that was in early 2020. then the covid-19 pandemic hit, an alarming wave of ant-asian violence swept across the united states and canada — raising the stakes for chinatowns everywhere — and montreal’s chinatown found itself fighting for survival as a number of historic buildings in the area were bought up by real estate developers jeremy kornbluth and brandon shiller in 2021.
and so cho’s film acquired a personal edge. she became directly involved in the urgent push to save montreal’s chinatown. she joined the chinatown working group, which was central to the campaign that led montreal and quebec to announce in january 2022 that the area would be granted heritage status , with the wing’s noodle factory — built in 1826 as the british and canadian school — and the former davis tobacco factory classified as quebec heritage sites.
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