With their roots in the Pearl River Delta of the Guangdong province, these immigrants constituted the most homogeneous of all the waves of Chinese immigration. Being mostly male and young in age, they shared similar socioeconomic status, levels of education, and employment prospects. They spoke a local dialect of Cantonese, each one distinct but readily understood for communication. Taishanese, the dialect of the Taishan county, was the language of the early Chinese community. A Taishanese person meeting a Xinhui person on the streets of Toronto could identify one’s hometown as soon as that person spoke.
TABLE 7
Origin of the Early Immigrants
| Location | In Pinyin | In Cantonese |
| Province | Guangdong | Kwangtung |
| District | Si Yi | Sze Yap |
| Four Counties | Xinhui | Sun Wui |
| Kaiping | Hoi Ping | |
| Taishan | Toi Shan | |
| Enping | Ying Ping | |
| District | San Yi | Sam Yap |
| Three Counties | Nanhai | Nam Hoi |
| Panyu | Poon Yue | |
| Shunde | Sun Dak |
Source: Chinese Canadian Genealogy, “Geography of Chinese Emigration,” Vancouver Public Library, www.vpl.ca/ccg/Geography.html.
Migration patterns were usually based on extended family relationships. Immigration laws favoured the relatives of Chinese already in Canada, and visits home resulted in the migration of more Chinese from the same village or clan. Sponsors of a fellow villager or clansman provided living quarters and work; businessmen often sponsored relatives to work in their laundries or restaurants. As a result of these processes, the departure of males from certain villages was significant, and the villagers became dependent on remittances that were sent from far-away places. Often, these villages were far more well-to-do than neighbouring ones that did not have any of their men working overseas. An additional outcome of this migratory pattern was that Chinatowns in Canada were dominated by men from the same district or with the same surname. In some cases, there was a strong correlation among lineage ties, jobs, and residence. As an example, most members of the Ma clan from Taishan county ended up as cooks and servants in Nanaimo, British Columbia.5
Although government records do not list the precise origins of Toronto’s early Chinese, most were likely from the county of Taishan. Common surnames were Lee, Lem, Wong, and Chan.6 Depending on the village language, the same surname was pronounced and spelled differently. For example, Lam, Lem, Lim, or Lum are the same name. Since clan members shared a founding ancestor, it was not unusual for men with the same surname to be from the same village and related in some way, however distantly. As noted in Denise Chong’s The Concubines’ Children, “If there was one Chinese law of the universe, it was loyalty to gee gay yun, to one’s own people. In the homeland, it was to family, village and clan — sometimes one and the same.”7
Wayson Choy described the significance of surnames in his novel All That Matters:
Everyone in Chinatown seemed to know everyone else. You only had to say your surname, mention any Kwangtung county — Sam yup, Sze yup, Chungshan, Heungshan — even mention Canton, Hong Kong, speak of any of the city or village dialects — and smiling strangers would link you to a chain of kinfolk.8
The most popular surnames of Lee, Mak, Lem, Wong, and Chan represented the largest and most powerful family associations, whose members dominated business, social, and political life. Less predominant surnames, insufficient in numbers to support single surname associations, were grouped into multiple surname associations. One grouping was for the surnames, Lui, Fong, and Kwong. Another multiple surname association, Lung Kong Kung So, grouped four surnames: Liu (Liu), Guan (Kwan), Zhang (Cheung), and Zhao (Chiu). In this instance, the grouping was based on an age-old brotherhood of four heroes during the historical era of the Three Kingdoms (220–280 C.E.). Lung Kong Kung So was established in Toronto in 1911. In 1922 the Lung Kong Kung So bought the property at 24 Elizabeth Street, tore down the building, and replaced it with a three-storey centre for its members.9
The Lung Kong Kung So Association purchased the property at 24 Elizabeth Street, tore down the building, and built this three-storey headquarters.
In 1910 there were 10 clan and two district associations in Toronto (see Table 8). The most prominent family association halls were located around Dundas Street and Elizabeth Street, the centre of the Chinese community.
TABLE 8
Clan and District Associations in Toronto, 1910
| Association Name | Type |
| Lung Kong Kung So | Multiple surname association (Liu, Kwan, Cheung, Chiu) |
| Soo Yuen Tong | Multiple surname association (Lui, Fong, Kwong) |
| Lem Si Ho Tong | Single surname — Lin (Lem) |
| Li She Kong So | Single surname — Li (Lee) |
| Wong Wun Sun King So | Single surname — Huang (Wong) |
| Mark Chee Hing Tong | Single surname — Mai (Mark) |
| Low Kong Kung So | Single surname — Wu (Ng) |
| Wong Min Shing Kung So | Single surname — Huang (Wong) |
| Kwan Lung Si Tong | Single surname — Guan (Kwan) |
| Hong Tong Kung So | Single surname — Hong |
| Kwong Chow Hui Kuan | District association — Guangzhou (Kwong Chow) |
| Kwong Hoi Hui Kuan | District association — Kwong Hoi |
Source: Adapted from Richard H. Thompson, Toronto’s Chinatown (New York: AMS Press, 1989), 64.
The family association for the Chen (Chan) surname was established later, in 1918, as Chin Ying Chun Tang.10 To the outside world, these organizations presented a picture of solidarity and cohesiveness; from the inside, out of sight of the host society, the struggle for scarce resources of wealth,