The Empress of Asian brought many Chinese to BC.  Wallace  Chung painstakingly rebuilt a model of it.

Stanley Park's "Hollow Tree" is a world famous icon.  For as long as Vancouverites have had cameras they have been taking pictures of the Hollow Tree.


Here's a picture of my great-grandparents Ernest Lee and Kate (Chan) Lee circa 1907.  Accompanying them in the photo is Kate's mother Mrs. Chan Yu Tan and Kate's youngest sister Millicent.  Kate's father Rev. Chan Yu Tan was well known in the community and ministered for the Chinese United Church in Victoria, Vancouver, Nanaimo and New Westminster, where he and his wife retired.

One hundred years later, the Hollow Tree had become a Hollow stump, and damaged in the violent wind-storms of December 15, 2006.  Because of further damage and leaning, and safety concerns, the Vancouver Parks Board voted to cut down the tree.  But as of May 1st, the tree is still standing.

Here's the latest on Stanley Park's world famous Hollow Tree

On April 18th, students from Lord Roberts Elementary School visited the tree and sang a special song to the tune of O Canada, led by French teacher Duane Lawrence, author of Sammy Squirrel and Rodney Raccoon, a children's book set in Stanley Park:

"Oh Stanley Park, Our home and favourite land,

Big Douglas firs, Where owls hoot, oh so grand,

With cedar trees and surrounding seas, You can walk there all you like.

There's a little lake, Where the beavers make, The best dams in the world.

Oh, Stanley Park, The animals live free,

Oh, Stanley Park was made for you and me,

Oh, Stanley Park was made for you - and - me."

On April 18th, the Georgia Straight wrote a blog story: The Hollow Tree and the 2010 Olympics highlighting how the Hollow Tree plays a prominent role in the Origin story of the 2010 Olympic Mascots.  The artwork and mascots were designed by Vancouver's Vicki Wong and her creative partner Michael Murphy of Meomi Designs. I first met Vicki at a fall 2006 event for new Children's books, where she introduced her book The Octonauts and the Only Lonely Sea Monster.  I bought it immediately.

See the video: Meet the Vancouver 2010 Mascots
http://www.vancouver2010.com/mascot/en/meet.php

Concerned citizens discuss the Hollow Tree's future yesterday.

As of May 1st, the Hollow Tree still 'standing'.  The Vancouver Province wrote a story about "Supporters hoping to save Stanley Park's famous Hollow Tree from the chainsaw claimed victory yesterday after Vancouver parks staff agreed to continue meeting to discuss its fate."

The following is from the webiste at http://www.ccnc.ca/cc150/ The Chinese Canadian National Council is proud to present the Chinese Canadian 150 Years Culture Online Project (CC150). This exciting new online project showcases writers, musicians, videographers and artists in the Chinese Canadian community. CC150 brings together a special collection of exceptional work, based on the theme of 150 years of continuous Chinese community in Canada with many submissions from youth.    more »

CBC is helping to celebrate 150 years of BC history.  There is a website collecting family stories and pictures
Check it out: http://www.cbc.ca/bc/features/150/your-story.html

The 60th wedding anniversary of Rev. and Mrs. Chan Yu Tan (holding flower bouquet), August 15th 1934. On the far left, that is my grand mother Mabel Mar, holding up my mother, who is just one month shy of her 3rd birthday.

I have submitted a short story about my great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan:

Rev. Chan Yu Tan ministered to the Chinese pioneers who built the railroad, searched for gold, as well as became shop keepers and labourers in Vancouver Chinatown, Victoria Chinatown, and later Nanaimo and New Westminster, where he eventually retired.  The Chinese Methodist Church also helped teach English.  Rev. Chan Yu Tan emphasized learning Canadian ways, and it showed in his family.  His son Jack loved playing golf, and eventually  became the first Chinese Canadian to serve on jury duty.  His youngest son Luke became an actor in Hollywood.  The sons of daughters Rose and Kate -  Victor Wong, Daniel Lee, Howard Lee and Leonard Lee, enlisted in the Canadian armed forces during WW2,  eventually helped to gain Chinese-Canadians the vote in 1947, and later help organize the Chinese Canadian veterans associations.

Rev. Chan Yu Tan's great-grand daughter Rhonda Lee Larrabee became Chief of the Qayqayt First Nations Band, and subject of the NFB film "Tribe of One".  Another great-grand daughter Janice Wong, became an internationally known artist and author of the book CHOW from China to Canada. a memoir book of family history and recipes from her father's restaurant.

Our family history has been an integral part of Chinese-Canadian history, and I have recently addressed the cross-ethnic fusion of culture and marriage with my event Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a mixture of Robbie Burns and Chinese New Year.  There have been inter-ethnic marriages in every generation of our family - each of my maternal cousins have married non-Chinese.

I helped to tell the story of our family's 7 generational BC history, in the CBC documentary Generations: The Chan Legacy . http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/generations

This picture is at Rev. and Mrs. Chan Yu Tan's 60th wedding anniversary in New Westminster.  4 generations are included in this picture.

Here is the Tartan Day Proclamation for the City of Vancouver!   more »

Here's the first public media acknowledgement that Tartan Day is officially happening in the City of Vancouver. Indeed, the city of Vancouver, province of BC, and country of Canada - all trace it's historical beginnings to Scottish pioneers. + Vancouver Province story: Vancouver's lads and lassies have until Sunday to press their kilts and dust off their sporans for the city's first official Tartan Day. Council will declare today that Vancouver is joining a long list of cities around the world that celebrate their Scottish roots on April 6.   more »

This is the CTV documentary about my cousin Rhonda Larrabee's struggle to resurrect Canada's smallest First Nations band the Qayqayt.......... Once upon a time the band flourished on the banks of the Fraser River. Then White settlers moved into their territories and renamed it New Westminster. The Qayqayt were put on a Reserve, but that was taken away from them too....... Rhonda's mother fled her homeland territories due to racism and shame. She came to Vancouver's Chinatown, where she met Rhonda's father. Rhonda grew up into her teenage years thinking she was Chinese. Then she discovered she was First Nations.    more »

On Saturday Night, CCHS honoured Brandy Lien-Worrall for leading the CCHS writing workshops, which singlehandedly helped fund and make a reality the Edgar Wickberg scholarships for students studying Chinese-Canadian history. Brandy really is an amazing and inspiring person. Not only did she succeed in editing the Eating Stories anthology over the summer and seeing it through to publication in November, but she did it while fighting a serious bout with breast cancer. On January 1st, I named Brandy to a list of Chinese Canadians that inspired me for 2007.   more »

Ever watch the Tim Horton hockey dad commercial featuring a Chinese Canadian grandpa telling his son that he did pay attention? 

When I first spoke with actor Russell  Jung, I asked him "Who was the first Chinese hockey player in the NHL?"

"Larry Kwong," answered Russell.

Read my 2006 story about my the Tim Horton's hockey dad commercial with a comment by actor Russell Jung http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2006/2/17/1769127.html

Kwong played in the 1947 NHL season - 11 years before Willie O'Ree became the first black player in the NHL.  Long before Paul Kariya became the first Asian hockey star player.

The Asian North America Timeline Project lists this under 1947:


Last month Tom Hawthorn wrote an incredible story in the Globe and Mail about the Vernon BC, born Larry Kwong.

Check out Tom's story on his blog "One Minute to Make History"
http://www.tomhawthorn.com/?a=37

Then check out his writing buddy Terry Glavin's blog, about Tom's story. 

I sent back a link to Tom, showing that a Feb 7 wire service story by Deborah Jones was printed in the Brunei Times:  'Gung Haggis' bridging the ethnic gap

Small world, isn't it?

Watch GLOBAL NEWS on Tuesday Feb 26 -
6pm
TOMORROW!

Everybody knowns that BC's cultural diversity is one of the best things about living in BC.  Where else can you celebrate almost all the world's cultures worldly cuisines in a single city, go dragon boat racing, go to First Nations pow wows, enter a St. Patrick's Day parade, and learn bangra dancing?

Todd Wong (me)  was interviewed on Feb 17th for a Global TV story celebrating BC's 150 years.

I talk about cultural diversity in BC, and am seen with the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, paddling in the background.

Cultural diversity is the topic, Todd and the Gung Haggis dragon boat team will represent it to Global TV viewers.  Our dragon boat team itself has a good mixture of not only Asian and Caucasian paddlers, but also one paddler with Iraqi heritage and 3 paddlers with both Asian/Caucasian DNA.

I also explain the history of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner, which celebrates not only the Scottish and Chinese pioneer histories of BC, but also "everything inbetween and everything beyond."



We did a poll asking people what they thought were the things that made BC a world-class place, and people/culture/diversity was one of the top 10 responses.  To illustrate some of BC's amazing culture and diversity, I thought you would be a great person to profile.  But of course, we need some viz of you doing something, and since we missed the dinner, the dragon boating would be great, as well as another example of cultural diversity.  The story is scheduled to air Feb 26.

Back in January, Todd Wong was interviewed by Eric Model for "Conversations on the Road."  Model describes his  show as "journeys into the offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and the forgotten."

"And today most appropriately takes us into the category of offbeat.  And today's journey we go to Vancouver and we are discussing and event called 'Gung Haggis Fat Choy.'"

It's a very interesting 21 minute and 38 second pod cast with a stimulating conversation about the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, early Chinese and Scottish pioneers in the late 1800's, racism, cultural traditions, inter-racial marriage, and the Canadian explorer Simon Fraser who was actually born in Vermont.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Gung Haggis Fat Choy - A Unique Scottish-Chinese Cultural Celebration

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a cultural event originating from Vancouver, BC. The name Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a combination wordplay on Scottish and Chinese words: haggis is a traditional Scottish food and Gung Hay Fat Choy/Kung Hei Fat Choi s a traditional Cantonese greeting (in Mandarin it is pronounced Gong Xi Fa Cai) used during Chinese New Year. The event originated to mark the timely coincidence of the Scottish cultural celebration of Robert Burns Day (January 25) with the Chinese New Year, but has come to represent a celebration of combining cultures in untraditional ways.

In Vancouver, the event is characterized by music, poetry, and other performances around the city, culminating in a large banquet and party. This unique event has also inspired both a television performance special titled Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Canadian Games, organized by the Recreation Department at Simon Fraser University.

In this conversation, we speak with event founder and spearhead Todd Wong. He tells us how it got started, and what it has come to represent around Vancouver and far beyond. 

TAILOR MADE: Chinatown's Last Tailors
CBC Newsworld
Tuesday February 12th
7pm/10pm   EST & PST

Modernize Tailors began in 1913 when their father opened the store.  Brothers Bill and Jack took it over in 1953.  It's now 2007, and Bill's younger brother Milton wants to help brothers Bill and Jack retire gracefully by turning the tailor shop into a "living museum" and "hobby shop," and move into the restored building and original site of their father's tailorshop. But will they pass the historic tailor shop on to an fashion journalist apprentice or the hot shot tailor at Holt Renfrew?

This is the story behind Tailor Made: Chinatown's Last Tailors, directed by Len Lee and Marsha Newbery, and produced by Marsha Newbery

This was a wonderful documentary that was more concerned with the present day human story of finding a successor for Modernize Tailors, rather than retelling the history of Chinatown and how the Wong Brothers Bill and Jack turned to their father's tailor shop after they were told there would be no jobs for them because they were Chinese, even though they had just graduated with UBC engineering degrees in 1946.  In following the two different successor storylines, the viewer learns an appreciation for what Bill and Jack Wong created with Modernize Tailors, and why it has a special place not only in Chinatown history, but also Vancouver history.  We learn that it once was Vancouver's busiest and largest tailor shop, employing up to 20 people and operating 7 days a week.

You really got to know a sense of Bill Wong, tailor.  He is such as nice down to earth person.  He genuinely was interested in apprentice JJ Lee, and the hot shot tailor David.  But now Bill is 85 years old.  There are other concerns in his life such as his wife and garden. It is shared that wife Zoe is in the beginning stages of Alzheimers disease, and there is a touching scene of them walking hand in hand in Queen Elizabeth Park near their home.  And then there are the many children and grandchildren that we are never introduced to.

There are even some celebrity appearances!  Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan comes into the shop to visit and says that he wants to be able to brag that he has a Modernize Tailors suit.  There is a picture of Sean Connery who was a customer, as well as a thank you note from Gordon Lightfoot.  At one time, Modernize Tailors was "the tailor shop" to go to in Vancouver - especially when the zoot suits were in fashion!  Nowadays they just make zoot suits for the theatre and film companies.

But the best celebrity appearance is their baby brother Milton Wong.  Bill shares that Milton was named to the Order of Canada and chancellor at Simon Fraser University.  The narrator says that Milton is a well-known investor and philanthropist who has bought the historic Chinese Freemasons building and restored it as a senior's residence.  It was also the early site of Modernize Tailors from for fifty years from 1936 to 1976.  Milton has created a smaller storefront for Modernize Tailors to "retire" into, as a kind of living museum and hobby shop, because elder brothers Bill and Jack aren't ready to quit tailoring yet.

Tailor Made was filmed over a 1 1/2 year period from 2006 to 2007.  Bill Wong's son Steven is on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team so we heard about some of the story ideas and filming events, such as "the move."  From time to time I pop into Modernize Tailors, so I also bumped into the film makers and Wong family members.  At one point the film crew was asking about having the 85 year old Bill Wong paddle on our dragon boat team, because he had done so as part of "The Wong Way" family dragonboat team in 2004 and 2005.

Bill Wong attended this year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, and his son Steven is a paddler on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.  It's nice to get to know Bill over the past few years, as our family's have many connections.

It was nice to see my uncle Laddie in the show, since he is one of the tailors employed by Bill and Jack.  And I saw my Auntie Verna, when there was a food celebration with the Wong families in the store.

My cousin Joe Wai made a brief appearance as "the architect" of the restored heritage building, that Bill Wong's younger brother Milton has bought to house the "living museum" of the working tailor shop.

Over the past 3 years there have been 4 documentaries about Vancouver Chinatown families and individuals: Mary Lee Chan: Taking On City Hall, I Am the Canadian Delegate (the Douglas Jung Story), Generations: The Chan Legacy and now Tailor Made: Chinatown's Last Tailors.  I am proud to know descendants from each of the families documented, and especially that there are descendants from each family paddling on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team!

photo Todd Wong

Here's a picture of tailor-turned-woodcarver Bill Wong working on a dragon boat head with the youngest generation of Wongs.  Both the Wong Way and Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat teams took part in an experimental workshop to carve wooden dragon boat heads in the spring of 2005.

Last year in 2006, the Vancouver Sun published a list of 100 Influential Chinese-Canadians in B.C. in BC.... to much criticism - positive and negative.  I commented on my blog article: GungHaggisFatChoy :: Vancouver Sun: 100 Influential Chinese...

I am now working on my list of "Chinese-Canadians that inspired me in 2007"

I was inspired by seeing the name of Roy Mah, in the Vancouver Sun's list of people we lost in 2007, and shared the idea with my friend George Jung.   Rather than create a list of newsworthy or influential Chinese Canadians, we decided on CC's that inspired us.  This way there is NO official requirement or standards.  It is  very subjective and personal.

I also emailed some friends to create their own lists:  David Wong and Gabriel Yu have sent me replies.  David's list can be viewed on http://www.uglychinesecanadian.com

In no order, other than who came to mind first, who has crossed my path, and reviewing my blog www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com to remind myself who I wrote about in 2007.


Roy Mah - the founder of Chinatown News, was written about in the Vancouver Sun after celebrating his 90th birthday, as well as when the City of Vancouver declared July 12th Roy Mah Day, in recognition of his memorial service.  I have known Roy since I submitted an article back in the early '80's.  When he would make his regular trips to the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch, he would also wave to me sitting at the Information desk.
  
  
Thekla Lit for her work with Alpha Canada, promoting the film Rape of Nanjing, and inviting media and public to meet Comfort Women survivors.  Gabriel says that a columnist on the Global Chinese Press has named Thekla the Chinese-Canadian of 2007, as she and her husband Joseph have been busy on these issues for a long decade.  I got to know Thekla when she joined the committee for Chinese Head Tax Redress campaign in the months preceding the 2006 federal election.  She is a very smart women, not afraid to say what she thinks.


James Erlandsen - the young Eurasian SFU Student needing a bone marrow donor as he fights leukemia (James was named honourary drummer for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon boat team).  James reminded me so much of my own 1989 battle with cancer, even going to the same high school and university.  There have been ups and downs, and he still puts on a brave face.  I did a City TV interview with James, when James and I met for the first time.  It was James' cousin Aynsley who first contacted me about writing about James for my blog.
  
 
Tracey Hinder - the 15 year old inaugural BC CanSpell champion, featured in the CBC documentary GENERATIONS: The Chan Legacy.  People constantly told me after watching the documentary that they  thought that my young cousin Tracey was great in it.  She was very inspiring for the future of Canada, especially with Tracey's Eurasian heritage, learning Mandarin and being involved with her school's multiculturalism club.  This summer Tracey started an e-newsletter titled "Becoming Green" that gives suggestions how to create a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.  I knew from the beginning that Tracey had to be in the documentary.  The documentary also featured family elders Victor Wong, Helen Lee, and Gary Lee, artist/author Janice Wong and myself.  Read my blog stories about Generations: The Chan Legacy
Tracey Hinder, Betty Wong and Todd Wong re: Generations: The Chan Legacy

Henry Yu - UBC professor of History, chair and organizer of the Anniversaries for Change '07 events recognizing the 100th anniversary of the Anti-Asian Riots in Chinatown.  Henry has organized events at UBC and throughout Vancouver recognizing the impact on Vancouver made by the 1907 Anti-Asian riot in Vancouver Chinatown, the 1947 franchise for Chinese Canadians enabling them full citizenship rights, the new immigration act of 1967, and the 1997 handover of Hong Kong.  Henry has attended many Gung Haggis Fat Choy and Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop events over the past few years.  Henry always seems to have boundless enthusiasm and energy for all his projects.  But this past year was also significantly inspiring because he also became a cancer support person for his wife (see below).


Brandy Lien-Worrall - editor of Eating Stories: a Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck and All Mixed Up - a Hapa anthology.  It is easy to be impressed by all the writing and editing projects that Brandy is involved in.  I got to know Brandy better when I took the writing workshops sponsored by the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC.  I truly learned what an incredible dynamo she is. She pushed us to write creatively, and from the heart.  And it was fun to have my stories and pictures published in Eating Stories. Read: Eating Stories, a Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck: book launch Nov 25th at Vancouver Museum.  But more important to recognize is that Brandy finished editing Eating Stories in between chemotherapy treatments, after she was diagnosed with cancer in the summer.  Soon she started up a cancer blog in addition to her poem a day blog, and her 12 other blogs...  Just like James Erlandsen, Brandy is Eurasian... and also reminds me of my own cancer experience. 


Larry Wong, Todd Wong, Shirley Chan, Janice Wong with editor Brandy Lien Worrall at the Eating Stories anthology official book launch at Vancouver Museum - photo Deb Martin

more to come....

Jen Sookfong Lee -

Margaret Gallagher

Karin Lee

Bill Wong

Vicki Wong

Joseph Wu

Tricia Collins

see part II
More Chjinese Canadians that Inpired me in 2007: part 2

Head Tax survivors Mrs. Der and Ralph Lee

Sid Tan - head tax activist

Bev Wong - community activist on bone marrow and blood donors

Douglas Jung building at 401 Burrard St. 

Lan Tung, leader of Orchid Ensemble, incredible musician and creator of Triaspora

Wesley Lowe - film maker, creator of I Am the Canadian Delegate - story of Douglas Jung

George Chow - city councilor

Raymond Louie - city councilor

Jenny Kwan - MLA

Jim Chu - 1st Vancouver police chief of Asian ancestry

Assaulted Fish - sketch comedy troupe

Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre VACT presented three productions in 2007, Cowboy VS Samaurai, Asian Comedy Night, and Bondage.

Twisting Fortunes duo - Charlie Cho and Grace Chin

Chinese Canadian veterans

The Chinese Canadian head tax campaign brought a lot of Chinese Canadian pioneers and pioneer descendants together with immigrants both recent and older.... I first met Victoria Yip, when she participated in the 1986 "Saltwater City exhibit" chaired by Paul Yee... Here's the statement by CCNC National President Colleen Hua issued the following statement on the passing of Mr. James Marr, Mrs. Victoria Yip and Mr. Ying Hope:   more »

Tonight is the night I get to see my contributions in print for the book: Eating Stories A Chinese-Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck.

Brandy will be on CBC Radio Friday morning with Rick Cluff, Morning Edition, at about 7:50AM.

Also some hot news from Henry.  Jerry Kwok has done a wonderful job with the 8 min. teaser film on the workshop. It's downloadable at http://www.instrcc.ubc.ca/CCHS/CCHS_workshop.wmv .  

We are having an author's book launch tonight at the Rhizome Cafe on Broadway, before the official book launch at the Vancouver Museum Sunday Nov. 25th at the Vancouver Museum.

It was a wonderful pleasure to meet so many people interested in the writing process, and how to improve their own writing skills.  People were so interested in food, our workshop discussions often took forays into Chinese-Canadian history, memories of food and family, as well as cultural traditions and differences.

The first book, Tracing Roots, by the CCHS is especially memorable for me because my cousin Hayne Wai contributed stories about his mother and our uncles.  It was great to be able to take the book home as a gift to my parents, and show them the paragraphs featuring "Uncle James," "Auntie Rose," and my father  - "Uncle Bill" to my cousin or "Bok-Sook" (#8 Uncle).

Tonight all the writing workshop participants get to take home copies of the book.  I will get to show my parents my published contributions of photographs and paragraphs, which introduce the stories of how I developed my love for salmon, my creation of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and how our dragon boat team cooks up it's own haggis won ton.  This anthology features 2 current (Dan Seto and myself - Todd Wong) and two past paddlers (Grace Chow and Meena Wong) from the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

Brandy Lien-Worrall, our workshop leader and anthology editor, will be on CBC Radio Friday morning with Rick Cluff, Morning Edition, at about 7:50AM.

Also some hot news from Henry.  Jerry Kwok has done a wonderful job with the 8 min. teaser film on the workshop. It's downloadable at http://www.instrcc.ubc.ca/CCHS/CCHS_workshop.wmv .  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  info@cchsbc.ca

http://www.cchsbc.ca

 

Meals and Memories Come Alive in New Collection of Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Food and Family Stories

Groundbreaking work captures authors’ personal stories of family and community

 

VANCOUVER – The Chinese Canadian Historical Society (CCHS) is pleased to announce the publication of Eating Stories: A Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck, edited by Brandy Liên Worrall and with Foreword by Margaret Gallagher.

Following the success of the first workshop and the resulting book publication, Finding Memories, Tracing Routes (English and bilingual English-Chinese editions), CCHS held a second writing workshop with the theme of “Food and Family”, which had nearly tripled in size.  Twenty-three participants of Chinese Canadian or Aboriginal backgrounds researched, discussed, and wrote their memories of family gatherings, home cooking, restaurant outings, and other stories cooked up by the smells, tastes, sounds, sights, and textures that bring families and communities together.  Together with their stories, 37 family recipes and over 170 images complete the collection.  Additional contributors include Imogene Lim, Lisa Moore, Janice Wong, and Henry Yu.

George McWhirter, Vancouver’s Poet Laureate, says of this groundbreaking collection: “I want one of those meals and to be in one of those families.  If I can’t be that in actuality, these stories make me a guest of all, complete with recipes for me to try out on my own, after.  These are more than literate tellings of family food rituals and recipes; they are elegantly and pungently related. . .In the process, these pieces become evocative literature and unforgettable history.”

“This collection is amazing in terms of the scope of experiences in these Canadian communities, from the 1930s all the way to present day,” states editor and workshop facilitator Brandy Liên Worrall.  “Reading these stories is just like sitting in a Chinatown café eating apple tarts in the 1960s or going to a barbecue at the reservation, catching salmon and having a good time. This is really history you can eat.”

Writers include Jacquie Adams, Jennifer Chan, Shirley Chan, Allan Cho, Grace Chow, Lilly Chow, Betty Ho, George Jung, Jackie Lee-Son, Roy Mah, Gordy Mark, Amy Perrault, Dan Seto, Bob Sung, Hayne Wai, Evelyn Wong, Larry Wong, Todd Wong, Harley A. Wylie, May Yan-Mountain, Candace Yip, Gail Yip, and Ken Yip.  The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC would like to acknowledge the support from the Provincial Capital Commission for the participation of two First Nations authors in the writing workshop.

An “authors reception” will be held at Rhizome Café (317 East Broadway) on Thursday, November 22, 2007, at 7:00 PM.  This intimate event will have a short presentation and author readings.  Media interest in this event, including requests for interviews with the authors, should be directed to Nancy Fong, nancy.wy.fong@gmail.com.  Media attendance to this event is by RSVP only.

The “Eating Stories: A Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck” book launch, hosted by CBC’s Margaret Gallagher, will be held at the Vancouver Museum on Sunday, November 25, 2007, at 4:00 PM.  Authors will read from the book, as well as answer questions from the audience.  In addition, New Voices: Chinese Canadian Narratives of Post-1967 Diaspora, a post-secondary student-initiated anthology of literary and artistic works by Chinese Canadians living in the Lower Mainland, will be also launched that day. This book is now available at http://www.newvoicesproject.org/ .

Copies of Eating Stories can be purchased at the authors reception and the launch.  For more information, bulk and educational orders, and press kits, email nancy.wy.fong@gmail.com.  Copies may also be purchased online at http://www.lulu.com/cchsbc.  Proceeds go toward the “Edgar Wickberg Scholarship for Chinese Canadian History.”

ABOUT the CHINESE CANADIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia (CCHSBC) is a broadly based membership society with educational goals.  Our main objective is to bring out the untold history of ethnic Chinese within the history of British Columbia.  We achieve this through sustained efforts at document preservation, research, family and oral history promotion, public education programmes, an active website, and many other initiatives.

MEDIA CONTACT-ENGLISH AND CHINESE [interviews & press kits]: nancy.wy.fong@gmail.com