Lee, Albert
Albert Lee is a Halifax-based photographer and creater of the photo exhibit Growing Up Chinese in Halifax (Nova Scotia Museum, 1997). His father Shew (Chuck) Lee was the first Chinese boy to grow up in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In the late 1920s, 18 year-old Chuck was sent to China to marry his 14 year-old betrothed, Sui Fa Kung. During the Exclusion Period (1923-1947), Sui Fa Kung lived in China apart from her husband, raising their two children (one of whom passed away) and looking after the family’s farm through periods of famine and political turmoil. In 1949, after The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 had been repealed, Chuck traveled by boxcar to Vancouver, British Columbia to meet his newly-arrived wife and 14 year-old daughter. Albert describes this as the happiest time of his father’s life because the family was finally together. The Lees had three more children in Halifax, including Albert. Albert recalls that their household was a hub of activity in the small, tight-knit Chinese community.
In this interview, Albert Lee describes his family’s history in relation to The Chinese Immigration Act , 1923 and memories of the Chinese community in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Albert explains that his father Chuck Lee was born in China in 1907, and came to Canada to be educated, studying engineering at Dalhousie University, Halifax, in the 1930s. Chuck entered into an arranged marriage with Sui Fa Kung while on a visit to China during the Exclusion Period (1923-1947). Their first child, Nancy, was born in China. Sui Fa Kung and Nancy were reunited with Chuck in Canada in 1949, and the couple had three sons in quick succession, including Albert.
Albert laments the difficulties that
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