Suit
Collection from Museum of Vancouver, Canada
H2002.61.9a-b
This silver brocade suit shows how early twentieth-century Chinese Canadian women used Chinese symbols and characters to express their hopes for prosperity and health on special occasions. It has a high Mandarin-style collar and slit at the sides to the waist. Four plastic buttons on the tunic each features a different Chinese character in gold, reading from top to bottom: Lu (a wish for high social status); Kang (health); Shou (long life); and Fu (luck). This suit belonged to Fun Go Lee, the eldest grandchild of the prominent Chinese Canadian businessman and married at eighteen into the Lee family. Lee likely wore this suit for Yip Sang’s 80th birthday celebration in 1925.