Author Archives: Todd

Vancouver Public Library Chinese New Year links page.

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The Vancouver Public Library has created a very nice web page with
links to topic about Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, and an upcoming
Chinese New Year celebration on January 29th.  Check out the
Multilingual department Chinese New Year web page.


 

Here is a brief look!

Happy Chinese New Year!

The origin of the Lunar New Year Festival can be
traced back thousands of years, involving a series of colorful legends
and traditions. One of the most famous legends is Nian, an extremely
cruel and ferocious beast that the ancients believed would devour
people on New Year's Eve. To keep Nian away, red-paper couplets are
pasted on doors, torches are lit, and firecrackers are set off
throughout the night because Nian is said to fear the color red, the
light of fire, and loud noises.

Even though Lunar New Year celebrations generally last for only several
days, starting on New Year's Eve, the festival itself is actually about
three weeks long. It begins on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth
lunar month, the day, it is believed, when various gods ascend to
heaven to pay their respects and report on household affairs to the
Jade Emperor, the supreme Taoist deity. There are a lot of rituals and
costumes for this special festival.

Gung Haggis dress code? To kilt or be kilted: Bear Kilts made my newest kilt.

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People are always asking what is the dress code
for Gung Haggis Fat Choy? 
The best answer is ethnic
eclectic.  We encourage kilts, tartans, cheongsams and Chinese
jackets, and whatever gets your fancy!  This really is a fun
dinner. Some people wear formal kilts and cheongsams, the long Chinese
dress – and they look fantastic.  Some people wear a short tartan
skirt mixed with a Chinese top, or a business suit with a tartan tie,
some people wear a sari, some people wear casual – and it's all
good.  But nobody yet has come wearing a tuxedo or lederhosen.

Now I have my very own kilt made by Terry “Bear” Varga, owner of Bear Kilts. 
“Bear” as he is known was the first casual tartan kilt maker
around. 
He points out that Utili-kilts does not come in tartan.  Bear is
my
newest kilt mentor, after Angus Mackenzie.  The least expensive
kilt
made by Bear Kilts is a poly-viscous kilt for about $135, and they will
range to as fancy as you need it such as a heavy weight wrap
wool.  Needless to say, Bear has made a number of kilts for high
school graduation ceremonies.

Bear Kilts has graciously donated a “made to order kilt”
to the Gung Haggis Fat Choy prize raffle.  It will be a $300 made
to order kilt – dependent upon in-stock material of tartan.  “I've
never had a gift certificate for a kilt go unredeemed,” Bear told me on
Robbie Burns Day when he made the offer.  So if you thought you
couldn't afford a kilt, just buy $20 worth or raffle tickets for a good
chance to win a great kilt.

Bear Kilts is also a sponsor for
the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragonboat team.  We hope to integrate
Bear's bunch of braw' boys into the team's engine room and promote Bear
Kilts wherever we go paddling..  What better way to stand out in a
dragon boat crowd, then to do so wearin' a kilt?

I am wearing a polyviscous Maple Leaf tartan,
in the above left side photos. This is designed to be light for summer
wear, since I plan to wear it during Dragon Boat competitions. 
The synthetic material is easy to wash – perfect for mixing with salt
water.  For the top right I am wearing an Ancient Fraser or Fraser
of Lovat – as it was the very first kilt
I ever wore in 1993 from Simon Fraser University.  In the bottom
right I am wearing a Royal Stewart that was used for the filming of the
“dressing up” scenes in the CBC television special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy.”
It had been a long afternoon, and I decided to create some
cross-costume dressing fusion by borrowing the Lion head mask and
adding it to my Scottish costume.  The result?  People loved
the photograph – taken by my friend Don Montgomery.

The very first Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in 1998 was a house party. And since “I dinna hav a kilt,” for
my tartan I wore a Canadian lumberjack Mackincaw shirt tied around my
waist backwards.  It looked very good considering the
circumstances.  My buddy Craig and I were the only fellows wearing
“kilts” for that first house party of 16 people.  Only the hired
bagpiper had a real kilt.

I do not recommend wearing only a Lumberjack shirt tied backwards
around your waist for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  Mayor
Larry Campbell will probably arrive wearing his dress kilt, as will a
number of other gentlemen and wannabe-Scots.

Chinese-Celtic fusion with Wong, Wu, Chisolm & Rosen for Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2005

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Chinese-Celtic fusion with Wong, Wu, Chisolm & Rosen for Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2005

Karen Wong & Zhongxi Wu are bringing their friends
Alex Chisolm & Carmen Rosen to Gung Haggis Fat Choy for an exciting musical adventure. Karen
and Zhongxi are the creators of Dragon
River Shadow Puppet Theatre. 
I first met them when they performed at the 2002 Vancouver Storytelling
Festival, and I liked them immediately as both performers and
people.  Zhongxi next crossed my path when he walked into a dinner
I was MC for in May… except I didn't recognize him wearing a kilt and
carrying bagpipes!

Karen and Zhongxi became became Gung Haggis-ified when they performed
with me for First
Night Vancouver on Dec. 31, 2004 for 2 packed and enthusiastic shows.  Karen
was born in Montreal and raised in North Vancouver, she plays the sheng
– a unique 2000 year old 13 reed wind blown organ made of bamboo pipes.  Zhongxi
aka “Jonesey”, born in Harbin, China, plays the suona – a loud reed flute, and
two years ago, he took up BAGPIPES! 

Alex Chisolm plays in the same pipe band with Zhongxi – and  he
also plays mandolin.  The two men have become great friends and
play music together often. His partner Carmen Rosen is an accomplished  artist and singer.  She is also founder of performance artists Mortal Coil and involved with the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival. I think it will say that when Wong, Wu, Chisolm and Rosen get together… anything can happen!

Heather Pawsey returns to perform for Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2005

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Adrienne Wong, Heather Pawsey and Toddish McWong singing
sweet sounds together at the 2004 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Sunday night
dinner. photo Tim Pawsey.

Heather Pawsey, returns to the Gung Haggis Fat Choy musical line-up for 2005. She is a noted Soprano recently seen in last year's Vancouver Opera's
“Electra” as the Confidant.  “It was a hoot!” she says of
her participation at 2004 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner – as she
sang songs in old Gaelic and Mandarin Chinese.  She also changed costumes from a
very smart long dress tartan and vest outfit to a very sexy red Chinese
cheong-sam.  While spending Christmas 2004 in Sasketchewan, her mother bought her a
new outfit to wear for Gung Haggis Fat Choy!  For 2005, she will again sing in
Mandarin + sing an opera song set in Scotland.

Heather sings in all the opera languages, French, German, Italian, and
only recently added Mandarin and Cree.  Last year on Chinese New
Year's Day, Heather sang “Jasmine Flower” in Mandarin to my accordion
accompaniment, for a joint radio broadcast by CBC Radio and Fairchild
Radio.

Heather is tres cool! Heather also LOVES Robbie Burns
dinners. She looks forward to singing songs in both Mandarin and
Gaelic. She secretly professes that Ye Banks and Braes and My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose are her favorite Burns songs… Heather has hosted her own Burns dinners, and can recite Address to a Haggis as well as Robert Service, the  noted Scots-Canadian who wrote the immortal words: There are strange things done in the midnight sun…

Check out Heather's brand new website at www.heatherpawsey.com  – very cool!  very Heather!


This photo was shot by Mario Bartel for the Burnaby News Leader, up at
Simon Fraser University on Thursday January 20, 2005.  It is in
Convocation Mall where the inaugural SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy “Canadian
Games” will take place on January 22, 2005.  In my right hand is
my dragon boat paddle, and on my left hand is my Chinese dragon hand
puppet.

Burnaby News Leader story: Gung Haggis Fat Choy combines two cultures

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Check out this front page lead story in Sunday's Burnaby News Leader

Gung Haggis Fat Choy combines two cultures

 
 
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

Todd
Wong, aka Toddish McWong, is getting ready to celebrate Gung Haggis Fat
Choy, a convergence of Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New Year that he
cooked up while trying to come up with an idea for “a really good house
party” when he was a student at Simon Fraser University.

By Katie Robinson

NewsLeader Staff

Todd
Wong – often dubbed Toddish McWong – never thought in a million years
he, a fifth-generation, Chinese-Canadian, would ever be wearing a
Scottish kilt. But then life threw him a curveball, resulting in Gung
Haggis Fat Choy.

The Chinese New Year celebrates good fortunes for the new year and
honours Heaven and Earth, as well as the family. Robbie Burns Day is a
Scottish celebration, giving praise to the great literary works of
Robert Burns. And Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a combination of the two.

In Jan. 1993, Simon Fraser University (SFU) was struggling to find
volunteers to help with its annual Robbie Burns Day celebration. One of
the committee members approached Wong, then a psychology student and
university tour guide, requesting his assistance.
Wong declined.

“What? A Chinese guy wearing a kilt? That's strange – that's weird,” he said of his initial reaction.

The more he thought about it though, the more he realized this
might not be such a bad idea after all. Once he began flipping the
stereotypes, and drawing parallels between Simon Fraser – of Scottish
ancestry – and himself, he realized he might actually be embarking on a
potentially wonderful experience.

“Simon Fraser had never been to Scotland, and at the time I was a
fifth-generation, Chinese-Canadian, who had never been to China,” Wong
said, while standing on the steps of SFU's Convocation Mall.

The Chinese New Year fell just two days before Robbie Burns Day
that particular year. Wong couldn't pass up that opportunity to combine
the two cultures into one celebration – he agreed to wear the kilt.

But it wasn't until 1998 that Gung Haggis Fat Choy was truly born.

Wong invited 16 friends – both Scottish-Canadian and
Chinese-Canadian – to a dinner with the intentions of merging the two
holidays once again. He researched Robbie Burns Day, and prepared the
feast of various Chinese and Scottish delicacies, including the Burns'
Day traditional treat of haggis.

“Gung Haggis Fat Choy is an intersection of the Scottish-Canadian heritage, and the Chinese-Canadian heritage,” Wong said.

“We're creating a whole new Canadian society that we're dubbing the Gung Haggis Clan.”

The annual event has doubled in size every year since that first
feast. No longer is it just a group of close friends in a small dining
room, now it's expanded to hundreds of people filling the capacity of
large restaurants.

This year's event is even more special though because Wong is bringing it back to SFU.

In an attempt to unite the university's large Asian community with
its Scottish heritage, SFU intramural coordinator Geoff Vogt looked to
Wong for assistance. The inaugural Gung Haggis Fat Choy Canadian games
will be celebrated on Jan. 28 at noon in Convocation Mall. It will
feature traditional Scottish Highland elements, Chinese sporting
elements and a dragon-boat race on drylands.

“When we started this thing, we were just trying to deal with a
really good house party. I never imagined it would get this huge,” Wong
said.

“It makes me happy that so many people are enjoying Gung Haggis
Fat Choy. We finally have racial equality, and we're finally able to
celebrate our heritage in ways we haven't before.”

With the popularity of Gung Haggis on the rise, Wong is looking to
the future. He hopes living rooms everywhere will some day be filled
with people celebrating Gung Haggis Fat Choy, guzzling drams of whisky,
reciting Burns' poetry, and dipping Haggis Wun-Tun in maple syrup.  krobinson@newwestnewsleader.com

see my recollection of the interview with reporter Katie Robinson and phtographer Mario Bartel.

What to expect when you come to Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2005?

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What to expect at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2005 Dinner

Arrive Early:  The doors will open at
5:00 pm. All seating is reserved, and all tables are placed in the
order that they were ordered (except for special circumstances such as
a major sponsor hint hint).  We find this is the most fair, and it
encourages people to buy their tickets earlier to ensure a table closer
to the stage.  We expect a rush just prior to the posted 5:30pm
reception
time.  This is the time to go to the bar and get your dram of
Glenfiddich or pint of McEwan's Lager – specially ordered for tonight's
dinner.

Buy Your Raffle Tickets: We have some great door
and raffle prizes lined up.  Lots of books (being the writers we
be), gift certificates and theatre tickets + other surprises.

This dinner is the primary fundraising event for
both the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, publishers of RicePaper Magazine and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon
Boat Team. Please support our missions of supporting and developing emerging writers,
organizing reading events, and to spread multiculturalism through
dragon boat racing – or come join our teams!

The first appetizer dish will appear once people
are seated, and after the Piping in of the musicians and
hosts.  We will lead a singalong of Scotland the Brave and give
good welcome to our guests, only then will the first appetizers 
appear.  You want to eat, you have to sing for your supper!

From then on… a new dish will appear every 15 minutes –
quickly followed by one of our co-hosts introducing a poet or musical
performer.  Serving 60 tables within 5 minutes, might not work
completely, so please be patient.  We will encourage our guests
and especially the waiters to be quiet while the performers on stage.
Then for the 5 minute intermissions, everybody can talk and make noise
before they have to be quiet for the performers again.

Expect the unexpected: I
don't want to give anything away right now as I
prefer the evening to unfold with a sense of surprise and
wonderment.  But let it do be known that we have an incredible
array of talent for the evening  This includes
bagpiper Joe McDonald with his fusion band Brave Waves as well as
Chinese-born bagpiper Zhongxi Wu with his celtic musician
friends.  We have two opera sopranos and a hip hop singer…
highland dancers… more surprises…

Our non-traditional reading of the “Address to the
Haggis” is always a crowd pleaser.  I hand-pick members of the
audience to join us on stage to read a verse.  Past participants
have included former federal Secretary of State Raymond Chow, Qayqayt
(New Westminster) First Nations Chief Rhonda Larrabee, UBC
Director of the Chan Centre Dr. Sid Katz, a descendent of Robert the
Bruce, a doctor from White Horse, a UBC student from Scotland, somebody
doing a vocal impression of Sean Connery.

The evening will wrap up somewhere between 9:00 and
9:30 pm, then we will socialize further until 10pm.  People will
leave with smiles on their faces and say to
each other, “Very Canadian,”  “Only in Vancouver could something
like this happen,” or “I'm telling my friends.”

History Fair is a big success for Chinese Canadian Historical Society

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History Fair is a big success for Chinese Canadian Historical Society


My mother Betty Wong and me with pictures from the Rev. Chan family archives.



The History Fair put on at the Vancouver Museum on Saturday January 22, 2005 by The Chinese Canadian Historical Society
was a great success.  The Joyce Whalley room was packed with
displays and visitors.  I was almost constantly answering
questions or explaining about my two displays:  Rev. Chan Legacy Project  and Gung Haggis Fat Choy: the 2005 dinner event.

The formal welcomes took place with Dr. Edgar Wickberg welcoming
everybody.  He very peceptively told the audience that while we as
a society know a lot of how the mainstream community reacted to or
against the Chinese community, we don't know a lot about how the
Chinese community thought about these same situations, or what went on
in the families and the community.  Dr. Wickberg emphasized that
is is very important right now to take stock of what we do have, so
that we can move forward in including Chinese Canadian history within
the larger context of Canadian history. He explained that BC is often
the last end note in Canadian history.


I had four poster cards filled with pictures of the families of Rev.
Chan Sing Kai and Rev. Chan Yu Tan on display, standing  upright –
while other poster cards were flat on the table including the Chinese
ancestral family tree written by Rev. Chan Yu Tan in 1924, and the 2000
Rev. Chan Yu Tan  family tree of descendents.  These posters
displayed picture of Rev. Chan Sing Kai soon after he first arrived in
Canada in 1888 and soon after wearing “European costume.” 
Pictures also included Rev. Chan Yu Tan's 50th wedding anniversary
picture with his wife.  The most recent pictures were from the
1999 Rev. Chan Clan Family and featured pictures of each of the
attending generations from my Grandmother's 3rd generation with her
brothers, sisters and cousins to the 7th generation featuring my cousin
Lisa's two granddaughters who are both only 1/4 Chinese now.


Marisa Alps visiting me at my Rev. Chan Legacy display.


The display attracted lots of attention from attendees.  Some
had attended the Chinese United Church as they grew up in
Chinatown.  Some recognized friends in the pictures. Some were
inspired and wanted to research their own famility histories and family
trees.  Some people had heard me on CBC Radio being interviewed by Sheryl MacKay for her North By Northwest CBC radio show.

My parents came down and brought my 94 year old grandmother to see the
show.  Sing Tao Newspaper photographer Richard Li took a picture
of us with pictures of us with the Rev. Chan Legacy display. 
Channel M also had a television camera shooting picutres
too.   Filmaker Nettie Wild had some good conversations with
myself and my mother regarding the lives of our ancestors 100 years
ago, as Nettie is researching stories for her next project.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy™ was my other display. 
I displayed posters for the 2005 dinner event, the SFU GHFC Canadian
Games and the 2004 CBC television special.  As well, I displayed
past newsclippings and one of the first pictures ever taken of me in a
kilt in 1993, by SFU media photographer Marianne Meadhal.  Many
people came by had heard me on CBC radio, saw me on The National with
Peter Mansbridge or saw the CBC tv special Gung Haggis Fat Choy. 
They all enjoyed the concept of a combined Robbie Burns Chinese New
Year Dinner, as I explained that I was partly inspired by my Chan
Family's 6th and 7th generations who are now only 1/2 or 1/4 Chinese
and will need to find inclusive expressions to express their dual or
multi-ethnic hybrid culture and ancestry.


“I think you've identified Vancouver's 'Two Solitudes',” Vancouver
Museum's history curator Joan Seidl told me.  We joked about how
in BC, the influencing forces were Scottish and Chinese as opposed to
English and French.  While the Scots were on top and the Chinese
on bottom, Vancouver's history is filled with stories of both
interaction and non-interaction between these groups.

The history fair had a wonderful atmosphere of comraderie as friends
greeted each other, of discovery as old friends reunited, and of
importance as insights were made.  The following is a list of the
presenters and my comments.


Strathcona House Genealogy
– James Johnstone had a picture of my grandmother's old house and a
list of the houses' genealogy of occupents.  He talked with both
my mother and grandmother about the house.
Chinese Family Laundry & Enping County
– Elwin Xie and his partner Fanna brought together pictures and
artifacts for this cool display.  Elwin is also a friend and an
ACWW board member.
Chinese in Guyana – Trev
Sue-a-Quan had copies of his two books about the Chinese in Guyana and
his own family stories.  Trev is also a poet and a friend through
dragon boating.
Multicultural Canada is
a  Simon Fraser University project that is creating “…a freely
and highly accessible and visible cultural heritage portal online.”
Historical Cartoons – Patricia Roy had her book and collections of cartoons detailing the clashes and atteitudes about the Chinese
Won Alexander Cumyow – Janet
Nicol had been reseaching the life of the first Chinese born in
Canada.  Cumyow married the daughter of Rev. Chan Sing Kai – and
just discovered that “Eva” was actually an adopted daughter
Historica – Shannon Steele will be putting together an educational fair for youth about their place in history

Canadians for Redress –
Sid Tan, Linda Jang and Sean Gunn all had a great display on Head tax
redress with lots of copies of Shared Vision which featured them on the
cover and in the story Settling the Score
Chinese Stoneware Record – Trelle Morrow
WWII Veterans & Chinese Cemeteries – Judy Maxwell worked on a research paper about the veterans and a wonderful display was provided by the Chinese Canadian Military Museum
WWII Chinese Canadian Female Aviators
– Patti Gully featured pictures and stories about young attractive
Chinese woman who helped lead the war effort promotion.  
Very insightful.

Chinese Burial Practices – Laura Pasacreta
Chinese Artifacts from Salt Spring Island – Chris Hatfield has found many many pottery pieces and shards on his Saltspring Island farm.
Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society – Don Montgomery, executive director shared his table with Rice Paper Magazine
Yan Family Tree – May Yan-Mountain
Lau/She Family Tree – Jennifer Lau
Kamloops Chinese Cultural Association – Heroes of Confederation Museum Project
Chinese in Kamloops & Railway Workers – Joanna Maxwell
Chinese Opera Costumes – Elizabeth Johnson brought together a display from the Museum of Anthropology where she is curator.


Pick of the Week is Gung Haggis Fat Choy™ for Georgia Straight and Canada.com

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Gung Haggis Fat Choy™ is often gets listed in many
different Entertainment and Food listings.  But it is always
special when your event gets highlights as a “must-do” or recommended
event.  Please check out these great events lists.

Beware of imitators!  If it isn't Toddish McWong approved – It ain't Gung Haggis Fat Choy™!!

www.Canada.com

AROUND TOWN
Gung Haggis Fat Choy™
Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year musical variety and dinner show.
EVENT TYPE: Concert, Literary, Show, Holiday, Food/Drink
DATE:
Sunday, January 30, 2005
LOCATION: Floata Seafood Restaurant
ADMISSION: $45-60
TICKET INFO: 604-689-0926
EVENT PROFILE:
Special
guest hosts and performers include: CBC Radio host Shelagh Rogers,
comedian Tom Chin, Brave Waves, Governor General's Award for Poetry
winner Fred Wah, singer LaLa, Dr. Jan Walls, Battery Opera's David
McIntosh, and Dragon River Shadow Puppet Theatre's Karen Wong and
Zhongxi Yu.

The Georgia Straight  

Straight Goods

Burns and Wong


By angela murrills and judith lane

Publish Date: 20-Jan-2005


Comedy duo? Nope. It's Toddish McWong's (aka Todd Wong) 12-year-old Scottish/Chinese cultural celebration, Gung Haggis Fat Choy™,
that fuses Robbie Burns Day with Chinese New Year. The 12-course Robbie
Burns Chinese New Year dinner is a “quirky fusion/mix/buffet of
Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian including haggis served with
plum and/or sweet and sour sauces” and features a mix of entertainment
with contributions by opera singer Heather Pawsey, kilted Highland
dancers, and the Silk Road Ensemble. Tickets for the January 30
banquet, taking place at Floata Chinese Restaurant (400­180 Keefer
Street) are $60 (at 604-689-0926). If this queers your stomach, sign up
for Burns & Byrnes, a Robbie Burns Day whisky tasting at
Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks (1128 Mainland Street) on Tuesday (January
25). Jim Byrnes toasts the haggis while you nose single malts with
expert Bruce McKenzie and take home Charles Maclean's Scotch Whisky, A Liquid History (Sterling, 2003). Cost is $125.

Georgia Straight


Book Choice of the Week

Gung Haggis Fat Choy™


By john burns

Publish Date: 13-Jan-2005

Casting around for some way to celebrate
Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New Year? Throw in your lot with the Gung
Haggis Fat Choy brigade, featuring Fred Wah, Dugald Christie, Joe
McDonald, and Shirley Sue-A-Quan. The world-poetry night includes a
special group poem with Chinese and Scottish poets, including Billy
Yizhong, Jacinda Oldale, and others. The haggis hits the wok Monday
(January 17) at Library Square (350 West Georgia Street), beginning at
7:30 p.m. Admission is free; phone 604-331-3603 for details.

 Dine Out Vancouver 2005
… January 30, 2005 GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY DINNER “ToddishMcWong’s” quirky evening
celebrates Chinese New Year and Scottish bard Robbie Burns with a 12 …

www.tourismvancouver.com/pdf/forks_corks_current.pdf –

Fred Wah shines at Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry night event

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Fred Wah shines at Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry night event at Vancouver Public Library


Fred
Wah held the audience in thrall as he read his poems at the recent Gung
Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night reading January 17, at the Vancouver
Public Library, Central Branch.  Wah read poems from his many
works such as Diamond Grill and the collection Waiting for Sasketchewan
which had won him the Govenor General's Award for Poetry.  Wah
chose many poems to fit the evening's hybrid theme, many of them about
food.  He spoke about how food transcended cultures and recalled
the foods he had grown up with.  Just over 100 people attended the
evening and listend to Wah speek about his experiences growing up
hybrid between his father's mixed Irish, Scottish and Chinese heredity
and his mother's Swedish family while growing up in Canada's not always
multicultural-friendly communities. 



“It's not
always multicultural pretty,” Wah  told the audience attending the
poetry event that blended together aspects of Scottish and Chinese
cultures and heredity to celebrate the relative proximity of Robbie
Burns Day (January 25) and Chinese New Year (this year on February 9).
Wha also talked about the challenges of growing up between the cultures
in Canada.  Co-host Todd Wong also addressed how early Scottish
pioneers and Chinese pioneers were often at different ends of disputes
– but now many cultures have married inter-racially in today's Canada,
including Scottish and Chinese pioneer descendents.



Scottish-born poet Dugald Christie, also a Civil Rights lawyer  read both
his own poems and a bit of Burns.  Beijing-born poet Shirley
Sue-A-Quan read part of a long poem, that addressed the many different
immigrant cultures coming to Canada.  Bagpiper Joe McDonald had
led the poet procession into the room playing both an original song
titled “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” as well as “Scotland the Brave.”  He
later lead a singalong of Loch Lomand and performed an original song
for which he also played a chinese flute.



This incredible culturally diverse evening started off with a tribute
to Martin Luther King Jr. as World Poetry co-hosts Alejandro
Mujica-Olea and Ariadne Sawyer recognized the birthday of the American
Civil Rights leader. Co-host Todd Wong and originator of Gung Haggsi
Fat Choy, spoke about Burns as a defender of civil rights and how both
the Scots and Chinese share values of hard work and helping to pionneer
this land called Canada.  Wong then read a poem titled
Chinese-Canadian Ode in Heroic Couplets, composed by Mr. Yuk-Man Lai
and translated by Dr. Jan W. Walls.  Wong finished off by reading
his own poem about immigrants coming to Canada titled “My Chow Mein
Lies Over the Ocean” interspersed with sung choruses of “My Bonny Lies
Over the Ocean” with the words chow mein or haggis substituted for
“bonny.”



The evening started drawing to a closing with a group poem by the World
Poetry collective titled the Ballad of Gung Haggis Fat Choy World
Poetry.  Alejandro, Ariadne, Shirley and Dugald were joined on
stage by James, Jacinta and Shirley's husband Trev Sue-A-Quan (featured
in 2004's event).  The poem recognized the origins of the event
with creators Toddish McWong, Ariadne and Alejandro, and how 
different cultures each bring something to the mosaic of Canada. 
To end the evening, Wong and McDonald lead a singalong where all 100
audience members stood up in a circle and joined hands to sing the
imortal word of Robert Burns,  “Should old aquaintance be
forgot…)