Chinese Food Network in British Columbia, 1880-1940: A Socio-economic History of Migrant Entrepreneurship

Abstract

A Chinese food network specializing in vegetable crops has existed since the onset of labor migration from southeast China to British Columbia in the 19th century. By 1940, the network achieved market prominence in the local production and distribution of vegetables. This thesis examines the socio-economic history of the network’s emergence and development during the historical period between 1880 and 1940 – the height of white supremacy and discriminatory policies. It seeks to explain how the economic success came about under structural disadvantages. Two theoretical concerns guide the methodologies and historical analysis: How do social relations bear on economic actions? How do migrants interact with the environment in which they find themselves? To deconstruct the narrative that Chinese market gardeners, peddlers, and greengrocers were victims simply pushed into the agri-food sector, this thesis reads for economic difference from data scattered across secondary literature, archival materials, and oral histories. Economic subjectivities and actions are re-aligned to present an alternative picture: small-business entrepreneurship in agriculture as a vehicle to a good life. Adopting mixed embeddedness approach, it traces the interplay between the actors within the network and the structural context of colonialism and capitalism. It identifies the ways in which they utilized resources and devised strategies to adapt to and transform societies. Furthermore, the multifaceted ways in which social relations, especially migrant networks, influenced the emergence and development of the Chinese food network are elaborated.