Nellie Yip Quong House

"She embraced the entire Chinese community and it became her family.... Like all champions - she was fearless and not afraid to speak out on behalf of her community. She used her ability of language to bridge the two cultures and make her community's voice heard where it needed so much to be heard." - Jim Wong-Chu.

Plaque

Nellie Towers of Saint John, NB met Charlie Yip Quong while teaching in New York. Married in 1900, the couple moved into the Yip Sang family compound in Chinatown in 1904. A feminist and social activist, “Granny” spoke five Chinese dialects and became a bold and outspoken advocate for her adopted community. In 1917, Charlie and Nellie moved to 783 East Pender Street, and it was here that Nellie served as a trusted and well respected midwife to some 500 Chinese Canadian women.

In honour of Nellie and Charlie Yip

葉光屋 Nellie Yip Quong House

出生於紐賓士域省聖約翰市的汝利桃在紐約任教時結識
葉光。二人於1900年結婚,後於1904年搬入位於溫哥華唐人街的葉生家族大樓。身為提倡女權主義及社會運動的
「奶奶 」能說五種中國方言,並成為華裔社區內直言無畏的倡導者。葉光和汝利桃於1917年遷往片打東街783號,在這處 「奶奶 」 服務了500多名華裔婦女,成為當時
社區內一名備受信任和尊重的助產士。

謹此紀念 Charlie & Nellie 葉光家族

History

Nellie Yip Quong (bio from Parks Canada)
Nellie Yip Quong, a Caucasian woman who mastered five Chinese dialects, achieved acceptance, respect, and admiration within the Chinese community through her long years of community service. She served as a trusted midwife for some 500 Chinese Canadian women, and in so doing, she represents the thousands of midwives working in similar communities across Canada where access to maternity care was constrained by prejudice or poverty. Known as “Granny Yip”, she provided health and social services to immigrant Chinese women and their families in their own language, played the respected role of adoption broker and foster mother within the Chinese Canadian community, provided Chinese immigrants, especially women, with translation services, and campaigned against injustices, particularly in health care. As a bold and outspoken advocate for her adopted community, she served as an intermediary between the Euro-Canadian and Chinese Canadian societies, achieving renown in Vancouver’s Chinatown – home for about 30 percent of Canada’s Chinese population by the 1930s.

Marriage to Charles Yip Quong
Born Nellie Towers in Saint John, New Brunswick, Nellie was teaching English in New York City when she met Vancouver jeweller Charles Yip Quong, and married him in 1900. He was then a widower with a seven-year-old son. Nellie and Charles Yip Quong had an early, rare, and unusually successful interracial marriage. However, it was at the cost of losing touch with her family and the Roman Catholic Church in which she was raised. Neither would recognize her marriage.

Settling in Vancouver’s Chinatown
Settling permanently in Vancouver’s Chinatown in about 1904, Nellie Yip Quong worked during a difficult period for the Chinese, when both racial intolerance and immigration restrictions severely constrained family life. Most working Chinese sojourners in Canada could not afford to bring their wives and/or children to Canada. Despite this, there was a small population of women consisting of respected merchants’ wives as well as the more vulnerable servants, waitresses, and prostitutes. In a community where women and working-class Chinese were not encouraged to learn English, Nellie Yip Quong took on the respected role of interpreter, becoming an outspoken and fearless advocate on behalf of the Chinese, particularly Chinese women.

A bridge between the Chinese and the larger Canadian community
Nellie Yip Quong became something of a legend in her community not only for her midwifery, but her piercing wit and amazing language skills. Indeed, she was able to provide a bridge between the Chinese and the larger Canadian community. She worked with court interpreter Won Alexander Cumyow in helping immigrants to deal with Canadian authorities; campaigned to have the Vancouver General Hospital end its practice of confining Chinese (and other ethnic minority) patients to its basement; and advocated for workers before such bodies as the Workers Compensation Board. She was active in the Anglican Good Shepherd Mission, the United Church in Chinatown, the Chinese Benevolent Association and Chinese Empire Ladies Reform Association. During years of racial hostility directed against the residents of Chinatown and at a time when few professional health care or social service resources were available to them, Nellie Yip Quong provided needed services, especially for Chinese-Canadian women.

Nellie Yip Quong’s House
After living for 17 years at the Wing Sang & Co building at 51 Pender Street, Nellie and her husband moved to 783 Pender Street in 1917. The house, built by an English carpenter in 1908, was also the early home to Ross and Nora Hendrix, the grandparents of musician Jimi Hendrix (see Hogan’s Alley). They immigrated to Canada from Tennessee in 1911, and this house was likely their first home in Canada. On May 25, 2013, the current owners at 783 E Pender St hosted our PTM plaque presentation where family, community members and the public were able to celebrate the life of this remarkable woman. A short film was also created to mark the occasion by UBC’s Chinese Canadian Stories students (See below).

Sources

Nearby Places That Matter

Media & Photos

2 plaques installed in front of 783 E Pender St

1 plaque is in English and 1 plaque is in Chinese

Coordinates

49.2801589,-123.0876827

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