PAMELA FAYERMAN. The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, B.C.: Nov 30, 1990. pg. B.1
Abstract (Article Summary)
Newly elected Vancouver alderman Tung Chan traces his hallmark ebullience back to days spent pitching speed-reading courses as a teenaged door-to-door salesman in Hong Kong.
When he moved to Vancouver in 1974, his first job was as a waiter at the toney Terminal City Club, where he practised his people skills and English at the same time. To demonstrate the difficulty he had with the language, the 38-year-old Chan recalls the day a club member asked for a screwdriver – Chan promptly delivered the tool, not the drink, to the thirsty customer.
Outgoing Ald. Sandra Wilking, who spoke to Mayor Gordon Campbell about Chan as a potential aldermanic candidate when she decided not to seek re-election, says Chan impressed her because of his enthusiasm and outgoing nature.
(Copyright The Vancouver Sun)
Main story: The Newcomers; profile of Tung Chan
Newly elected Vancouver alderman Tung Chan traces his hallmark ebullience back to days spent pitching speed-reading courses as a teenaged door-to-door salesman in Hong Kong.
He admits he never bothered to learn the technique so he reads the how-to-be-more-successful book, to which he is partial, at an average speed.
When he moved to Vancouver in 1974, his first job was as a waiter at the toney Terminal City Club, where he practised his people skills and English at the same time. To demonstrate the difficulty he had with the language, the 38-year-old Chan recalls the day a club member asked for a screwdriver – Chan promptly delivered the tool, not the drink, to the thirsty customer.
While attending the University of B.C. as a sociology student in the mid-1970s, Chan supported himself by working at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club as a bartender and with several organizations, including International House and a Chinese-language student radio program.
Upon graduation, he was hired by the Toronto-Dominion Bank, which was aware of his management potential. Says TD senior vice-president W.D. McIntosh: “Tung Chan is highly regarded by the bank. He’s had an excellent career record because he’s got lots of common sense, excellent credit skills and interacts extremely well with employees and customers.
“If he performs at city hall the way he has at the bank, the city has a winner.”
After managing various other branches, Chan assumed management of the Chinatown branch three years ago. Since then, he’s been involved in several organizations that promote the successful integration of Chinese-Canadians. He also organized the Chinatown Toastmaster’s Club, where he hones his public-speaking skills.
He admits his wife, Shirley, was hesitant initially about his desire to enter civic politics, given all his other interests that take him away from her and their two daughters. He said he and his wife, a part-time nurse at Shaughnessy Hospital, were relieved to learn the bank would accommodate him by finding part-time work in the regional office.
While his involvement in the Vancouver Chinese community is deep, Chan is wary of being pigeonholed as only representing the Chinese community.
He says he hopes to alter perceptions during his aldermanic term so “people don’t just look at skin color to judge someone.”
Although it seems a minor distinction, Chan says Chinese people in Vancouver should be referred to as “Canadians of Chinese descent, not just Chinese people, because the latter denotes those who live in China.”
Chan says he hopes the discrimination against new immigrants that surfaced over such issues as monster homes will become a thing of the past.
“I agree with a friend who said that when a Caucasian lives in a monster house, it’s referred to as a mansion, but when a Chinese person lives in one, it’s called a monster house.
“Those same people aren’t necessarily racist, but they have had trouble reacting to the changes which are affecting their neighborhoods. I hope to be able to help in this regard by getting people to talk to their new neighbors more, by encouraging an atmosphere in which people try to understand each other.”
Outgoing Ald. Sandra Wilking, who spoke to Mayor Gordon Campbell about Chan as a potential aldermanic candidate when she decided not to seek re-election, says Chan impressed her because of his enthusiasm and outgoing nature.
She says the fact Chan got so many people in Vancouver’s Chinese community involved in his election campaign shows he can motivate people.
“One thing that I can tell him as a word of caution is that coming from a Chinese background myself, I was quite shocked by the adversarial nature of politics on council. In the Chinese family, this is foreign because you are raised to seek harmony and compromises, so I hope Tung Chan doesn’t have to face that value clash in such a hard way.”
© The Vancouver SunPAMELA FAYERMAN. The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, B.C.: Nov 30, 1990. pg. B.1
