CHINATOWN 多倫多的首個唐人街 The first Chinese resident recorded in Toronto was Sam Ching, the owner of a hand laundry business on Adelaide Street in 1878. Though immigration to Canada directly from China was restricted after 1885, Ching was eventually joined by Chinese men who migrated from western Canada after helping to build the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway. Between 1900 and 1925, Toronto's first Chinese community took shape here, around Elizabeth Street which once ran all the way south to Queen Street. Chinatown' was a bustling commercial and residential area that included restaurants, grocery stores, and traditional clan associations. 根據記載,多倫多的第一個華裔 居民是“Sam Ching”。一八七 八年,他在 Adelaide 街經營洗衣 店。一八八五年後,雖然加拿大政 府限制華人從中國直接移居加國, 但參與興建橫跨加拿大太平洋鐵路 的華人在鐵路完成後,從加拿大 西部移居多倫多,最終與“Som Ching”一同居於此地。在一九零零年至一九二五年之間, 多倫多的第一個華人社區在伊麗莎 白街一帶建立起來。伊麗莎白街一 度向南伸延至皇后街。當時的“唐 人街”是一個熙來攘往的商業和住 宅,餐館、雜貨店和宗親會比比 皆是。 This first Chinatown thrived until the late 1940s, when the City of Toronto began its controversial expropriation of much of the neighbourhood to make room for a new city hall and the future Nathan Phillips Square. Demolition finally took place in 1955. Some Chinese businesses could not afford to re-locate, and closed. Others packed up and moved west along Dundas Street to Spadina Avenue where they became the heart of today's Old Chinatown 第一個唐人街持續繁榮興旺,直到一 九四零年代末期。為了興建新市政大 樓和未來的彌敦菲臘廣場,多倫多 政府展開了具爭議性的行動,大幅度 徵用該區的土地。拆卸工程最終在一 九五五年進行。部分華人商戶因無法 遷往其他地方經營而結業,其他 則收拾一切,沿登打士街及士巴丹拿 大道向西遷移,該處成為今天“舊唐 人街”的中心地帶。
