China Overseas Chinese Network, March 27. According to a report from Canada Dahua.com, on March 24, the Canadian Chinese Volunteer Association (CCLV), with the strong support of the Canadian Federation of Chinese Associations, organized some caring people to make a special trip to Litton, BC ( Lytton town, donated $51,500 to Lorna Fandrich, director of the Lytton Chinese History Museum, to help her realize the plan to rebuild the Lytton Chinese History Museum that was destroyed by the wildfire.

  In the 1880s, about 17,000 Chinese laborers went to the Fraser Canyon area of ​​BC, Canada to build a railway, and some of them built an incense hall in Lytton.

The original building was demolished in 1928, and the original site was purchased by Lorna and her husband in the 1980s.

Lorna has been very interested in Chinese culture since she was a child, and her childhood friends were Chinese.

After the Scottish-Canadian moved to Lytton, she saw a lot of introductions about the local aboriginal culture and the history of recent immigrants, including white immigrants, but there was no history of the Chinese who lived and thrived here in the 19th century. Do something to fill this gap.

  In 2016, Lorna built the Chinese Museum at her own expense and collected collections everywhere.

She found two collectors and persuaded them to display some of their collections here, while other collections were either excavated locally or shipped from other places.

She has collected about 1,600 exhibits related to the life of the Chinese ancestors, opened the "Lytton Chinese History Museum" in 2017, and established an online exhibition and photo library to commemorate the work of thousands of Chinese laborers before this. , sacrifice and contribution.

In May 2021, the Canadian Historical Society presented the museum with the Canadian Community Archive Award.

  At the end of June 2021, a ruthless wildfire burned Litton Town to the ground and destroyed the Chinese History Museum that Lorna worked so hard to build.

After the disaster, Lorna said that about 200 cultural relics had been recovered. "Many cultural relics were broken, except for pottery fragments. There were no paper cultural relics, and most of the metal items were destroyed."

Still, she was happy to have rescued some of the artifacts, "because they still tell the story of the museum." Of the artifacts recovered, only 40 were in good condition.

Lytton Township redevelopment is being planned, and Lorna estimates the cost of rebuilding the museum to be about $200,000.

She launched a fundraiser online.

  The Canadian Chinese Volunteer Association (Canadian Volunteers) is a group of Chinese youths. They heard about this. Under the organization of the president Liu Dayuan, they made a fundraising video for the reconstruction of the Chinese History Museum, and actively raised funds in the community for this purpose.

Jiahua volunteers set up a fundraising working group, actively contacted Lorna to understand her plight and needs, and told Lorna's hardships in establishing the museum and her plans and difficulties in rebuilding the museum through video.

Through the video narration, it quickly won the strong support of many caring people and entrepreneurs in the Greater Vancouver area.

  On March 24, everyone first came to the Kumsheen Drifting Resort near Lytton, a small family-run resort owned by Lorna and her husband Bernie Fandrich, who invited them at the resort's restaurant. After dinner, Jessoa Lightfoot, the former mayor of Lytton, was commissioned by the current mayor, Jan Polderman, to welcome everyone.

  Curator Lorna first gave a speech to welcome everyone. She was very moved by everyone's loving donations. She introduced the current situation of the museum and said that with the help of the Chinese and many caring people, she would definitely re-launch the Lytton Museum of Chinese History. .

  Lorna's husband thanked everyone for coming. He said that the museum is Lorna's favorite, and she built it carefully. Now that it has the support of so many Chinese people, the reconstruction of the Chinese History Museum is even more hopeful.

  Lightfoot, the former mayor of Litton, said that when the Chinese History Museum was built in 2017, she was the mayor at the time and witnessed the opening of the museum.

She said Litton was devastated by several fires and looked to the museum to help revitalize it.

There are rich and distinctive tourism resources along Highway 1, which can be integrated to attract tourists, and the Lytton Museum provides an opportunity.

  Zhang Hua, honorary chairman of the Canadian Federation of Chinese Associations and chairman of Jinding Mortgage Loan, is the main donor. He said that first of all, he would like to thank the first overseas Chinese who built ships, houses, mines, and roads. With their diligence and wisdom, youth and life, I would like to thank Ms. Lorna for her hard work, searching for the relics of the Chinese ancestors, preserving and continuing the Chinese history and culture. This is to protect the history and culture of Canada, and it is to enrich the human race. History and culture; third, I would like to thank Jiahua volunteers, whose love illuminated his path of dedication.

It is hoped that the Lytton Chinese Museum can organically integrate the essence of Chinese traditional culture with the foundation of Canada's founding, so that Chinese people can integrate into society faster, better and more truly.

  Wei Renmin, executive chairman of the Canadian Federation of Chinese Associations, is also a major donor. He said that Ms. Lorna meticulously collects and protects Chinese history and culture, and is a role model for Chinese people to learn from. Today, everyone is here to learn from her and to promote Chinese culture to prosper Canada's multiculturalism .

At the same time, he highly praised the young Canadian volunteers, who are enthusiastic, fast-moving, and dedicated, and are a living force in the Chinese community.

  Qian Hua, vice chairman of the Vancouver Chinese Association, is also the honorary chairman of the joint association. This time, she sent two commemorative books to Lorna on behalf of the Chinese Association. In her speech, she said that the Vancouver Chinese community will continue to collect and donate some to the Lytton Museum. Early Chinese artifacts to enrich the collections of the Lytton Chinese History Museum.

  Cao Weihong, executive vice-chairman of the Canadian Federation of Chinese Associations, on behalf of the donors who were unable to attend the donation ceremony, offered love for the reconstruction of the Lytton Chinese History Museum.

  Witnessed by the former mayor of Lytton, the donors held a group photo of the cheque donation at the resort.

  During the exchange, Lorna also introduced that Highway 1 runs north from Yale, a small town, to Lytton, and then north to Barkerville, the oldest Chinatown in BC. There are currently 9 museums, and the Lytton Chinese History Museum and Barkerville The Vail Museum has the most Chinese cultural relics.

She said that she has cooperated with 8 other museums and plans to jointly produce a tourism brochure as a basis for attracting tourism to explore the historical characteristics of BC.