A Legacy Of Perseverance By Leo Tang Jy

A Legacy of Perseverance The dawn of 1858 marked the beginning of continuing Chinese immigration from their native country to the expanses of British North America that would soon form the current Canada. The initial wave of Chinese settler to settle in Canada were inspired by various pull and push factors. Negative factors pushed the Chinese people away from their native homes while foreign forces pulled them towards another country. The push factors, like wars and floods in China, made it extremely difficult for people live peaceably, grow crops, or raise families. Canada’s pull factors were related to its developing pace. There were shortage of workers in the new settlements and rising industries. Since China was the closest to Canada, it became the main source of cheap labor (The Early Chinese, 2009). Although Canada seemed a greener pasture, life in Canada was not favorable to Chinese immigrants. Despites these extreme difficulties, Leo Tang Jy’s perseverance story holds as a legendary in the chronicles of
Upon arriving at Sydney, in Nova Scotia, Leo secured another laundry job in which he was assigned the task of washing the steel mill workers’ clothes, fourteen hours every day. Although at this time racism was systemic and all-encompassing, he educed hard feelings from the whites. He however managed to work for about five years as a launder in Sydney. Several years later, Leo Tang had managed to save sufficient money to purchase a round-trip sea ticket to China to find a wife. He made it back home to China and married Jing Li Syung. However, after marrying, Leo found it extremely difficult to return to Canada with his wife. The revised Canadian immigration laws imposed heavy head taxation on Asian emigrants, effectively curtailing the immigration of Chinese women. The laws were imposed to control the growing population of the Canadian