Janice Wong is my famous author/artist 2nd cousin-once-removed. Author of Chow: From China to Canada - Stories of Food and family. She sent me this note:   more »

Vancouver's Two Solitudes...
2001 Census: Scottish? Chinese? How many?

Many people ask me why the fascination of Scottish culture, or the unlikely fusion of Scottish and Chinese traditions for Gung Haggis Fat Choy?

I usually reply that the Scots and Chinese are really Vancouver's earliest pioneering cultures, along with First Nations of course.  I regard the Scots and Chinese as British Columbia's "Two Solitudes," which  Wikipedia describes as "A phrase expressing Canada's bilingual and bicultural nature. Traditionally, French and English Canadians have had little to do with each other -- hence the "two solitudes", together but separate, alone but together.

The phrase originally comes from Hugh MacLennan's 1945 novel  "Two Solitudes" which the McGill-Queens University Press describes as "

Gee... it's kind of a love story similar to the hate between the Montague and Capulet families in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet story.  Maybe this is the reason there are so many people with Scottish  names in my extended family tree now.

According to the 2001 Census results for Vancouver. 

The top ten total responses for ethnic origins were:

Total population:  1,967,480

English                    475,075
Canadian                 378,545
Chinese                   347,985
Scottish                   311,940
Irish                        234,680
German                  187,410
East Indian             142,060
French                    128,715
Ukrainian                 76,525
Italian                       69,000


These results are for people who checked these responses in the ethnicity box.  In reality they could choose as many boxes as applied to them, or as they wanted.  But ideally, these are the people who most count English, Chinese, Scottish as the ancestry.

Of people who selected only one ethnic group the results are:

Total responses:   1,226,280

Chinese                   312,180
East Indian              123,570
Canadian                 141,110
English                    112,910
Filipino                     48,510
German                     44,470
Scottish                     41,920
Italian                        29,665
Korean                      27,745
Irish                           23,125
Dutch (Netherlands)  21,115

These are the people who chose only one ethnicity.  These numbers also would most likely represent the newest immigrant groups.  People who checked "Canadian" most likely did so, because they did not want to be defined by "ethnic origin" or simply didn't have a clue as to what to check.  Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson admitted that she checked "Canadian" even though it is documented and widely known that she was born in Hong Kong.

Now it gets more interesting with people who chose multiple ethnic boxes.  Groups below can be said to represent the groups that have inter-married most with a different ethnic culture.  Although this could be misleading if you lump English, Scottish and Irish together as "British"- just make sure you don't separate them into Catholic and Prostestant because some Irish Catholics would be more likely to marry a Filipino Catholic rather than an Irish Protestant.  But in Canada, we are all "Canadian" and the great thing is we are more likely to be open-minded about race, religion, and culture.... aren't we?

Total responses:    741,195

English                   362,165
Scottish                   270,020
Canadian                 237,435
Irish                         211,555
German                   142,945
French                     113,655
Ukranian                   58,375
Dutch (Netherlands)  46,050
Italian                         39,335
Polish                         36,760
Nowegian                  35,735
Chinese                      35,800
East Indian                 18,495

Robbie Burns Day meets Chinese New Year. Two separate cultures. Nothing in common. Everything in common. ~~~ Summary of the CBC TV special, based on Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner: Gung Haggis Fat Choy. ~~~ This article features summaries of each segment of the special + links    more »

Happy Hogmanay - listening to BBC Radio Scotland Live!

It's almost midnight in Scotland.
I am listening live to BBC Radio Scotland, as they count down the minutes.

15 minutes ago when I tuned in, they were playing Elvis Presley, followed by Dolly Parton's "9 to 5".... then there was Tom Jones...

Now they are going live to Edinburgh....
A pipe major plays the bagpipes.
There is a countdown.... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....
Then everybody sings a song - what is it??
It's not Auld Lang Syne!?!?!
It's some song about Happy New Year!

The hosts come back and ramble on like New Year's hosts do...
They pop a champagne cork.
Now I hear accordion music... sounds like a polka - no it's not.
It's some song about Caledonia...
I've never heard it before.
"Come in, come in...here's my hand..."
Oh - it's Andy Stewart... whoever he is...

Now they thank Radio Scotland listeners from around the world.
Oh- here's a song I recognize.  "I Would Walk 500 Miles" by the Proclaimers.  This reminds me of the 2003 GHFC dinner when my musician buddies Pat Coventon and pd wohl played their own version with a "Eat Haggis" bridge, and words about Toddish McWong.

Happy New Year everybody!!!!

Early in January 2005, I did an interview for The Source, a bilingual newspaper in Vancouver. Nigel Barbour met me at Library Square and we chatted at Guttenberg's...   more »

What is Gung Haggis Fat Choy? This is a poem I wrote last year while we were doing development for the CBC tv special "Gung Haggis Fat Choy." It wasn't used in the special, but I have read it at poetry readings, last year's dinner, and I will read it today at Simon Fraser University for the opening of the SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy "Canadian Games."   more »

Who is Toddish McWong? And how did Gung Haggis Fat Choy originate?   more »

2004 Gung Haggis Fat Choy poster.

Designed by Honey Mae of Azimuth Designs.  Photo by Don Montgomery.

This poster is lots of fun.  I think it really captures the essence of Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  Definitely something old, something new, something borrowed, something wacky!

Yes... that is me, Toddish McWong, the man beneath the mask.

I posted a new photo to Photos.
   more »

Gung Haggis Fat Choy has been quite a journey from 1999 to 2004. It's pre-history started in 1998 with 16 people in a living room...   more »

Gung Haggis Fat Choy

By Todd Wong

What is Gung Haggis Fat Choy?

It is the inter-section of Chinese and Scottish cultures.

In a new land,

In a new voice,

In a new vision.

It is Gung Hay Fat Choy;

the traditional Chinese New Year greeting meaning "Longevity and Fortune."

It is Robbie Burns Day;

the celebration of the Scottish poet Robbie Burns, and all things Scottish…

including the national dish of haggis:

Oatmeal and sheep organs mixed together and cooked in the stomach of a sheep

Just like some perverse mix of multi-culturalism.

Re-constructed

Re-constituted

Re-gurgitated

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!

The Chinese called this land Gum San (Gold Mountain)

And the Scots gave it the name of Nova Scotia

Westerners became Easterners

The Far East becomes the Far West

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!

It is the play on words.

It is the play on cultures

It is the play of time and place.

It is simply the play of Canadians…

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!

Something Old

Something New

Something Borrowed

Something B-r-e-w-e-d…

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!

It's quirky

It's surprising

It's enlightening

And arising…

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!

It's a vision

It's a belief

What you see is what you get.

And you don't get what you can't see.

Ó 2003 Todd Wong