Longing Belonging ✿ 100 Years 100 Stories

This community engagement project brings awareness to the history of the Chinese community in Toronto.

A woman wearing Chinese cultural clothing stands in the room of an art gallery. Behind her is a wooden structure wrapped in metal fencing to resemble a cage. Small red and gold cards cover the side of the cage closest to the woman. Photos can be seen hung on the walls in the background of the image. — Longing Belonging ✿ 100 Years 100 Stories exhibit, May 13, 2023. Nominee for the 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History Award. Image by Maylynn Quan. Courtesy of Varley Art Gallery.

Longing Belonging ✿ 100 Years 100 Stories exhibit, May 13, 2023. Nominee for the 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History Award. Image by Maylynn Quan. Courtesy of Varley Art Gallery.

A man in colourful cultural clothing moves in the direction of the camera. His right arm is linked with a woman, and her right arm is linked with another woman. In the background, another line of people with their arms linked faced toward the three people in the center of the image. — Circle Dance from Longing Belonging ✿ 100 Years 100 Stories, May 13, 2023. Nominee for the 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History Award. Image by Maylynn Quan. Courtesy of Varley Art Gallery.

Circle Dance from Longing Belonging ✿ 100 Years 100 Stories, May 13, 2023. Nominee for the 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History Award. Image by Maylynn Quan. Courtesy of Varley Art Gallery.

Project Lead: Brenda Joy Lem

Project Website

Date of Release: May 13, 2023

Longing Belonging ✿ 100 Years 100 Stories is a community engagement project that was hosted by the Varley Art Gallery in Markham from May 13 to September 3, 2023. A multi-media exhibit of multiple formats and multiple perspectives, the project brought awareness about the history of the Chinese in Toronto, spanning from the struggles and injustices of the early Chinese immigrants to present-day Chinese Canadians.

The year 2023 marked the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Chinatown history around the world is the story of repeated displacement and erasure. Over the past several decades, Chinese immigration has shifted to suburban areas: Scarborough, Markham, Richmond Hill and Newmarket, while bypassing the older downtown Chinatowns. Longing Belonging ✿ 100 Years 100 Stories was created to strengthen connections between Toronto’s Chinatown and the people living in the suburban ethnoburbs, many who were unaware of the history of Chinese in Canada. It was exhibited during a milestone in Canada’s history and was linked to the community stories, artifacts, and photographs collected for the project.

Longing Belonging ✿ 100 Years 100 Stories was imagined and realized by the Long Time No See Collective, a non-profit ad hoc group of 11 artists and educators of different backgrounds and generations of Chinese settlers arriving on Turtle Island at different times and from different places. Long Time No See (LTNS), its name being an expression that comes from Canada’s earliest Chinese sojourners and settlers, honours ancestors by sharing and teaching the stories of how Chinatown came to be, the erased histories, and the responsibilities to act in solidarity with Indigenous peoples. LTNS endeavours to build relations among people who care about Chinatown and to connect the Chinatown community across generations. The Collective came together during the pandemic as it witnessed the shuttering of businesses, gentrification, and the rise of anti-Chinese racism in Toronto’s Chinatown.

Additional Project Members:

Emily Chan
Richard Fung
Kwoi Gin
Keith Lock
Morris Lum
Maylynn Quan
Amy Shuang
Rick Wong
Sandy Yep
Shellie Zhang