During a period of extreme cultural chauvinism, the Canadian-American-Chinese writer Sui Sin Far (Edih Maud Eaton, on her real name) (1865-1914) focused on the life of the Chinese families living in North America. Her stories portray people caught between two worlds, two cultures, two languages. The inheritors of traditional Chinese values find themselves thrust into the booming, mercantile, race-conscious cities, such as Montreal. This paper analyzes both the literary strategies preferred by Sui Sin Far, as well as the identity survival strategies chosen by the Chines communities in a contex that advertises democracy but practises discrimination and prejudice.