"For everyone?" said Wang Lee, looking around.

"No," said the officer. "For the Chinese. Do you have three hundred dollars?"

Wang Lee shook his head. "Then I must deny you entry."

"But I just left here," said Wang Lee. "Two days ago."

"There is no tax for leaving the country," said the officer. One of the policemen laughed.

"But where do I go now?" said Wang Lee, gripping his bag.

"I don't know," said the officer. "You should have thought of that before you left."

"No landee in Canada, no landee in Newfoundland," said Wang Lee looking at the officer. "Throw me overboard." The officer shrugged and closed the file. He nodded to the two policemen.

Wang Lee was put on board the S.S. Bruce. Once more he found himself on the North Atlantic, drifting between two countries. Neither one would take him in. He wondered if he would stay on the ocean forever.

Wang Lee's name and the details of his story have been made up, but the facts are true. The story was reported in the St. John's Daily News on November 26th, 1906.

How did the story end? Wang Lee was forced to stay on the ferry for nearly a week. He went back and forth between North Sydney and Port aux Basques. Then, some of his friends in St. John's heard about his problem. They raised $300 so he could legally enter Newfoundland.

When asked by the Daily News' reporter what he thought about his poor treatment, Wang Lee said: "No landee in Canada. No landee in Newfoundland. Thlow'ee overboard." This is the way the reporter wrote down Wang Lee's Chinese accent. Wang Lee was very bitter about what happened to him. If both Canada and Newfoundland didn't want him, he thought perhaps the immigration officers should have thrown him overboard. Or perhaps he meant that he was so depressed that he felt like jumping into the sea. Wang Lee must have been very lonely during his days and nights on the ferry.

No one knows what became of him.

There are probably many stories like Wang Lee's that were never made public. The rest of this essay will explain some of the reasons why the Chinese were treated so badly.