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CAIN No. 148949
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TITLE:
Yip family and Yip Sang Ltd. fonds
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
13 m of textual records
147 photographs
DATES:
1895-1989
ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
The Yip family in Vancouver began with
Yip Sang's arrival in B.C. in 1881. Yip Sang, whose real
name was Yip Chun Tien (along with two other Chinese names,
Yip Loy Yiu and Yip Lin Sang), was born in China in 1845. In
1864, he left his home village in Guangdong province to
travel to San Francisco, where he worked as a dishwasher,
cook, cigar maker, and labourer in the goldfields.
Eventually, he left for B.C., and in 1881, after first
looking for gold in the north, settled in Vancouver and
found work as a pedlar, selling sacks of coal door to door.
In 1882, he was employed by the Canadian Pacific Railroad
Supply Company, where he worked as a bookkeeper, timekeeper,
paymaster and then as the Chinese superintendent. In 1885,
Yip Sang left the company and returned to China. In 1888,
he returned to Vancouver and established the import and
export firm of Wing Sang Company (the Wing Sang Building, at
51-69 Pender Street, was built in 1889 and 1902). During his
lifetime, Yip Sang had four wives and a total of
twenty-three children. He became a naturalized British
subject in 1891. Yip Sang was one of the driving forces in
the establishment of the Chinese Benevolent Association, the
Chinese School and the Chinese Hospital in Vancouver. He
was a lifetime governor of Vancouver General Hospital, and
was also a benefactor of the Public Hospital in Guangdong
province in China. He died in 1927. Wing Sang Company was
one of the wealthiest firms in the Chinatown area of
Vancouver. It engaged in contracting Chinese workers for the
Canadian Pacific Railway Company, as a passenger agency with
the Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd., in the import and
export of general merchandise from China and Japan, in money
remittance from Vancouver to Hong Kong, and in the dry-salt
herring business with China. It also functioned as a
passenger agency with the Canadian pacific Steamships Ltd.
The Wing Sang Company was renamed Yip Sang Ltd. in 1950.
SCOPE AND CONTENT:
The fonds consists of the records of the Yip family,
including those of Yip Sang, and of Yip Sang Ltd. and its
predecessor, the Wing Sang Company. The fonds includes
financial records (mainly account books, remittance stubs,
receipts and invoices), correspondence, published material
kept by the family, and Yip family photographs, including
views of the business, Chinese organizations, and schools.
REPOSITORY:
City of Vancouver Archives
RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS:
Some documents are fragile; please consult photocopies where
indicated.
FINDING AID AVAILABLE:
Series descriptions and file lists available. An original
box list in Chinese is available in hardcopy in the reading
room. This list does not necessarily correspond with the
current arrangement of the records.
LANGUAGE:
The majority of the records are in Chinese, particularly
those created prior to 1926.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Title based on the contents of the fonds.
PROVENANCE:
Yip (family)
Yip Sang Ltd
OTHER NAMES:
Yip, Sang, 1845-1927
SUBJECTS:
Yip, Sang, 1845-1927
Yip, Lin Sang
Yip, Loy Yiu
Yip, Chun Tien
Yip (family)
Yip Sang Ltd
Wing Sang Company
Canadian Pacific Railway Company
Canadian Pacific Steamships
Chinese Benevolent Association (Vancouver, B.C.)
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