Montréal Chinois Photography Exhibit at the Chinese Canadian Museum
Last call for this photography-based exhibition at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver! On view until May 10, 2026, Montréal Chinois: The Lost Decades features the work of five self-taught photographers who captured friendship, swagger, and everyday flair — revealing a world where Chinese Canadians shaped the city’s sense of style and cool.
Montréal Chinois: The Lost Decades at the Chinese Canadian Museum
- Dates: Wednesday to Sunday (and statutory Mondays) 10:00am to 5:00pm
- Location: 51 E Pender St, Vancouver
- Tickets: Available online or in person
Set against the Quiet Revolution and Beat Generation, their portraits, cityscapes, and gatherings show how Chinese Montréalers were active in cultural transformations.
“Montréal Chinois is about more than photography — it is about recovering lives and stories long left in the shadows,” says Dr. Melissa Karmen Lee, CEO of Chinese Canadian Museum. “These images pulse with memory and style, showing Chinese Montrealers as vital contributors to the city’s rhythm. We are honoured to partner with the McCord Stewart Museum to bring these hidden histories back into the light.”
Featured Photographers
Between 1945 to the 1960s, Arthur Lee (1916–2002), his brother Samuel Lee, their friend Peter Wong, Vancouver-born Chuck Yip (1922–2016), and later Chong Hong Ho (b. 1936), quietly yet powerfully documented their communities.
Their photographs captured snapshots of tight-knit friendship circles, recording moments at the beach, on ski trips, and in everyday gatherings, offering a rare window into Chinese Canadian life during a period of profound social change.
Arthur Lee, eldest son of early migrants from Toisan, built a life in Montreal through family businesses like Wing Noodles Ltd., while also working with his brother Samuel Lee and close friend Peter Wong to document community life. His albums, filled with images of family and friends, formed an early archive of Chinese Canadian presence in the city. Chuck Yip, who was the grandson of pioneer Yip Sang and owner of the Wing Sang Building — home to the Chinese Canadian Museum, extended this impulse with an engineer’s precision, creating annotated albums and collages layered with travel, memory, and diasporic ties. Later, Chong Hong Ho, who moved from Guangzhou to Manitoba and Arkansas before settling in Montreal, carried this documentary spirit forward, photographing migration, family, and everyday gatherings.
Upcoming Exhibition
A major new exhibition, Momentum: Power and Identity in Sports, is set to open June 10th to coincide with the kickoff of the world’s largest sporting event happening in Vancouver. On view through September 5, 2027 in the Poy Family Gallery the exhibition explores the powerful role sports has played in shaping Chinese Canadian identity, visibility, and belonging within Canada’s national history. Blending historic memorabilia, film, and contemporary art, the exhibition brings Chinese Canadian sport stories — from the early 1900s to today — into powerful public view.
The first of its kind in Canada, the Chinese Canadian Museum opened to the public in 2023, and is located in the historic Wing Sang Building in Vancouver Chinatown. For more information about the Chinese Canadian Museum and its current exhibitions, follow along on Facebook and Instagram.
Related:
- Chinese Canadian Museum Unveils New Military Exhibition
- Asian Heritage Month at the Chinese Canadian Museum
- Chinese Canadian Museum to Open in Vancouver
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