Chu, Irene
Over 130 interviews with Chinese Canadian women were conducted for the book Jin Guo: Voices of Chinese Canadian Women. Produced in 1992 by the Women’s Book Committee of the Chinese Canadian National Council, Jin Guo was intended to fill the gap in historical accounts of Chinese Canadian women’s history. Researchers traveled across Canada to interview Chinese Canadian women of various ages and backgrounds. The book’s authors, Amy Go, Winnie Ng, Dora Nipp, Julia Tao, Terry Woo and May Yee, organized the book around themes and patterns that emerged across multiple interviews – feelings of isolation and culture shock upon arrival in Canada, memories of parent-child relationships, the importance of education, the working lives of women, discrimination, cultural identity, marriage and dating, family life, perspectives on aging and retirement, and examples community activism. The interviews conducted for this project are stored at the Multicultural History Society of Ontario’s archives. This collections database includes a large cross-section of interviews conducted for Jin Guo – in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
In this interview, Irene Chu describes her cosmopolitan upbringing in Shanghai and Hong Kong, her time as a student at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and her later involvement in the Chinese community in Toronto, Ontario.
In 1938, Irene was born in Shanghai to progressive, upper-middle-class parents. Because of her parents, Irene was exposed to many non-Chinese influences as a child. She relates a vivid memory of her father’s Jewish business associates visiting her family home in wartime to secretly listen to the Allies’ news broadcasts on her father’s short-wave radio.
Irene’s parents moved to Hong Kong in 1949 before the Communists took over Shanghai. Irene spent three years living under the Communist regime before joining her parents. During those years, she was forbidden to study English. After moving to Hong Kong, Irene attended Hong Kong University and obtained an Honours BA in English literature. Irene immigrated to Canada in 1963. She discusses the gender-based citizenship application policies of the time, noting that she was not allowed to apply for landed immigrant status until her husband had also done so.
In 1979, Irene organized the “Living and Growing in Canada” conference for the Council of Chinese Canadians in Ontario. After this experience, she spearheaded fundraising efforts for the University of Toronto’s Chinese Canadian Studies fellowship program.
Irene discusses her strong beliefs on the importance of family. When her children were born, Irene became a self-described housewife. She describes the discrimination that housewives face, and recommends that they receive more financial and social support. She also emphasizes how important it is for housewives to remain busy, and outlines her attempts to stay mentally active by learning how to oil paint and play the pipe organ. Irene emphasizes the importance of moving outside of one’s own particular community and participating in all aspects of Canadian society.
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