Did the Chinese discover North America 1000 years before Columbus?

"Who were BC's first seafarers?" is the cover feature on this week's Georgia Straight?

Daniel Wood writes a very interesting feature that addresses the Chinese legendary land of Fu Sang, interviews underwater acheologist enthusiast Tom Beasley, and explores the Gavin Menzies book 1421, the Year China Discovered the World.

I have written about connections between First Nations and Chinese people when Storyscapes was exploring the oral history of such meetings:  Vancouver Storyscapes: Where the Chinese met the First Nations peoples
It's not unfathomable that the Chinese discovered North America first.  Afterall, ancient Chinese civilization and science was much further advanced than European civilization circa 500 AD.  According to Menzies, the Chinese had huge boats 5X the size of Columbus' flagship.  A lot of trade and knowledge migrated to Japan from China, and Japanese glass fishing floats have regularly made their way to BC's shores, due to ocean currents.

I have often spoke with BC's First Nations people about Chinese-First Nations connections.  Afterall, my mother's blood cousin is Rhonda Larrabee, chief of the Qayqayt (New Westminster) First Nations.  Larry Grant, Musqueam elder, is half Chinese, like cousin Rhonda.

When I was up in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), I spoke with Haida people about the shared "mongolian birthmark" that both Chinese and First Nations people are born with.
Check out my stories:

Check it out:
http://www.straight.com/article-152876/who-were-bcs-first-seafarers?

Canada Day Eve is one of the greatest celebration events not celebrated...


Hapa-Canadian "Standing on Guard for Thee"! original drawing by Jeff Chiba Stearns

Why don't we have a midnight countdown to celebrate our country's birthday?  Okay, there are fireworks celebrations at the end of Canada Day, but everybody has to go to work the next morning.  Aren't holidays better celebrated when you can stay up late the night before, then sleep in?

Last night, I met up with two friends, Leanne Riding and Judy Maxwell.  When I introduced them, it took only a few minutes before one of them said "Are you hapa?"

And this was in a darkened room!

If people think that "Canadian Identity"is a conundrum, try to define being Hapa.  It's a Hawaiian term that is now more commonly used to define mixed race Asian-Canadians and Asian-Americans.

My friend John Endo Greenaway writes this:

http://www.canadiannikkei.ca/blog/what-is-hapa/

So.... back to Canada Day Eve....

With my two Hapa friends, we start talking about our "Hapa radars", that intuitive sense that immediately lets us know when we think that somebody we've never met before is Hapa.  We talk about the reactions that people have to them, when people realize they are neither Asian nor Caucasian, but both.  We talk about the first time when I realized they were Hapa.

We go down to Kitsilano Beach, finding a secluded spot, watch dusk settle in because we just missed the sunset after 10pm.  We talk more about Hapa-ness... the beingness of Hapa, about our Hapa friends, our Hapa cousins, Hapa nieces and nephews.



We talk about Hapa friends like Jeff Chiba Stearns who is an animator, and created the Hapa short animation film "What Are You Anyways?" We talk about Brandy Lien-Worrall who is the editor of "All Mixed Up"an anthology chap book of Hapa poetry.

Maxwell and Riding... two very un-Asian sounding names.  But they chatted on about how easy they can be mistaken for Asian or Caucasians in different settings.  Both are very active in the Asian-Canadian community.  Judy is presently a researcher for the Chinese Canadian Military Museum, and has done many academic and conference presentations because of her research on the Chinese disaspora and migration patterns.  Leanne has been studying Asian-Canadian history and is now active as co-president of Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and the Asian Canadian Organization, which started as a student initiated project at UBC.

But both have family histories that are rooted in the racial turmoils of our country.  Judy's great-grandfather was a Member of Parliament that had pushed for the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act, while Leanne's grandparents and great-grandparents had been interned during WW2 because they were of Japanese ancestry.

They name me a "Honourary Hapa," because of the community building work I do such as Gung Haggis Fat Choy, which they both totally love, and attended earlier this year, back in January.  They both made fun of me, because I couldn't initially remember where they were sitting in the room of 430 people, even though one of the them was sitting at the head table with me along with the Vancouver.

And then it dawns on me.  Being Canadian is being Hapa... and being Hapa is being Canadian.  Canada celebrates it's cultural diversity, and nowhere is that diversity better celebrated than in the mixed race DNA enhanced ethnicities of it's peoples... even better if it all rolled up in one.

With BC celebrating it's 150th Anniversary this year in 2008, we are reminded that Simon Fraser came down the "Fraser River" with a crew of Metis (French-First Nations mix), and BC's first Governor James Douglas was born in Jamaica of mixed Scottish and Creole bloodlines.  BC's history is Hapa.... and most people don't even realize it.

So... sitting on English Bay... (Somewhere there must be an original First Nations Name that can be chosen as a "rename") we toasted to Canada's birthday eve, and our Hapa-ness.  And in our lively and wonderful conversations (which later moved to a Kitsilano area apartment), we had so much fun, we forgot to do a countdown to midnight until it was long past.


Here are some Hapa websites:

The Hapa Project

Eurasian Nation

MAVIN Foundation

Hapas.com

Meditating Bunny
Home page of Jeff Chiba Stearns, whose short animated film What Are You Anyways? deals with growing up hapa.

Halvsie
“For, by and about Half Japanese”

Raymond Louie could be Vancouver's first Chinese-Canadian mayor. He is a multi-generational Vancouverite from the East Side. He is a second term Vancouver city councilor. My statement of endorsement is now featured on Raymond Louie's website: "Raymond Louie actually lives the culturally diverse Gung Haggis Fat Choy lifestyle that is my creative world. His own family straddles many cultures and many generations, and he actively demonstrates that he understands the many facets that can make our city shine like a diamond. I have seen how Raymond makes things happen as a city councilor, bringing together different groups and perspectives such as arts, economics, heritage and cultures. As a mayor that empowers others to be their best, Raymond will be dynamic and our jewel of a city should shine even brighter."   more »

And I know and have performed with many of the featured musicians. Silk Road Music's Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault have performed at Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner & First Night events since 2004. In the past few years I have become a big fan or Orchid Ensemble's Lan Tung, as she plays her erhu..... This incredible collaboration brings together 17 of Vancouver’s best world music artists in a one of a kind partnership in which influences from around the world mix into a melting pot of sights and sounds. Centred on a spirit of cooperation and collaboration, Music for a New World celebrates the diversity of world music.    more »

Being in a parade doesn't allow you to take pictures of your group, so it's always interesting to find pictures on flickr. Steven Duncan took some pictures of us setting up. Check out his flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/9057324@N08/sets/72157604144696435/   more »

The 15 foot long Chinese dragon undulated up and down in the air above the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Vancouver’s Granville Street. A mini version of the larger 10 or 20 person dragons used in Chinatown Chinese New Year parades, it jerked hesitantly. Five Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team members carried short poles sporting a yellow body with red scales and blue and yellow ridge...... A Chinese dragon in a St. Patrick’s Day Parade? Didn’t St. Patrick drive the snakes out of Ireland? Ahh… but this is multi-inter-cultural Vancouver. Dragon boaters paddle in kilts, and bagpipers perform in the Chinese New Year Parade. And the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner serves up deep-fried haggis won tons. Welcome to Vancouver!   more »

They were always written in English, never in Chinese. Our friends had their own Fortune Cookie factory near Chinatown. I even toured in it. Jennifer 8 Lee has now written a book called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. She writes how so-called North American "Chinese food" is really not Chinese at all - but Mainstream American...... Lee exposes all the myths about North American Chinese food, myths that Chinese-Canadians and Chinese-Americans have known for generations - but White Americans are just learning about. Geez... first the Easter Bunny, then Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, and now Fortune Cookies!   more »

Dragon boat racing really does represent cultural diversity in BC.  The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is really honoured that we were asked by Global News to represent this topic for their program World Class BC on Feb 26, in a story by Elaine Yong, who shared with me that her husband is Scottish Canadian, and she is sometimes called McYong.  Guess we will have to recruit her for the team!

I watched the airing of the story at a friend's home, where we were having a farewell dinner party for author Sharon Butala.  Sharon has been helping the Historic Joy Kogawa House Committee with grant applications to create a writer-in-residence program, and has been staying at Joy's apartment in Vancouver's West End. 

Sharon shared with me, that she really enjoyed seeing the cultural diversity on Robson St.  Not only were there lots of different students from all across Asia, but people from all over the world, and even men holding hands.  Coming from tiny Eastend, Sasketchewan, Sharon said that it felt like being in a different world.  The great thing she said, was that everybody was happy.  Vancouver's tolerance for racial and lifestyle differences is very high, and this has given support for helping create our cultural diversity in BC. 

And then we heard Global News anchor Deborah Hope say that cultural diversity is one of the things that makes BC World Class.  "It's on!" I called to everybody upstairs to come watch the show with us.  Very appropriately, the feature unfolded with stories about First Nations canoes and carving, featuring Nu-Chal-Nuth carvers Joe Martin and Douglas David.

"Gung Haggis, Gung Haggis, Gung Haggis Fat Choy!" we heard the team cheer.  And we saw the team loading up the dragon boat team.  Elaine Yong explains that Dragon boating is part of a 1000 year tradition from China, and our team blends together Scottish history and culture.  Todd Wong (me) is interviewed and  Elaine states the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is in training for the 20th Vancouver dragon boat Festival, now North America's largest, and one of the biggest outside Hong Kong.

You can see the Global News feature on the web

Go to:
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html

Scroll down to:
WORLD CLASS BC FEB 26
fast forward to 1:34 to 2:27 for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

World Class BC Feb 26.
1) Joe Martin carves Nu-Chal-Nuth First Nations canoes
2) Douglas David carves Nu-Chal-Nuth First Nations masks
3) Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team with Todd Wong
4) Bangra Dancing with Raakhi Sinha

Additionally, you can see the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team featured on a ZDF German Public Television travelogue titled "Toronto to Vancouver, by Train." 
http://wstreaming.zdf.de/zdf/veryhigh/071219_toronto_vancouver.asx
go to the 54 minute mark to find us!

This show aired December 2007 across Europe.  The race shots were filmed at the ADBF sprint regatta.  Here's the blog story: http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/14/2881088.html

Tarun Nayar of Beats Without Borders occasionally sends me announcements of upcoming events and concerts.  Last night he and the group Delhi 2 Dublin performed at the CBC studios.  We met at the first Delhi 2 Dublin concert - back in March 2006 - see my review: St. Paddy's Eve in Vancouver - What is a man in a kilt to do? -

Looks like a nice line up of South Asian music with some cross-cultural fusion.  Especially the Transfusion dance show where "Flamenco blurs into Kathak, and Bhangra is intertwined with Celtic."

I have seen Kiran Ahluwalia both performing traditional ghazal songs as well as her performance in the jazz opera Quebecite - written by Chinese-Afro-Canadian D.D. Jackson with lyrics by Afro-MicMac-Canadian George Eliot Clarke.

Happy Chinese New Year - Gung Hay Fat Choy!

...or should that be Gung Haggis Fat Choy ?

Province Newspaper reporter Cheryl Chan interviewed me about the multiculturalism of Chinese Lunar New Year, and about my recent Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner.  I told her about how I have been asked to speak at Elementary schools to help them express the Lunar New Year as a multicultural event, that all cultures can share in - not just Chinese New Year, Tibetan Losar, or Vietnamese Tet celebrations.

Gee... like everybody can be Irish for St. Patrick's Day, or everybody can be Scottish for Robbie Burns Day, or all Canadians can celebrate Chinese New Year.... definitely!!!

Then she asked what I was up to for Chinese New Year's Day...  I told her going to see Banana Boys Play... and Kilts Night at Doolin's Irish Pub. The writer included it in a list of events for Chinese New Year.

But darn... she didn't use any of my quotes about inter-culturalism expressed in a dragon boat team!

I am going to spend some time with my Hapa-Canadian niece and nephew today, then go see bagpiper friend Joe McDonald, who has survived 9 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners, and a dragboat float in the 1st Vancouver St. Patrick's Day parade. 

Some of our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team members and Kilts Night clan will be having Chinese New Year dinner at Hon's before they head over to Doolin's Irish Pub, Nelson and Granville for Kilts Night and to watch the hockey game before the Halifax Wharf Rats start playing.   I am going to see the 7:30pm Banana Boys show at the Firehall Arts Centre- but should make Kilts Night around 9:30 to 10pm. 

Slainte, Todd

Poet George McWhirter was amazed. Media columnist Catherine Barr was in awe! Film maker Ann Marie Fleming had smiles on her face! Blackthorn flautist Michelle Carlisle loved it! ~~~~~~~ We went to Floata to test-taste the 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy menu. We started with a deep-fried haggis/shrimp wun tun, shrimp-filled haw-gow, haggis/pork su-mei, and vegetarian spring rolls... that was our appetizer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sukhi Ghuman arrived with her cameraman Zak to shoot an interview and help taste-test some food for an upcoming episode of The Express on Shaw TV. "The Express is a lifestyle magazine program that brings you an in-depth look at the fascinating people, events, recreation and attractions from Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley." Sukhi asked me about the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and how I came to create this cultural fusion event that blends Chinese and Scottish traditions.   more »

Another Gung Haggis Fat Choy exclusive!!!

TF Productions' playwright Grace Chin is back with another "set in Vancouver" play that resonates sexual and racial intercultural politics and social customs.   Last year  Grace and her writing partner Charlie Cho previewed their first play Twisting Fortunes at the 2007 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner which I reviewed Twisting Fortunes is just like "real dating.

This time the writing is all Grace... and she will be performing a sneak preview excerpt onstage with fellow actor Emily Chow, as characters Susan Fan and Regina Cho.

What do women really want?  Did Robbie Burns have the answer?  We know that Robbie Burns LOVED the fair sex and wrote many many poems dedicated to them - the most famous being "My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose."  But does a rose smell as sweet whether it is red, or white, or yellow?  And what about men and women.... do they smell as sweet whether they are white or yellow? 

Check out this spicy excerpt that will be presented January 27th at the 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy : Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Vicki Wong is the designer of the mascots, and of the Octonauts - her first children's book that was published last year. I met Vicky last year at the 2006 Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable which annually hosts an event that allows BC authors and illustrators to introduce their new books.... I fell in love with Vicki's book The Octonauts & the Only Lonely Monster. and promptly bought it, and had a great time chatting with her.   more »