‘Fight for a country that had discriminated them’: Markham community centre screening Unwanted Soldiers

TECIF continues to host series events to commemorate Chinese Exclusion Act

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 21, 2023
Scarlett Liu

Tribute to Early Chinese Immigrants Foundation continues to host a series of events for the Centenary of the Chinese Immigration Act in Canada.

Residents are invited to participate in a unique cultural event that pays tribute to early Chinese immigrants to Canada at the Cornell Community Centre in Markham on Aug. 20.

"We'd like to unite everyone in making Canada a great country for the next generation," says Nancy Siew, board member of the foundation. Also through the event, Siew hopes to introduce an art studio to the community and showcase the work of calligrapher and artist Jenz Shifu.

Shifu is a Chinese-Canadian artist who has created a distinctive non-representational art form called “Iconography,” also known as Yixiang Hua, where Chinese ink art, modern painting, and micro-engraving collages are all constituting parts of his artistic creation.

As part of the “Artistic Wave” or avant-garde of the mid-80s in China, his calligraphy pieces were collected by art galleries in China as well as around the world.

The photo exhibition will be followed by a free screening of "The Unwanted Soldiers," a film about Chinese veterans of the Second World War.

The 1999 made-for-TV documentary film was written, directed and narrated by Jari Osborne, who won the Canada Award at the 2000 Gemini Awards.

The film documents the history when Osborne's father and his compatriots were discriminated against in British Columbia. During the Second World War, these Chinese veterans were trained for clandestine missions behind enemy lines in Southeast Asia, fighting for a country that had discriminated against them.

York Region, especially Markham, has a high percentage of Asian immigrants whose past experience has not always been positive, Siew shares. She wishes to encourage them through the example of adversity experienced by the Lo Wah Kiu (old Chinese immigrants) who later succeeded.

For more information, visit tributeeci.org.