King, Victoria
Victoria King was born in 1930 in Victoria, British Columbia. Her mother came to Canada in 1912 to join her husband, bringing with her two female servants (mui tsai), who later went to an orphanage. Victoria recalls that her mother’s feet were bound and that she never left the house by herself. One of nine children, Victoria was expected to help her siblings with household chores such as chopping kindling, lighting the stove and doing the washing. She attended elementary and secondary school, and though she was a top student, she looked forward to leaving school after Grade 10 to work and earn money. Over the years, Victoria has held many jobs: as a worker at a Dad’s cookie factory, an order clerk at the Hudson’s Bay Company, a flight attendant for Canadian Pacific Airlines and a hostess at the Rickshaw restaurant. An enterprising spirit led her to the real estate field and the buying and management of properties. While she was raising her family in the 1960s, she began running successful restaurants just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia in the towns of Whally and Langley. When she wanted to open a restaurant in Langley, some of the neighbours didn’t want a Chinese-owned business on the main strip. In response to racial prejudice, Victoria responds: ‘I’m born in Canada….I pay my taxes. I have just as much right as them.’ At the time of the interview, she continued to reside in the Vancouver area.
In this interview, Victoria King begins by discussing her mother’s life in Victoria, British Columbia. She says her mother had bound feet and required help from her nine children to complete everyday tasks. Victoria describes her school experiences and her desire to leave school and begin working. She explains how she got into the café business and how she learned to cook Caucasian food by observing other cooks. She recounts her work opportunities over the years, and how her ability to speak Chinese helped her land a job as a flight attendant for Canadian Pacific. She also talks about life in Vancouver as a young Chinese Canadian woman, touching on her social life and how she met
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