Category Archives: Asian Canadian Cultural Events

Takao Tanabe, one of Canada's greatest artists, on display now at Centre A in Vancouver

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Takao Tanabe, one of Canada's greatest artists, on display now at Centre A in Vancouver


FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE

 

Centre A presents

 

 

TAKAO
TANABE

 

Banners & Banner Paintings 1969
– 1973

 

EXHIBITION: January 7 – February 18,
2006

 

RECEPTION: Sunday, January 29, 2-5
pm

 

Free parking lot at 23 West
Pender

 

Exhibition Sponsor: Anndraya T.
Luui

 

Centre A is honoured to host a solo
exhibition by one of Canada’s greatest artists, Takao
Tanabe. The exhibition features a series of over 30 banners and banner
paintings. These dramatic works make full use of Centre A’s high ceiling and
open space. The exhibition coincides with Tanabe’s career retrospective, opening
at the Vancouver
Art Gallery on January 21. Centre A will host
a public reception with the artist in attendance on Sunday afternoon, January
29, to coincide with Chinatown celebrations of
the Year of the Dog.

 

Tanabe’s banners maintain a strong
contemporary edge even after thirty years. He started making them in the late
1960s, a time of great change in the arts, when painting seems literally to be
leaping off the wall. Commissions to produce banners for public spaces in
Regina and Winnipeg inspired him to explore other
applications of the form. Some were painted on canvas, while others were made in
collaboration with a commercial flag maker in New York. These works on nylon are translucent
and in some cases over 16 feet long. Seen from behind they look like stained
glass windows.

 

Born in Seal Cove, a fishing village
near Prince Rupert,
BC, Takao Tanabe has been a leader
in Canadian art for half a century. He represented Canada at the
Sao Biennale of 1953 and has been going strong ever since. He is a master
painter whose astonishing career includes a wide range of styles. For many years
he was Head of the Art Program at the Banff School of Fine Arts, where he
influenced many younger artists. He is a recipient of the Governor General’s
Award and the Order of Canada. His work is represented by the Equinox Gallery
where it will be featured in an exhibition opening on February
15.

 

Centre A is pleased to be mounting
this exhibition in cooperation the Vancouver Art
Gallery, continuing a
tradition of collaboration between the two
organizations.

 

We are extremely grateful to the
President of Centre A’s Board of Directors, Anndraya T. Luui, for her generous
sponsorship of this exhibition.

 

Centre A acknowledges the generous
support of patrons, sponsors, members, partners, private foundations, and
government funding agencies, including the Canada Council for the Arts, the
British Columbia Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver through the Office of Cultural
Affairs.

 

Centre A

Vancouver International Centre for
Contemporary Asian Art

2 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC,
Canada, V6B 1G6

t. 604-683-8326; f.
604-683-8632

centrea@centrea.org;  www.centrea.org

Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday,
11am-6pm




The Tyee: Article on Mixed Marriage aka inter-racial marriage by Amy Chow

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The Tyee: Article on Mixed Marriage aka inter-racial marriage by Amy Chow

Amy Chow has written an article called The Face of Asian Mixed Marriage in BC
 http://thetyee.ca/Life/2005/12/27/MixedMarriageBC/
for The Tyee.ca

She tells the story of a nice Canadian boy eloping with a nice Canadian
girl because his mother, has always wanted him to marry a girl that
would be “more appropriate” for him and the family. It's a familiar
story – not a new story… but one that most Canadians could related to
and share.
In this case, the boy is of Jewish ancestry and the girl is of Chinese
ancestry.

I grew up in Vancouver, first meeting people from mixed marriages in
the early sixties when I was a child. “Chinnie” was somebody who always
was hanging out at my great-grandma's house – one of her best friends.
She was white. I have recently bumped into her daughter Evelyn. It's
great that we have shared history of our elders.

Mixed race marriages is common place on both sides of my family. On my
mother's side, there has been a mixed race marriage in every generation
since our elder Rev. Chan Yu Tan arrived in Canada in 1896. There was
his son Luke, who became an actor in Hollywood. There were his
grandsons Henry and Art. Incidently it was Art who married a First
Nations woman, and their daughter Rhonda has become the elected band
chief for the Qayqayt Nation (New Westminster), that she singlehandedly
resurrected.

My mother's youngest brother married a woman of Scottish-English
background, steeped in Ontario Canadian heritage. 9 of my 12 cousins on
my mom's side have married caucasians + my brother. And on my father's
side, 6 of my 9 cousins married caucasians.

I was the only person out of my maternal cousins that married somebody
of Chinese Canadian descent. It should have worked out… our
grandparents had known each other, as had our parents, our aunts and
uncles, our cousins, and even their children…. but it was not to be.
No regrets.

And today, I am spending my 2nd Christmas with my Canadian girlfriend
of British ancestry, and her parents. I haven't seen another Asian
since I left the Kelowna airport two days ago. There haven't been any
racial clashes. We talk about the issues that I am involved in such as
the Save Kogawa House campaign and the Chinese Canadian head tax – even
with their caucasian friends.

We listened to my friends Joy Kogawa and Ann-Marie Metten on CBC radio
yesterday, and we read in the newspaper about my friends Bill Chu and
Gabriel Yiu and Thekla Lit who helped organize a Boxing Day press
conference on Head Tax redress. And these are just Canadian issues. And
the 3 dogs love all the hugs they can get. Race isn't an issue for them.


Todd out walking with dogs in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park.

“Have a multi-cultural Christmas” – Vancouver Sun's Douglas Todd vs Todd Wong's experiences

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“Have a multi-cultural Christmas” – Vancouver Sun's Douglas Todd vs Todd Wong's experiences

Douglas Todd looks at the students and celebrations of Sir Richard
McBride elementary school in Vancouver.  He compares present day
activities and student ethnicity to when he attended in the early
1960s.  DT is a thoughtful writer and he explores the issues of
religious holidays, political correctness, inclusion, school 
cultural programming, and what the children really want and think.

Of special note, DT writes that more schools are celebrating Chinese
New Year, or rather the more exclusive term “Lunar New Year,” as an
inclusive event that often celebrates all ethnic cultures.  I have
certainly found this to be true, especially when I was invited early this year
to bring my Scottish-Chinese fusion of “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” to
Westridge Elementary School in Burnaby. 
http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog
/_archives/2005/2/5/303618.html

Check out DT's feature article titled
A Multicultural Christmas:
Sir Richard McBride students balance ethnicity with new traditions
Vancouver Sun – Dec 24th page C1

Personally, when I grew up at Vancouver's Laura Secord elementary school
in the from 1965 to 1973 – I thought I was already experiencing
multiculturalism by going to school with mostly white students. 
Okay… there were a few students of Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Dutch,
Portuguese…etc heritage there too.  By 1973, the Chinese
proportion grew significantly, and in my grade 7 class there were 6
other Wongs in the class, including the teacher.

I had started noticing more ESL immigrants of Chinese ancestry around
1970.  This was the effect of changed immigration laws in 1967,
that now allowed independant Chinese immigrants, no longer only
sponsored by relatives to come to Canada.  You see, even though
the Chinese Exclusion Act was removed in 1947, only very limited
immigration was allowed for family members only.

My experiences of Christmas growing up, involved dinners with sticky
rice, turkey, cranberry sauce, stir-fried vegetables – always a
combination of Chinese and Canadian food.  When we visited 
my father's side of the family – there were more Chinese speakers, as
his mother spoke almost exclusively Chinese, and his eldest sister had
been raised in China – despite having been born in Canada. I referred
to my mother's side of the family as our “English side” because the
family had been in Canada longer since the arrival of my grandmother's
grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan in 1896.  Even my great-grandmother
Kate Chan was fluent in english.  So… even in my family we were
multicultural… I guess.

Last year I visited my girlfriend's parents in Vernon, and we attended
Christmas dinner at a friend of theirs.  I was the only, non-Asian
attending, of the 10 guests.  It was my first ethnically “white”
Christmas dinner.  We ate turkey with cranberry sauce, potatoes,
salad… just like my own family dinners.  I felt comfortable with
the company, because of shared language and values.  Nobody asked
how I was enjoying the new “cultural experience” because they just
assumed I was “Canadian”, knowing that I considered myself a 5th
generation Vancouverite.  The cultural differences and
conversations were more concerned with the differences between
Vancouver and Vernon. Big City culture versus Small City culture.

Culture and “multiculturalism” is relative.  Especially if it is married into the family.

Chinese style bbq turkeys for Christmas…. yum yum!

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Chinese style bbq turkeys for Christmas…. yum yum!

Jenny Uechi of Ricepaper Magazine wrote this very interesting foodie
article about turkey dinner served Chinese style for the Georgia Straight.  I LOVE Chinese
style bbq duck, and was intrigued with this idea….  I mentioned
it to my mother, and she told me that she sometimes would take a turkey
to a Chinatown butcher/meat store, and they would BBQ it on a price per
pound basis.

Jim Wong-Chu is a long-time friend and Asian Canadian Arts
mentor.  We came up with the idea of haggis won ton, as he has
helped advise me on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners over the
years…  Jim loves Chinese food too!


Put a little extra red in your dinner with a Chinese-style BBQ turkey

By jenny uechi

Publish Date: 15-Dec-2005

Traditionalists
will tell you that Christmas dinner just doesn’t feel complete without
a roasted whole turkey as its centrepiece. The more daring, however,
may want to try a new spin on this holiday favourite: Chinese-style
barbecue turkey. With its reddish skin and sweet-savoury flavour, it’s
a dish that not only tastes (and looks) spectacular but also reflects
Vancouver’s multiethnic history.

Jim Wong-Chu, Ricepaper
publisher and local Asian-food guru, takes time to meet with the
Straight to recount the origins of the Chinese-style turkey. “From what
people tell me,” he says, “this tradition started way back in the olden
days, when none of the Chinese had ovens in their homes. So on special
occasions, they asked the local barbecue houses to roast the turkey for
them.” Prepared much like a traditional roasted duck, the turkey had
crisply seared skin, marinade sauce, and better-preserved juices than
the oven-roasting birds. “Even now, when most people have their own
ovens, people crave that barbecue taste,” he says.

As proof of
this, many barbecue houses in Chinatown still cater to that tradition.
At Kwong Hing Co. Ltd (228 East Pender Street, 604-681-1939) and Dollar
Meat Store (266 East Pender Street, 604-681-0536), turkey is sold at
$4.99 a pound and can be ordered in advance. As with most stores in
Chinatown, Cantonese is the lingua franca among staff: Wong-Chu advises
that non–Cantonese speakers may want to order through a translator to
avoid miscommunication.

For more of the story click here

Winter Solstice 2006 Dong Zhi at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens

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Winter Solstice 2006 Dong Zhi at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens

We went down to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens last night in Vancouver's Chinatown.  Chinese Winter Solstice or Dong Zhi was being celebrated as part of the Secret Lantern Society's extensive programming that took part at Chinatown, Yaletown, Westend, Strathcona and Brittania Community Centre.

Chinese Winter Solstice is also a time when there are special foods and
activities, especially to be shared with family and friends. 

It was my girlfriend's first time seeing the Chinese garden all lit up
with hand made lanterns and candles, and it was magically
beautiful.  Even before we had walked into the garden, I bumped
into musician friends Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault who regularly
perform at the Garden as Silk Road Music.

Ji Rong Huang performed erhu in the Scholar's Study, and Alcvin Ramos
performed shakahachi flute in the Hall of One Hundred Rivers.  Click here for a virtual tour of the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens.

Because of rain, many of the paper lanterns were not hanging on the
trees, in the ritual of returning the fallen leaves of Autum, to their
original trees in new forms of lanterns.  Many of these paper
lanterns feauting leaf designs were instead hung along the walkways of
the gardens. 

My favorite lanterns are the floating ones designed like lotus
flowers.  The gentle breeze pushed them around on the ponds, and
they looked gorgeous in the dark.



A floating lotus lantern lit by photo flash – photo Todd Wong

We soon bumped into my friend Meena Wong showing the garden to a friend
of hers visiting from Singapore.  My first dragon boat mentor
James Yu was there with his mother.  James is also restorer for
the gardens, making sure it is in good maintenance and running
order.  He has taught me how to steer dragon boat as well as both
Tai Chi, and  many stories about the Chinese garden and traditions.


Dragon Boat buddies Todd Wong and James Yu – photo Deb Martin


As we left the Gardens, we looked around in the Gardens giftshop,
and I found a lovely little amulet thingy with the Chinese character
for “Love” – which I bought as a gift for my girlfriend.  We also
had some fun, doing water brush strokes on a “buddha board” where I
demonstrated my long lost skills of having taken a class in Chinese
brush painting back in 1980.  It was also a big surprise to meet
the new Gardens giftshop manager Alexis who used to run the balloon
shop in Deman Place Mall.  Alexis had attended my 2002 Gung Haggis
Fat Choy dinner when her good actor /voice coach friend  Sonia
Baker co-hosted with me.

A real big surprise was bumping into former classmates from Grade 7 at
Laura Secord Elementary in Vancouver.  While I have bumped into
Selina So over the past years through many Asian Canadian events, this
was the first time I had seen Leslie Ikeda since 1978 – and we both
fondly recounted that we had been in kindergarten together, as well as
grade 7 and grade 8 Math. Winter Solstice really is a time for friends
and family, as they meet at all the community events!

We met in the Terracotta Warrior gift shop, owned by my friends Charles
and Grace.  It's a wonderful shop and I bought two silk ties – one
with Pandas, another with dragons… and a special framed print as a
Christmas present for my parents (shhh…. it's a secret for now!)


Classmates from Grade 7 Reunited – Selena So, Leslie Ikeda and Todd Wong – photo Deb Martin

Toddish McWong on BBC Radio Scotland: Check it out on-line

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Toddish McWong on BBC Radio Scotland –
Check it out on-line

 
“Toddish McWong” or in Canadian, Todd Wong, is featured on BBC Radio Scotland on the radio Scotland website. 

Just click on programs – go to “Scotland Licked” – then wait awhile
until you hear the voice of host Maggie Shiels.  Listen to the
introductions where she talks about finding me in Canada – then click
on the 15 minute fast forward button. I will be heard very very soon….

The interview explores the origins of my Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner event, and the haggis-Chinese fusion food that we have created for it.

The crew said that I definitely had
a “Canadian accent” – Funny because my girlfriend said that she loved
“Maggie's” liting “Scottish accent.”

St. Andrew's Day is in honour of the Patron Saint of Scotland – that's
the reason Maggie came looking for me – to find out what I had done
with “their haggis”.  Simply wrapped it in won ton wrappings and
added waterchestnuts, deep fried  and dipped in sweet and sour
sauce.  I also describe the haggis lettuce wrap.

Then Maggie asked what I had done to the Robbie Burns poem – “Address
to the Haggis”?  I told her that we “updated” it… and proceeded
to “rap” it.  I think for the January 22nd, I will have performer
Rick Scott sing along with me to “The Haggis wRap!”

Slainte!
Happy St. Andrew's Day (January 30th)



Naomi's Road – Community Concert at Nikkei Place Sat Nov 26

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Naomi's Road – Community Concert at Nikkei Place Sat Nov 26

This Saturday, Naomi's Road, the Vancouver Opera
Touring Ensemble production of Joy Kogawa's children's story plays at
Nikkei Centre in Burnaby – just off Kingsway.

It's a wonderful production, full of hope and tears, great singing, staging and acting.

Click here to read my review of the opening weekend performance on Oct 1
http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/
_archives/2005/10/1/1273898.html

Click here to read my review of the Nov 12 Save Kogawa House special Awareness concert
http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/
_archives/2005/11/14/1407019.html


Saturday, November 26, 2005 1:30 pm
Nikkei Place
6688 Southoaks Crescent
Burnaby, BC
Tickets: Youth $10, Adults $15. Festival seating.
Ticket sales: in person at the National Nikkei Heritage Centre after November 1,
book by phone (604-777-7000),
or at the door on the day of the event.

Ricepaper Magazine on CBC radio: Shelagh Rogers interviews Jim Wong-Chu and Jessica Gin-Jade

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Ricepaper Magazine on CBC radio: Shelagh Rogers interviews Jim Wong-Chu and Jessica Gin-Jade

Listen to the interview on CBC's Website!

Shelagh Rogers interviewed Ricepaper Founder & Publisher Jim
Wong-Chu and Editor-in-Chief Jessica Gin-Jade on November 10! Check out http://www.cbc.ca/soundslikecanada/ and tune your dials (or find webcasts) for CBC Radio One's “Sounds
Like Canada” 10:00am (10:30 am NT) – or listen as I do at CBC Radio online.

Maybe it's the great editorial that grabs attention. Maybe it's the
design, which keeps getting better with each issue. Maybe, just maybe
it's the 10 years of publishing, surviving in the Canadian mag industry
(and outlasting some) that caught their eye.

Ten years in the magazine industry is no small feat. More like a
small miracle. So CBC Radio's “Sounds Like Canada” shared Ricepaper
Magazine's successes (and misses) with a national audience of 1.3 million listeners across Canada.

It was a great interview.  Listen to Jessica talk about how
difficult it is to find kimchee in Halifax, and Jim talk about the
“cultural engineers” that are turning Ricepaper into the hip and
happening success that is so exciting.


Ricepaper was first on “Sounds Like Canada” back in January 2003, the same day Toddish McWong made his SLC debut.
Shelagh co-hosted the 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese
New Year dinner that was a fundraiser for Ricepaper Magazine and the
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.  Ricepaper is published by Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, for which I am a vice-president.

Ricepaper: the magazine for creative Asian Canadians

Office 604-879-5962
info@ricepaperonline.com
Media contact: Michelle Siu (604) 616-3588 or Jenny Uechi (604) 879-5962

REVIEW: Save Kogawa House Nov 12 Special Concert

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REVIEW: Save Kogawa House Nov 12 Special Concert

The concert event went well today.  About 100 people in the Alice
Mackay Room, at the Vancouver Public Library + CTV coverage. 
Pretty good for very short notice.

The event started with Harry Aoki and Alison Nishihara playing
Pachabel's Canon on harmonica and piano. Then I welcomed everybody and
explained what the SAVE KOGAWA HOUSE committee was all about.  I
also told people that we were very grateful for the Vancouver Opera
Touring Ensemble gifting us with a performance.  I had seen
excerpts at a Roy Miki lecture, the Vancouver Arts Awards, and still I
had tears in my eyes when I saw performances on opening weekend and
just last week at the library.

Harry Aoki next talked about some of his experiences during the war
years, and afterwards at the sugar beet farms in Alberta.  He next
played some pieces on his double bass that he wrote during that
time.  A surprise dance performance by Toronto
choreographer/dancer Andrea Nann brought a spellbinding tone to the
music.  Harry closed with a final piece on his harmonica that he
played while traveling in Romania and they asked for “Canadian music” –
a bit of a hoe-down.

Next up was artist Raymond Chow.  We introduced the acrylic
painting that he has done for limited edition reproduction to help
raise funds for SAVE KOGAWA HOUSE (see
www.kogawahouse.com).   This was the first day Joy had seen
the painting.  Raymond spoke about how he was inspired by “Naomi's
Road” and the pictures to paint the old house with a 6 year old Joy
standing in front.  I told how when Ann-Marie and I went to see
Raymond and the painting on Thursday that he had played us a short
rendition of a song based on the story.  He then played “House of
Joy” for the audience.

Introducing the Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble, I told the audience
that they had just returned from Vancouver Island playing an amazling
show of Naomi's Road in Uculet, and also in Campbell River and other places + a
standing ovation on Denman Island.

The room filled with song from the voices of Jessica Cheung, Gina Oh,
Sam Chung and Sung Chung.  The audience sat rapt in attention, as
the story unfolded.  The singers coming up to their 30th
performance, as fresh and as exhuberant as each time I have seen
them.  I am getting familiar with the songs and story, and still –
I am amazed at the staging, the acting and the performance. 
Everybody does such as good job.

The applause was healthy and the cast was called back for more
bows.  I then told the audience that it was easy to see why if
Obasan was the book every Vancouverite should read, then Naomi's Road
was the book every Vancouverite should see.  The audience
responded very positively when I asked them “Do you  think every Canadian should see Naomi's Road?”  Again, I invited
people to tell all their friends about Naomi's Road, and about Kogawa
House, and that we were accepting donations at the back.

I invited the cast back as well as our earlier performers so that
Ann-Marie could give each person a gift.  I named them each –
Gina, Jessica, Sam, Sung, David, Angus, Harry, Andrea, Raymond and
Alison. Next, I invited Joy to say a few words.  There were tears
in her eyes, as she said “There are no words to describe how happy I am….  

To the Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble, Joy said “Everytime I see you perform,  I am amazed.  It is so wonderful.”

She looked at Jessica, and said “You're e-mail mentioned how the opera
is healing for some people.  You're absolutely right….
Everything that is happening.  It is all so wonderful.”

People lined up to buy books at the back and have them
autographed.  People lined up to talk with the performers. 
One person came up and talked with Ann-Marie and myself about having
Naomi's Road staged at a Heritage Site and splitting 50/50 with the
Save Kogawa House campaign.

It was a good day.

Ricepaper Magazine loves Save Kogawa House concert with Harry Aoki, Raymond Chow, Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble

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NOV. 12 SAVE KOGAWA HOUSE special concert

Ricepaper magazine
is Canada's only nationally distributed magazine covering Asian
Canadian arts and culture.  Editor Jessica Gin Jade and Publisher
Jim Wong-Chu were interviewed on CBC Radio's Sounds Like Canada by
Sheila Rogers on Thursday Morning.

Jenny Uechi, writer and managing editor attended the November 12th
Celebration and Awareness concert for Save Kogawa House.  Jenny
wrote:



“Naomi's Road” a huge success at Vancouver Public Library!

Jenny Uechi, November-13 2005

November 12, 2005

Renowned artists and community spokespeople gathered in the Alice
MacKay Room of the Vancouver Public Library on Saturday, November 12 to
express their support to save the Joy Kogawa home from demolition. The
free public concert was organized by Todd Wong, founder of the annual
Gung Haggis Fat Choy and writer Ann Marie-Metten, the Vancouver
coordinator of the Save Kogawa House committee.

Raymond Chow, Harry Aoki, Alison Nishihara, Andrea Nann, and the
Vancouver Opera cast of “Naomi’s Road” gave moving performances to
audiences who gathered to rally their support against the demolition of
Joy Kogawa’s childhood home, which appears in her awardwinning novel
Obasan. … read more

for more click on
http://www.ricepaperonline.com/index.php?id=102