Angela is a professional staff member at UBC, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Geography with a minor in Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies. Angela’s enthusiasm for community storytelling and digital media has led her to work on projects such as the Chinatown Sound Map, a web based platform that showcases Chinatown through the perspective of sound. Angela also co-authored the award-winning Vancouver Chinatown Food Security report, which drew critical attention to the loss of cultural food assets from Chinatown. When she isn't biking, playing ultimate frisbee, or cultivating her green thumb, you can find her admiring other urban gardens at @eastvangardens. 

Ava is a recent UBC graduate with a BA in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ), and a minor in Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies (ACAM). Connected to Vancouver’s Chinatown through her own family history, she feels UBC INSTRCC and the work she did for Chinatown Reimagined allowed her to use her love for Chinatown to help create positive conversation and shed new light on this important historical community-centered space. Ava is a bona fide cat lady and video game nerd and can always be found sketching away in her notebook.

Daniel Chen 陈丹宁 (he/him) is an aspiring documentary journalist and is currently completing his BA in Asian Studies and Asian Canadian and Asian migration studies at the University of British Columbia. He has moved between Los Angeles and Beijing and currently calls Vancouver home. Inspired by his multicultural upbringing, he found a passion for documentary storytelling to shine a light on less-heard narratives around immigrant culture and ultimately bring humans together.

Debbie graduated from UBC in May 2020, double majoring in English Literature and Economics. She is now a graduate student studying in Canada’s very first Master of Public Policy in Digital Society, based in McMaster. CTR is her fourth INSTRCC project, and she is stoked to work with the team again. As a creative person, Debbie enjoys learning-by-doing and is always up for projects that involve drawing, writing, designing, choreographing, and teaching. She also has a passion for languages and Chinese history. Sometimes you can see her staring off into space, thinking of (strange) ways to connect seemingly unrelated things together (like her two majors).

Emily Chou (rhymes with “wow”; she/her) is a writer-cartoonist who, after stints in the UK, Japan, and Italy, currently finds herself back in Vancouver. Her work has appeared in Room, Sad Magazine, Chinatown Today, Vallum, In/Words, Ricepaper, as well as various other collections and anthologies, and she currently serves as the poetry editor at PRISM International Magazine. She is hard at work on her MFA in Creative Writing at UBC, but her true passions are fostering dogs for local rescues, eating snacks, and dreaming of future adventures abroad.

Emma Quan 關樂怡 (she/her/hers) is a third-year Honours History student at UBC with a minor in Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice. As a settler of Chinese and European descent, she hopes to connect people with their diverse histories by making resources more accessible and inclusive so that “history doesn’t have to feel so far away.” She is passionate about social justice in Canadian public history and the social and cultural histories of local communities. Her research interests include women and gender studies related to power and the body, Chinese Canadian culture and migration, and applying activism and representation in museums and archives. Exploring and re-examining the history of Chinatown with INSTRCC and the Chinatown Reimagined team has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience both academically and personally because it has allowed her to reflect on her own cultural identity while engaging and connecting to her heritage in a new way. She hopes that this project can help build new perspectives of Vancouver’s Chinatown that highlights its rich community connections and uplifts stories of diversity and resilience.

Kristy Lin is a recent graduate from UBC, specializing in Asian Area studies with a minor in Asian Canadian Migration Studies (ACAM). Born and raised in Vancouver, she has experienced life as a Second Generation Chinese Canadian individual, and the unique history and overlapping cultures of the East and West. She is a curious and self-driven lifelong learner, passionate about community engagement and cultural storytelling through digital and social media. What started as a personal journey to connect deeper with the experiences of being Chinese Canadian in Vancouver has led her to work on amazing projects such as the A Seat At The Table Exhibition and Chinatown Reimagined Forum alongside a group of inspiring students at UBC. Some of her most notable experiences within her education and community engagement revolve around the ability to use her Chinese language skills to connect with elders and community partners. Apart from her studies, she loves travelling, learning about different languages and cultures, and documenting her life experiences and journey on social media platforms such as Youtube and Tiktok.

Ky Kim is a fourth-year student in the Bachelor of Media Studies program at UBC with a Creative Writing minor. He is invested in cultural studies, visual storytelling, and researching media communication methods that shape and deepen cultural values and ideas. Participating in Chinatown Reimagined has been a remarkable experience that broadened his insight into the dynamic qualities of Vancouver Chinatown’s unique heritage. Capturing the tangible elements and creating videos that amplify the voices of the devoted people inside Chinatown has been a rewarding process for him. Through this project, he hopes that many people will be able to recognize that Chinatown is an indispensable part of Vancouver’s cultural identity.

Rose is a master’s student in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, interested in exploring the connections between food systems and urban design. A native to Vancouver, she is continually exploring different ways to understand her home city and the unique stories it holds. When she’s not doing yoga or slaving away under a never-ending pile of research papers, you can find her baking 红豆酥饼 for her family and friends.

Shirley Ting (she/her/hers) is a fourth-year GRS student at UBC who is studying global health and nutrition in the context of Chinese culture and history. She is interested in studying the complex and nuanced networks in which cultural knowledge is exchanged, shared, and transformed amongst and within communities. Her research interests also include examining the use of food in storytelling, the relationship between cultural identity and consumer behaviour, and the politics of food. Working on the historical section of Chinatown Reimagined has challenged Shirley to re-examine the dynamic pathways which connect history to the present. The project has also provided an opportunity for her to reflect on her identity as a second-generation Chinese Canadian and has been a great source of both academic and personal growth. 

Stanley Leng Hon Chia is a teaching assistant (TA) and final year MA student at UBC's history department. Drawing on oral history interviews, his MA thesis highlights how Malaysians helped each other during the 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur. When he is not attending to his work as a TA for 50 first-year UBC students, he works part-time as a museum interpreter at the Museum of Vancouver's "A Seat at the Table" exhibit, and as a freelance project coordinator, researcher, and writer. This past year, Stanley worked as a research assistant and interviewer on Clash on Keefer, a documentary film about how the 105 Keefer fight is linked to earlier waves of activism in Vancouver Chinatown. Through Chinatown Reimagined, he hopes to story-share ordinary stories with and about Chinese Canadians as well as highlight the significance of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Chinatown.

Victoria So (she/her) is a fourth-year History student with a minor in Asian Area Studies. As a 2nd generation settler of Chinese descent, her cultural heritage has shown her the importance of culturally relevant storytelling and accessible modes of learning. While her studies at UBC allowed her to consider the various ways that history can be represented in different spheres, her passion for history and storytelling is rooted in the lively discussions with her family and the impassioned stories told by her elders. As such, her personal and academic life is driven by an open-minded curiosity to listen and learn from everyone as she believes that the stories, memories and experiences of everyday people are essential in the process of representation. This project has inspired her to look not only in the past but into the dreams and visions of individuals as propellers of change.

Wei Yan is completing her final term of undergraduate studies in Plant and Soil Sciences at UBC. As a Chinese-Malaysian, she found a place of belonging in Vancouver’s Chinatown through the tangible modest Chinese bakeries, the earthy scent of herbalist shops, the unknown yet familiar faces of elderlies. These experiences brought her back to the days when she followed her late grandma to the wet market as a weekly routine. Since then, she has been part of INSTRCC as a research assistant focusing on the intersections between cultural heritage and our food systems - and is currently doing (last-minute) translations for the CTR! She loves meeting new people and learning from their experiences so do say hi when you see her around!