Towards A Satellite Chinatown: The Relationality Between Video Piracy and Chinese Diasporic Communities in Toronto

The paper is an ethnographic exploration of the cultural history of video piracy in Toronto, specified by the case study of Pacific Mall, one of the biggest Chinese-themed shopping malls and video piracy sellers in North America. This paper examines the relationship between film piracy and the transformation of Chinese diasporic communities in Canada, as well as the way in which piracy becomes an alternative communication outlet for Chinese diasporic communities through the habit of DVD exchanges, rentals and purchases. The inquiry begins with the following questions: How does Chinese-language media piracy become a transcultural concern? How to bridge the connectivity between media piracy and the expansion of Chinese diasporic communities? How does the evolution of piracy technology mirror the transformation of the Chinese ethnic enclave? To address these questions, the research draws on mixed methodologies: archival research that covers the decades of media reporting of the piracy war between the Ontario police and Pacific Mall between 1999 and 2022, ethnographic research that incorporates site visits and interviews of the members from the researched communities, and at last geographic mapping that traces the mobility patterns implicated in the relocations of piracy sale centers. The study seeks to understand two ambivalent sides of piracy - a controversial business that brings out the negative connotation of Chinese communities and at the same time, the immigrants’ only channel and last resort to access homeland media. Ultimately, the study examines piracy activities as the mirrored trajectory of how Chinese in Toronto are decentred from the ghettos of Chinatown, being dispersed to suburban areas in the form of satellite enclaves.