Chapter 1- p.1-4 of 21

New Horizons

May 1880

The past 18 years had been happy and prosperous years

for Dai Woo Cheung and his family. In the fall of 1862 he had returned triumphantly

to his village in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province

in southern China. As a man of wealth he wasted no time in starting new

business ventures exporting Chinese products to Gum San, Gold Mountain,

the term for North America because the mountains were said to be filled

with gold. His wealth and influence grew as the situation in China worsened.

The Pearl River Delta region was overburdened with homeless peasant

families in desperate need of food, shelter and protection from armed factions.

Food production could not keep pace with the growing demand, as

rebel and government forces fed themselves at the expense of farmers and

merchants. Disease, famine and natural disasters such as floods, typhoons,

earthquakes, droughts and pestilence added more fuel to civil unrest. The

Qing dynasty was devastated by the lack of funds since the coffers of imperial

China had been depleted by the Taiping Rebellion and the reparations

paid to foreign government for the Opium Wars. Government corruption

was rampant under the shadow of western domination. Burdened by taxes

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levied years in advance, farmers could no longer feed their families. Opium

was openly available on the streets of every major city in China as merchants

of misery enlarged their spheres of profit. The fabric of traditional

Confucian values was unraveling under a barrage of new western concepts

and ideals. Centuries of Chinese infrastructure was crumbling as government

magistrates struggled to restore control. The dreams of the current

horrors in China that had haunted Dai Woo Cheung and his father many

years before had now come to fruition. These premonitions had helped to

drive him harder to relocate his clan to the new world before the foreseen

catastrophes deepened in severity. Cheung did not know when these events

would come to pass, but he knew that his clan had to be prepared for a time

of great turbulence.

In preparation, Cheung demanded that all family members under the age

of 30 learn the language of the New World. He insisted the young become

God Worshippers and he made the children attend the nearest American

missionary school to learn math, science and English. Many rebelled, but

his relentless pursuit for their conversion won over in time. His continual

praise and rewards for those who excelled succeeded in motivating family

members to learn new concepts despite the taunting and ridicule of the villagers

and their children. As his business ventures grew more prosperous

and employed more and more of the villagers, even his harshest critics were

silenced by his success. Cheung never argued or justified his actions but to

those who would say that he was being contemptuous of his culture and

ancestral traditions he would simply say “If we waste the present by dwelling

too much on the past, the future will hold little promise for our children.”

Though few understood the warning hidden in his words, nobody doubted

the sincerity of his convictions. For it seemed everyone else was only concerned

with the restoration of those harmonious days of the past. Had not

China always enlightened and swayed her conquerors with the superiority

of her wisdom and culture? Why should these barbarians from the West be

any different from the Manchus or the Mongols? Cheung never questioned

the wisdom of his civilization. However, his most vivid dreams rarely lied

and when his father shared similar dreams the path for the clan’s future

seemed clear. He would fulfill his promise to his father.

The ship swayed monotonously back and forth. Cheung remembered

his first journey to Gold Mountain as a twelve-year-old boy with his father

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during the California Gold Rush of 1849. He was happy that his son was

spared the hardship of his first crossing. The pain of those times still danced

in his mind even though he forced himself to focus on the present.

Their destination was the port of Victoria on Vancouver Island in the

province of British Columbia. Cheung had visited there once before during

the early days of the Fraser River Gold Rush. For most travelers from Asia

to Canada , it was the first port of entry before the long journey to the gold

fields. Fort Victoria had been a sleepy little trading post for the Hudson’s

Bay Company prior to the discovery of gold. Then in 1858, Governor James

Douglas of Vancouver Island and New Caledonia published a newspaper

announcement in San Francisco stating that anyone coming to the Fraser

River in search of gold had to apply for a mining license in Fort Victoria.

The town’s population quickly exploded as the weak, the strong, the ignorant,

the wise, the lawful, the lawless, the virtuous, and the virtueless converged

on Fort Victoria from every crevice of humanity.

Fort Victoria was ruled by British law that offered better protection for

the Chinese. California in contrast was ruled only by the passion, desires

and greed of ruthless men with guns. California offered no protection to

anyone who was too timid to use a bullet to satisfy their desires and resolve

their misunderstandings. Although the American influence seemed to be

growing when Cheung departed in 1862, working and living in a British

colony was by far a healthier and safer proposition for all Chinese in contrast

to life in California. The people of the town had welcomed the Chinese

and had encouraged them to set up residences and businesses. They were

respected for their knowledge, their craftsmanship, their honesty, their

sobriety and their industriousness. The town had grown greatly in size

during his visits from 1858 to 1862 and Cheung looked forward to seeing it

once more. He had heard from others that the attitude of the townspeople

had changed towards the Chinese but he knew from past experience that

you could not believe those returning from Gold Mountain in bitter disappointment

because most would colour their misfortune with a coarse

brush. How could these good people turn against the Chinese? When he

and others first arrived in 1858, a period of adjustment was to be expected

because there were some differences in culture and philosophy but there

was nothing insurmountable that knowledge, understanding and good leadership

could not overcome. Were all men not brothers in the same universe?

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The leaders of this country under British rule would surely be men of

principle and wisdom and would understand the basic fundamentals of

human co-existence.