There will be lots of intercultural goodies at the 10th Anniversary Vancouver Asian Film Festival. I always particularly enjoy the opening night and the panel discussions. Check out the Festival events including great programs such as: Wed. Nov. 1st, 7:00 PM Mina Shum: A Writer’s Journey   more »

Welcome to Cafe de Chinatas a la Vancouver, courtesy of Mozaico Flamenco and Vancouver's renowned Chinese and New Music performers, the Orchid Ensemble. It is a musical collaboration created by producer project director Kassandra and artistic director Oscar Nieto. Guest dancer Pablo Pizano, provided an exciting male lead to the five company dancers of Spanish, Mexican, English, Chinese and Filipino heritage. Flamenco guitarist Peter Mole, flamenco singer Keiko Ooka and flamenco cellist Cyrena Huang provided dimension to the traditional and innovative music of Orchid Ensemble's Lan Tung on erhu, Gelina Tang on zheng and Jonathan Bernard on percussion.   more »

Head Tax Compilation video on Shaw Cable: Watch EarthSeen

Sid Tan has put together a compilation video with a "head tax" theme for the "Earth Seen" time slot on Shaw cable 4.  It's a one hour show.  Set your video machine!

Mark Ferris delights with Mozart's Concerto No. 3
Review by Deb Martin

Sinfonia, Orchestra of the North Shore
October 28, 2006
Centennial Theatre
North Vancouver

Austria - Land of Song
Guest artists:
Lambroula Maria Pappas - soprano
Mark Ferris - violin

Graceful, elegant, transforming.

For just a few minutes on Saturday night, I could close my eyes and believe I was in a salon in Austria some 200 years ago. From the opening moments Mark Ferris took our breath away with a performance of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3,  that was pure, elegant and brilliant.

This violin concerto was composed while Mozart was living in Salzberg, Austria, and is affectionately known as "Strassburg," The movments as written are gorgeous, and Mark played credenzas of his own composition that demonstrated his brilliance as both a composer and performer.

Mark is better known as the concertmaster of both Sinfonia and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, and as a composer, but he should definitely take this show as a soloist on the road. I would love to hear it again.

And now for the rest of the concert: Light, fluffy and easy to digest.

Sinfonia performed its annual Austrian themed concert on Saturday October 28 with a program called Austria, Land of Song. Conductor Clyde Mitchell has lots of material to choose from with  W.A. Mozart, Strauss Sr. and Jr. and Franz Lehar all being prolific composers of greatest hits.

The pool of vocal talent in Vancouver is wide and deep. Lambroula Maria Pappas sings with the best of them. She charmed the audience with her delightful versions of arias from The Magic Flute,  Die  Fledermaus and Merry Widow.

Kudos also go to Toni Stannick for her work as concertmaster in the first half of the program.

SUNDAY - January 28, 2007:

2008 date is January 27th - SUNDAY

the following is information for the 2007 dinner.
New information for 2008 dinner soon.
Thank you for your patience.

New Date for
Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner
   
It's Sunday.... Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
January 28th.

The 1st Sunday following Robbie Burns Birthday on January 25th.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy -
The infamous Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.
The "little dinner that could" and did:


Advanced price now until January 22nd, 2007 is:
$60 + $5 service charge for regular seating
$70 + $5 service charge for premium seating (closer seating + 2 bottles wine at the table)
see our  Seating Plan for 2007 GHFC Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

After January 22nd, 2007
$75 including service ticket charge
$85 PREMIUM SEATING (closer seating + 2 bottles wine at the table and service ticket charge)
see our  Seating Plan for 2007 GHFC Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

To celebrate our 10th Annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner....
Look for the return of:

Silk Road Music

Joe McDonald and Brave Waves


New for 2007:

co-host Priya Ramu - host of CBC Radio's "On the Coast"


Author Lensey Namioka - author of Half and Half

Leora Cashe

No Luck Club instrumental hip hop band


+ many more musical and literary surprises!

This is a fundraiser event for
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team
and Joy Kogawa House

For Tickets:
Contact
Firehall Arts Centre   Monday to Friday 9-6pm
 604-689-0926

Credit cards can be used.  Visa or Mastercard.
There is an additional service charge and tickets can be mailed out to you.

Just in time for All Hallowed Eve, last week came in two main flavours. The first was a black liquorice streaked with red. And second, the garish, gritty green of envy. Flavour One was based on Mercury conjunct Jupiter, both square Saturn, through the 22nd and 23rd, with the giants exactly square Wednesday, the 25th. Itis major stuff when major Planets are involved. All considerations, decisions and statements (Mercury) take on extra importance. Though they may have been good (Jupiter) on paper, or supported well enough at the time, they face, or faced, resistance from various kinds of karmic, cultural, or social "debt". Liquorice flavour laced with red tape. And, all of a sudden (yeah, sure), the news was filled with examples. Ottawa wanted to send sailors and flyguys to Afghanistan. Taken back. Iggy wants to recognise Quebec as a nation, though not necessarily sovereign. Itis splitting the party. Duceppe says Quebec will be sovereign by 2015. Bring the troops home now where theyire needed!   more »

Here's a letter from my friend Sid Tan, that summarizes the present state of the head tax redress campaign - after the successful presentation of the first payment cheque to Charlie Quan on Friday October, 20th. Sid has been active on the head tax redress campaign since the 1980's. ~~~~~ He writes: "Our struggle has just weathered the first of federal government's public relations and media opportunities well. There will be the spouses' payment and then the community fund government blitz and photo-ops. Already the boys at Quan Lung Sai Tong are reporting talk of compliant individuals floating positions asking for the return of symbolic $500. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I find such sentiments self-serving and seeking to curry favour with the government. It hurts our cause. The federal government has already set the financial bar at $20,000 and our basic principle is that all head tax families be treated equally. One certificate, one claim."   more »

CBC Generations filming: Rev Chan bible + descendants Rhonda and Tracey

On Saturday, we filmed Tracey, Todd Wong and Betty Wong with the Rev. Chan family bible.  It is the largest bible I have ever seen. It is 106 years old, published in 1900.  Bound by leather, it was rebound several years ago, as it was held together by tape.  Karen Chan Wong is the keeper and preserver of the Rev. Chan bible.  She is the eldest daughter of Gerald Chan, son of Jack Chan, son of Rev. Chan Yu Tan.... so Karen is a 4th generation descendant.

Tracey Hinder is a 5th generational descendant of Rev. Chan Yu Tan.  Our grandmothers are sisters, the daughters of Kate Lee, the eldest daughter of Rev. Chan.  Last year in March 2005, Tracey won the BC regional Canspell contest held in Vancouver.  She later travelled to Washington DC for the annual Scripps Spelling Bee, as well as the inaugural CanSpell national championship in Ottawa. Tracey was interviewed by CBC documentary producer Halya Kuchmij on Friday morning.

Halya interviewed me again to address head tax issues.  I share the story about Uncle Dan writing to Parliament every year asking for an apology, but never receiving an answer.  I spoke about how it was an important campaign for me to be involved in, as I have many ancestors who paid the head tax including my mother's father Sonny Mar, and my grandmother's father Ernest Lee.  Both are predeceased and will not be eligible for the Conservative head tax redress refund program.

Rhonda Larrabee, my mother's cousin was also interviewed. Rhonda is also Chief of the Qayqayt First Nations.  Her father Art Lee (my grandmother's elder brother) married Marie Charlie, a First Nations woman.  "Tribe of One" is a movie about how Rhonda came to understand both her Chinese and First Nations heritage, and resurrect the Qayqayt First Nations from obscurity.  When Rhonda first applied for Indian status, the Department of Indian Affairs had claimed that the Qayqayt no longer existed.  She proved them wrong.

I bumped into Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan on the 9am sailing to Victoria on the Queen of Oak Bay. Sam was travelling to Victoria for a BC Munincipalities conference. I was travelling with a CBC documentary film crew because we were going to Vancouver Island to interview my family elders. Family history is a bit of a theme between Sam and me. The first time we met was a few years ago, at a history fair at the Vancouver Public Library. I had a display of the Rev. Chan family photos, and he stopped to share stories about his family. We discovered that we both grew up in the same East Vancouver neighborhoods, our fathers had shops in the same area - his on Hastings and mine on Venables. And we briefly attended Vancouver Technical highschool together for one year.   more »

CBC Generations filming:  Searching for Rev. Chan on Vancouver Island
  

Rev Chan Yu Tan is 4th from the left, standing beside his elder and taller brother Rev. Chan Sing Kai at the 50th Anniversary of the Chinese United Church in Victoria, 1935.  Rev Chan Sing Kai first came to Canada in 1888 to help found the Chinese Methodist Church which later became the Chinese United Church.  Photo from family archives.

My great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan was a United Church minister on Vancouver Island in Victoria and Nanaimo.  He first arrived in Victoria in 1896, 110 years ago.  He then came to Vancouver to work at the Chinese Methodist Church which was founded by his older brother Rev.Chan Sing Kai, in 1888.  He also ministered in New Westminster, then moved to Nanaimo in the 1920's before returning to New Westminister where he retired.  I have a picture of my mother as a child at the Rev. & Mrs. Chan's 65th wedding anniversary party back around 1943.

The CBC film crew went to Vancouver Island yesterday to interview my grandmother's cousin Victor Wong and my grandmother's younger sister Auntie Helen Lee for a CBC Generations documentary.  They were Rev. Chan's grandchildren who both remember attending their grandfather's services in Nanaimo during the 1920's.  "Auntie" Helen and her younger brother Daniel, lived with Rev. Chan and his wife for a time in Nanaimo.

I travelled with producer Halya Kuchmij, cameraman Doug, and sound guy Rick. We caught a 9am ferry to Victoria, arriving at Uncle Victor's place just after 11am.  Auntie Roberta Lum was also there to greet us.  She brought some pictures that were scanned for use in the documentary.  Uncle Victor talked about visiting his grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan, about becoming a Canadian soldier and going to India.  Uncle Victor is the president of the Chinese Canadian veterans association in Victoria, and he was filmed two weekends ago when they hosted a reunion in Victoria.  Uncle Victor gave a speech about how the Chinese-Canadian veterans played a major role in bringing enfranchisement to Chiense Canadians, helping us gain the vote in 1947.  Halya was very pleased with the interview. 

"I loved my grandfather," beamed Uncle Victor, as his face lit up and he recalled happy times playing in Victoria.  He was a very kind man."


Here I am with my Grandmother's cousins Roberta Lum andVictor Wong in Victoria.  Their mother was Rose Chan Wong, a daughter of Rev. Yu Tan Chan.  My great-grandmother Kate was the eldest child of Rev. Chan - photo Halya Kuchmij

We finished after 2pm then went for lunch.  It was a 2+ hour drive to Nanaimo.  We arrived at Auntie Helen's just after 6pm.  We were also greeted by Helen's daughters Donna and Judy.  Auntie Helen talked about growing up in Nanaimo, and attending services with her grandfather Rev. Yu Tan Chan.  She shared that she sometimes accompanied Rev. Chan on his visits to Ladysmith, Duncan and Cumberland where there was a large group of miners.  Rev. Chan held evening services for the miners.

She also talked about her grandmother Mrs. Shee Wong Chan, whom I learned could be a very stern woman as well as loving.  Mrs. Chan was also very active in the community, knowledgable about Chinese herbal medicines and midwifery.  A highlight of the interview was when Auntie Helen sang "Jesus Loves Me," and talked about the hymns that Rev. Chan played on his pump organ at Church.


My favorite Grand-Aunt... Auntie Helen is my grandmother's younger sister, at 91 years old.  She has attended the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners and she LOVES to eat Haggis - photo Halya Kuchmij

We caught the 9pm ferry back to Vancouver/Horseshoe Bay.  It was a long day travelling from the 9am ferry in Tsawassen to a 10:45 arrival at Horseshoe Bay.  But we captured some great interviews on film.  Halya keeps saying "This is going to be a great film."  She is excited and it's great to be part of history in the making!

On Thursday morning we filmed my 15 year old 2nd cousin Tracy Hinder at West Vancouver Secondary School during her mandarin chinese language class.  She next did an interview and talked about what she has learned of her family history and her plans for the future.  Tracy really represents the future history of the family.  At her young age, sh is already a newsmaker.  For the film she also shared her experience winning the 2005 Canspell contest in Vancouver, and going to Ottawa for the National competition.  Tracy remembers being at the Rev. Chan family reunions that her mother helped to organize in 1999 and 2000.  Of course she was very young but remembers that "there were lots of people."

Filming continues this weekend.  Generations: Rev Chan is expected to air in Febrary 2007.

Almost two hundred people attended the book launch of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC's book launch for "Finding Memories, Tracing Routes: Chinese Canadian Family Stories." Family and friends + interested listeners all crowded into the Alice Mackay Room at the Vancouver Public Library to hear about how self-confessed non-writers helped create the most significant new book about Chinese Canadian stories. CCHSBC executive members described how the 6 week writing project took place and what its' significance means to how history will be understood.    more »

The latest hot issue in the Asian-Canadian community is the Federal government's attempt to name a Vancouver building after a Conservative MP who served during Diefenbaker's government. Howard Green apparently made the following statements: "Orientals (should) be excluded from Canada ." - Vancouver News-Herald front-page story on July 25, 1939 "Mr. Green felt there should be 'no halfway measures about the Japanese question in Canada." 'The Japs must never be allowed to return to British Columbia" - The Vancouver Sun of May 17, 1945 Many Japanese-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian community leaders are speaking out against the naming of the building. My quick perusal of the internet reveals the Hon. Howard Green to have held cabinet positions of Public Works, Defense Building, External Affairs. John Diefenbaker called him “one of the greatest leaders in the field of disarmament and world peace”as he was a strong advocate of world peace and the United Nations.   more »

Sinfonia, Orchestra of the North Shore
performs on Saturday October 28
Centennial Theatre
North Vancouver
7:30pm
pre-concert talk by Gerald van Wyck at 6:30

Our friend, violinist Mark Ferris, will be performing Concerto Number 3 "Strassburg," by Mozart as part of an Austrian themed concert. Soprano Lambroula Maria Pappas will also be featured.

http://www.sinfonia-orchestra.com/concert_season.html
Centennial Theatre Box Office: 604-984-4484

CBC Generations:  Film interviews begin today on the history of Rev. Chan family


Todd Wong is interviewed by producer Halya Kuchmij for the CBC Generations series documentary, at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens.  Wong's maternal  great-great-grandfather Rev. Yu Tan Chan met with Dr. Sun Yat Sen, during his visits to Vancouver.  Wong's paternal cousin Joe Wai is architect of the gardens. - photo Rick Zimmerman.

We started filming interviews today on the CBC documentary series Generations, which will feature the the Rev. Chan Yu Tan family.   It is part of a CBC series that focuses on the histories of families through the generations.  Past episodes include: 100 Years in Alberta; 100 Years in Sasketchewan; A Century on the Siksika Reserve.

Today our interviews were done at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens.  We had a very nice shot of the gardens behind me, while producer Halya Kuchmij asked me questions.  Camera person is Doug.  Sound person is Rick.  They have both been doing additional filming of me at the Richmond Terry Fox Run, and also for a Chinese Canadian veterans reunion in Victoria last weekend.

Halya's interview topics included:
-  what I knew about my great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan;
-  what was Vancouver like when Rev. Chan Yu Tan came to Canada in 1896;
-  what kind of racial prejudice did Chinese-Canadians face in Canada;
-  how has knowing about Rev. Chan influenced any of my community service

Then the rain started getting bigger and wetter.  We went for lunch at Foo's Ho Ho Restaurant which specializes in the old-time style of Cantonese food favoured by the Pioneer descendants of the 20th Century.  Co-owner Joanna was very friendly to us, and recommended a number of dishes.  Halya, Rick, Doug and I exchanged stories about eating Chinese food, and growing up in Canada.  Doug grew up in southern Alberta.  Halya grew up in Manitoba, and I grew up in Vancouver, BC.

We returned to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens in the afternoon to film me playing the song "Amazing Grace" on my accordion.  It's a song that imagine Rev. Chan playing on his own pump organ.  It was written by former Scottish sea captain, John Newton, who sailed African slaves to the United States.  He later "saw the light," and insisted that the slaves be treated humanely.  He later became a Chuch minister.

We filmed me playing the song slow... then fast.  I was wearing my "Fraser Hunting tartan" kilt, to emphasize my character of "Toddish McWong."  It was lovely playing Amazing Grace in the gardens.  With the gentle rain falling, few tourists visited.  The gardens were peacefully quiet despite the traffic noise.  And indeed the gardens provide a cultural meditative oasis in the heart of this busy city called Vancouver.

Tomorrow we travel to Vancouver Island to visit two of Rev. Chan Yu Tan's grandchildren who remember attending his services at his Nanaimo Church during the 1930's.

Cafe de Chinitas: when Flamenco and Chinese music meet

Saturday October 28
8pm
Norman Rothstein Theatre,
Mozaico Flamenco Company
+ Orchid Ensemble

I love Flamenco Music... so I was happily surprised when Lan from the Orchid Ensemble handed me this flyer for the latest project that she will be involved in. 

The Orchid Ensemble has been involved with both traditional and fusion forms of Chinese music in Vancouver for many years, as well as jazz and contemporary.  Lan Tung is the innovative erhu (Chinese violin) player whose influences cross classical, celtic, middle-eastern, folk and blues.  Gelina Jiang is a multi-instrumentalist who can play zheng, ruan, yuetqin, pipa, jinhu and jin-erhu. Jonathan Bernard is a percussionist who also loves the marimba.

Combine these fine musicians with flamenco dancers and musicians, mix them up, light a fire, and watch them go! (or listen!)

Oscar Nieto and Kasandra founded the Al Mozaico Flamenco Dance Academy in 2002. "Mozaico," refers to the diversity of the ensemble, a mosaic of students from different ethnic backgrounds, ages, and various diversities who love flamenco at the academy. 

It's hard for me to play flamenco on my accordion... I have tried to play Al di Meola's "Mediterranean Sundance" but I think I have to stick to my tangos, and other latin tunes like El Choclo, Espana and Two Guitars.  I have seen flamenco greats, Paco de Lucia and Paco Pena in concert here in Vancouver.  And twice... I attended dinner with Paco after his Misa Flamenco concerts... wow... what a treat to have such an attentive cousin who was friends with Paco back in London in the early 1970's.

Finding Memories, Tracing Routes:
Chinese Canadian Family Stories book launch

Wednesday, October 25, 2006
7:30pm
Vancouver Public Library
350 West Georgia Street.
Central Branch
Alice Mackay Room

This event will be interesting!  I know many of the authors included in this anthology.  Hayne Wai is my cousin - That's our grandmother in the picture with my father and his mother, and our Auntie Rose, Uncle James and Uncle Gilbert.

Dan Seto is a dragon boater on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.  Dan joined the team after we met at a CCHSBC event last year.

The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC presents the formal book launch of the groundbreaking collecting for capturing the diversity of British Columbia and Canada's past. This eight-story collection features touching and memorable family stories. The Canadian Chinese Historical Society of BC proudly presents the first collection of eight stories demonstrating the power of finding common history in the lives and deaths of those who came before us. Created during a six-week community writing workshop, this touching and evocative book is a must-read for all Canadians who want to understand the central place of Chinese-Canadians in our shared past.

Authors: Shirley Chan, Belinda Hung, Roy Mah, Dan Seto, Hayne Wai, Candace Yip, Gail Yip and Ken Yip.

Editor: Brandy Liên Worrall

Proceeds from the sales of this collection will go towards the Edgar Wickberg Scholarship for Chinese Canadian History.

For additional information on the book launch, please email info@cchsbc.ca.

For information on the collection and/or how to purchase, please go its dedicated page.

What would you do if a big earthquake hit your home? Last week at 7:07 Sunday morning, October 15th, the island of Hawaii was rocked by a 6.6 earthquake followed by a 5.8 aftershock. Hawaii is one of the most intercultural cultures I have ever visited. I love Hawaiian culture. The town of Kailua-Kona sits on the west side of the "Big Island" of Hawaii, home to two active volcanoes: Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.    more »

Vancouver Sun: 100 Influential Chinese Canadians in BC... agree/disagree?


The Vancouver Sun published its pick of 100 most influential Chinese Canadians today. 
They write that senior editors and writers created a preliminary list that was then scrutinized by their colleagues at Chinese newspapers who added more names.  Next they consulted with officials at Univeristy of BC and Simon Fraser University, then with "trusted community members."

My first reaction was.... this is cool.  It's great that the Vancouver Sun would choose to recognize Chinese Canadians, being the largest single ethnic group in the Lower Mainland.  However over the past few years I have also criticized the Vancouver Sun for not paying attention to issues in the same community.  I think the Vancouver Sun and other mainstream media have often relegated important Canadian issues (of Chinese ancestry) and individuals to the back pages, or often ignored them.

Witness the very same Saturday paper.  "The feature article 100 Influential Chinese Canadians in BC"is on the front page.  But one of the most important issues in Chinese Canadian history is relegated to the backwater of page B8 - with only a green headline banner on page B1 - the front page of the Westcoast section.  The Globe & Mail put head tax on page 1 of their BC section with a colour photograph, whereas the Vancouver Sun had only a black and white photo.

It's nice to see friends Sid Tan, Don Montgomery, David Wong, Roy Mah, Sandra Wilking,  Mary-Woo Sims, and many others that I have known such as Ray Mah, Raymond Louie, Jenny Kwan, Bill Chu, Milton Wong, Bob Lee, Lydia Kwa, Maggie Ip, Robert Fung, Andrea Eng, Paul Wong, and Eleanor Yuen.

My next thoughts were that the list was missing many people that have been my own role models amongst my influences.  People like Joe Wai architect of the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens and many other prominant projects in Chinatown, Beverly Nann OBC former social worker and former president of explorASIAN (Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society), Jim Wong-Chu, excutive director and founding member of Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and tireless vice-president of explorASIAN. 

Where is Shirley Chan?  Where is her naturopathic/chiropractic brother Dr. Larry Chan who has done so much for alternative healing in Vancouver and BC?  Where is Simon Johnston, playwright and executive director of the Gateway theatre?  Where is Ken Lum, recently listed in BC Almanac's Greatest British Columbians.

Where is Gabriel Yiu, recently written up in the revised edition of Saltwater City?  Where is Thekla Lit, leader of BC Alpha?  Both of whom also helped to champion an apology for the Chinese Head Tax.

Why does the list include 16 year old golfer Eugene Wong and not Lori Fung OBC OC, the Olympic gold medalist for rhythmic gymnastics?  Why pick 16 year old skater Mira Leung, but not veteran Megan Wing who skates pairs with Aaron Lowe (They were both born in Vancouver, but are living in Windsor and training in Michigan - but I am sure they come back from every now and then...)

Why is World Journal editor-in-chief Han Shang Ping on the list when he has only been in BC for 1 year, and most likely is NOT a Canadian citizen?

Can you call somebody a valid Chinese-Canadian if they are NOT a Canadian citizen.  Certainly the Taiwan born Han Shang Ping is of Chinese ancestry, but I would argue that caucasian SFU professor Jan Walls has contributed much more to the Chinese-Canadian community and Jan is a valid Canadian.

Lists are often controversial and the Vancouver Sun has also asked readers for nominate their own influential Chinese-Canadians by e-mailing: influential@png.canwest.com

You can bet that I will be. 

Here's some of the introduction of the Vancouver Sun article.

"History lost track of what became of that first "Chinaman," but his pioneering footsteps cleared a path for innumerable others.

Today, people of Chinese ancestry are the province's most populous ethnic minority, numbering almost 500,000 in the Lower Mainland. They wield immense influence on every aspect of our shared society. In field after field -- arts, politics, law, medicine, science, finance, business, religion, community affairs, philanthropy -- Chinese-Canadians have taken their rightful place as leaders and innovators.

In some ways, this is Canadian multiculturalism at its very best, a colour-blind gathering of talent and shared purpose.

There's just one problem: For most of our history, we have been anything but colour-blind. It wasn't the Anglo-Europeans of British Columbia who had to fight for the right to belong, or who endured a century of racism of the most despicable and institutionalized sort. It wasn't the Anglo-Europeans who were reminded over and over, for generations, that they were different, lesser than other Canadians: required to pay taxes but not allowed to vote.

These dark facts make the contemporary accomplishments of Chinese-Canadians in B.C. all the more impressive. Not only have they distinguished themselves in so many ways, but Chinese-Canadians have done so against a background of racism and discrimination that only just began to abate in the second half of the 20th century.

Prejudice has finally given way to politeness, but our divisive history lives on in the way the Anglo-European majority and the so-called Chinese community (actually not one homogenous group, but many sub-groups divided along linguistic, political and cultural lines) continue to conduct themselves as two solitudes: nodding acquaintances who sometimes still ignore one another."

List 1
List 2

Theatre Review: 
Griffin and Sabine - an infinite world of love and possibilities

review written by Todd Wong and Deb Martin

October 5th to November 4th
Arts Club Theatre
Granville Island

Surreal is a good way to explain sitting through the innovative Griffin and Sabine play which began life as the  hit trilogy of books by author Nick Bantock.   This was followed by the sequel trilogy “The Morning Star” in which new characters Isabella and Matthew are introduced through a correspondence of their own, and also with Griffin and Sabine.  The play at the Arts Club includes all six books, each separate trilogy forming Act 1 or act 2.

The books are unique. The readers are eavesdropping on the private correspondence of two lovers who have not yet met.  I fell in love with the books for their sheer beauty and intrigue, as did millions of people around the world.  With each page I turned, I anxiously looked forward to the next postcard or letter that they wrote to each other.  

Bantock began his own career as a graphic artist. The books are exquisitely illustrated, and the book’s narrative is the correspondence contained on postcards or letters written between the two characters. The books are filled with envelopes that the reader opens to take out a letter. The fonts were created to resemble handwriting. His postcards were elaborate paintings or artistic photographs.  It's wonderful that Bantock's paintings are used a projections which serve as both a linkage to the book, and to illustrate the postcards that the characters are reading.

The characters write to each other between London, England and a possibly mythical island in the South Pacific.  They travel to each other’s home but they never meet up… maybe because they live in different dimensions?  It is like a pop-up book for adults that is tactile and involving.  And this made it magical.

And now it has been turned into a theatre play.  Not just a didactic narrative play, or a memory play… but an incredibly innovative play that takes place as much in the mind as it does on the stage.  There is no dialogue.  Only monologues as each letter or post card arrives.

The action begins with the character of Griffin, played by Colin Legge, holding up an imaginary postcard, as the writer of the card, Sabine, speaks as if she was writing it. Images from the book are projected in the background to create scenery on an undecorated stage with few sets. They help to draw the viewer into the story. Sabine is in a sunken circle on the right side of the stage that represents the island of Katie, and there is a chasm at the back of the stage that moves closer and farther apart depending on how close the characters are at any moment.

Lois Anderson is superb in the role of Sabine, a girl of unknown heritage who is found and adopted by her exploring parents on the island of Katie. She has the gift of telepathic perception and can see Griffin  as he creates his postcards in London England. She is enchanted by his artwork, and finally writes to him. Griffin, of course, believes he is hallucinating when he receives a letter from a woman from a far off land claiming to know him. Sabine is able to describe details that she could only know by seeing Griffin, and Griffin is so lonely in his life that he welcomes the company, even in its unusual form.

The play requires a suspension of belief and a willingness to escape to a bit of fanastical fantasy where visions of wonder become real, and voyages between far off lands just happen, and people fall in love without having met.

And that’s just the first act.

The second act is based on the second trilogy of books where Isabella is a student , and her boyfriend Matthew is an archeologist working in Egypt.  Soon, Sabine writes to Matthew, and Griffin begins his correspondence to Isabella.  Rather than a repeat of the first act, with four characters the interaction is exponentially multiplied.  When a character recalls a dream, the other three characters stand together, then sway and hum and sing.  Very weird – but very cool.

To create a play from the books presents the challenge of taking the tangible where so much depends on visual impact, and translating it to the verbal medium.  Dramaturg Rachel Ditor writes in the program that “experimentation is at the heart of play development – oftentimes, we find out what the play is by finding out first what it isn’t.”

What they found is that the story is a beautiful series of monologues held together by themes of love, fear, hope and compassion.  It allows the actors to really play with their words, and to accentuate with subtle or sustained physical movements.  

While the first act emphasized the physical and emotional separation of strangers getting to know each other, the second act builds upon an already realized intimacy between Isabella and Matthew. Actor Andrew McNee is wonderful to watch as Matthew, an expressive yin to the inwardly focused Griffin.  Megan Leitch as Isabella is similarly brilliant as they must demonstrate their deep love  without conversing, or touching – but through their words and actions.  This allows the action to move to a more sensually heightened tension, that is threatened by the mysterious Mr. Frolatti, who threatens Sabine and Isabella to turn over the correspondence.  

Marco Soriano plays both Frolatti as well as the Griffin’s cat, Minalouche, bringing both a convincing menace as well as gentle yet humourous presence to the stage.   We think that Soriano must really enjoy playing Minalouce the cat.  He does such a great job, and probably really likes having his stomach rubbed onstage by Isabella

Griffin and Sabine, is an exciting play to watch – the actors make good use of the stage, the set moves, the artwork of Nick Bantock is projected on the back screen, and a live musical score is provided by a double bass, and marimba/tabla drums.

It may not be all understandable on a first sitting.  The play, like interculturalism, demands the audience to be open-minded, which brings an appreciation of new ideas and experiences. 
And like a good film, this play will beg another reading of the books and a return.  Think of going on talk back Tuesdays when the cast and crew answer questions from the audience.

Here is the Petti Fong article in the Globe & Mail. It was nice to meet Petti at the ceremony.VANCOUVER -- Their combined ages round off to 200, and with all their years lived and all their dreams fulfilled or forgotten, Charlie Quan and Thomas Soon each had just one hope left. The two men wanted to live long enough to see the government apologize and repay them for the $500 head tax it cost each of them to enter Canada. They arrived separately as teenagers and they lived very different lives. But when Mr. Soon, 97, arrived inside the meeting hall yesterday and saw Mr. Quan, 99, the two elderly men reached toward each other, grasped the other's hands and held on as if they were old friends.   more »

As a 5th Generation Canadian - who just happens to be blessed with beautiful Chinese DNA - I regard myself as 100% Canadian. I don't speak Chinglish, but understand some words and phrases in Mandarin and Cantonese. I am fluent in English and conversational in French. I was born in Vancouver - not Hongcouver. My parents and my grandmother were born in BC, not China. My cousin Rhonda is a First Nations Indian Chief - not a member of the Red Guard. I race dragon boats in Canada and the US - not in China. I couldn't recognize the Chinese national anthem - I sing O Canada. I am not a member of the Chinese National Congress - I am a director of the Canadian Club Vancouver. I don't eat chicken feet - I eat haggis with sweet and sour sauce. I AM CANADIAN!   more »

I attend the head tax payment ceremony... Here is my account...... Ninety-nine year old Charlie Quan recieved the very first ex-gratia cheque for Chinese head tax redress, presented by Bev Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women. Oda and David Emerson, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacifc Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics, were in town to present the cheques to Quan, Thomas Soon (aged 95) and Ah Foon Chin (aged 96) who could not attend and was represented by his daughter-in-law. In 1923, Quan had to pay $500 to enter Canada, estimated to be the cost of a house or two years wages back then. Only ethnic Chinese were charged the head tax. It was a concerted effort to keep Canada white, and discourage Chinese from coming to Canada. Beginning in 1885, the Canadian government imposed a $50 fee on Chinese immigrants, which was raised to $100 in 1900 and to $500 in 1903. But by 1923, Chinese were still coming, so the Canadian government passed the "Chinese Exclusion Act" which effectively banned all Chinese immigration, and was not rescinded untl 1947, after WW2,&