“The most modern dining hall in the city”: Chinese Immigrants, Restaurants, and Social Spaces in St. John’s, Newfoundland, 1918-1945

Authors

Miriam Wright, University of WindsorFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2021

Publication Title

Acadiensis

Volume

50

Issue

1

First Page

5

Last Page

33

Abstract

The article looks at Chinese immigrants in Newfoundland, focusing on the restaurants they opened in St. John’s from 1918 through the mid-1940s. For the Chinese immigrants, restaurants were paths to economic stability and, for some, a way to establish themselves as respected members of the community. The restaurants were, however, also contested spaces, as civil authorities, drawing on racial, gendered, and class-based assumptions, saw them – and the social interactions taking place within them – as threatening to the moral order. This history of Chinese immigrants and their restaurants offers a diverse and complex urban history of St. John’s.

Recommended Citation

Wright, Miriam. (2021). “The most modern dining hall in the city”: Chinese Immigrants, Restaurants, and Social Spaces in St. John’s, Newfoundland, 1918-1945. Acadiensis, 50 (1), 5-33.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/historypub/258