About

who we are

Youth Collaborative for Chinatown - 青心在唐人街 - practices, shares and celebrates the living culture and heritage of Vancouver’s Chinatown. Our experiential programs connecting place and people across generations have been recognized with 2020 BC Heritage Awards. An annual “Hot+Noisy” Chinatown Mahjong Social activates public space through mahjong and cultural games play among young and old; our Cantonese Saturday School teaches the heritage language using the neighbourhood's historical streets and spaces as classroom. Our grassroots volunteer group incorporated in 2019 as Vancouver Chinatown Generations Society.

origins

Youth Collaborative for Chinatown was founded in May 2015 by June Chow, Doris Chow, Kathryn Lennon, and Claudia Li and Nicole So c/o Hua Foundation. We began with a focus on public realm activation and building opportunities for intergenerational and intercultural “hot+noisy” activity in the Chinatown neighbourhood. Over Summer 2015, we spent one evening a month playing mahjong outdoors in the Chinatown Memorial Plaza (Keefer Triangle), trying to fill the void of the Chinatown Night Market and to do something positive and proactive amidst the doom and gloom. We've continued the momentum of the Chinatown Mahjong Social towards growing a critical mass of young and old who care about the neighbourhood and its future.