Vancouver Chinatown's new Chinese Canadian Museum to open in July

Vancouver Chinatown's new Chinese Canadian Museum to open this summer

Rooftop of the former Rennie Museum and offices at 51 East Pender Street In Vancouver's Chinatown, the future home of the Chinese Canadian Museum. (Office of Mcfarlane Biggar Architects and Designers)

The organization behind the future Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown district has announced the permanent home for the attraction is set to open on July 1, 2023 — on Canada Day.

Ahead of the attraction’s opening this summer, the museum’s not-for-profit society announced today it has received $3.8 million in new donations towards its opening and operations.

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This includes $2.8 million from Vivienne Poy, a community activist and former Canadian senator, through the Lee Tak Wai Foundation.

Another $1 million is from the David and Dorothy Lam Foundation, which is the family foundation of the late David Lam, a former BC lieutenant governor. He was the first Chinese Canadian lieutenant governor and the country’s second non-white lieutenant governor.

“The significance of these major gifts from two prominent and respected Canadian nation-building families of Chinese heritage is not lost on us,” said Chinese Canadian Museum chair Grace Wong, who also provided a private donation of $1.1 million last fall.

“These gifts from families in Ontario and BC reinforce the national scope and impact embodied by the new Chinese Canadian Museum.”

51 east pender vancouver chinese canadian museum rennie

Site of the former Rennie Museum and offices at 51 East Pender Street In Vancouver’s Chinatown, the future home of the Chinese Canadian Museum. (Office of Mcfarlane Biggar Architects and Designers)

Inside the former Rennie Museum and offices at 51 East Pender Street In Vancouver’s Chinatown, the future home of the Chinese Canadian Museum. (Office of Mcfarlane Biggar Architects and Designers)

The museum will take over the Wing Sang Building at 51 East Pender Street — just across from the Chinese Cultural Centre and Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden, all within the core of Chinatown’s cultural and retail node.

The Wing Sang Building, which dates back more than a century, underwent significant renovations and restorations in the 2000s for both the headquarters office of Rennie and the home of Bob Rennie’s private art collection, the Rennie Museum.

The structures that form the building span a total floor area of about 27,000 sq ft, with 7,000 sq ft used by Rennie’s offices and 20,000 sq ft for the private museum.

In February 2022, the provincial government announced a further $27.5 million contribution to the Chinese Canadian Museum to support the next stage of planning and the acquisition of the building from Rennie.

Upon opening this summer, the Chinese Canadian Museum will feature a national exhibition called “The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act,” marking the centennial of the start of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923.

Last month, the federal government announced $1.8 million in funding to improve Chinatown’s existing attractions of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Gardens and the Chinese Cultural Centre — towards upgrades such as new lighting and signage — and to provide a funding boost to the 2023 Light Up Chinatown Festival in September.

These various investments in attractions, including the new museum, are all part of the strategy to help revitalize the struggling district.

Inside the former Rennie Museum and offices at 51 East Pender Street In Vancouver’s Chinatown, the future home of the Chinese Canadian Museum. (Office of Mcfarlane Biggar Architects and Designers)

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