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Welcome to GungHaggisFatChoy.com
Home to my passions for my inter-cultural adventures, Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner event. Save Kogawa House campaign, Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team, Find what you are looking for by 1) scroll the topics links, 2) use the search function ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2009 TICKETS Available in October 2009 WHAT: GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner - 12th Annual Dinner, celebrating 250th Anniversary of Robert Burns' birth + Chinese New Year's Eve. WHEN: 6PM January 25 2009, SUNDAY doors open 5pm WHERE: Floata Chinese Restaurant, #400 180 Keefer St. 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 In 2004, we presented the debut of Gung Haggis Won-Ton including haggis served with plum or sweet and sour sauces.! For 2005 it was haggis lettuce wrap! 2007 saw the creation of Haggis dim sum appetizer buffet - Watch for more surprises in 2008! On-line tickets at Tickets Tonight - Vancouver's Community Box Office or NEW PHONE NUMBER 604-631-2872 $2.50 extra Description of 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner featuring performers: Rick Scott & Harry Wong, The Shirleys, Joe McDonald & Brave Waves, Sean Gunn, author Joy Kogawa, with co-host Prem Gill . Media Inquiries Call Gung Haggis Productions 604-987-7124 cell: 778-846-7090 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join the 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 Sundays 1pm -3pm and Tuesdays 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 over 12 years of experience including novice, recreational and competitive levels, and both community and corporate teams. Our 2005 Season brought us the David Lam Award for being the team that best represented the multicultural spirit of the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, and Bronze medals at the Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race. We also raced at Harrison Lake and Sea Vancouver regatta. For more information: Click on Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team information phone: 778-846-7090 e-mail: gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GungHaggisFatChoy 2007 Performers
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Sunday, December 31
Globe & Mail: Flights of fancy - Eagle watching in Brackendale BC
by
Todd
on Sun 31 Dec 2006 05:54 PM PST
This is a great story about eagle watching in Brackendale BC - just north of Squamish. It is incredible to see 500 eagles sitting in the trees at River Run viewing site. Over the years I have seen eagles in the trees, in the river and in the snow. Sometimes the salmon carcasses in the Squamish and Cheakamus Rivers are frozen solid. Other times, the temperature is above freezing and they stink like the rotting fish they are.
~~~~~~~~~~~
10 years ago for New Year's Day 1997, with Rev. Susan Hunt, I helped initiate a tradition to visit the eagles on New Year's Day and create a ceremony for starting the year with a New Year's vision, using the eagles as a metaphor. more »
Christmas & New Year's in Vernon 2006
by
Todd
on Sun 31 Dec 2006 05:19 PM PST
There's lots to do at Christmas time in Vernon, BC. Our favorite things include walking in the snow with the doggies at Kalamalka Lake Park and ice skating at Silver Star ski resort. The last time we were in Vernon was July 2006 when we were dragon boat racing with the GHFC dragon boat team. But as if on cue... it started snowing on our late afternoon arrival on Dec. 26th. The next morning awoke to 4 inches of the fluffy white powder snow that the Okanagan region is famous for. more »
The Militant: Canadian Chinese call for redress over head tax
by
Todd
on Sun 31 Dec 2006 01:33 PM PST
VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Chanting, "Head tax redress, justice now!" more than 300 people voted at a November 25 meeting to demand compensation for every one of the 82,000 Chinese-Canadian families forced to pay a head tax last century. Many of those attending the event at the Chinese Cultural Center in Chinatown were in their 70s and 80s.
The Canadian government imposed the racist head tax on all Chinese immigrants to this country between 1885 and 1923. Initially $50, it was raised to $100, then $500 in 1903, the equivalent of two years’ pay for a laborer. more »
Saturday, December 30
Vancouver Sun: Dec 30 page C9 - mention of Gung Haggis World Poetry
by
Todd
on Sat 30 Dec 2006 11:59 PM PST
Okay.... it's a small picture of me in the top right hand corner of page C9 of the the Vancouver Sun December 30th edition.
I missed it reading the newspaper earlier today, but my girlfriend pointed it out a few minutes before midnight.
more »
Tommy Shoyama dies - Great Asian Canadian helped create Canada's universal health care
by
Todd
on Sat 30 Dec 2006 11:51 PM PST
Tommy Shoyama was born in Kamloops BC. He was the editor of "The New Canadian" a Japanese-Canadian journal at the time of mass hysteria against the Japanese, and the internment of coastal Japanese Canadians. After the war, Shoyama worked in Saskatchewan with Tommy Douglas, helping to create the universal health care system that became the template for Canada. Shoyama was a nation builder for Canada following a time, when Canada and BC tried its utmost to destroy the Japanese Canadian community. more »
Friday, December 29
New 2007 poster: Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner
by
Todd
on Fri 29 Dec 2006 10:16 PM PST
It is also running as an ad in Common Ground magazine, as this was designed by their graphics department, based on files for our original 2005 poster created by Jaime Griffiths.
Common Ground magazine is one of this year's event sponsors, and will once again sponsor our VIP table. I think that this is a great relationship as Gung Haggis Fat Choy seeks to find common ground between Scots-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian history and cultures, as well as other Canadian cultures and histories. more »
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January 3rd, 2007 - New Tang Dynasty Television's Chinese New Year Spectacular
by
Todd
on Fri 29 Dec 2006 09:32 PM PST
I saw last year's show and was amazed! The show combined martial arts, singing, dancing, and historical legends and stories into a theatrical stage production. I wrote my review of the 2006 New Tang Dynasty TV's Chinese New Year Global
and said that:
The show is both a showcase of a Chinese interpretation of multiculturalism and also a message of compassion and spirituality, underlined by Buddhist and Confucian sensibilities. This would not be unlike any Western society celebration of Christmas with Christian storytelling about the birth of Jesus, or how it is important to give gifts and celebrate peace at Christmastime. Chinese New Year is the largest holiday celebration of the year - in fact it is the "Christmas" of the Asian world. more »
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Vancouver Sun: Kelly Ip's First White Christmas in Canada - Ottawa 1961
by
Todd
on Fri 29 Dec 2006 09:01 PM PST
My friend Kelly Ip had a story about his first White Christmas in Canada, published in the Vancouver Sun on Dec. 18th. I have known Kelly through our many community committments, and it was on his recommendation that I was invited to become a director of the Canadian Club Vancouver. Kelly is a staunch supporter of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and both he and his wife Maggie were included in the Vancouver Sun's list of influential Chinese Canadians of BC.
more »
1 AttachmentsThursday, 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 »
1 AttachmentsWednesday, December 27
Christmas 2006
by
Todd
on Wed 27 Dec 2006 11:58 PM PST
This has been one of my busiest Christmases ever. And it has also been one of the best Christmases.
Here are some of my highlights: more »
Chinatown gentrification in Boston: protest by adapting Christmas carols
by
Todd
on Wed 27 Dec 2006 11:17 PM PST
Vancouver Chinatown is undergoing its own gentrification. Some people think that Vancouver Chinatown is dying. In fact, it's vitality has been in decline for decades. But there are revitalization projects forhistoric Vancouver Chinatown. Will it make a difference?
~~~~~~~~~ The Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) and the Chinatown Resident
Association will go caroling throughout Chinatown next week to raise
awareness about the influx of high-rises, hotels and ritzy restaurants
squeezing residents of the neighborhood.
"This is the first time we're doing this," said Amy Leung, a CPA
activist, who is helping organize the caroling stops at six apartment
buildings. "The idea is to get the information out in a fun way."
more »
Saturday, December 23
Gung Haggis Fat Choy paddlers enjoy the winter
by
Todd
on Sat 23 Dec 2006 11:50 PM PST
We have a great bunch of people on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. Many people have really built some good friendships. Everything we continue to do, somehow seems to revolve around or include eating.The next day, some of us tried out snowboarding for the first time on Grouse Mountain. Jonas had offered to teach beginners. I was the only skier, but was also able to help the neophyte boarders too. During an eating break, I tried out Jen's board and boots. I fell lots, and it took me 3 tries before I could get to the top of the Paradise beginner hill rope tow. It had been 12 1/2 years since my only other snow board try. Now I remember why I have stuck to skies. It's easier, and I can still do my old free-style tricks. more »
Friday, December 22
CBC Lotusland Saskachewan (CHOW) documentary about Janice Wong tonight
by
Todd
on Fri 22 Dec 2006 07:19 PM PST
This spring and summer, Janice Wong (my 2nd cousin-once removed) did some filming with producer Costa Maragos for a documentary about her, and her book CHOW.
Janice will also be featured in the Generations documentary about the Rev. Chan family descendants. Costa also produced the Generations Saskatchewan documentary.
Janice wrote me:
Lotusland Saskatchewan (Chow) documentary has been rescheduled to run tomorrow night (Friday, December 22) during the CBC National, 10-11 pm...but, as it goes with short documentaries during the news broadcast, there is still the chance that it could be preempted again.
more »
Tuesday, December 19
Dec 22, Winter Solstice House Concerts near the Drive: featuring Orchid Ensemble + more!
by
Todd
on Tue 19 Dec 2006 11:50 PM PST
Myriam Steinberg is the artistic director of the In the House Festival. She sends me the following notice. The House concerts idea is great. Many of the events are intercultural, and I am delighted that they feature my storytelling friends Pauline Wenn and Mary Gavan, as well as the Orchid Ensemble.
On Friday, Dec. 22nd, In the House is co-producing a series of house concerts with the Secret Lantern Society in honor of solstice. There is a Celtic folk music concert included in the line up of house concerts. I was wondering if you would be able to send this event announcement to your distribution list and/or post in on your webiste. Below is the complete description of what is happening. Thank you! more »
Monday, December 18
Seating Plan for 2007 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner
by
Todd
on Mon 18 Dec 2006 07:04 PM PST
We are setting up 40 tables for 400 people.
As of January 22nd...
You can purchase the Premium tables for $85 a ticket - includes 2 bottles of wine at each table.
Regular seats are $75 a ticket. more »
1 AttachmentsFriday, December 15
2007 GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY update: tickets on sale Friday, Dec 15???
by
Todd
on Fri 15 Dec 2006 05:28 PM PST
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner is a fundraising event.
Funds will be shared with the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team, Joy Kogawa House, Ricepaper Magazine for subscriptions.
Tickets are available for sale on Dec. 18th.
Thank you for being patient. more »
Cheque presentation in Toronto for surviving head tax payers.
by
Todd
on Fri 15 Dec 2006 02:47 PM PST
The first stage for the Chinese head tax redress, of ex-gratia payments for surviving head tax payers, continued with a cheque presentation in Toronto today. Payments to surviving head tax payers and spouses will amount to 0.6 % of a total 81,000 head tax certificates, as many payers and spouses have long since passed away. The government says they will not give ex-gratia payments to the estates of the head tax familes, but the Chinese Canadian National Council is asking for all head tax certificates to be treated equally.
more »
Toronto-area Chinese head tax payers receive ex-gratia payments today
by
Todd
on Fri 15 Dec 2006 02:23 PM PST
TORONTO, December 15, 2006 - The Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, today presented redress payments to four Toronto-area residents who paid the Chinese Head Tax. Bing Yen Tom, Betty Fong (Lee Toy Kew), Frank (Poy Fong) Lim and Gook Fung Tom each received a cheque for $20,000.
more »
Thursday, December 14
Canadian Club: Christmas through the Century - a fashion show and dinner event
by
Todd
on Thu 14 Dec 2006 12:16 AM PST
The Canadian Club Vancouver is celebrating its 100th anniversary. I am happy to be a board member. We had a wonderful 100th Anniversary Gala in November.
Check out this final celebration of our festive year!
· December 2006 – Getting in the holiday spirit: Ivan Sayers will take us on a voyage through the past century, showing us marvelous period cotumes, worn by his models. His costumes come from women who could afford the very best of everything.Ivan gives us a fascinating peek at the lives of people in our city over the past century. he shows us what the women were wearing, describes the reason for their designs and they reflect the changes in society. Register here. more »
Wednesday, December 13
Vancouver Sun 2002: Toddish McWong marks Bard's birthday - the newsclipping
by
Todd
on Wed 13 Dec 2006 11:33 PM PST
Here's the story that the Vancouver Sun's Pete McMartin wrote about me in January 2002. I just sent it to Toronto to be included for the CBC Generations documentary.
It was a fun interview, and we went to the Vancouver Sun for the photo shoot. 2002 was the first year the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner attracted maj or media attention. I did an interview with Bill Richardson for CBC Radio's flagship afternoon show "Richardson's Roundup," for which Sonia and I read the Jim Wong-Chu poem "Recipe for Tea." It is a poem written for two voices and describes how tea travelled from China to Scotland. more »
Generations Rev. Chan Yu Tan: Editing being done for the CBC documentary on Rev. Chan and descendants
by
Todd
on Wed 13 Dec 2006 01:54 PM PST
Halya is convinced this "our project" is going to rock! She is amazed at the almost 120 year long family history that started when Mr. Chan Sing Kai first came to Canada at the invitation of the Methodist Church of Canada in November 1888. There are now 7 generations of Chan descendants throughout North America, descended from eldest brother Rev. Chan Sing Kai, who later moved to California, Rev. Chan Yu Tan (my great-great-grandfather who retired in New Westminster), and Aunt Naomi who had moved to Chicago. Aunt Phoebe is the 4th sibling who stayed with the Chinese United Church in Vancouver, and became affectionately known as "The Bible Lady" - she never married. more »
Friday, December 8
Georgia Straight: Head-tax redress incomplete
by
Todd
on Fri 08 Dec 2006 11:59 PM PST
The federal Conservative government is only recognizing 0.6 percent of the 81,000 head tax certificates that were paid from 1895 to 1923. They are ignoring any head tax certificates, where the head tax payers or the spouses have died prior to the Conservative government came to power in February 2006. They will not recognize the head tax certificate that my great-grandfather Ernest Lee paid because he and his wife Kate Chan, have long since passed on. $25 million more than paid for the $23 million cost of the Canadian Pacific Railway, for which Chinese labour built the most challenging and deadly stretches through the Fraser Canyon and the Rocky Mountains. And the federal government will only give a $20,000 ex-gratia payment to living head tax payers or their spouses - provided they were still alive by February 2006. If they died prior to that... too bad - so sad. That is just plain wrong. more »
The Tyee: Michael Kluckner about the importance of Kogawa House and The Land Conservancy of BC
by
Todd
on Fri 08 Dec 2006 11:58 PM PST
Michael Kluckner is a writer/painter and heritage advocate. He has done
wonderful things to promote the heritage of BC, documented in his book
and his works titled Vanishing British Columbia. In a recent article by
Charles Campbell in The Tyee, Kluckner talks about the importance of
Kogawa House and the wonderful work by The Land Conservancy of BC."The Land Conservancy is one of the partners in the heritage legacy fund, and they're going out and doing things like this marvellous high-wire act with the Kogawa house [where Obasan author Joy Kogawa lived before the Second World War internment of Japanese-Canadians]. In a sense, they are showing how some public money, put into an endowment administered by a private foundation, with private fundraising, can really make a difference. You think of how significant the Kogawa house is as a site on the cultural map of Canada. They're able to save this in the hottest real estate market that Vancouver's ever seen. more »
Thursday, December 7
Skiing on Grouse Mountain - lots of languages and cultures met and heard
by
Todd
on Thu 07 Dec 2006 12:38 PM PST
It was FREE ski day at Grouse Mountain on Wednesday. I have always liked skiing at Grouse, especially since I practically grew up skiing there during my North Vancouver high school years. We would take our skis to school, store them in our lockers, then head up to the hill with our ski-buddies by bus or driven by parents.
Back in the late 1970's it was very rare to see Chinese-Canadians skiing. Yes... Wayne Wong was still a big name in freestyle skiing. Skiing asians would be most likely multigenerational Asian-Canadians - not new immigrants as skiing was generally a foreign concept. Occasionally, there would also be a few visiting tourists from Japan.
But on Wednesday I saw lots of skiing and snowboarding Asians. I heard Korean, Japanese and Mandarin spoken in the lift line-ups. I spoke with many young Asians who were students in Greater Vancouver, and even one Korean father who bought a ski pass so he could ski with his kids. Vancouver's ethnic make up has changed a lot in the past 30 years and so has the ski culture. Snow boarders outnumbered skiers 80% to 20%. more »
Wednesday, December 6
Head tax payer Charlie Quan's Thanksgiving Feast to celebrate ex-gratia payment
by
Todd
on Wed 06 Dec 2006 04:13 PM PST
Charlie Quan's thanksgiving feast Charlie Quan invited dozens of friends and community members to enjoy a roasted pig feast and to thank "Kwan Kung" (a Chinese folklore deity) for blessing on redressing the head tax.
The 99-year-old Quan will turn 100 in February. On Sunday, four generations of the Quan's gathered at the Quon Lung Sai Tong and celebrated with friends and community members, including head tax advocates.
The feast included a special roasted pig (a must-have in Chinese thanksgiving rituals), chickens and chau mien. Quan said spending was nothing compared to celebrating with everybody. more »
Tuesday, December 5
Todd Wong, Intercultural Activist - article posted on Suite 101
by
Todd
on Tue 05 Dec 2006 11:02 PM PST
Todd Wong, Intercultural Activist
- article posted on Suite 101 Ann-Marie Metten is my fellow coordinator on the "Save Kogawa House" campaign, together with Anton Wagner in Toronto. Kogawa House was eventually purchased by The Land Conservancy of BC and preserved for generations to come. Here are Highlights of Kogawa House campaign. Below is an article that Ann-Marie has written about me for the activist website: Suite 101 Todd Wong, Intercultural ActivistTodd's blend of Scots and Chinese cultures forecasts a new way of being in the world© Ann-Marie Metten
Todd Wong encourages tolerance and acceptance by blurring the borders between seemingly polar opposites--the Scottish and Chinese culturesOn
St. Andrew’s Day, November 30, 5th generation Chinese-Canadian Todd
Wong donned his kilt and sporran to join others of Scots descent to
celebrate the patron saint of Scotland. “Toddish McWong,” as he is
affectionately known, honours Canada’s Scottish descent when he raises
a toast to St. Andrew, whose bones were carried for protection to the
farthest reaches of the world—now known as Scotland. Later in the season, Todd and his Chinese-Canadian family and friends will continue a longstanding tradition of blending cultural traditions in Todd’s annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. Scheduled for the Sunday evening between Robbie Burns Day on January 25 and Chinese New Year, which falls on the second new moon after winter solstice, Todd’s dinner brings together musical performances from both Scottish and Asian communities. Wontons and spring rolls made with haggis and other dishes that merge Scottish and Chinese traditional foods fill the 10-course menu. More than 500 people are expected to participate in the 2007 Gung Haggis dinner on Sunday, January 28.... See the rest of the article at http://activism.suite101.com/article.cfm/todd_wong__intercultural_activist.
Lotusland Saskatchewan: a documentary on Janice Wong, her book Chow, and the Wong family restaurant
by
Todd
on Tue 05 Dec 2006 10:36 PM PST
Lotusland Saskatchewan: a documentary on Janice Wong,
her book Chow, and the Wong family restaurant  My cousin Janice Wong is a visual artist who accidently wrote an incredibly wonderful family memori/cookbook titled Chow: From China to Canada: Memories of Food + Family. Last year, Janice did a lot of local and national print, radio and television interviews across Canada... well mostly in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Saskatchewan... and even in Winnipeg. Last week, the CBC television documentary about her, her family, and her book aired in Saskatchewan. Hopefully the national air date will be soon. Check out these links about Janice: Costa Maragos' CBC documentary on Chow and the Wong family in Saskatchewan airs on CBC Saskatchewan, November 29, 2006. The full length version of the documentary will air Canada-wide on CBC's The National—air date TBA. C H O W c-h-o-w.blogspot.com janice wong studio: artist www.janicewongstudio.com/Main_artist.htm What Is She Up To? 
Janice Wong's blog - features a picture of Todd and Janice during the Eastside Culture Crawl. what-is-she-up-to.blogspot.com/ -
Fundraiser for Kogawa House hosted by 30th Anniversary celebration of Federation of BC Writers
by
Todd
on Tue 05 Dec 2006 09:38 PM PST
The Federation of BC Writers is hosting an evening of readings and will encourage donations for Joy Kogawa House - the childhood home of the Obasan author. Cafe Montmarte is a smallish cafe which regularly hosts readings and musical performances. Expect it to be intimately crowded, with a good crowd.
Fiona Tinwei Lam is a friend and has been featured at both the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner and the GHFC World Poetry Night at the Vancouver Public Library. Alexis Kienlen was featured last year at the GHFC World Poetry Night, and has often attended the GHFC dinner as a volunteer and editor for Ricepaper Magazine.
more »
John Rutherford's Check Your Chart, for the Week of 4 December, 2006
by
Todd
on Tue 05 Dec 2006 08:49 PM PST
John Rutherford is a friend of mine who gives me my regular chart readings...
Back in 1993, he once told me I would be addressing large crowds in the future...
Did I believe him then? I was definitely sceptical...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This week: OK, that was then, this is now. Full Moon Monday as Mercury squares Saturn standing still. Talk about talking to a wall! A bit of bitterness in the tone? Then her sweetness, Venus, gets testy Thursday running over the Scorpion’s tail, the same time the Fat Boy aspects the Lords of Twisting. There’s nary a thing one can really do about budding tension until the weekend’s pointed statements and much unwinds. more »
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