Chinese Culture
Building the CP rail
The CP rail
The British Government wanted to build a railway from one side of the country to the other.To do this they had to build a railway that went through the mountains.To build this railway they would need a lot of workers. about 17,000 Chinese men came to Canada to work for the CP rail (Canadian Pacific Railway). These Chinese men got 1$ a day even though they had the hardest most dangerous job. The people that did not come from china (the “white” men) got paid more money about 1.50 - 2.50 $ a day and they didn't even have to do as hard as a job as the Chinese men did. When the railway was done The british government thought that there was to many Chinese people so they made a head tax. Because the Chinese men could not get enough money to bring their family over to Canada many families were separated. Because the railway was done many Chinese men struggled to get a job. Some Chinese people never got to see there family's again after the head tax was made.When the chinese worked for the Cp rail they slept in camps or boxcars. These men had to move there camps further down the railway every once and a while. These men cooked there food over open fires and mainly ate rice and dried salmon washed with tea. They could not afford fruits or vegetables so many died of scurvy. In the winter time the only thing keeping them warm where the fires.
Head tax
The Chinese immigrants that came to Canada came for better lives because of overpopulation and unsanitary work areas where they lived. so they decided to come to Canada to work for the Cp rail, but after the Cp rail was built the british government wanted less Chinese people coming to Canada so they made a Chinese head tax which was 50$ per Chinese immigrant. That did not stop the Chinese from coming to Canada so they raised the head tax to 100$ then later on 500$.
Chinese Medicine
Chinese people have very different types of medicine than we have. Such as the tall gastrodia tuber which helps sooth your liver.
Some other medicines are: Mulberry leaf, Fleece flower root, honeysuckle flower and many more.
Chinese superstition
The Chinese people consider some numbers as lucky or unlucky.
Such as the number 2, 2 is considered a lucky number because there is a Chinese saying that says “ good things come in pairs. The number 7 is considered unlucky because it is ghostly. The 7th month on the Chinese calendar is called the ghost month.Traditions/beliefs
Traditional Chinese buildings have 2 lions at the front to protect the building.There is two lions at the front one mother and one father.
The Moon Palace, also called Guanghan Palace, is a Palace on the moon. Legend says the goddess of the moon lives there and Chang’e, the Jade Rabbit and the woodcutter Wu Gang lives there too.
Traditional Clothing
Traditional food
Sports
Chinese Zodiac
long ago the Chinese emporer deiced to make a race with the animals so the cat and the rat heard the news and were excited about the next day. cat asked rat if he could wake him up for the race and the rat kindly said yes. In the morning rat was so ecxited he forgot about cat and left for the race. juring the race rat could not cross the river so ox helped him but when ox and rat where getting out of the river rat ran ahead and won the race. that meant he would be the first animal in the chinese zodiac leaving ox second. By the time cat woke up the race was over
the chinese zodiac is a 12 year cycle that assigns each animal to a year this was based off of the 12 year cycle of jupiter.