I Am Not a Ghost: The Canadian Pacific Railway - Hardcover

by David Bouchard (Author), Zhong-Yang Huang (With), Sean Huang (Illustrator)

I AM NOT A GHOST tells the story of a Chinese railway worker who comes to Canada to work on the Great Canadian Pacific Railway. He, like all the others, came in search of a better life but would have died if not for the benevolence of Amelia Douglas, wife of the former governor of British Columbia. A fictional but historically accurate story with an important message, I AM NOT A GHOST describes the racism and hardship that these newcomers to Canada faced and should be required reading for anyone who wants to learn about this troubling period in Canada's history.

Back Jacket

Told in the voice of an elderly Chinese grandfather, eager for his and his countrymen's legacy as builders of the CPR to live on, I Am Not a Ghost: The Canadian Pacific Railway reveals a part of Canadian history that has been overlooked. From the Indigenous people who helped Chinese newcomers survive in their new environment to the dangerous and lifethreatening conditions under which these newcomers lived and worked, I Am Not a Ghost is sure to open some eyes on this part of Canada's history.

Author Biography

David Bouchard, Order of Canada, is an award-winning author, storyteller, and public speaker, who has written more than 70 books. He has championed the cause of reading and writing, and shares his pride as a member of the M騁is community through his stories. David resides in Victoria, BC.

Sean Huang sees art as a means of expression to channel his mood and thoughts into the physical world. He has exhibited widely across Canada and China, and his paintings are found in many private and corporate collections. His first book was Astonishing Legacy: Shoe-Fantasiai>. Sean lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Zhong-Yang was born 1949 in Guangzhou, China. He was raised in an artistic family; at the age of four, he was encouraged to learn Chinese painting and was taught calligraphy techniques. During the Cultural Revolution, at the age of 15, he was sent to the fields to be re-educated through immersion in rural peasant life, where he remained for 10 years. In 1977 he applied and was accepted into the master of fine arts program at Guangzhou Academy Fine Arts, graduating in 1981. He was an instructor there from 1981 to 1984, when he traveled to Canada to pursue a second master of fine art from University of Regina, graduating in 1988. From 2013 to 2016, Yang returned to China to teach at the University of Guangzhou as a professor, before returning to Regina to live and work. He painted the official portrait of Governor General Ramon John Hnatyshyn (1994), the official portrait of Premier Roy Romanow for the Saskatchewan Government (1995) and major mural paintings for both the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and the Royal Alberta Museum (1993-97). The MacKenzie Art Gallery featured a solo exhibition, The Shadow of Mao, by Yang in 2011.His contributions to the visual arts have been recognized with the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) and the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal (2005).

In addition to I Am Not A Ghost, Zhong-Yang Huang shared many Chinese stories with his good friend David Bouchard, and they collaborated on the following books, with all art by Zhong-Yang. The Dragon of Heaven, and the "Chinese Legends" series, which consists of The Great Race, The Dragon New Year, The Mermaid's Muse, and Buddha in the Garden.