The Chinese Cemetery

The Chinese Cemetery is located on the west side of MacLeod Trail in the city’s southeast and dates back to 1908. The cemetery includes many of Calgary's early Chinese pioneers and features in-ground and cremation burial plots adjacent a large pagoda.

Chinese Cemetery Revitalization

The Chinese Cemetery Revitalization Project, in collaboration with Calgary’s Chinese community, supports the recognition and preservation of an important heritage site within our city, honouring the legacy and contributions of the Chinese community in Calgary.

The Project involves the revitalization or removal of monuments that have fallen into disrepair over several decades, the installation of a Monugrid foundation stabilizer on impacted grave sites and general turf and surface upgrades. The revitalization work encompasses seven cemetery blocks, 343 monuments, 262 of which will be repaired, and a total area of 460 m2.

Project work is began in June 2024 and will take place over two summers, concluding in September 2025. A Feng Shui Master first visited the site after which it was determined that corrective work was required to restore and revitalize the area. Community engagement followed, ensuring a collaborative effort that reflects the site’s meaning and history, involves volunteers from the Chinese community, and culminates with a final celebration of the site.

Visitor information

Address: Erlton St. and Macleod Tr. S.W.

Hours: Grounds are open daily from sunrise to sunset.

Map: Chinese Cemetery Map

For administration office information visit our contact page.

Cemetery features

Space availability: The in-ground burial plots at The Chinese Cemetery are at capacity; however, space becomes available from time-to-time. Please call 403-221-3660 for possible availability.  

Features and special areas:

  • In-ground burial plots
  • Pagoda with offering oven feature
  • Large concrete and granite historical Chinese memorial
  • All areas within the cemetery allow for the placement of upright and flat monuments.

Physical area: 1.4 hectares

Number of burials: 1,048


History

The Chinese Cemetery dates back to 1908 and includes many of Calgary's early Chinese pioneers. The cemetery also includes a pagoda with an oven, which is available for those wishing to make offerings to their loved ones.

The Chinese Cemetery, on the west side of MacLeod Trail, is worth visiting for the story it doesn't tell. Calgary's Chinese pioneers were among the first to develop the west, many emigrating over a hundred years ago from Hoy Sun Country (also known as Toisan) in southern China's Guangdong province.

The newcomers faced terrible hardships in this new land: racial discrimination, loneliness and difficult and often dangerous work as railway workers on the Canadian Pacific Railway, miners in the interior of British Colombia, and labourers in the cities and towns. Many had no immediate family or relatives in Canada since immigration laws at the time prevented them from bringing over their wives and families. Because there were often no descendants to maintain the burial sites, many of the headstones in the Chinese Cemetery eventually deteriorated.

​The City took over the Chinese Cemetery in 1935. In 1980, during the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) construction and the widening of Macleod Trail, workers excavating near the cemetery unearthed thirty-nine bodies, which were later reburied in a common grave. Initially, the Hoy Sun Association considered restoring the damaged headstones, but decided to build a common monument instead - not wishing to disturb the Feng Shui of individual graves.

The Calgary Heritage Authority deemed the cemetery to be a historically significant cultural landscape that played an important part in the settlement and establishment of Calgary as a city.

Contact

For more information email calgarycemeteries@calgary.ca or call 403-221-3660. Queen's Park Cemetery administration building office hours are Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Prairie Sky Cemetery administration building office hours are by appointment only.

The Chinese Cemetery gallery

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