Master Toa Wong (黃滔) is an honored and respected Cantonese opera master who passed away on June 30th this year at the age of 101.

In the past years, Master Wong donated more than 600 items of books and recordings to the Asian Library. He also helped build and document the collection of Cantonese Opera costumes in UBC’s Museum of Anthropology (MOA). On January 17, 2008, Asian Library, UBC St. John’s College, MOA, Office of AVP International Community Partners, as well as Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC, C.A.R.E. Housing Society and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. hosted the “Honouring Master Wong Toa” event (梨園拾趣: 表揚粵劇大師黃滔) as part of the UBC Centennial Program.

This exhibit includes Master Wong’s donations to the Asian Library, which contains Cantonese opera recording cassette tapes, Cantonese opera learning materials, and scores of Cantonese opera music.  Most of them are Master Wong’s private collections and some are his own works.

The display is dedicated to record and honor Master Wong’s remarkable contribution to the Cantonese opera in British Columbia.  Come and visit the display at the Asian Centre foyer until November 20, 2015.

See also: Display Honouring Master Toa Wong 梨園樂韻在卑詩 (2008)

UBC Asian Library’s Summer Book Display
The Education of the Women as Citizens of “Modern Japan”

Date: July 6 – August 21, 2015
Hours: 9am – 5pm (Mon-Fri)
Location: Asian Centre Foyer

What changes can we observe regarding women’s everyday life, social status and career options during the fast-changing Meiji and Taishō Japan? Did “modernization” in fact mean the same thing, or similar or different, to both women and men? What did the new nation-state expect of its women, and how did they respond?

Our exhibit features select items from the Asian Library collections that help us glean how women at every stage of life were shaped to become part of the modern nation-state, and the social dynamics in accepting, or reacting to, that expectation. Some women were out in front and became pioneers in learning new things from the Western Powers and educating future generations. Some obediently followed the track laid out by the new nation-state toward becoming “good wife, wise mother” (良妻賢母, ryōsai kenbo), a slogan adopted from Victorian England. Some of course were more revolutionary—taking advantage of these new societal changes or refused to accept the ascribed gender role—and went their own ways.

Featured in the display include reports and photographs of schools, women’s magazines, satirical cartoons and advertisements reflecting new views on women. The exhibit also provides an opportunity to explore how the rhetoric of “modern women” evolved with the emerging imperialism and colonialism, and later picked up by colonized countries around Japan.

Please contact either Japanese Library Support at japanese.library.support@ubc.ca or phone the Asian Library Circulation Desk at (604) 822-2427 with any questions or thoughts. We are looking forward to your visit!

Click here for the exhibit brochure to find out more resources.

TK Ng and Asian Library, 1987 (UBC Archives 44.1/2774]

It is with sadness to announce that Ms. Tung King Ng (伍冬瓊), the first Head of the Asian Library, passed away on June 11 at age 92.

Ms. Ng graduated from the Chinese Department, University of Hong Kong on a scholarship with a stellar academic record and pursued library science studies in England. Upon graduating, she returned to Hong Kong where she worked as the Librarian of the Fung Ping Shan Library (馮平山圖書館) at her alma mater. In 1958, she received a Rockefeller Scholarship to the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. and UC Berkeley. She also visited major East Asian libraries in North America, including Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale in the same year.

Ms. Ng joined UBC Library as the Head of the new Asian studies division in December 1960, a year after the acquisition of 45,000 volumes of Puban Collections (蒲坂藏書). For the next 27 years, she provided outstanding leadership and mentorship to Asian Library staff, in particular the first Chinese and Japanese reference librarians, Mr. Yim Tse (謝琰) and Mr. Tsuneharu Gonnami (権並恒治). Working together, they developed the largest Eastern Asian collection at an academic library in Canada.

TK Ng with dictionary from the Pu-Pan collection, 1962 (UBC Archives 1.1/1143)

“She was a smart, diligent and strong leader and a pleasant person,” Mr. Gonnami fondly recalls. “Everyone was happy to work with her.” Mr. Tse adds, “Ms. Ng is not only my boss, but a mentor throughout my library profession. She guides my way from a student assistant to a library assistant to a librarian.”

During her career at UBC, Ms. Ng was also a great friend of students opening her home to provide reasonable accommodation to students from Hong Kong.  Many of those students became life-long friends.  Ms. Ng was a devout Christian participating in many activities in her Anglican church including singing in the choir and assisting with administrative work.

A funeral service for Ms. Ng was held in Vancouver at the Anglican Network Church of the Good Shepherd on Friday, June 20^th, 2014 followed by internment at Ocean View Burial Park.

In memory of Ms. Tung King Ng, Asian Library is setting up a display showing her pictures and publications. The display will be on between July 2 and 21, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Asian Centre foyer.

In June 1914, Suey Sun Fong (胥山房) issued a receipt to Wu Yichou, who paid two dollars in membership enrollment fee. This receipt stub attests the existence of Wu (伍) clan association in Vancouver for over a hundred years.

Wu (or Ing, Eng, Ng) pioneers set foot in Canada as early as 1886. The largest number of them was from the Taishan County (台山縣) and Zhongshan County (中山縣) of Guangdong, China. Because of the language barriers and to cope with the difficulties caused by racial discrimination, they stayed together and supported one another. In 1920, they set up a shareholders group (百子會) to raise money from the clansmen to acquire a property at 389 East Hastings Street, which has become their living quarters, a meeting place and a contact point with families back home for the years after.

To celebrate the centennial of the association, Ing Suey Sun Tong Association of Vancouver (溫哥華伍胥山公所) will host an exhibition of Historical Artifacts of Overseas Chinese & Historical Figures of the Ing Clan (伍氏宗族華僑歷史文物和名人事跡展覽). Sponsored by the UBC Asian Library and the Chinese Stamp and Numismatic Society of Canada, the exhibition comprises two parts. The first part displays over hundred historic artifacts and documents including early records of shareholders and residents, charity donation receipts, photographs, furniture, and even a contract for the selling of a son (送子帖). The second part features the biographies of nine distinguished figures of the Wu clan.

Date: June 14 to July 14, 2014 (closed Mondays and holidays)
Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Venue: Chinese Cultural Centre Museum (555 Columbia Street, Vancouver)
Free admission on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
Admission on Wednesdays and Thursdays ($3/adult, $2/senior or student)

At the same time, Pacific Canada Heritage Centre – Museum of Migration (PCHC-MoM) Society is calling for volunteers to act as the “Cultural Ambassadors”, who will guide visitors at the exhibition and provide the basic information relating to the history and experience of Chinese pioneers in Vancouver. Click here for more information.