Vancouver Attractions
Chinatown © Tourism Vancouver/Tom Ryan
Chinatown
Vancouver's Chinese Quarter is not only a strong, established
ethnic community, but also a popular tourist attraction and
prosperous commercial district. Its bustling streets are full of
colour and commerce; even the pagoda-topped telephone booths add to
the atmosphere. Shop displays spill onto the pavements, tables
groan with the weight of exotic foodstuffs and the weird wares of
the Chinese apothecaries like dried lizard skins and powdered rhino
horn. The Sam Kee Building in Pender Street is listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records as being the narrowest building in
the world, at only six-foot (two metres) wide. This was the result
of a local property owner reacting to the expropriation of most of
his land in 1912 for the widening of the street: Chang Toy decided
to build what he could on the remaining tiny strip. Another main
attraction in Chinatown is the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese
Garden, enclosed behind high walls, that was built in 1986 at a
cost of $5.3-million with the craftsmen and materials all imported
from China. It is a quiet haven of walkways, pavilions, gnarled
trees, water features and natural rock sculptures. Next door to the
Garden is the Chinese Cultural Centre with its elaborate gated
entrance hand-painted in traditional colours.
Website: vancouverchinatown.ca;
Transport: Bus or SkyTrain to Main Street Station or Stadium Station
