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Wednesday, January 28
Happy Chinese New Year! Gee.... it's a lot like Scottish Hogmanay!
by
Todd
on Wed 28 Jan 2009 11:42 PM PST
 A very multicultural group of poetry loving revelers shared food and drink at Library Square Pub on Chinese New Year's Day. Two international students from Brasil joined us along with Karen, a man from Iran, 5th generation Vancouverite Todd Wong, born in Scotland June Ventners-Clark, Peter Clark, Phoenix and Sherry Shigasu.After the World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy Gala at the Vancouver Public Library, some of us went to the Library Square Pub. Monday night appetizers were 2 for 1. We had nachos, spring rolls, popcorn shrimp and chicken wings. Our multicultural crowd counted ancestry from around the world: Brazil, China, Japan, Scotland, Iran, Germany, India and more! There are many similarities between Chinese New Year's Eve and Scottish Hogmanay: 1) Make lots of noise. Chinese light firecrackers to create loud noises to scare away bad spirits. Scottish also create loud noise by clanking kitchen pots and setting off cannons and church bells. Doors are opened to let out bad spirits. 2) Pay off your debts.
Chinese like to ensure that you start off the New Year with no debts
hanging onto your personal feng shui. I think the Scots do the
same but especially to ensure that they aren't paying anymore interest.
3) Have lots of good food and visit friends. Eat lots and be merry. Both Scots and Chinese enjoy eating, hosting their friends and visiting their friends. If you spend all your time visiting friends, then you don't have to cook for anybody. But good guests always bring good gifts too!
4) Party on dude! In
Asia, Chinese New Year celebrations will go on for days, lasting up to
a week! Sort of like Boxing week sales in Canada. In
Scotland, the Scots are proud partyers and are well known for making
parties last for days on end.
World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy performs at Vancouver Library on Chinese New Year Day
by
Todd
on Wed 28 Jan 2009 11:41 PM PST
 Monday night was the 6th Annual World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy Gala. This event was first created when I noticed there were no readings of Robbie Burns at the library... I contacted Ariadne Sawyer of the World Poetry Reading series to collaborate for this now popular program. Just before our 7:30 start time, I chatted with the audience, explaining the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and sharing some of the events that happened the night before at the big Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, and at our small ceremony at the Robert Burns statue in Stanley Park - to celebrate the 250th Birthday of Robbie Burns. We bring together the elements of Gung Haggis Fat Choy within a world context. We feature poetry of Robbie Burns, China, as well as contemporary Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian poets. And sometimes we add in music and dance and of course... singalongs. This year's program was a lot of fun. It was hosted by Ariadne Sawyer, Diego Bastianutti and myself. We featured poet James Mullin and myself reading poetry by Robbie Burns. I also brought my accordion to play some tunes too.
Rita Wong, the 2008 BC Book Prize Poetry winner, read from her books
Monkey Puzzle and Forage. With the World Poetry theme, Rita even read
a poem by Pablo Neruda, which Diego read in Spanish afterwards.
Tommy Tao, explained how he ended up doing poetry translations of 9th
and 15th Century poetry, and how he has come to love it. He read a few
poems about food and celebrations.I talked about some of the similarities about Chinese New Year and Scottish Hogmanay.
I readthe Burns poem "A Man's A Man For A' That", then later performed "Address to A Haggis."
 James Mullin led a group of four volunteers to dance my parade dragon around the room while I played "Scotland the Brave" on my accordion.
 There were a number of Korean ESL students in the audience, and they really had a lot of fun.
My earlier attempt at playing and singing "My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose" was easily redeemed by my playing of Scotland the Brave, and leading the audience in a group singalong of "Auld Lang Syne"
Evrerybody really got into the spirit of the evening. This photo features poets James Mullin, Tommy Tao along with a Korean language student and Peter Clark originally from the U.K. Check out more photos:
Wednesday, January 14
Free Event: Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night at Vancouver Public Library
by
Todd
on Wed 14 Jan 2009 01:48 PM PST
 Vancouver Public LibraryCentral Branch350 West Georgia St.Alma Van Dusen and Peter McKay rooms7:30 PM on Monday, January 26th (the day after the BIG Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner at the Floata Restaurant January 25th) Every year we do a FREE poetry evening at the Vanocuver Public Library in partnership with World Poetry collective. Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica-Olea are the wonderful organizers of World Poetry, which presents poetry readings at the Vancouver Public Library each month. We bring together contemporary Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian poets, as well as reading Robbie Burns and presenting something very traditionally Chinese for Chinese New Year. Many years ago, I noticed that there wasn't a Robbie Burns poetry night at the Vancouver Public Library, so I called up Ariadne, and we created something special. Here's the message from Ariadne: The World Poetry Reading Series and co-sponsors explorASIAN and the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop
invite you to celebrate the poetic traditions of Robbie Burns Day and
Chinese New Year with a distinctly Canadian twist — multilingually,
from Scotland, China, and countries around the world. Hosts: Todd Wong (AKA Toddish McWong, right) and Diego Bastianutti. Featured Poets: • Steve Duncan • Tommy W.K. Tao • James Mullin • Rita Wong Featured Performances: • Ji-Rong Huang — Chinese Erhu • Ariadne Sawyer — Dragon Dream Dance • Bob Wilkins — Gung Haggis Fat Choy Pipe Band Admission: FREE! (But come early — seating is limited.) Contact: 604-331-3603 (Click here to enlarge poster. TO PRINT the PDF poster: In the iPaper menu, click Print and change the Scale setting to 62%.)
Monday, January 15
Jan 15 - Sublime, entertaining, and full of surprises - Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night
by
Todd
on Mon 15 Jan 2007 11:59 PM PST
"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something brewed," is how I always describe the GHFC World Poetry Night. And then sometimes we just make things up as we go along... that is how creativity works. What else could you expect when the host of Co-op Radio's "Creativity Rocks" program Ariadne Sawyer gets together with Gung Haggis Fat Choy creator Todd Wong? ~~~~ A little bit of Scottish music on this side... a little bit of Chinese poetry on that side... a little bit of Robbie Burns from Ian Mason, and a strange hybrid Chinese/Scottish dragon dance to bagpipes in the middle of the poetry readings. more »
Thursday, December 28
January 15th, Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night at Vancouver Public Library
by
Todd
on Thu 28 Dec 2006 11:58 PM PST
Check out the new January events brochure for the Vancouver Public Library.
Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night is the feature picture.
see the 2007 poster on the attachment!
Yup... that's me underneath the mask. more »
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Tuesday, January 17
Review: Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night - Jan 16
by
Todd
on Tue 17 Jan 2006 01:32 PM PST
Once a year, the World Poetry Reading Series at the Vancouver Public Library colludes and collides with the alignment of Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day, and is marked by the appearance of Toddish McWong. This intersection is called Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night.
Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Olea-Mujica are great friends to work with, as we built a program to entertain our audience as well as inform them about Chinese and Scottish traditions while serving up new Canadian writers, proud of their Scottish and Chinese ancestral roots. Following an introduction by Vancouver Public Library Community Programs Librarian Barbara Edwards, piper Joe McDonald led a parade of the performers into the Alice Mackay Room, around the back, up the side and across the front. The original tune was appropriately titled "Gung Haggis Fat Choy." Special guests...Fiona Tinwei Lam, Alexis Kienlen, James Mullin, dancer Yan Yan & friends + PICTURES!
more »
Saturday, January 14
Saturday afternoon in Kitsilano - Oh the people you meet!
by
Todd
on Sat 14 Jan 2006 07:11 PM PST
Kitsilano is a great neighborhood. Filled with low income basement suites, students, expensive waterfront homes. I went for a walk on Saturday afternoon with my girlfriend to pick up a birthday cake for my father. Little did I know it would be such an adventure.... We bump into Stephen Owen, Shirley Chan, Philip Owen, James Mullen, and visit Notte's Bon Ton french pastry + Vancouver Kid's Books. more »
Saturday, June 18
Gung Haggis dragon boat team APRES-PADDLE PARTY @ The ROXY
by
Todd
on Sat 18 Jun 2005 11:22 PM PDT
Come to our Paddlers' Appreciation Party... June 19th @ The Roxy more »
Friday, January 21
Fred Wah shines at Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry night event
by
Todd
on Fri 21 Jan 2005 01:06 PM PST
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. more »
Sunday, January 16
Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night at Vancouver Public Library - tomorrow!
by
Todd
on Sun 16 Jan 2005 01:10 AM PST
At 7:30pm bagpiper Joe McDonals will "pipe" the performers into the Alice MacKay room at the Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch. The evening of poetry and music will include singalongs, some poetry by Robert Burns and references to Chinese New Year. We blend together Canadian contemporary poets born in Scotland, China, or of Chinese or Scottish ancestry. Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night addresses what came before, what is in-between and what is beyond.
We feature poets Fred Wah, Joe McDonald, Dugald Christie, Shirley Sue-A-Quan + hosts Ariadne Sawyer, Alejandro Olea-Mujica + Todd Wong - Me! more »
Friday, January 14
January 17 - Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night at Vancouver Public Library
by
Todd
on Fri 14 Jan 2005 10:10 AM PST
World Poetry and Gung Haggis Fat Choy come together for one night - January 17th, 7:30pm at the Vancouver Public Library - Central Branch - Alice McKay Room. 350 Georgia St. Vancouver.
Check out our fabulous GHFC World Poetry Poster more »
Tuesday, December 7
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Poetry Night Summary - January 17, 2005
by
Roland Tanglao
on Tue 07 Dec 2004 06:08 PM PST
Gung Haggis Fat Choy
World Poetry Night!
WHEN: 7:30p.m. Monday January 17, 2005WHAT: A very special intercultural poetry night celebrating Robbie Burns day and Chinese New Year featuring
 Fred Wah, Governor General's Award for Poetry Winner (Waiting For Sasketchewan, Diamondback Grill, So Far, Music at the Heart of Thinking, Loki is Buried at Smoky Creek)
 Joe McDonald (left), Dugald Christie, Shirley Sue-A-Quan (Xiaoli Cao), Billy Yizhong, Jacinda Oldale,
Hosted by Todd Wong  (creator of Gung Haggis Fat ChoyÔ ) and Ariadne Sawyer & Alejandro Mujica-Olea (Hosts of World Poetry Series)
WHERE: Vancouver Public Library, Alice MacKay Room (lower level), 350 West Georgia Street
ADMISSION: FREE
MORE DETAILS: Check out Todd's original post and the poster (PDF)
for more information contact Todd Wong 604-987-7124 or e-mail gunghaggis@yahoo.ca
Thursday, November 25
January 17, 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night poster
by
Todd
on Thu 25 Nov 2004 10:50 AM PST
Here is the 2005 poster for Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night.
January 17, 2005, 7pm Monday evening.
Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch, 350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver - Alice Mackay Room
Featured poets are:
Fred Wah, winner of Governor General's Award for Poetry for his collection "Waiting for Sasketchewan", writer of 17 books including "The Diamond Grill" a bio-fiction work of prose poem examining growing up mixed race in a Chinese cafe in Prairie Canada. Fred is a retired English professor from University of Calgary, and is the self-described son of a Canadian born Scottish-Chinese-Irish father and a Swedish born Canadian mother.
Dugald Christie, born in Scotland, winner of World Poetry Series Lifetime Achievement Award.
Shirley Sue-A-Quan, born in China, writer, jounalist.
Joe McDonald, born in Canada of Scottish ancestry, singer/songwriter and player of bagpipes, keyboards and harmonica.
Hosts are Todd Wong (5th generation Chinese Canadian and creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy), Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro Mujica (respectively born and raised in Canada and Chile).
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2010 GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY Dinner
January 31, 2010
Contact Firehall Arts Centre:
phone 604.689.0926
2010 prices
SINGLE TICKET
$60 + $5 service charge = $65
Student price is $50 + $4.50 = $54.50 (must show student high school or university ID)
Children's price is $40 + $4.00 = $44 (ages 13 and under).
Reservations for tables of 10
$600 + lower service charge
WHAT: GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner - 12th Annversary Dinner, celebrating 251st Anniversary of Robert Burns' birth + incoming Chinese New Year of the Tiger.
WHEN:
6PM January 31 2010, SUNDAY
doors open 5pm, Dinner 6pm
WHERE: Floata Chinese Restaurant,
#400-180 Keefer St.
Media Inquiries
Call Gung Haggis Productions / Todd Wong
direct: 778-846-7090
email: gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca
CULTURE:
Our Performers
create something special for us every year with traditional and contemporary performances featuring everything in-between and beyond!
FOOD: A quirky fusion/mix/buffet of
Scottish Canadian and Chinese Canadian culture 10 course Chinese banguet dinner
2004 - The debut of Gung Haggis Won-Ton
2005 - Haggis lettuce wrap!
2007 - Haggis dim sum appetizer buffet
2008 - Scotch tastings! + debut of Gung Haggis parade dragon!
2009 - debut of Gung Haggis Fat Choy Pipes & Drums band + auction of 37 year old special edition Famous Grouse whisky + scotch tastings of Famous Grouse, The Macallan and Highland Park.
Watch for more surprises in 2010!
Description of 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
co-hosted with CBC News anchor Gloria Macarenko and Media colunist Catherine Barr
featuring performers: bagpiper Joe McDonald and Mad Celts, Silk Road Music's Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault, Opera Soprano Heather Pawsey and DJ Timothy Wisdom, BC Book Prize winner Vancouver poet Rita Wong + poet traslator Tommy Tao, Playwright Adrienne Wong and a scene from "Mixie and The Half-Breeds"
Description of 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
co-hosted with Media colunist Catherine Barr
featuring performers: , celtic band Blackthorn, bagpiper Joe McDonald and Brave Waves, Ji-Rong Huang on erhu, Film maker Ann-Marie Fleming, Vancouver poet laureate George McWhirter, Playwright Grace Chin and a scene from "The Quickie"
Description of 2007 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
co-hosted with CBC Radio's Priya Ramu,
featuring performers:
Silk Road Music,
Heather Pawsey,
Brave Waves,
Leora Cashe,
No Luck Club,
Dr. Ian Mason (Burns Club of Vancouver)
Lensey Namioka - Author "Half and Half"
Margaret Gallagher,
"Twisting Fortunes" (sneak preview of play)
Description of 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
with co-host with CityTV's Prem Gill
featuring performers:
Rick Scott & Harry Wong, The Shirleys, Joe McDonald & Brave Waves, Sean Gunn, author Joy Kogawa,
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Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team
for lots of summer fun, fitness and friendship. We are a social team full of cultural vigor, that likes to eat.
We have been featured on television, local, national and international. We have a unique and internationally famous fundraiser dinner event.
We practice starting March
Sunday 1:30 pm -3:30 pm
Tuesday 6pm-7:45pm
We meet at Dragon Zone clubhouse - just south of Science World in Creekside Park above the Aquabus and dragon boat docks.
Our coach Todd Wong has 15+ years of experience including novice, recreational and competitive levels, and both community and corporate teams.
Our 2008 season took us to races in Burnaby, Vancouver, Vernon, Vancouver Taiwanese race, UBC, Ft. Langley.
It was our strongest team ever and we are proud of our race performances.
For more information:
Click on
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team information
phone: 778-846-7090
e-mail: gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca
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