The reason that the Chinese population needed to acquire this site is because the previous accommodations were being washed away. Literally, human remains of Chinese pioneers were being washed into the Pacific Ocean as the sea level rose around section L of the Ross Bay cemetery. Many of these human remains were relocated to the Chinese Cemetery when it opened in 1903. The location of Harlem Point was chosen for its feng shui an important notion in Chinese culture. I do not know much about feng shui but the view indeed was magnificent.
I think what interests about the cemetery is that its called the Chinese Cemetery no other attempt at a name. Chinese cemetery is literally what is written on the gate at the entrance of the cemetery. When looking around one of the things we were looking for was how many of these sites had english. This may have said something about early chinese culture in victoria and the way in which they identified themselves. Most of the cemeteries were in Chinese and the few that had some english inscriptions on them but those were more often than not secondary monuments that replace or are near the primary monument. Thus the use of english was chosen by the descendants of the deceased who have probably grown up as Canadian Chinese. Thus I am going to assume that the original Chinese population buried at Harling Point considered them selves Chinese and not Canadian because the chose to represent themselves in death as Chinese. The Chinese inscriptions on their tombs allow them to forever be Chinamen remembered in the memory of future generation as Chinese.
I think its sad that before this class I did not even know that there was an exclusively Chinese graveyard in Victoria. Locations like the Chinese Cemetery and China town really display how big a part the Chinese played in the early development of British Colombia and in this specific instance Victoria and how little recognition they receive.
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