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Racial Diversity

• Toronto is heralded as one of the most multicultural cities in the world
• Toronto ranked as the safest large metropolitan area in North America by Places Rated Almanac
• Toronto received 80,000 immigrants in 1997 from 169 countries
• Over 100 languages are spoken in Toronto, and one third of Toronto residents speak at home a language other than English
• 48 per cent of Toronto's population are immigrants
• By 2001, foreign-born residents will comprise more than 50 per cent of population

In Brief

With an estimated population of 250,000, the Chinese are one of Toronto's most visible and largest ethnic communities. In fact, Toronto now has five Chinatowns, but the major commercial centre and meeting place for the community is located downtown.

If someone looked at a picture taken at the corner of Spadina Ave and Dundas St. on a Saturday afternoon, they could easily mistake it for Hong Kong. On weekends, the sidewalks, already crammed with open-air food stalls, overflow with hundreds of people eager to shop, eat and socialize. Traffic is high. This is the largest and busiest Chinatown in the city. It's also the most visible symbol of a very diverse community: the Chinese people who live in Toronto come from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, as well as from mailand China. Chinese immigrants have even come from countries like Uganda and Peru!

The first Chinese arrived in Toronto at the turn of the century and lived in the area of York St. between Queen and King. "Old Chinatown" had its share of laundries, restaurants and small shops. But it was during the 1950s, when the construction of the New City Hall was announced, that the community moved north to the current neighbourhood. By then, the Chinese population had increased substancially, and so the new Dundas and Spadina area quickly blossomed into a commercial centre. Today's Chinatown includes not only food shops, clothing boutiques, houseware stores and restaurants but numerous Chinese-owned import and export firms, electronics companies and banks.

Still, one of the main reasons people from all parts of Toronto come to Chinatown is for the food. The restaurants, though not big on decor, are great on fare. The "North American" Chinese menu is almost non-existent here, as chefs offer a variety of authentic cuisines from the various provinces of China, including Szechwan, Hunansese, Mandarin, and Cantonese. They also enjoy the luxury of being able to buy fresh ingredients from the grocers and year-round open air market found right at their doorsteps.

Indeed, the market itself is an attraction: row upon row of green leafy vegetables and exotic fruits; large wooden barrels and baskets filled with live crabs, straw mushrooms, dried shrimp, salted fish, or "thousand year-old eggs"... And inside the food stores, tanks are filled with jellyfish and carp, while butcher shops and restaurants hang glazed ducks, or chicken in their windows, (more often with the head still on.) And right next door, pastry shops sell savory buns filled with meat and vegetables flavored with BBQ or curry sauces.

Chinatown is also a great place to shop, for everything from inexpensive embroidered slippers, porcelain dishes and hand carved crafts, to pricey items such as silk dresses and jewellery. And a dozen or so apothecary shops bring more people to the area, with their large glass jars filled with bizarre and familiar ingredients of dried roots and the like, used to prepare a tonic for whatever ails you.

Places of Interest and Special Events

Ten Ren's Tea Shop:Tea lovers will become enchanted as this store offers an unsurpassed selection of teas, and hundreds of beautifully handcrafted imported tea pots. One of teas offered is called "monkey pick" because the tea is grown on cliffs so inaccessible, that only trained monkeys can harvest it! (454 Dundas Street West)

The Chinese New Year Dragon Dance Parade: This parade winds through Chinatown to celebrate the Chinese New Year (held at the end of January or begining of February). Colourful dragons, over 20 feet long and supported by 10 or more people, dance around the neighbourhood to bless all of the shops and restaurants. The dragons are accompanied by drummers, whose constant beat drives away evil spirits.

Interesting Facts and Trivia

• Many of the food shops in the area sell what a Chinese delicacy called 1,000 year-old eggs! These eggs, actually only two to three months old, are preserved in a coating of straw, salt, coriander, and ashes. The whites turn a deep amber colour, the yolk green, and they are eaten whole as appetizers or may be sliced to use in other dishes.
• Many of the stores in Chinatown keep an "altar to the Chinese General." These red and gold shrines with burning incense are used to keep on eye on the establishment, making sure evil spirits do not come in, and protects people from such things as slipping or falling on the floor.
• Toronto has three Chinese-language daily newspapers.
• The Toronto area actually has 5 Chinatowns. As the Dundas and Spadina neighbourhood grew, real estate prices went up and new immigrants looked for a less expensive area to live in. Many chose the area surrounding Broadview and Gerrard in Toronto's east end, and by the 1970s it became a second centre for the growing Chinese population. During the 1970s and 1980s, the community began looking towards the Toronto suburb of Scarborough and the nearby towns of Mississauga and Richmond Hill.

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