Background
Yip Sang was born on September 6, 1845, in Shengtang village (聖堂), Taishan County, Guangdong, into a poor family.
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Yip Sang
Edit Profile葉春田
Career
Yip"s fame was mainly in his business, but he was also a social reformer and political activist in Canada. Yip went to California as a general labourer in 1864 and then to work in the goldfields in Canada in 1881. Yip arrived in Vancouver to work as a coal salesman, then as a bookkeeper, timekeeper, and paymaster for the Canadian Pacific Railway Supply Company.
He quickly worked up the ranks and became a superintendent of Chinese labourers.
By 1888, Yip started his own business the Wing Sang Company, which provided labour contracting, as well as import/export business to and from the Far East. Yip travelled to China during his time in California and British Columbia.
His company became a Chinese agent with his former employer, Canadian Pacific Railway Supply Company, providing human labour and produce. Yip was fluent in English, a naturalized British (1891) subject and by 1908 a successful business and real estate portfolio.
Within the Chinese community, Yip was a local leader.
He helped establish the Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver, the Chinese Board of Trade of Vancouver and Life Governor of the Vancouver General Hospital. He helped create a hospital and public school for the Chinese community of Vancouver Yip was also involved in the political movement in promoting political reform in China via the Chinese Empire Reform Association. In 1901, Yip brought his entire family to Canada, a family that grew to 660 members by 1966.
He is buried at Mountain View Cemetery.
As for Wing Sang Company, it was renamed Yip Sang Limited. in 1950 and later the business disappeared from Chinatown. The Wing Sang Building (1889) at 51 East Pender is one of the city"s oldest buildings.
lieutenant was occupied by Yip Sang Travel Agency Limited in 1955 and abandoned years later. Vancouver condo marketer Bob Rennie refurbished the building in the 2000s.
lieutenant now holds the Rennie Collection of contemporary art
