Chinese Wives

After the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885—construction of the western stretch was largely built by Chinese workers—the Canadian government imposed a punitive head tax to deter Chinese citizens from coming to Canada. The exorbitant tax strongly discouraged those who had already emigrated from sending for wives and children left in China—effectively splintering families. After raising the tax twice, the Canadian government eventually brought in legislation to stop Chinese immigration altogether. The ban was not repealed until 1947.

The years following the end of the Qing dynasty were some of the most turbulent in Chinese history. With the abdication in 1912 of Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, history saw the end of 2,000 of Imperial rule in China and the start of a new era which would prove to be more dramatic and uncertain than anything that had preceded it.