In today’s Gazette, Steve Faguy profiles Comme les Chinois, a blog about Chinese people, culture and society in Montreal that was launched earlier this winter by Spacing Montreal’s own Cedric Sam. Although it touches obliquely on issues of urbanism and public space—Cedric has written about cinemas in Chinatown, Cantonese associations and Chinatown in 1984—it has more to do with something else that is just as important: Montreal’s social and cultural space.
Our everyday lives take us through streets, parks, malls and other physical space, but they also pass through the more abstract space of culture and community. In many ways, our individual experience of Montreal depends on a variety of factors, our age, language and origin among them. As in every city, though, the experiences of certain elements of the population are underrepresented in the media and public discourse; when they are addresses, it is often done so through the prism of “otherness.” Comme les Chinois tries to correct that situation. Here’s more from Faguy’s article:
Like many bloggers, Cedric Sam found a niche that hadn’t been filled, so he decided to fill it.
“While you will find a tonne of high-quality magazines or blogs on Asian or Chinese things across Canada, I have not seen one yet in French – even after a relatively thorough search on Google and at the newsstand,” he said. “At the same time, I want to prove that it is possible to be well-integrated in Quebec society, while being very close to and proud of one’s cultural heritage.”
“Basically, I’d like to put faces on ‘The Chinese Community,’ which is more diverse in origins … than people can imagine, and perhaps help break stereotypes in the process,” he said.
Although he is of Cantonese origin, Sam says he isn’t fluent in Cantonese or Mandarin. For that reason more than any other, he says, he doesn’t like to think of his blog as representing or speaking for the community.
Comme les Chinois’ greatest feature, so far, is its series of interviews with Chinese Montrealers, including activist and erstwhile Bloc Québécois candidate May Chiu, man-about-town Simon Law and community organizer Hung Ting Kwan. Check them out and learn more about your fellow citizens.