Chapter 1621 1620 [The tiger is no longer powerful! 】
Chapter 1621 1620 [The tiger’s power is no longer there!]
Just when Shi Zhijian and Lei Luo were reminiscing about their past life in Hong Kong, they were interrupted by the noise around them.
"You damn Chinese, do you know that you have to pay the protection fee? If you don't pay, your stall will be destroyed!" Seven or eight arrogant ghost guys, carrying baseball bats and other weapons, surrounded a stall selling wonton noodles with an arrogant look.
, start smashing it.
The boss looked like an honest old Chinese man. He clasped his fists, bowed and held his hands together: "No! Please don't! You guys want too much money. It used to be three hundred Canadian dollars, but now it's two hundred Canadian dollars more."
, we can’t bear it!”
"Can't handle it? Then don't do it!" The leader, a black man, said in broken Chinese, "How about we help you put an end to this stall now? Hmm? We will be happy to help you do this!"
"No, I really don't! Our whole family depends on this stall for food!" The Chinese boss continued to beg, almost kneeling down to beg for mercy.
Shi Zhijian watched this scene without saying a word, but looked at Lei Luo, who had an angry look on his face, but finally turned his head away, pretending not to notice, and walked past the wonton noodle stall.
When the ghost guys carrying baseball bats saw that there were so many of them, they whistled arrogantly at Lei Luo and the others. Seeing that Lei Luo ignored them, the ghost guys all laughed.
Shi Zhijian continued to walk side by side with Lei Luo.
"Ajian, did I look embarrassed just now?" Lei Luo suddenly asked.
"A little."
"Hey, I used to be so majestic, especially when I was in Hong Kong, black and white covered the sky with just one hand!" Lei Luo clasped his hands behind his back and said with emotion, "If something like this happened to me at that time, I would definitely take action to stop it.
Yes! But now, if the strong dragon cannot suppress the local snake, it can only give in!"
After a pause, Lei Luo pointed to the front of Chinatown and said: "Did you see that all the shops and stalls in Chinatown have to pay protection fees to these ghosts! If anyone fails to pay, the consequences will be disastrous! Don't talk about ordinary people like them.
, even if it’s me——”
Lei Luo smiled bitterly, looked at Shi Zhijian and laughed at himself: "I'm not afraid of your jokes. When I came to Vancouver, I was very proud and ready to show my talents here, so I bought a hotel to do business, but the hotel was set on fire.
Burned! I was not convinced, so I bought a gold shop to sell jewelry, but in the end, the gold shop was robbed!"
"How could this happen?" Shi Zhijian asked curiously.
"What else can I do? Others think it's me, Lei Luo, who is unlucky, but I know that it's the ghost gang who are warning me, telling me to stay well and not move around!"
After Lei Luo finished speaking, he let out a breath, "Even your sister-in-law received a threatening letter for this. The letter said that I am a thunder tiger in Hong Kong, but here I am just an ant!"
"You didn't visit the pier when you came?"
"Wharf? Do you think the Chinese people have the final say in Chinatown? Wrong!" Lei Luo said, "It's those ghost guys who have the final say!"
Shi Zhijian became even more curious and looked at Lei Luo, but did not speak.
Lei Luo sighed again: "Of course, Chinatown was not like this before. It was a dream place for many Chinese, and many people hoped to immigrate and live here."
Shi Zhijian agrees with this point. In fact, the earliest appearance of the Chinese in Canada can be traced back to around the 18th century. At that time, the land of North America was divided by multiple colonial powers. Today, most of Canada is in a
Under the rule of the British and French colonists, in order to further tap the rich resources, the colonial authorities developed various economic sectors in the local area, including planting, timber, coal and iron ore mining.
Especially starting from the 19th century, due to the exploitation of gold mines and other resources, there was a local upsurge of "going west". This was also the westward movement in Canadian history.
In the 18th century, China was in the period of decline of the feudal dynasty. The people were in dire straits, and class conflicts continued to escalate and worsen. As a result, a large number of people went overseas to make a living, and most of them came from coastal areas. Among these people, there were
Those who rode the waves of the South China Sea to the Southeast Asia, some went to Europe to explore the mysteries of capital, and some even crossed the ocean to discover money-making opportunities in the New World. Of course, there are also some miserable laborers who were forcibly trafficked to foreign countries.
In 1788, a group of carpenters from Macau followed a British naval captain to British Columbia. They were also the first group of Chinese to arrive in Canadian history. By coincidence, the place where these carpenters landed happened to be in what is now Vancouver.
Although the requisitioning of workers to build railways was an extreme exploitation of Chinese laborers, it also provided them at the bottom of life with a way to make a living. What was unexpected was that with the Pacific Ocean serving the westward expansion movement,
After the construction of railways and other infrastructure is completed, Canada no longer needs them.
In China, which was in a feudal society, many people still chose to flee to improve their lives. In 1867, under the influence of the upsurge of independence movements in North America and other American countries, the Canadian Confederation was also proclaimed. In order to prevent a large number of Chinese from flooding into Canada and robbing this new life
The country was already short of jobs, so the Canadian government began to charge a head tax of 50 Canadian dollars per person for Chinese immigrants entering Canada. Later, because the effect was not significant, the maximum was raised to 500 US dollars.
Although the Canadian authorities have tried several times to limit the number of Chinese entering Canada by raising taxes and fees, overall, the number of Chinese is still showing a continuous upward trend. There are two main reasons: First, from the 19th century to the early 20th century
China is in a turbulent period of continuous reform and overthrowing feudalism. Its rule is extremely decadent and people's hearts are scattered. Secondly, Canada, which has just established its federation, is in a period of construction boom, providing a lot of job opportunities. At the same time, there are legends of gold mines, etc.
Incomparably fascinating wealth resources.
This wave of immigrant groups from the East has made Canada's leaders increasingly uneasy. They believe that the continued increase in the number of Chinese-Americans will pose a threat to the local employment environment and even the basis of governance. For this reason, while measures to increase taxes are still ineffective,
Next, they decided to adopt strict laws to restrict the import of Chinese into Canada.
In 1923, the Canadian federal government abolished the head tax and at the same time passed the "Chinese Immigration Act of 1923". The act stipulated that except for businessmen, diplomats, overseas students and special cases, Chinese were prohibited from entering Canada. Later, the scope of application was expanded to
All Asians.
This is a bill that is clearly targeted at a specific ethnic group and aims to use tough laws to control Asians from entering Canada. Once it was introduced, it was strongly dissatisfied by Canadian minorities, especially Asians.
The irritation of public dissatisfaction will inevitably force the Canadian government to change. And their change began during World War II. In September 1939, Canada officially announced its entry into World War II. Foreign wars require a large amount of financial support. For this reason, Canada
Certain wartime bonds were issued in the name of the government.
At this time, the Chinese Association of Canada, with a generous mind, called on the Chinese to buy bonds of the Republic of China, and also encouraged them to buy Canadian wartime bonds to contribute a small amount to the just struggle of their country. From then on,
The status of the Chinese in Canada has greatly improved.
Based on the strong support of the Chinese to the Canadian military during World War II, the Canadian government repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947 and restored the civil rights of the Chinese in Canada. After decades of hard work and struggle, the Chinese community in Canada finally got the
obtain the right of residence they should enjoy.
Although Canada has a vast land area, it can be said that there are not many cities that truly have excellent geographical locations and development opportunities. Vancouver is one of them.
The long history of Chinese immigration, pleasant climate and bustling urban scene have made more and more Chinese immigrants choose this place. Vancouver has also become the second largest Chinese gathering place in North America after San Francisco.
There are many Chinese in Vancouver, and they were originally very powerful. However, the newly elected Vancouver Mayor Powell in recent years is extremely anti-Chinese. He especially hates the local Chinese who gather in Vancouver's Chinatown, believing that the Chinese have usurped their white people's land and resources.
For this reason, Powell teamed up with the ghost gangs in Vancouver and began to squeeze the Chinese community together.
Powell used his power to continuously ask the Vancouver Police Department to crack down on local Chinese gangs, and then let the ghost gangs seize the territory of these gangs. Gradually, even Chinatown was controlled by the ghost gangs, and the Chinese associations either surrendered or shrank and disappeared.
Under the cover of these Chinese associations, the local Chinese were even bullied.
When Lei Luo and others immigrated here, they thought this place was a paradise for Chinese people. Unexpectedly, they were unlucky to meet such a scumbag mayor who made Chinatown a mess, making it impossible to do business well.
After listening to Lei Luo's introduction, Shi Zhijian at least knew the specific situation here.
Seeing Shi Zhijian's silence, Lei Luo patted Shi Zhijian's shoulder and laughed at himself: "Why am I telling you this? Anyway, you are just here to visit me and you don't live here! People still have to rely on themselves -"
After saying that, Lei Luo said a harsh word: "To be honest, if it were me before, I would have drawn my gun and fought with these ghosts! Pu, my mother, if the tiger doesn't show its power, are you just a sick cat?!"
Listening to Lei Luo's harsh words, Shi Zhijian knew that no matter how angry he was, he was only talking.
Because the Lei Luo now is no longer the Lei Luo before.
In the past, Lei Luo was in Hong Kong, covering the sky with one hand, and two words - domineering!
Now Lei Luo is in Vancouver, trying to make ends meet, in two words—cowarded!
He is an outsider!
He has a family and a kid!
Since you can no longer flex your muscles here, then just wait for death and enjoy a lifetime of wealth!
Seeing that Shi Zhijian remained silent, Lei Luo said: "Don't you believe it?"
"I believe it. In my heart, Brother Luo, you will always be so powerful and powerful!"
Lei Luo's eyes flashed with comfort, but he suddenly said: "No need to comfort me. In fact, even I don't believe what I said! I'm getting old!"
As he spoke, Lei Luo took the lead and walked forward. His originally straight waist was really a little rickety.
