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SYDNEY, N.S. —

SYDNEY — A Chinese woman says a Sydney restaurant is discriminating against their own culture.

Olivia Lu, a Glace Bay resident from China attending Cape Breton University, says Chinese students are being barred from entering the Fortune Star Chinese Restaurant in Sydney.

“It’s discrimination, it’s ridiculous, it’s so rude,” said Lu.

Lu said a couple days ago a group of her friends went to the restaurant, sat down and were asked to leave.

“They told them they don’t accept Chinese students anymore,” she said. “They said they could call and place an order and call delivery man to pick it up.”

The note that was posted on the door of Fortune Star Chinese Restaurant on Prince Street in Sydney, barring Chinese students from entering, to protect customers from coronavirus. Sharon Montgomery-Dupe/Cape Breton Post

Lu said a sign was posted on the door in Chinese which translated read: “Due to the recent outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan for the safety of everyone, our store does not accept Chinese students for the time being. If necessary, you can call for deliver. Sorry for the inconvenience, please forgive me.”

After students began sharing photos of the sign on social media, there was an uproar from angry students.

“Then the next day they put up a new sign saying they were closing the restaurant for a month,” Lu said.

Although she hears the restaurant makes really good food, Lui said she will never go there again.

“The thing is, they are all Chinese, even the staff that work there are Chinese,” she said, adding that this should never happen anywhere, but the restaurant is even doing it to their own people. Although some students did go home over the holiday break, the virus didn’t start until after that and the flights are shut down anyway, she said.

Many Chinese students on Facebook sites were expressing anger over the restaurant’s decision, most feeling it was discrimination. There are also some posts defending the restaurant, saying obviously the owner is taking precautions.

Ken Zhou and his wife Shen Fergqin, owners of Fortune Star Chinese Restaurant on Prince Street, in Sydney, stand in front of their restaurant. Zhou said they did post a note on their restaurant barring Chinese students temporarily from eating inside there, to protect their customers from worries of the coronavirus, but said those tuned away could still phone and order delivery. Chinese students have expressed their outrage on social media, saying it’s discrimination. Sharon Montgomery-Dupe/Cape Breton Post

CBU student Chris Wang, also upset over the sign, contacted the Cape Breton Post.

“As Chinese students, we feel we are offended and discriminated,” he said in an email.

Ken Zhou, owner of the Fortune Star Chinese Restaurant Ltd., on Prince Street, admits Chinese students were asked not to come into the restaurant but said they are not discriminating, but simply making sure they keep all their customers safe in conjunction with the outbreak of the virus. The restaurant is still open to everyone; their decision to not let Chinese students inside is only a temporary measure.

“We are Chinese, they are Chinese, we are not discriminating,” he said.

“We’d still served Chinese people, they could call for delivery. We just wanted them to stay home at this time.”

Most recently, Zhou said, some of his customers had concerns about the virus. With an influx of international students here and many recently returning from trips back to China — including recent Chinese New Year celebrations — his concern was not knowing who has been in Canada a long time and who has newly arrived.

The students coming to the restaurant were not even wearing masks, he said.

Zhou said the two to three weeks of not allowing the students into his business is due to the incubation period of the virus being 14 days. If someone was infected they’d have symptoms by then.

“It is only temporary and then we will be back open and will be serving everyone again.”

Face masks Ken Zhou and his wife Shen Fergqin have purchased to send to family in China. Zhou said these are all they could find, they are sold out everywhere as Chinese people across Canada are doing the same thing because there are no longer any to be found in China. Sharon Montgomery-Dupe/Cape Breton Post

In the restaurant they were taking extra measures as well, cleaning every table with alcohol after a customer leaves and having a bacterial hand wash at every table so customers could wash their hands.

Zhou said he’s aware there are Chinese students upset with is decision. On Feb. 1 he decided to close for the month, but not just over the controversy raised by this issue.

Basically, Zhou said, he and his wife, Shen Fergqin, have a lot of family in China and they are stressed out worrying about them.

In the meantime other than some help from one staff member, they’ve been handling the work alone.

“It’s just us working here,” Fergqin said “We are very tired."

Zhou said they opened the restaurant in 2008 and it was very hard work getting started but people of the area were very good to them, letting them post menus in stores, call centres and other businesses.

“People were very good to help us and we will open again at the end of the month.”

On Monday, the couple was trying to figure out the best way to get a box of face masks they had bought mailed to China.

Zhou said they could only find a few boxes to buy.

“You can go to Walmart or anywhere, you can’t buy them right now.”

The flu-like coronavirus, which is believed to have originated in a market that traded illegally in wildlife in Hubei's provincial capital, Wuhan, has so far resulted in more than 350 deaths in China. Confirmed cases of the virus have been reported in 27 other nations, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In China, 361 people have died, with more than 17,000 infected from the virus, which originated in the central city of Wuhan. At least another 171 cases have been reported in more than two dozen other countries and regions.

sharon.montgomery@cbpost.com

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