H990.277.150 - Journal This doctor's journal was originally a textbook, but was used as a personal scrapbook into which the owner glued articles and keepsakes. On the inside cover are two pages of handwritten personal and professional goals which start with the words: "Penned in the year of 1930 March 3 My Aim". Of the 128 pages in the book, 25 pages have inspirational articles pasted in them. The articles are about setting personal goals or self-improvement through mental healing or physical exercise. The book may have belonged to Doctor Yip Kew Ghim, one of Yip Sang's sons.

H990.277.153 - Book: "Transportation"
This picture book, entitled "Transportation," shows different modes of transportation available in 1935. The front cover shows a locomotive while the last page illustrates a steamship, the mode of transportation for Chinese people coming to North America in the early 1900s. The book was printed by the Shang **Wen** Press in Shang-hai, still one of the largest presses in China. Stamped onto the front and back covers is a Chinese name that roughly translates as, "Wen Jiang School Reading Room". The 18 page book sold for 12 cents.

H990.277.165 - Opera Rouge
This large rectangular palette of Chinese opera rouge fold accordion style into a pink coloured rectangular box. Labels in Chinese are stamped on to the packet, roughly translated as "Opera group base colour rouge". Red foil covers the inside leaves of the palette with small amounts of rouge adhering to the foil. In Chinese opera, the colour of an actor's make-up often identified the character which the actor played. For example, heroes wore red make up, while gods wore gold make-up.

H990.277.167 - Opera Powder
These pink and gold embossed boxes contain white Chinese opera powder. The opera powder was sealed into smaller boxes that have removable glass lids. The powder was also wrapped in paper to prevent it from escaping. In Chinese opera, the colour of an actor's make-up often signified the character which the actor played. For example, comic characters wore white make-up.

H990.277.168 - Complete Rouge Box w. contents
The box illustrates the complete packaging of a Chinese opera rouge packet. See the open contents of the package in H990.277.165.

H990.277.171 - Card Game This is a deck of Chinese playing cards. In Chinese, there is no special word for "playing cards." Instead, cards are lumped together with other "objects for gambling" including dice and dominoes. Chinese cards are always long and narrow, and can be classified into six main groups: Mah Jongg cards, Word of Phrase cards, Number cards, Money cards, Domino or Dice cards, and Chess cards. This deck is of Money cards. Money card decks usually contain 120 cards, consisting of a basic pack of 30 to 40 cards duplicated three or four times (in this case it is four sets of 30 cards each). Each of these basic packs has 3 suits of 9 cards, with 3 "court" cards in each suite. These suits are related to Chinese coins called "cash". It is believed that Chinese playing cards of this type originated as an early kind of paper money used for gambling.

H990.277.189 - CPR Envelope
This envelope contained trunk labels for trips on the Canadian Pacific Railway Steamships. The instructions on the envelope indicate that heavy trunks or luggage should be taken to the ship the day before departure and that all luggage must have labels on its top and bottom. Further instructions suggest passengers write their name, room number, steamship and sailing date on the luggage tags and take their passport as required by law for their trip. The envelope also encourages travelers to buy Canadian Pacific Travelers Cheques, from the "World's greatest travel system" -- the CPR.

H990.277.198 - Box of Medicine
The box originally held 44 medicine bottles of brown oil. The glass medicine bottles seen here are fairly small (approx. 5 cm. high) and narrow (0.5 cm. wide). The oil was either ingested or applied as a rub meant to cure headaches, stomach aches, and toothaches. This kind of medicine is still for sale in Chinatown today in the 1990s.

H990.277.219 - Baby Carrier
This baby carrier is made in the Cantonese and Hakka style. The designs at the center of the carriers are usually good luck symbols. This carrier was not made recently, as the amount of fabric reflects the larger size of styles from the 19^th century. The embroidered side of the carrier faced out. It was considered bad luck to wear it with the embroidered side facing in unless a parent had died within the family. The baby carrier was usually a gift from the family's grandmother to the child's mother. Baby carriers were usually given to the mother when her child was one month old. The baby carrier allowed the mother to carry her baby on her back. The carrier has four straps, two of which come over the shoulders, while another two are wrapped twice around the back to the front of the waist. The straps are tied together, holding the baby in place, thereby leaving the mother free to move and use her arms. The animated sequence seen here shows a front, side and back view of how the carrier was worn.

H990.277.234 - Table Mat
The woven table mat or runner can be directly linked to Yip Sang and was probably for his personal use. Yip Sang's name is written in English in ink at one end of the mat.

Photo, top: Detail, Wing Sang Building with Yip Sang and Family, c. 1905. Vancouver City Archives, CVA689-9.
Unless stated otherwise, all photos are from the collection of the Vancouver Museum.

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