中英对照：多伦多唐人街向高档化发展所面临的挑战

 

 

社区高档化，即社区经济在短时间内迅速发展，从低档经济转为高档，是城市发展的一个过程。高档化会带来的商业租金的上涨和生活费用上涨，导致社区的居民被迫迁移。

 

Gentrification is a process of urban development in which a city neighbourhood develops rapidly over a short time, changing from low to high value. A neighbourhood's residents are often displaced by rising rents and living costs brought about by gentrification.

 

在过去的几年中，多伦多唐人街往高档发展成为新闻焦点。人们担心唐人街正在失去原有的特征。而租金的上涨正在迫使拥有数十年历史的家族企业和社区活动空间迁移，取而代之的是豪华的房地产项目。

 

For the past few years, the gentrification of Toronto's Chinatown came into the focus of many newspaper articles. There are concerns that Chinatown is losing its intrinsic characteristics. It is feared that the rising price of rent is driving out decades-old family businesses and community spaces, giving way instead to luxury real-estate developments.

 

多伦多唐人街在过去50年中一直在改变。上世纪60年代，靠近伊丽莎白街和邓达斯街西的拐角处的老唐人街被拆除，给多伦多新市政厅大楼让路。 1968年我来到加拿大时，唐人街的餐厅很少，均位于新市政厅大楼的北部。我家当初住在多伦多的北面，需要走很长的路才能到唐人街吃点心午餐并购买食品。当然，当年的点心质量很糟糕，远不如香港。

 

Toronto's Chinatown has been evolving throughout the last 50 years. The original Chinatown near the corner of Elizabeth Street and Dundas Street West was demolished to make way for the new city hall back in the early 1960's. When I came to Canada in 1968, the Chinatown with its few restaurants were located north of the new City Hall. Living north of the city, my family took long driving weekend trips to Chinatown to have dim sum lunches and buy our groceries. Of course, the dim sum dishes were terrible and did not meet expectations of anyone who just arrived from Hong Kong.

大约在那个时候，华人生意和居民开始沿邓达斯街向西迁移。当年，多伦多的房地产不贵。由于居民人口从来都是决定有多少生意需求的决定因素，因此，新唐人街的商店和餐馆开始兴旺。我家于70年代初搬到士嘉堡之后，每周去一次唐人街是惯例。80年代，士嘉堡的华人人口急剧增长后，中国餐馆和超市开始在士嘉堡开业，我家就很少再去唐人街了。

 

Around that time, the Chinese businesses and residences started to move westward along Dundas Street. Real estate was affordable then, much like the rest of Toronto. Resident demographics always dictate the businesses that would cater to the needs. Chinatown was gaining momentum with new shops and restaurants. After my family moved to Scarborough in the early 1970's, the weekly trips to Chinatown continued until Scarborough attracted its share of Chinese restaurants and grocery stores to service the growing Chinese population in the 1980's.

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想当年，唐人街可能是多伦多华人食品和社区活动的唯一选择。如今，大多伦多地区的万锦市，列治文山市和士嘉堡等地区的华人商业中心日益兴旺。

 

Chinatown might have once been the singular hub for Chinese groceries and community events in Toronto, today there are thriving hubs of Chinese-owned business all over the Greater Toronto Area in places like Markham, Richmond Hill and Scarborough.

 

长期生活在唐人街的那些老人不想搬迁。对他们来说，唐人街是一个舒适的环境，步行即可解决生活中的所有问题。人们相信，许多唐人街居民无论是否会说英语，他们都不选择说英语！即使今天，唐人街说广东话和台山话、按广东和台山生活习俗生活的人大有人在。许多老年人会死守唐人街，直到他们搬进周围的养老院或在家里度过余生。

 

Aging residents living in Chinatown do not want to leave. It is a comfortable surrounding for them and every need is accessible within walking distance. There is belief that many Chinatown residents do not speak English whether they can or not – they simply choose not to! This living pattern and use of the Cantonese language and Toishan 台山dialect are prevalent to this very day in Chinatown. Many seniors stay until they are moved into surrounding nursing homes or simply passed away at their residences.

 

如今唐人街的生意都是一代传一代的家族企业。在过去的二十年中，新的投资和年轻的企业家开始改变唐人街的这种状况。年轻的企业家们在唐人街开了如拉面馆，珍珠奶茶和西点咖啡厅等。

 

Many of the existing businesses are family owned in Chinatown and passed on from one generation to the next. Over the last two decades, new injection of money and young entrepreneurs are altering this condition. The growth of younger Chinese-owned businesses in the area bring in things like hand-pulled noodles restaurants, bubble tea shops, and dessert cafes.

 

多伦多华埠商业促进会（CBIA）成立于2007年。它是一个基于社区的非营利机构，隶属多伦多市政府，由唐人街的商业楼宇业主和租户组成。 CBIA与三级政府，唐人街的居民，社区团体，其他地区的商业促进会和私人企业合作，推动唐人街的发展。

 

The Toronto Chinatown Business Improvement Area (CBIA) was established in 2007. It is a not-for-profit community, a City of Toronto agency formed by the area’s commercial property owners and tenants. CBIA works closely with all three levels of the government, area residents, community groups, other BIAs, and the private sector to build a strong Chinatown community.

 

多伦多华埠商业促进会主席雷普信并不担心唐人街的未来。他说：“我认为唐人街高档化是一件好事，因为新的商家正在涌入唐人街。众所周知，唐人街人口已经老化，早年在唐人街做生意的许多商人已经到了退休年龄，我们需要一些新思维和新商家。”。雷先生指出，过去三年来，唐人街的租金上涨了约40％，也不像过去那样繁华和繁忙。

 

Tonny Louie, chair of the Chinatown BIA, isn't worried about the future of Chinatown. "I think gentrification is a good thing because new shops are coming in. And as you know, the population has grown older and at a lot of the earlier businesses, the people are retiring so we need some new ideas and new operators," he says. Louie admits rent in the area has gone up about 40 per cent in the last three years and the area isn't quite as bustling and busy as it once was in the past.

今年的COVID-19疫情给唐人街的多元化经济带来了许多挑战，并威胁到它们的生存。 CBIA向唐人街的商家免费或以原价分发了个人防护设备（PPE），包括洗手液和布口罩。今年夏天，CBIA对所服务的商家进行了一项调查，以了解他们的需求和关注。下次，我将与读者分享该调查的结果。

 

The COVID-19 pandemic this year brought on many challenges to the Chinatown's diversified businesses and threatened their survival. CBIA distributed Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) such as hand sanitizers and cloth masks to business members free or at cost to combat the disease. This Summer, CBIA performed a survey of member businesses to identify their needs and concerns. I will share the results of that survey with our readers next time.

 

退休的图书馆员和唐人街历史学家陈琳瑞玲说得好：“没错，唐人街将改变。但唐人街从一开始就一直在改变…… 虽然唐人街的味道会改变，但它不会消失。”

 

Retired librarian and Chinatown historian Arlene Chan said it well. "Yes, change is coming," she says. "But Chinatown from day one has always been changing ... The flavour of it will change, but Chinatown will still be there."