"Of all the immigrant groups seeking a new life in this country, only the Chinese had to pay a head tax--a fee for permission to settle in Canada." -- Anthony Chan.

Born and raised in Victoria, Chan holds a Ph.D. in modern Chinese history from York University and a Diploma in Chinese from the Peking Language Institute. He has worked as Director of the Canadian Studies Centre at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has also worked as a television journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and is an independent documentary filmmaker. His books include Arming the Chinese: The Western Armaments Trade in Warlord China, 1920-1928 (UBC Press, 1982) and Gold Mountain: The Chinese in the New World (New Star, 1983). The former contains information on 'gun-smuggling' from Canada to China from Victoria and Vancouver. The latter emerged as a history beyond "fortune cookie cliches and popular indifference" after Chan moved to Peking in 1974 and realized he was perceived as an outsider there, too. Chan's grandfather, Chan Dun, settled in Victoria in 1887.

[BCBW 2003] "Chinese"

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Gold Mountain: The Chinese in the New World