West Han Dynasty Bell, Chinatown

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The West Han Dynasty Bell is a gift from Vancouver's sister city of Guangzhou, China and is placed in the intersection of the Shanghai and Canton Alleys.

A gift from Vancouver's sister city, Guangzhou, China, this distinctive bell was given to Vancouver in 1983 to honour the fifteenth anniversary of the twining of the two cities. Sitting in the middle of Shanghai and Canton Alleys, the oldest streets and the beginnings of Vancouver's Chinatown, the Bell rests on two crossbeams, green with age and weathering with three gleaming bronze plaques memorializing the early Chinese settlers in the region as well as explaining the history of the bell itself, a replica of an ancient bell found near the sister city that donated it.

This one tonne bell donated to Chinatown by its sister city Guangzhou, China. It is a replica of a West Han Dynasty bell found in 1983 and given to Vancouver on the 15th anniversary of the twining of the two cities.

Resting from two crossbeams and four columns, it sits in the centre of the Shanghai historical alleys and represents the rich historical background of both Chinatown and its early settlers.

Memorializing the known (and unknown) first immigrants to Vancouver to settle in the region written on large bronze bands circling the four columns that hold the bell up, the bell symbolizes the past and the present in the sacrifices and advances made by many Chinese settlers to the Vancouver region.