A Very Chinese Time in People's Lives

Jellycat's red plush horse with a golden mane 

Everyone's getting into the Year of the Horse -- Snoopy, Mr. Men, Sesame Street's Elmo, Miffy, Paddington Bear, even Jellycat issuing a red plush horse with a golden mane.

Are they all in a "very Chinese time in their lives", or Chinamaxxing? 

Or is it all a marketing ploy to appeal to Chinese fans that they are wishing them all the best in the Lunar New Year?

In some ways it's amusing to see non-Chinese recently discovering the benefits of drinking hot water, or demonstrating that they know to take off their shoes once they enter a home, and these days posting on social media, "Kung Hei Faat Choy"!

Snoopy celebrating the new year

It's great people are more accustomed or accepting of Chinese habits, but it doesn't make them experts on Chinese culture overnight.

It was brought to my attention that a guy from San Francisco on Facebook was explaining or maybe "mansplaining" that people should say "Lunar New Year" instead of "Chinese New Year" to make it more inclusive, as people from Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia also celebrate. 

He even talks about how this year is the "Fire Horse", elucidating about the five elements of water, wood, metal, fire and earth, and that a "Fire Horse" only comes around every 60 years...

Hence Chinamaxxing or being in a "very Chinese time in my life" is so bizarre. The latter assumes that one is Chinese for a period of time, unlike say ethnic Chinese who are Chinese their whole lives.

The former are those who look at all the cool things about China -- electric cars, high-speed rail, online payments, AI and Shein, without taking into account or even knowing about, say, the lopsided ratio of men to women, the high unemployment rate for fresh grads, and the restrictions of living in an authoritarian environment.

Elmo with his Korean and Chinese friends

All this just only a few years after China finally lifted its draconian lockdown measures to control the Covid-19 virus from spreading. People were literally sealed in their own apartment units, while everyone else got bags of food delivered to them, and people queuing up and opening their mouths to have their saliva swabbed.

And now China is super cool?

Quite the transformation, but now that Canadian and UK passport holders can travel to China visa-free until the end of the year, it would be great for people to see the country for themselves and then figure out of they really are Chinamaxxing.

If anything, they would be able to legitimately say their visit was a "very Chinese time in their life."

Happy (or Sad) Year of the Horse

Painter Xu Beihong's depiction of lively horses

Happy New Year of the Horse!

新年快乐！恭喜发财！龙马精神！

This year's mascot has been a big hit -- the plush horse with the upside down smile that was a manufacturing mistake in a factory in eastern China.

For many young people, the unhappy horse reflects how they truly feel about how life is for them these days.

Your choice of a happy or sad plush horse

They call themselves niu ma (牛马) or "cattle horse", a euphemism for how they feel overworked in their office jobs.

"This little horse looks so sad and pitiful, just like the way I feel at work," said a netizen called Tuan Tuan Mami.

"With this crying toy in the Year of the Horse, I hope to leave all my grievances at work behind and keep only happiness."

Another person who bought the sad plush horse said it was more relatable than their smiling counterparts.

"Imperfect is the true reflection of ordinary people. Our flaws are what make life truly vibrant," they wrote online.

Demand for the "cry-cry horse" was so high that the factory had to quickly add 10 more production lines.

The company even reportedly applied for an appearance patent for the sad-faced horse, and expanded its merchandise to include items like keychains and travel neck pillows.

So for those celebrating the Lunar New Year and trying to keep it together for the next few days while visiting relatives, the sad horse knows exactly what you're going through.

加油！ 

Review: Spring After Spring

Vancouver Chinatown parades always include Chinese dancing

Just in time for Chinese New Year is a new documentary called Spring After Spring, about three sisters who continue their mother's legacy of preserving and promoting Chinese dancing in Vancouver.

Directed by Jon Chiang, the film pays tribute to Maria Mimi Ho, who founded the Strathcona Chinese Dance Company, and helped start the Lunar New Year Chinatown Parade, where her students dressed up in colourful costumes and danced along the route.

Lisa, Val and Anabel talk about their mother

She roped her three daughters into dancing too, and they all became professionals in their on right -- eldest Anabel founded the Vancouver Academy of Dance, teaching Chinese dancing; middle child Val, aka Ms Vee is a hip hop dancer who teaches at Juillard; and youngest Lisa made it to Broadway, performing in shows like Mama Mia, Shrek and Chorus Line.

Their mother died in 2010 and left a big hole -- would the three sisters try to continue doing the Lunar New Year Chinatown parade? How would they do it? Would it be good enough in their mother's eyes?

There is a lot of archive footage of their mother, so energetic and happy as she performed -- she was a school teacher, but her hobby was dancing despite having no formal training. She studied books and later videos to learn new steps.

Ho was a force in Vancouver's Chinatown

The three sisters reminisce a lot and it's great to see them not only reveal more about their own personalities, but their mother too and how much she influenced their lives. Val is the most vocal and seems to be the most thoughtful in terms of reflecting on how she was brought up and describing the immigrant mentality of working hard all the time.

While it's clear the trio love their mother, and Anabel says it is only now, some 15 years later, that she feels comfortable speaking about her, they also remember how she was a tough Asian tiger mom, how whatever they did was never good enough.

A lot of Asian kids can relate to that kind of scolding.

That's what director Chiang hopes will spark conversation about difficult topics from viewing Spring After Spring.

"I know that from my own experiences in my family, there isn't a lot of conversation around the topic [of grief]," says Chiang. 

The three sisters are professional dancers

"There's so many taboos, there's a lot of cultural hurdles to overcome. But I feel like maybe by watching this film, people can see their families through this film and maybe not be afraid to talk about difficult things, both in the Chinese diaspora but also in other immigrant families and other Canadian families as well."

He discovered the story of Ho from his friend who is Anabel's husband, and filmed it with a lot of care and thoughtfulness, giving everyone an opportunity to talk. However, their widower father doesn't say anything, and the film focuses on the three sisters. 

Nevertheless, it was great for Chiang to encourage them to dance one of their favourite ones their mother got them to perform as a group. It shows the sisters united, passionate and happy dancing and enjoying each other's company.

Spring After Spring

Directed by Jon Chiang

78 minutes

Lego Gallops into the Year of the Horse

Looking for an activity to horse around? Lego does

Now that 2026 has started, we're already looking towards Chinese New Year which starts February 17!

It will be the Year of the Horse, specifically the fire horse, which promises to bring speed, passion and opportunity.

This afternoon at Costco we spied the latest Lego set promoting the four-legged animal. Called "Galloping Horses Canvas" (C$140), the set features four equines kicking up dust as they run, and in the background is an ink painting. 

It features four horses too in a Chinese painting that is kind of reminiscent of the artist Xu Beihong, who painted horses so well. The ones here, not so much.

Nevertheless, what is cool about the set is that the four horses actually move when you move the crank at the back. 

The set also comes with two figurines, one wearing a horse head, the other a girl, and they are by a table with an ink brush and a scroll with a horse drawn on it and the Chinese character for the animal. 

The Galloping Horses Canvas is one of three New Year-related sets; there's also one called Fortune Firecracker, and another called Fortune Master with the likeness of Choi Sun, the God of Wealth.

That said, this Lego reviewer gave a pretty honest review about the three sets. Might want to watch before you buy...

Review: Under The White Gaze

Cheung examines how people of colour are portrayed in media

I just finished reading a thought-provoking book, especially for journalists and media outlets. Called Under The White Gaze, it's written by former Tyee reporter Christopher Cheung, who previously worked at Metro and the Vancouver Courier.

He grew up in a multicultural neighbourhood, went to school with classmates with different backgrounds, and then wondered why people who were not white were not covered in mainstream media in Vancouver. 

As a journalist Cheung tried to rectify the situation, only to encounter many issues. When he tried to specifically do stories about Chinese people, they would downplay their achievements and not think they should be covered in the media, or found mainstream media would only cover different cultures through their holidays, such as Chinese New Year, Nowruz, Diwali, and so on.

It reminds me of the years when I worked at CBC Radio and I was tasked with producing the programming for the Chinese New Year show. There were expectations of what my managers wanted, and what the Chinese community was hoping would be covered in the show. And how do you make it sound fresh the following year, when the same topics are covered, like the symbolism of the food eaten, the tradition of wearing red and the meaning behind "Gung Hei Fat Choy!"

In Under The White Gaze, Cheung explains that even though he as a person of colour may report on a topic through a cultural lens, ultimately it's white editors who decide how people of ethnic backgrounds are portrayed in the media, which can verge on being racist. Hence the white gaze...

Cheung uses a lot of examples in the media, from the CBC, to Maclean's, to the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and community papers to illustrate his points. Why are ethnic restaurants usually described as "hole-in-the wall", or "hidden gem", or when interviewing someone for whom English is not their first language, why is their broken English literally written out?

In one early chapter he talks about "darlings" and "deviants". Darlings are model minorities, immigrants who come to Canada and work extremely hard to succeed. The polar opposite are deviants, people of colour who give their community a bad name, such as those arrested for trafficking drugs, or convicted for murder.

Another situation is when words in a culture are equated to an English or western word. My father likes to describe jellyfish as "rubber bands", or baked char siu buns as "Chinese hamburgers". Other examples are banh mi is called described as a "Vietnamese sandwich", but then they are sometimes called banh mi sandwiches which is redundant, or dim sum being equated to Chinese tapas, which it definitely is not!

The book makes the reader think about stories they have read on people of colour and how they were portrayed; it also forces journalists to think carefully about how they should cover cultural topics in the future.

In Hong Kong, non-Chinese communities, particularly Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos and Indonesians should be covered more in the media, and with more sensitivity. For the most part, it's as if they don't exist, unless an employer severely mistreats their domestic helper and is dragged to court. There are many successful professional Filipinos in the city, while many Indian families have long roots in Hong Kong.

Under The White Gaze leaves a lot for the reader to consider, and in particular journalists who want to do a better job of covering their communities, which are becoming even more multicultural. In general we need more understanding of others, giving people the opportunity to speak in their own words with context, and report on them in a sensitive way. That will help all of us understand and appreciate each other even more.

Picture of the Day: Lion Dancing is Alive and Well

A trio of lions performed this evening for a fundraising dinner

This evening we attended the Alzheimer Society charity dinner held at Continental Seafood Restaurant in Richmond.

Even though Chinese New Year festivities are over, the fundraiser had a celebratory atmosphere that started with traditional lion dancing.

Turns out the pink lion had two girl performers

There was one large red lion, flanked by two smaller ones, one pink, the other yellow. They went table by table greeting guests who were eager to stroke their faces for good luck. One was like a dog and constantly wagged its tail...

After touring the entire dining room, the trio of lions returned to the stage and the performers revealed themselves -- While the head of the red lion was held up by a woman, the pink lion was done by two girls, the yellow one two boys! Very impressed.

Equally worthy of praise was the drummer, another boy who kept the beat very well.

Marvellous Mochis

Chestnut (top) and purple yam mochis

Today I finally checked out a dessert shop in Richmond called Car's Dessert. It's named after the chef-owner's wife and while it doesn't sell cakes and cookies, there's mango pudding, pomelo with sago and mango pudding, ground walnut soup, and black sesame soup.

But one of the signature desserts is mochi and I came to buy some to try.

Although Chinese New Year is over, the shop has some holiday specials. I got box with two mango mochis and two durian, and another box of mochis filled with purple yam, and another with chestnut.

Mango and durian (with gold stripe)

I was asked to wait a few minutes as the staff packaged them fresh. When I picked them up, they told me the yam and chestnut mochis didn't need to be refrigerated, whereas the mango and durian ones had to, and all these mochis should be consumed today!

When I got home, I tried the yam and chestnut mochis. The skin made of glutinous rice flour is thin and envelops a generous portion of filling. The purple colour of the yam is pretty and the taste is not too sweet, though a bit on the bland side. 

However, the chestnut one is filled with both puree and tiny chopped bits of the nut, making the texture more than just smooth.

After dinner I tried the other two flavours. The mango one is quite popular, and it features the fruit diced and mixed with fresh cream, but for durian lovers, the durian flavour is the best! The texture of the durian one is combined with a bit of cream, making it soft and the unique smell pungent. It was hard not to eat it so quickly.

No wonder those who love durian enjoy eating these mochis!

Car's Dessert

#110 - 4140 No. 3 Road

Richmond, BC

(236) 999 9218

Kirins Energise Vancouver's Chinatown

Two kirins blessing a store in Chinatown

It's the 11th day of the Lunar New Year and in Chinatown a small group of young people got together to do some kirin dancing. 

Last week it was the traditional Chinatown parade with lots of lions with their big fuzzy faces, batting eyelids and big mouths, but today it was the kirin's turn, a smaller spirit animal with intense eyes that stared ahead and a horn on top of its head along with the yin and yang on its forehead.

The store owner poses with the Kirin Rising group

The group is called Kirin Rising and it's a totally amateur group that doesn't have a kung fu background, but its members are proud of their Hakka heritage.

They did a practice run at some stalls at Chinatown Plaza before heading out to some businesses in Chinatown. On the street the colourful kirins, one with a red head and the other green garnered a lot of attention.

Some passersby remarked they had never seen a kirin before and took pictures of videos. Others were so thrilled to see the pair that they even gave them lai see. 

For the performers themselves they put in a lot of energy moving the heads this way and that, jumping around and bowing three times to each business; despite it being hard work they were energised by the attention and their smiling faces revealed how much fun they were having.

Sweet Sugar Painting for CNY

"Painting" a butterfly with sugar

Today is the fourth day of the Lunar New Year and some retailers are taking advantage of the Chinese festival to cater to their customers.

One is Canadian luxury retailer Holt Renfrew and has had a series of special events happening in the store downtown.

Days before the new year there was a Lego building exercise where a Lego certified master builder made a snake which is shown in the store, and a calligrapher to write fai chun, or new year couplets.

A completed bird on a stick 

Today being the fourth day, they had sugar painting, where a man used caramelised sugar to "paint" animals and insects. Customers could spin a wheel to see which one they could get, ranging from birds, dragonflies and butterflies.

Using a ladle with a round cup, the artisan deftly made the insect or bird and then placed a skewer on it as a holder. While it was drying, he made the next one, and as that was drying, he would use a metal slider to carefully remove it from the marble tabletop.

He drew a crowd, pleasing Chinese visitors, while non-Chinese were intrigued and lined up to get one.

Sweet, soft power in action.

Happy New Year of the Snake

Lion's head meatballs for Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's officially the Year of the Snake.

Last night we had a family dinner for New Year Eve and heard it was quite the ordeal to even secure all the ingredients for our dishes!

At T&T Supermarket in Chinatown, there was a long queue to buy a live fish -- an essential food to eat to ensure a good start and finish to the new year. Anyone who wanted fish, but did not want to wait could go into the line for fish that was previously frozen or already killed and on ice.

We also had a whole fish and roast meats

We also heard there was a two-hour lineup for roast meats in Richmond, probably the stall in Parker Place where there is always a queue regardless what day it is.

I made a contribution to the dinner with Shanghainese lion head meatballs (shizi tou), my second time making it. I basically used the recipe from America's Test Kitchen, and it's kind of funny seeing non-Chinese people research this dish and come up with a pretty much fool-proof way of making it.

The ingredients are: ground pork, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, salt, sugar, chopped scallions, white pepper (black pepper will do), grated ginger, baking soda, water, and a beaten egg.

This time I added finely chopped water chestnuts to give the meatballs a slightly crunchy texture.

To make the meatballs soft in texture, put the mixture in a standup mixer with the paddle attachment and have it mix for a few minutes until you notice the meat is thoroughly mixed.

Next wet your hands before making the meatballs, about as big as the palm of your hand. They won't be perfect round balls, but it doesn't matter.

Then heat up a large pot with four cups of chicken stock, and when it boils, carefully add in the meatballs one by one. When it boils again, adjust the heat to low and let it simmer for about an hour.

In the meantime wash and chop up a whole napa cabbage into quarters and then chop the cabbage into two-inch pieces. After about an hour, scoop up the meatballs onto a plate and then place the cabbage into the pot and then place the meatballs on top of the cabbage and let it all cook down in another half hour.

It's basically done by then, or if there is a lot of liquid, add mung bean vermicelli or rice vermicelli to soak up the sauce.

This dish is a great one-pot meal and even the kids like to eat it! 

Year of the Snake Seems like a Tough Sell

It's a tough sell to get customers to buy flowers for CNY

Although Chinese New Year is only days away, in Hong Kong, vendors selling flowers and potted plants at the flower market in Victoria Park are reporting sluggish sales.

While there are a lot of people checking out the fair, which has 395 stalls this year, flower sellers like Lee Siu-ming, owner of Chun Shing Flowers Trading, which specialises in orchids, are reporting business is down by 30 percent.

"People aren't willing to spend," he said. "I am negotiating prices with them till my gums bleed, but some of them still aren't convinced."

There are 395 stalls at Victoria Park this year

Lee said the reasons were because of the slow local economy and people going to Shenzhen and other places in China to shop.

However, stalls selling snaked-themed products seemed to do well, like snakes on cushions and stuffed toys. 

One stall vendor observed that while many mainlanders came to the fair, they were more curious about what was available and hesitant to buy anything. 

"They're more interested in sightseeing and taking pictures," said Terrence Lo, who was selling books.

"The language barrier and concerns about customs regulations deter them from buying books."

In addition, local customers aren't buying as much either.

"The older generation who are often our most loyal customers, are becoming more selective," Lo said. "They're looking for bargains and are less likely to make impulsive purchases."

Sounds like the Year of the Snake is going to be a tough one, much like the Dragon before it...

Remembering a Tireless Community Volunteer

Ip was co-founder of non-profit Success

A Chinese-Canadian who dedicated most of her life to public service, and was a co-founder of Success, a non-profit organisation which helped new immigrants, has passed away. Maggie Ip was in her early 80s.

She came to Canada in the 1960s from Shanghai and got her Masters in Education at the University of Ottawa, and later was a secondary school teacher. 

Ip also served on Vancouver city council from 1993-1996, but before then she helped set up Success 51 years ago. Originally it focused on helping new immigrants from Hong Kong and China, but now serves people from around the world and has become one of the largest settlement service organisations in Canada.

In the beginning, many immigrants were "lost" and relied on friends for help to survive in Canada.

"Then we realised that they have so much potential... to help to build this country," Ip said last year on the 50th anniversary of Success.

"We would really like to make sure that they are adapted, they are adjusted and they will become contributory members of society. So this is how we started Success. That's why the Chinese call it 'immigrant mutual help'."

Ryan Drew, who works as the director of integrated services for newcomers at Success, says Ip leaves behind a rich legacy.

"Over those 50 years, she's been in a variety of different roles and capacities," she says. "And, you know, even right up to the present day, she was like attending volunteer recognition events.

"I think we've already seen her legacy in action. We are as an agency now... we've gone from this small group of volunteers, you know, sort of making things happen, in anyway they can, to being a large agency with over an C$85 million budget."

Ip leaves behind her husband Kelly and two adult children.

I happened to see her in February at a Chinese New Year event and she was in good spirits. Will miss her cheerful smile.

So Long, KITEC

KITEC is a large complex with offices, concert space, banquets

When I think of Kowloon Bay, it reminds of me of the first two jobs I had that had offices there, and later on the headquarters for the MTR. It is also where there is a giant complex called KITEC, which stands for Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre.

It's about a 15-minute walk from the MTR station, or if you can catch it, a five-minute free shuttle bus ride. It's where students used to take classes at a college there, and for Chinese New Year, large companies would hold their banquets there for staff, since they could hold about 1,000 people.

Many companies held their CNY banquets here

And for indie music fans, KITEC was the medium-sized venue where they heard bands such as Rubberband, Miyavi, Laufey, Tom Odell and Dean Fujioka to name a few. 

It was also the venue for other events -- Funassyi fanatics saw the pear fairy there in 2018, and nine years earlier Hello Kitty fans got to see their favourite feline in a special exhibition there marking her 35th anniversary.

It was recently announced KITEC will close permanently at the end of June, after it was bought for HK$10 billion by a consortium led by Billion Development and Project Management in 2021.

Last March, the Hong Kong government approved the reconstruction of the site into three commercial buildings that includes an industrial exhibition space, and commercial and engineering facilities.

The mid-sized concert venue will be sorely missed

Built in 1995, KITEC was originally owned by Hopewell Holdings and has 1.76 million sq ft in space. 

There goes a multi-use building that attracted a diverse group of people! 

Picture of the Day: Dragon-in-Waiting

The dragon-in-waiting at Floata Seafood Restaurant

Yesterday we went to a concert put on by the Vancouver Recital Society at the Vancouver Playhouse downtown.

It featured a trio of a pianist, cellist and clarinetist performing works by Gabriel Faure, Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven.

After the concert we headed to Floata Seafood Restaurant for an early dinner as it offers free parking and the food portions are generous.

However, when we got there, we were surprised to discover not one, but two banquets being held simultaneously to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Even though Chinese New Year ended on February 24, some groups are still holding their festivities.

There was even a dragon on poles that was leaning against the wall, waiting to dance around the room held by members of the local kung fu club.

The head waiter was blase when we asked for a table -- he started setting one up at the back of the room of one of the banquets but then changed his mind and took us to the other side, where there was a small room.

In it were stacks of chairs, but a space big enough for six people to dine. So he moved the table over here, throwing a white table cloth over the round table, and a lazy Susan. 

We marvelled at having this mini private room that shielded us from the loud festivities outside -- until the event actually started. We could hear everything because there was a speaker in the room we were in!

Oh well.

The good thing was that we ordered quickly and were served our food before the banquets got started!

Charity Fundraiser with a CNY Theme

The lion made its way around the room

Last night we attended a fundraiser for the Alzheimers Society of BC, which raised almost C$150,000 from selling seats for a Chinese banquet, donations, and silent auction. 

Even though the last day of Chinese New Year was the day before, the event gave people one last chance to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, with a lively lion dance and the God of Wealth stopped by every table where people wanted to have selfies with him.

Our lo hei topped with truffle sauce

The dinner, held at the Continental Seafood Restaurant in Richmond, did a pretty good job of churning out food for over 400 people. The dishes were a bit different from the usual fare, starting with lo hei, a southeast Asian tradition of using chopsticks to throw ingredients up in the air for a chance at higher promotions or larger prosperity. Needless to say it was a messy start.

However, the salad made of vegetarian ingredients that were finely sliced was delicious when mixed with a truffle oil sauce. It was so good I had seconds.

Another dish we haven't eaten for a while was fat choy, or black moss. It was in a dish of braised sea cucumber, Japanese tofu and choy sum. 

There were other traditional banquet dishes like salt-baked chicken and steamed fish, but the carbohydrate was called ginger rice, made with wild rice and red rice for a healthier twist. In it were bits of vegetables and egg white. The older folks didn't like it so much, as they felt the wild rice wasn't cooked through enough and was hard on their teeth. The ginger flavour was quite prominent.

A healthier carb dish using red and wild rice

For dessert, we had osmanthus jelly with wolf berries, and of course sweet dumplings filled with black sesame in red bean soup. The red bean soup wasn't cloyingly sweet, thanks to the use of monk fruit as a sweetner. 

I put in bids for a few things in the silent auction, and was surprised to win two out of the three.

One was a Chinese restaurant coupon for four people to dine on a set menu, the other a gift box filled with snacks, jam, tea and chocolate sourced from BC companies. I definitely donated a lot this year for a good cause!

Hong Kong's Fortunes in Neutral Position

Lau holding fortune No. 15, a neutral one for the sixth year

Hong Kong's Year of the Dragon will not be a good one, according to the fortune Heung Yee Kuk Chairman Kenneth Lau Ip-keung picked out on Sunday, the second day of Chinese New Year.

The "neutral" No. 15 stick reads: "Holding an axe and entering a forest, looking for something not yet obtained. Wasting good material and losing one's strength, offering oneself and waiting for the arrival of spring."

Lau drew the stick at Che Kung Temple

In other words: "When you're in the forest with an axe, there are many trees to chop down. This is exactly what the government has to do, to choose appropriate policies," said Lau. "Spring will come but the government should not waste time and resources."

Or maybe it's time someone else shakes the cylinder full of bamboo fortune sticks and shakes a better one out? Lau has drawn "neutral" sticks in the past six years.

Happy Lunar New Year

Happy New Year of the Dragon!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

This year is the Wood Dragon, and it is the only mythical creature on the animal zodiac. The Dragon has the characteristics of dominance, ambition, authority, dignity and aggression.

Some famous dragons include Russian President Vladimir Putin, tycoon Li Ka-shing, and billionaire Jack Ma Yun, retired from Alibaba, as well as the late Deng Xiaoping and martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

While fortune tellers are predicting a tough year ahead for Hong Kong's economy, we hope the city's Lion Rock spirit will help residents be resilient and weather the rough times ahead. 

Chinese New Year Western Style

The dragon winding its way through the crowd

Last night I was invited to a Chinese New Year party held at a popular restaurant in downtown Vancouver. When I got there after 6pm it was already heaving with people and I barely knew anyone.

Nevertheless it was fascinating to people-watch during the hour that I was there.

Many women took advantage of the theme to wear cheongsams with heels, warmed by the mobile heaters, or something red, from sweaters to slip dresses and one woman even wore a body-hugging hooded floor-length red dress, something Grace Jones would wear with shades.

Two acrobats posed on spinning hoops

Some men wore Chinese jackets, mostly the tacky satin embroidered kind found in Chinatown.

The music was definitely not Chinese, but it was pumping dance music with a strong beat from a DJ and so I was surprised to see a Chinese woman carrying a one-year-old boy around and then later some girls, five to seven years old with red decorations in their hair looking up to see a scantily-clad acrobat twirling around from a hoop suspended from the ceiling.

What were these kids doing here on a school night?

Perhaps their parents are regulars at this restaurant? These people congregated in groups and had already commandeered tables where they had plates of food and glasses of wine -- red of course.

Ah yes the food. We were in a restaurant, after all.

But this is a Western restaurant and nothing Chinese about the food, with queues for every thing to eat and drink.

There were freshly-shucked briny oysters -- and amazingly I didn't get sick -- as well as tons of sushi, and two stations where giant parmesan cheese wheels were melted to coat penne pasta. There was also a queue for roast beef and mini Yorkshire pudding complete with three different mustards to choose from and gravy poured from a teapot.

Freshly shucked and briny oysters

And then there were glasses that from a distance looked like dessert. When I got one, it was under a heat lamp and when I dug my spoon into it I soon realised it wasn't sweet -- it was beef stew topped with mashed potato.

However the Peking duck spring roll was good, stuffed with meat and vermicelli, while dessert of mandarin mousse in what looked like a mini mandarin orange was a nice finish.

I felt badly for the servers who had to hold heavy trays with one hand and put their other arms around glasses and plates to prevent people from knocking them over. What a tough night.

Just after 7pm the drumming and clashing of the cymbals began and there was actually a glow-in-the-dark dragon weaving around the crowded restaurant. Quite appropriate since it was pretty dark in the place and the dancers had to try and wind their way around people and food. 

An hour was enough time spent there to take in the revelry and see Vancouverites turn out for a Chinese New Year party. Next time wear red red red! And heels heels heels!

Lighting up Chinatown

There will be 16 of these neon signs installed

Vancouver's Chinatown looks brighter in the run-up to the Lunar New Year on February 10. Mayor Ken Sim unveiled a neon sign featuring a dragon that are being installed on the street lamp posts on East Pender Street between Main and Carrall streets.

In total there will be 16 of these neon signs just in time for the Year of the Dragon.

Mayor Sim unveiled the design for CNY

The initiative was from the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association, which began planning this idea two years ago. 

"Chinatown used to be famous for its neon signs and its unique designs. And it really is an homage to the past. Even though it took all that time to get here, it's appropriate that it comes out at the start of the new Year of the Dragon," said Jordan Eng, president of the Vancouver Chinatown BIA.

He hopes the signs will stay up for at least six months, and possibly remain a permanent fixture.

"It'd be nice to have something on a more permanent basis, just because of the amount of time it takes to produce and go through the process to get it certified, and all the engineering effort that goes into it to get it to where we finally installed it," Eng said.

The Lunar New Year will be celebrated in Chinatown on Sunday, February 11 with a multicultural parade through the area. Places like the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Garden and the Chinese Canadian Museum will have various workshops and demonstrations, from lion dances and calligraphy lessons, wood block prints and street food.

East Pender Street with neon dragon signs

Here's to hoping these new light fixtures not only hark back to Chinatown's glory days, but also inspire people to come back to the neighbourhood more often.

Picture of the Day: Poon Choi

Happy New Year! Now dig in again and again and again...

For the start of the Year of the Rabbit, we ordered a poon choi takeaway for the three of us at Haiyi Seafood Restaurant on Main Street. At CAD$268 it was a pretty good deal.

When we arrived to pick it up, the restaurant was bustling with lots of tables, ranging from three to 12 people, many dressed in red silk jackets or red outfits to celebrate Lunar New Year.

However, we were surprised to find our poon choi was stone cold! It has just been taken out of the refrigerator!

Such a big pot would take forever to heat up, so when we go to home, we picked out the items we wanted to eat and then microwaved them. Yes, we did.

Nevertheless, it was pretty good, choc full of ingredients like dried oysters, sea moss, pig's trotters, pork tongue, fish maw, goose webs, prawns, fish balls, mushrooms, turnips, chicken, tofu skin and napa cabbage.

We just barely made a dent in it and tonight had our second round. Looks like tomorrow will be poon choi again for dinner!

The restaurant was clever to include a kind of steamer tray at the bottom with holes to prevent the ingredients from being stuck at the bottom of the bowl if we had heated it up on the stove. There was a lot of the thinned out sauce at the bottom too.

And the sauce is good enough to have noodles with too!