The Yip family in Vancouver began with Yip Sang's arrival in B.C. in 1881. Yip Sang, whose real name was Yip Chun Tien (along with two other Chinese names, Yip Loy Yiu and Yip Lin Sang), was born in China in 1845. In 1864, he left his home village, Shengtang Cun, Duhu County in Guangdong province, to travel to San Francisco, where he worked as a dishwasher, cook, cigar maker, and labourer in the goldfields.

Eventually he left for B.C., and in 1881, after first looking for gold in the north, settled in Vancouver and found work as a pedlar, selling sacks of coal door to door. In 1882, he was employed by the Canadian Pacific Railroad Supply Company, where he worked as a bookkeeper, timekeeper, paymaster and then as the Chinese superintendent. In 1885, Yip Sang left the company and returned to China. In 1888, he returned to Vancouver and established the import and export firm of Wing Sang Company.

During his lifetime, Yip Sang had four wives and a total of twenty-three children. He became a naturalized British subject in 1891. Yip Sang was one of the driving forces in the establishment of the Chinese Benevolent Association, the Chinese School and the Chinese Hospital (now Mount St. Joseph's) in Vancouver. He was a lifetime governor of Vancouver General Hospital, and was also a benefactor of the Public Hospital in Guangdong province in China. He died in 1927.

The items in this collection are located at the City of Vancouver Archives.

温哥華葉氏家族是由第一代移民葉生於1881年建立，葉生原名葉春田，又名葉來饒或葉連生。葉生在1845年出生於中國廣東省一個農村，他在1864年離鄉後，曾到美國三藩市, 當過洗碗、廚師、雪茄煙工人, 亦曾在金礦場工作。

葉生在 1881 年遷移到加拿大卑詩省， 曾在省北部淘金。 葉生定居於温哥華後, 曾做過賣煤炭小販。一年後葉生受僱於加拿大太平洋鉄路物料公司, 負責入數、 記錄工時及出納等工作, 及後葉生更獲委為華人監工。 葉生在1885年離職返回中國 , 他在1888年重返温哥華創立永生號 ,經營出入口生意。

葉生有4位妻子及23名子女，他在1891年歸化英籍加人。葉生一生致力推重社區發展，他曾參與建立温哥華中華總會、 温哥華中文學校及温哥華中醫院( 即現時的聖約瑟醫院 )，他亦是温哥華綜合醫院的終身理事。 除温哥華外，葉生也曾捐助廣東省公立醫院。葉生於1927年逝世。