LETTER FROM QUON LONG

This textual record entitled “LETTER FROM QUON LONG” is from the Chung Collection at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Rare Books Special Collections. Textual records refer to written records, by any means, that can be read by the naked eye. In the letter, Quon Long,  the secretary of the Chinese Workers Protective Association outlines the unfair treatment that unemployed Chinese workers were suffering at the Soup Kitchen. This was evident through Quon Long highlighting that although there is a  “Government allowance of 16 cents per day”  for Chinese, “the two meals issued per day to each man contains a total of only 6 cents food value”. (Long) The purpose of the document was to reform how Chinese workers were being treated at the Soup Kitchen, which was evident from Quon Long’s request for four resolutions to be sent to respective authorities. The document represents the experience of unemployed Chinese workers who relied on the Soup Kitchen so as not to starve, and how those in power at the Soup Kitchen might have taken advantage of them. The text is significant because it gives insight into how Orientals were treated in Canada, and thus important to literary and cultural scholars who study critical race theory, or the lives of Oriental Immigrants in Canada.

The abstraction present in the document is power and authority. The document was formal with an official stamp of the Chinese Workers Protective Association, and a signature of its Secretary, Quon Long. This is significant because it gives Quon Long the authority to speak about the conditions that the Chinese Workers were suffering under. This authority also minimises any attack on the accuracy of the workers’ condition. Quon Long use of factual evidence, comparing how much money is supposed to be spent on food, and how much money actually is, enforces the reliability of Long, and thus his account of the workers’ conditions.  On one side of the document, there is the letter in English, and on the other its translation in Chinese. This provides Quon Long with the evidence to show the workers, who may not be able to read English that he has used his power to help them with their problem. The fact that these abstractions were illustrated through the format of the letter, highlights the association of power and authority with formality.

The issue tackled in this document was corruption and mistreatment. This is because  10 cents more that is supposed to be used to provide unemployed Chinese workers with food for the day, is being used somewhere else, and as a result preventing the workers from getting the most possible nutrition for their day. However, it isn’t very clear who the letter was addressed to, and thus undermines insight for literary and cultural scholars on groups that were able to tackle the issue back then. In addition, as it is not clear who the letter was addressed to, nor what its reply was, there is a possibility that Quon Long’s might have provided false or incorrect evidence of the money that should be spent on food for the Chinese workers.

Works Cited

Long, Quon. LETTER FROM QUON LONG. Chung Collection. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.