Two new "Gates" were revealed in Vancouver's Chinatown on Oct 22 and Oct 29th. The first was the gift from Vancouver's sister city of Guangzhou. White marble panels set on the original chinese gate from Expo 86, in front of the Chinese Cultural Centre on Pender St. The second is a public art commission by artist Gwen Boyle, a green jade abacus, at the Keefer St. entrance to "historic" Shanghai Alley.   more »

Artist Gwen Boyle Unveils SUAN PHAN: the jade abacus gateway sculpture



My new friend Gwen Boyle is unveiling her latest art installation in Chinatown at the intersection of Keefer Street and historic Shanghai Alley.  I visited the site, but her jade abacus is still covered up for the Saturday unveiling. 

Gwen tells me the following:

Along a short walk, I showed my girlfriend the Shanghai Alley attractions featuring: Millenium Gate, designed by my architect cousin Joe Wai, the Han Dynasty Bell, and the 8 panels depicting Chinese Canadian History that my cousin Hayne Wai was involved with.

Below is a press release I wrote for Gwen.

October 29 Saturday 3 - 5 p.m.
Shanghai Alley, Vancouver Chinatown approximately
35 West Keefer St. between Carrall St. and Abbott St.
1/2 block West of the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

You are invited to the unveiling of a large jade abacus, an interactive public artwork in the form of a sculptured gate by artist Gwen Boyle. The work is entitled Suan Phan which frames a functioning abacus of carved jade beads.

The artist's purpose is to mark time past and the flow of life through historic Shanghai Alley as Chinatown enters a period of urbanization. The sculpture was commisioned by Pinnacle International with the City of Vancouver, Public Art Program.

Artist Gwen Boyle spent her childhood in Chinatown living with her mother and grandfather who was a respected jeweller and goldsmith, Dong Jam Lung. He formed traditional icons out of chinese gold and was one of only three goldsmith working in that mode in North America during the 1920's.

Gwen's 104 year old mother, Mrs. Daisy Dong will perform the unveiling. She arrived in Canada at age 6, in 1907. Meet the artists and her mother at the reception following the unveiling.



Check out a CBC Radio interview of Gwen at:
http://www.cbc.ca/artspots/html/artists/gboyle/

Other Vancouver public art by Gwen Boyle includes:

Foot Notes (1994) Fifty-seven unpolished black granite tiles with words randomly into the sidewalk.describing False Creek Basin.

Time and the Riverrewinding earth's time tape  (1998) in Lang Park, in Richmond BC.

New Currents An Ancient Stream (1994) - a cascading urban stream at the Southwest corner of Alberni and Bute St.



Here's a picture of author Joy Kogawa enjoying Gwen's installation work New Currents An Ancient Stream which features the quote from Leonardo da Vinci: "In rivers, the water you touch is the last of what has passed, and the first of that which comes; so with time present."


For information contact:
Gwen Boyle
604-506-8008
gwenboyle@telus.net

Janice Wong continues to make the rounds with her book Chow. 

Monday: City Cooks
Tuesday: Vancouver Museum

City Cooks airs on Monday morning at 9:30am and 12 Noon, as Janice tells her stories with Simi Sara.  Janice reports that Simi was great to work with.  There will be a skill testing question to win a copy of the book.  Hint, the question has something to do with Janice's father, Dennis.

I heard Janice's radio interview with Shelagh Rogers on CBC Radio's Sounds Like Canada on Friday.  It was a very warm and friendly interview, with Shelagh asking many questions about Janice's family ancestors and how they came to Canada, and how her parents settled in Prince Albert, Sasketchewan.   I particularly enjoyed hearing about Janice's first ancestor in Canada, Rev. Chan Yu Tan, who arrived in 1896, as a Methodist lay preacher for the Chinese Methodist Church (especially since he is my great-great-grandfather).

Janice also brought some chicken wings, steamed sable fish and beans with dow see (bean curd) and presented the food in a laquerware box, and Shelagh complimented Janice on the presentation, and also upon tasting the food.  Shelagh was also particularly interested in hearing the stories about how Janice's father was born premature, and his mother wrapped him up in blankets and put him in the oven to keep him warm.

Another fascinating story was how Janice had started the book as a gift for her family, after her father died.  A friend encouraged her to turn it into a book, and Whitecap Books appreciated her  creative in the book design, recognizing Janice as an accomplished and professional visual artist- Janice Wong Studio.

Janice also told stories about how her parents met in Nanaimo Chinatown, and seeing her grand-Uncle Luke Chan in Hollywood movies that her father would point out, such as "The Mysterious Mr. Wong," as well he was in movies with Clark Gable, Bela Lugosi and Katherine Hepburn.

Afterwards, Janice sent me this e-mail:
"The interview with Shelagh was fun.  She's such a warm person.  I met Philip (Ditchburn) and he mentioned your geneology connection.  I don't think the producer told Shelagh about you and me as Philip mentioned it after the interview and she was pleasantly surprised."

Paul Yee was featured at the Vancouver Writers and Readers Festival on Tuesday and Wednesday.  He will be sticking around town, as he will be launching his new book Chinatowns, published by Lorimer, at the Vancouver Museum on Oct 25th.  Janice Wong's book Chow will also be featured.

Paul's new book is a pictorial history of Chinatowns across Canada.  Paul's first illustrated history book was Saltwater City: an Illustrated History of Vancouver's Chinatown.  This book won the inaugural Vancouver City Book Award, and will be revised next spring by Douglas McIntyre.

I first met Paul in 1986, when he chaired the Saltwater City exhibition at the Chinese Cultural Centre.  This was a wonderful celebration of 100 years of Vancouver chinese history for Vancouver's Centennial.  I will look for some old pictures of Paul from the project.

I join Janice Wong for CHOW book launch at West Vancouver Library Oct 18, 2005

Tuesday
October 18th
7pm - 9pm
West Vancouver Memorial Library

I will be joining Janice Wong as a panelist for the West Vancouver launch of her book, CHOW From China to Canada: Memories of Food + Family.  Jeannie Mah is unable to attend from Regina.

This will be lots of fun.  Janice and I only discovered each other about 2 months ago, when she e-mailed me and identified herself as a relative from the Rev. Chan Family.  We have enjoyed sharing our mutual love for family history, and discoveries about who we know and what stories about relatives we know.

I will be talkign about discovering Chinese restaurants on my travels throughout North America, stories about Chinese restaurants, and how I have integrated Chinese food into my Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner, aptly named.... "Gung Haggis Fat Choy!"

Earlier on Tuesday she will be taping a tv segment for CityTV's CityCooks with host Simi Sara.  I have appeared two times on the show with restauranteur/chef Joseph Lee to prepare haggis wun-tun, and lettuce wrap.

CHOW: Janice Wong has successful book launch at Sylvia Hotel

Janice Wong wrote some stories about her father and his Chinese restaurant a few years ago as a gift for her family, and  paired them with his recipes that she had found.   Before she knew it, she had created a new genre of cookbooks.

"Janice knows a lot of people," smiled Alicia Schlagg, Marketing coordinator for Whitecap Books. She was very pleased as author Janice Wong signed autographs and posed for pictures with family and friends.  It was a busy crowd at the Sylvia Hotel on Wednesday evening, Oct 12th.  Whitecap Books had taken over the restaurant, wine was served along with mandarin oranges, and many bouquets of unique flowers had been brought by admirers to mark this special occasion.

I walked in and quickly spotted my grandmother Mabel Mar, and her younger brother Dan Lee.   I greeted her cousin Josie (Janice Wong's aunt), and Janice's cousin Rick Lum.  These are all relatives that I had known and grown up with since I was a little boy.  At the same table sat Janice's mother Mary, who had flown in from Saskatoon.  I find it hard to believe that I only met Janice two months ago, when she e-mailed me looking for an e-mail list for the Rev. Chan family descendants.

Who else did I see?  Larry Wong, now president of the Chinese Canadian Historical Association of BC.  Larry has arranged to have Janice present her book, along with Paul Yee at the Vancouver Museum on ???.  Larry will also be part of a panel discussion on growing up with chinese restaurants at the West Vancouver Memorial Library on Oct 18, where Janice Wong will present a slide show.  I will also be part of the presentation sharing my experiences of Chinese Restaurants, and the importance of Chinese food, as I have developed haggis wun-tun and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners.

Janice's book, CHOW, really is amazing.  It is filled with pictures and stories about her father, her family, the restaurant where she grew up in Prince Albert Saskatchewan.  Recipes alternate with pictures and stories, giving a context to how and when certain dishes would be created and served, as well as eaten.  The recipes come alive, as you can read the stories and imagine all the family members sitting around you, or her father Dennis Wong in the kitchen.

I opened the book and found stories about Great-grand uncle Luke who went to Hollywood and became an actor, starring and supporting in movies with Clark Gable and Gary Cooper.  A story about Rev. Chan Yu Tan, reveals the name of his wife Wong Chiu Lin, whom nobody in my family could remember except as "Tai-poh" (great-grandmother) or as Mrs. Chan.

Harvey Lowe the Yo-Yo King, is a friend of Dennis Wong, inviting Janice's father to go to England with him, but Dennis's parents forbade him, never imagining that Harvey Lowe will go on to tour the world and perform yo-yo tricks on the Smothers Brothers TV show, for Nat King Cole, and for royalty.

At the end of the evening, Janice is still beaming widely.  She is still signing autographs when I pull her away to take a family picture, because Aunt Josie and my grandmother - both in the 90's have to leave. 

"Have you met Toddish McWong, yet?" Janice asks a friend.  She introduces me to her friends and says, "My friend Robin has wanted to meet you for years."  She adds later, "We will have to get a table and attend the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner this time." 

I think to myself, that there will be ways to feature CHOW at the dinner - maybe as a raffle prize or silent auction prize.  Imagine winning a private Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in your home with chefs Toddish McWong and Janice Wong, along with a copy of CHOW.

CHOW is an accessible recipe book, that is sure to be a Christmas gift for many people as it will be at home on the coffee table, next to the photo albums, or the kitchen.

pictures from the book launch and book review of chow to come....

Vancouver architect Joe Wai is featured in Vancouver Magazine's October Issue.  The article is titled Chinatown Calculations and details the questions in saving Vancouver Chinatown's past and defining its future.  I can proudly say cousin Joe was one of my early role models growing up.  Because of the activities of Joe and his brother Hayne, I was able to witness their involvements and love for Vancouver's Chinatown.  It definitely sparked my own interests to understand our shared history as our grandfather Wong Wah had come to Canada at the age of 16, in the 1880's.

The magazine also features interviews with Fred Mah, Henry Yu and Jessica Chen-Adams.  Fred is a community leader and director of the Chinese Cultural Centre, Henry is a professor of History at UBC, and Jessica is the City of Vancouver liason for the Vancouver Chinatown Revitalization Committee.

The artical also mentions the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC 's study of the five buildings in Chinatown.  The article also poses the interesting question, Who Will Define Our Chinatown? with some interesting answers.