Wong Shee’s land certificate to Canada reflects the immigration experiences of many first-generation Chinese Canadian women of her time. The majority of them came to Canada by marrying wealthy Chinese Canadian merchants much older than them. Wong Shee married at thirty, while her husband was fifty-eight years old. At the time of her landing, the first Chinese Immigration Act (1895) required each Chinese man, woman, and child to pay a head tax of $50 to enter Canada. This tax was increased to $100 in 1900 and to $500 in 1903. It equalled the purchasing power of buying two houses in Montreal. The Chinese Exclusion Act was announced in 1923; thus, Wong was one of the last immigrants to arrive in the country. Like Wong, women who immigrated to Canada endured long separation from their Chinese families, racism, and isolating life in Chinatowns. They were also challenged by the lack of social support, no employment opportunities, and hostility toward Chinese people. Wong’s husband was a victim of the 1907 anti-Chinese Riot, though his white friends helped him hide from the violence. Most first-generation immigrant women like Wong lived dependently on their husbands and continued to wear Chinese clothes in their everyday life.
