Written by Taoan, 2021 Cohort
As Pre-MDM students, 5 of us who are currently in Vancouver went on our first Field Trip last Friday with our two instructional assistants. Our destination was Gulf of Georgia Cannery, which is located in the Steveston historic site. Though Steveston is far from my place and I went to Steveston with my friends before, I still think it is worth taking a trip there. Not only is it a way to learn about Canadian culture, especially British Columbia’s history, but also it has been such a long time for me to travel outside downtown since the pandemic hit.
As I mentioned I went to Steveston before, but I did not know there was a historical cannery located there. I learned a lot from the Cannery, like the history of Canada’s West Coast fishing industry, how people earned their lives from the ocean, what kind of marine species in the ocean they caught, how the cannery pipelines worked at that time, and the revolution of the industry etc. I have to recognize that it’s impossible for me to remember all that information, but at least I have a general idea of it and it relates to Chinese culture in the area. A famous German philosopher named Hegel said that “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.” At least Canadians learned from their history, in my opinion. Compared the history from previous centuries and today’s Canadian society, you can see how racism or discrimination have changed.
One of the personal things I want to talk about is that I could not relate with the Chinese people who worked at Cannery centuries ago, because I thought we have a different culture until I saw a Medicated Oil showpiece used by the Chinese people at that time. It is a brand from Hongkong named Po Sum On, and I used it a lot when I was young because my hometown Guangzhou is close to Hong-Kong. At that time, an idea came to my mind: we do share the same culture.
All in all, I am very glad to take this trip, because I had not gone to such a far place for quite a long time, and it really made me happy. I do not know when and where our next field trip will be, but it must be the same as this trip we took, or even more!