Dr. Jonathan Chan's dissertation reexamines Chinese Canadian cultural history

Jonathan Chan defended his dissertation, "Loyalty and Righteousness: Confucianism and the Chinese Community in British Columbia, 1923–1960," on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 at the University of Waterloo. The thesis reexamines Chinese Canadian history from the perspective of Confucianism and Chinese cultural values. Chan investigates to what extent the Chinese communities in BC were motivated by the teachings of Confucianism. From building Chinese schools to supporting the war effort in China and in Canada, the research demonstrates that these were expressions of Chinese virtues/values.

Focusing on the years between 1923, the year the Chinese Immigration Act was imposed, and 1960, when Wong Foon Sien, a vocal advocate for Chinese immigration rights, resigned from the presidency of the Chinese Benevolent Association, the research demonstrates that the values of Confucianism were still relevant to the Chinese who grew up in British Columbia during the first two decades of the twentieth century and continued to guide their actions throughout their lives.

Jonathan's focus changed over time. "Originally, my project was not going to feature Confucianism prominently," he says. "I read the Analects and Mencius to educate myself on the teachings of Confucianism and mostly out of curiosity. However, as I was conducting archival research, I came across articles that mentioned buzzwords within the Confucianism framework. After some discussion with my supervisor, Dr. Roy, she supported my pivot to write the same history from a Confucian perspective."

"One major difficulty was understanding the ancient texts (Analects and Mencius)," he continues, "from more than two thousand years ago. This involved reading multiple present-day commentaries and trying to understand the intent of the authors from the distant past. The meanings of Chinese words changed with time and the old Chinese syntax is very concise, which adds to the difficulty. I found that reading ancient Chinese required a certain degree of imagination and lots of patience," he reflects.

"I am looking for opportunities to teach history or enter government in a policy analyst role," says Dr. Chan.

For his committee, Jonathan drew from faculty members across the Tri-U. His supervisor was Dr. Susan Roy, University of Waterloo. The other committee members were Dr. Susan Neylan, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Dr. Norman Smith, University of Guelph. Dr. Hsiao d’Ailly served as the internal/external examiner and Dr. Alison Marshall of Brandon University was the external examiner.