundation. During the time I was writing my thesis, Diane spared a lot of time from her tight research and administrative schedule to read through every version of my thesis and give back detailed editorial suggestions. I always wished I could just give her the final draft. Without Diane‘s support, I would have been struggling in my studies and research. I would also like to thank other two professors on my supervisory committee, Dr. Gerald Pocius and Dr. Alison Marshall who have continuously inspired me with their insights. Jerry has always been like an old friend of mine and he even wrote down my working schedule at Magic Wok so that he could see me there. From time to time, he would leave a few pages in my mailbox or send me some emails including articles and information that he thought I would be interested in. His support of my project of setting up a Chinese History and Culture Digital Archive of Newfoundland and Labrador was very crucial, although the project is still pending due to the lack of financial assistance. Jerry‘s suggestions in the summer of 2013 encouraged me to rewrite this thesis, which has improved vastly from the very first draft. I am so glad that, Dr. Marshall, a big name in the area of overseas Chinese studies, has given me great support. I first read Dr. Marshall‘s article in 2010 via the introduction of Dr. Pauline Greenhill, who is a Memorial University Alumni. I was so grasped by the ideas that Dr. Marshall presented. In 2011, I was able to meet Dr. Marshall at the FSAC meeting in Edmonton, Alberta. I will never forget the enthusiasm of Dr. Marshall when she talked about her research. Although Dr. Marshall is not based at Memorial University, she spared a considerable amount of time in writing me emails and giving me intensive feedback on my thesis. Without the help of Dr. Pocius and Dr. Marshall, my thesis would have been much weaker. iii The Folklore Department at Memorial University is a big family and everyone offered me help and encouragement. Academically, I was enriched by many professors in the department, in addition to Dr. Tye and Dr. Pocius, also including Dr. Beverley Diamond, Dr. Mariya Lesiv, Dr. Holly Everett, Dr. Jillian Gould, Dr. Martin Lovelace, Dr. Paul Smith and Dr. Cory Thorne. At the end of my first English-written assignment on the topic of Brothers Grimm, Martin wrote: ―Very Good. Your paradigmatic analysis is particularly interesting. This is also written in good clear English, with very few mistakes in idiom. This is a very good start on your graduate program.‖ I still keep all assignments that I have written with comments of instructors and these ―historical documents‖ always remind me how well I was treated in the Folklore department at Memorial University. I also remember the words of Cory, who made a comment on my summary of Jerry‘s article Art in Eight Words: ―I would never think that you are using a second language.‖ I also fondly remember the moment when Holly found me at the Folklore and Language Archive to congratulate me for my ―pass‖ of the comprehensive examinations and the time when Dr. Philip Hiscock stopped me at the hallway or his office to take pictures of me. In addition to faculty members, I would also thank all staff members – Sharon Cochrane, Melanie Sears, Pauline Cox, Renee Lawrence, Rosemary O‘Keefe, Cindy Turpin (retired) and Patricia Fulton (retired), who are the sweetest people in the world. They are the people who you can always to turn to for help. Hanging around at the department was one of the highlights of my day and I enjoyed every interaction with these lovely individuals. I will miss Sharon‘s warm hugs, the candies on Melanie's counter and many other small things that enriched my life at Memorial University. At this point, I would like to express my special thanks to Pauline, who always tolerated my forgetting to return the digital recorder or extending the lease. I feel so lucky iv that I chose Folklore at Memorial University to pursue my doctoral degree and I am confident that this was the best choice that I have ever made. This thesis would not be complete without the support and generosity of my research participants, the members of the Chinese community(-ies) in Newfoundland and their families and friends, including George Au, Navy Au, Mark Chan, Philip Chen, Bing Sun Chi, Stephen (Jianhui) Feng, Linda Fong, Peter Hing, Christine Ho, Billy Hong, Kim Hong, Lan Hong, Robert Hong, Wallace Hong, Tzu-Hao Hsu, Katherine Huang, Rex Huang, Shinn Jia Hwang, Gordon Jin, Michael Lau, Joshua Lau, Peter Law, Arthur Leung, Cody Li, Tina Li, Ching Hsiang Lin, Pengfei Liu, Wendy (Wenli) Long, Lan Ma, Joseph (Bingzhang) Mo, Zachery Pan, Bill Ping, Violet Ryan-Ping, William Ping Jr., John Shieh, Charlie Snook, Justin So, Rennies So, May Soo, Norman Soo, Amy Tam, Betty Tam, Chan Chau Tam, Francis Tam, Hang Mei Tam, Hum Ying Tam, Simon Tam, Tommy Tam, Chin Tan, Jackie (Hong Shun) Tan, E.T. Tjan, Alick Tsui, Hong Wang, Lili Wang, Shengli Wang, Yang Wang, Daniel Wong, Kenny Wong, Peter Wong, Zoe Wu, Lihua Xiao, Jerry Xie, Ping Yu, Chien-Ming Yeh, Lat Yip, Ye Zhao, Yuming Zhao and many others. I have consulted with some of my informants, namely Peter Hing, Kim Hong, May Soo, Amy Tam, Chan Chau Tam and Daniel Wong a number of times. Special thanks are given to Kim Hong, who not only provided me with a wealth of information and helped me to establish networks in the Chinese community, but also, more importantly, treated me as family. I was always invited over for dinner on Christmas day and other occasions. I have not paid for anything when I went out with him and he was the first one who would help me when I had difficulties. I loved the time I spent with Kim Hong because I feel that he is a responsible and respected person.