Entrance to the Kamloops Chinese Cemetery (1)
Introduction
The Kamloops Chinese cemetery is located right outside downtown on Lombard Street. It is on a large grassland property that allows for gorgeous views of not only the Thompson River but also Mount Paul. The cemetery itself contains both unmarked and marked graves of Chinese people who lived and worked in Kamloops, and it is also filled with different types of monuments that are for the purpose of Chinese death rituals.
Entrance to the Kamloops Chinese Cemetery (2)
History
The Kamloops Chinese Cemetery was originally built for those Chinese immigrants that ventured to Kamloops in order to aid with the creation of the Yale-Kamloops line for the Pacific Railway. The cemetery was originally built in the 1880s and its purpose was to allow for the Chinese people in Kamloops to have someplace to bury the deceased since Chinese people were not allowed to be buried in the Pioneer Cemetery. More than 17 thousand Chinese workers were brought into Kamloops to build this line, and many settled in Kamloops during and after the building of the line. Many Chinese people flooded Canada to many of the gold rush sites, and then once the production of the railway began, it provided many of these people with jobs. Originally the cemetery was set up as a temporary burial place because they were banned from burying the deceased in the Pioneer Cemetery. The Hudson’s Bay Company allowed the Chinese workers to choose a burial site somewhere on the south side of Kamloops. Many of these graves are unmarked since they were not allowed to mark them until after the Chinese Exclusion Act (1923). You can see this in the cemetery as there are many marked and unmarked graves, and anything dated before 1927 will be those that are unmarked. The cemetery was technically closed in 1979, but in recent years many Chinese people in Kamloops have been aiding with the restoration of this cemetery because of the value it holds. Due to Chinese death rituals, many temporary burial grounds were built in many communities in order to allow for the practices of these rituals. The Kamloops Chinese Cemetery holds proof of many of these practices, one of those practices being the tenets of Fengshui, which is why the cemetery is aligned on a north-south axis on a sloped site. This cemetery is meant to show the transition of the Kamloops Chinese community from temporary to permanent. With the help of the City of Kamloops and the Kamloops Chinese Cemetery Heritage Society, this cemetery has been kept maintained in order to keep it a staple in the Chinese community because it is a place of worship.
Plaques explaining who is buried here, the history of the cemetery, and history of the Kamloops Chinese community.
Apology from the British Columbia government surrounding the treatment of Chinese Canadians.
View of the Chinese Cemetery in winter.
Why should you visit?
There are multiple reasons why this historic place should be visited Starting with the fact that this cemetery is believed to be the only fully Chinese run cemetery in not only all of B.C but all of Canada. Along with this, when it was closed in 1970, the city came and attempted to clean it up, but they were unaware that there were grave markers. The city believed there were just stakes put in the ground because the carving was so faded and it was in Chinese so they didn’t know what they were cleaning up. With the help of the Chinese Freemason Association, they restored most of the cemetery and now there are plaques with names, ages, and the jobs the deceased Chinese people had. Because of how important the railway is to Canada itself, and that the Chinese people specifically in Kamloops had such a big impact, it is important to continue paying respects, and understanding the history of this city. It is a very interesting historic site to begin with because of how many rituals the Chinese had surrounding death, but it is that much more interesting because of the history behind it. One thing that you can relate this to is the idea of being a settler on these lands. Kamloops itself is located on the traditional territory of the Tk‘emlúpsemc te Secwe̓pemc people, and many of us are here on their land visiting. Because of this strong connection and in recent years many more people being aware of the fact we are on this land that isn’t ours, and it is important to pay respects to anyone or anything that was here before us. The Chinese Cemetery is a perfect example of this because it holds so much rich history tied to the Chinese, the Chinese community of Kamloops, and the Pacific Railway. The cemetery itself has boards put up with lots of extended information about the cemetery and the history behind it. It is an absolute pleasure to visit this historic site and learn even more about the impact the Chinese people had on Kamloops with their support in the creation of the railway, and the creation of Kamloops itself becoming a prosperous city.
Names, ages, and occupations of those buried in the Chinese Cemetery.
Monuments for Chinese death rituals. As you can see, these rituals still happen today.
