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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Fan Tan Alley

Victoria's Chinatown has many echoes of the past. It contains within its small boundaries hidden inner areas behind the store fronts that face the streets. When this part of Victoria was being built in the nineteenth century the Chinese minority were still discriminated against. Like such minorities in other parts of the world, when they were mixing with the majority they had to behave in certain ways to avoid trouble. In the inner parts of Chinatown, however, they could, "...follow their customs, speak their dialects, and find pleasure, comfort, and companionship." These hidden inner areas, sometimes called Victoria's "Forbidden City," can now be freely accessed by anyone willing to venture down the two narrow alleys that lead within. The photo above is one of these alleys, called Fan Tan Alley. Fan Tan was a gambling game popular amongst Chinese immigrants and there were places where it could be played along this alley.


The quote above comes from "The Forbidden City within Victoria," by David Chuenyan Lai. There is an interesting brief history of Victoria's Chinatown on the BC Archives website.

5 comments:

TheChieftess said...

Great photo!!! Love the colors!!! And what a fascinating history...

Kcalpesh said...

Great way to compose a picture of this place! I love the perspective and colors!

- Pixellicious Photos

Sharon said...

Great photo. I almost feel like I'm trapped between the two walls.

ms toast burner said...

Great photo but I'm more impressed that you snapped a photo of Fan Tan Alley without a soul about! ;-)

BumbleVee said...

you almost need somebody standing there with outstretched arms to show how narrow it is...