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.