The Chinese had sought riches in California and now they would try their luck in British Columbia. "Gold Mountain" (or gum shan in Cantonese) did make some Chinese wealthy and they returned to their homeland "in silken robes." Many, however, worked hard, but never did strike it rich. Victoria's Chinatown was established in 1858 and is the oldest in Canada.

Victoria was the supply center for the gold rush and grew to become British Columbia's largest city before the birth of Vancouver in the 1880s. Victoria's Chinatown was the home base for thousands of Chinese. Some established their own stores, restaurants, laundries and farms. In the city some worked as gardeners, servants and cooks in the homes of non-Chinese. Outside the city many worked for others in the gold fields, coal mines, logging camps and fish canneries. During the 1880s thousands helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway. For many years Victoria had the largest Chinese population in Canada. Today its Chinese population is small in comparison to other cities, but Victoria will always have the distinction of being home to Canada's oldest Chinatown.
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Ever since Charles Dickens described an opium den in London's East End in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) many people have seen Chinatowns as places of mystery and vice. Victoria had its share of opium dens and opium factories, until the drug was outlawed in Canada in 1908. The locations of many of them will be included in Chinatown Walks.

Where are the secret tunnels? is a question often asked on the tours. To the surprise of many, they don't really exist, and never have--at least not in Victoria. There were plenty of trapdoors and back passages, especially from the gambling dens, but no tunnels.

Tong wars made San Francisco's Chinatown notorious in the late 1800s. Most tongs were actually legitimate organizations which provided entertainment and social services to the many single men in Chinatown. The violence perpetrated by hatchet men gave tongs a bad name generally, and some of this did spill over to Victoria. Chinatown Walks will discuss both the good and bad aspects of the tongs and point to many of the tong buildings which still serve their original purposes.

Fan Tan Alley is undoubtedly the most famous place in Chinatown, if not in all of Victoria. It was named after a popular gambling game played widely during the 1800s. Many former gambling dens still exist in Fan Tan Alley. A demonstration of how to play fan tan is often included in Chinatown Walks.

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