Celebrating Chinese-Canadians in Sports

Table tennis anyone? That's the question!

Last weekend we checked out the latest exhibition at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Chinatown that is coincidentally sort of tied to the World Cup in Vancouver.

Entitled Momentum: Power and Identity in Sports, the exhibition showcases Chinese-Canadian athletic talent in all kinds of disciplines, like ice hockey and basketball, Canadian football, figure skating, snowboarding and swimming.

Many cool items on display at the exhibition

It's a fantastic way to celebrate these people who have excelled in their sport at the highest level. There's Patrick Chan, who has medalled three times in the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, Lori Fung, who won the first gold in rhythmic gymnastics in 1984, and Norman Kwong the first person of Chinese heritage who played football for the Calgary Stampeders and the Edmonton Eskimos, and was even the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta.

On display are Chan's ice skates and one of his medals from Sochi that looks banged-up, Fung's gymnastic suit and ribbons, and a giant pair of sneakers that Zach Edey wore while playing for the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA! Edey's mother is the daughter of Chinese immigrants in Toronto.

There's also some other Asian artists whose work are in the show. Visitors are first greeted by an indoor tennis table that has the words "Tomorrow Is The Question" in caps by Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. I've seen his work over the years, with other tennis tables written with "Demain Est La Question".

Tiravanija's thought-provoking message

But most interesting are Tiravanija's works where he takes newspapers from a specific city and writes thought-provoking messages. 

The first and most memorable one I saw at Art Basel Hong Kong one year featured the message, "Freedom Cannot Be Simulated" written on the pages of the South China Morning Post newspaper.

There's also a funny animation called "Furry Ball" about what happens to a golf ball by Hong Kong artist Wong Ping, and photographs of young female field hockey players by Canadian-Malaysian artist Felicia Chang.

Momentum: Power and Identity in Sports is on until July 19, 2026.

Chinese Canadian Museum

51 East Pender Street

Vancouver

 

Wandering Montreal's CBD

Ju Ming's Tai Chi Single Whip

Montreal is a relatively easy city to get around by the metro of subway. We don't know what it's like during the freezing depths of winter, but we already had a good idea from the intense wind tunnels in some of the metro stations. Just pushing the station door open can be a Herculean task as a gust of wind barrels past you.

Nevertheless, we had fun wandering around the city. On the way to the Notre Dame Basilica, we saw the entrance to Montreal's Chinatown, with a Chinese-style gate with "唐人街" on it. When we arrived at the famed church, one of the towers was under renovation and we weren't keen on paying C$16 admission to go inside.

The entrance to Montreal's Chinatown

Not far from there was the financial district, where we saw a number of banks: BMO or Bank of Montreal, TD, or Toronto Dominion Bank, and even Molsons Bank. 

It was started by Montreal brewer John Molson's two sons, William and John. Not only did William serve as the bank's president until his death, but also expanded the family business empire with a distillery, a lumberyard, a foundry, steamships and railways. 

William Molson was also a leading philanthropist who served as president of the Montreal General Hospital, and donated funds towards the establishment and construction of McGill University, where he later became a governor.

After we crossed the street, we came to Victoria Square, where I spied Taiwanese artist Ju Ming's sculpture!

His blocky tai chi figures graced the Bank of China in Hong Kong, and now there was one in Montreal!

Molsons Bank building

There was no information about it and I had to look it up online. The sculpture is called "Tai Chi Single Whip" that was cast in bronze and erected in 2006.

It became an endearing figure in 2015 when some Montreal Canadien fans made a giant Habs hockey jersey for the sculpture with the number 31 on it for the goalie Carey Price at the time.

Price had won his 43rd game that year, breaking the Montreal Canadiens' single season record previously jointly held by Ken Dryden and Jacques Plante.

Sadly the Habs weren't able to go on to the Stanley Cup finals this year, after they were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final...

Review: Against the Grain

O'Reilly profiles an array of outstanding trailblazers

Back in October, ad man Terry O'Reilly presented his latest book, Against the Grain: Defiant Giants Who Changed the World at the Vancouver Writers Festival in Granville Island. He is well known among CBC Radio listeners for his show, Under the Influence, where he talks about different aspects of advertising through actual case studies.

Against the Grain profiles 19 people who were trailblazers in their respective fields, and in particular when others either criticised them or scorned them.

There's Gustave Eiffel who was a brilliant engineer and owned his own iron-production factory, but Parisians hated his design for the Eiffel Tower. Nevertheless, he persisted and was smart enough to sell shares to fund the tower as well as take in revenues from entrance fees and from the restaurants and cafes on the structure.

Another is Suzanne Simard, who saw how clear-cutting and planting new trees didn't necessarily mean a new forest would grow back in a healthy way. She discovered that in the forest, there are "mother trees" that other trees depend on for nourishment, and that they communicate with each other through an underground network. Simard also found some tree species have a symbiotic relationship, like the paper birch and Douglas fir. 

However, the forestry industry didn't believe her until her findings were finally published in a peer-reviewed publication. She wrote her first book, Finding the Mother Tree, and has just recently published a follow-up, When the Forest Breathes.

Interestingly O'Reilly includes former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, more for his positive election campaign in 2015. Refusing to do the usual attack ads against his opponent, incumbent Stephen Harper, Trudeau instead offered a more hopeful and optimistic vision if he was in charge and won over a lot of young voters. 

Taylor Swift is also a good choice to profile, though many people under the age of 50 already know all about her. But O'Reilly found her a fascinating business person who genuinely loves her fans and finds ways to interact with them on her terms. 

Some were bused to Swift's home where she made cookies and took pictures with every single one, or made hospital visits, and donated to the food bank of every city she holds a concert in. In addition, following her Eras tour, she gave out millions of dollars worth of bonuses to everyone from the musicians and dancers to the truck drivers hauling all the equipment for the shows.

I enjoyed reading the chapter on Roger Neilson, the former head coach of the Vancouver Canucks in the 1980s. Turns out he was a baseball fanatic more than a hockey one. His interesting obsession was to memorise the rule book and find creative (and sometimes funny) ways to get around them, or use it to call out the opposing team to his advantage. 

The Canucks were in the Stanley Cup finals in 1982 and it was Neilson who inspired fans to wave white towels during the games. I remember that clearly in high school, as a classmate's father was a big Canucks fan and she told us about the white towels.

Against the Grain was written very similar to the way O'Reilly presents his radio show, and when reading the stories, you can almost hear him reading them too. 

However, there are some stories with complicated concepts to explain, like Simard's theories on forests and Katalin Kariko on developing mRNA vaccines that helped protect people against Covid-19, that O'Reilly kind of glosses over their scientific importance. He's good at giving context to advertising giants like Albert D Lasker and Bill Bernbach, but science is O'Reilly's weak spot.

Nevertheless, Against the Grain is a good roundup for fascinating individuals who were determined to follow their instincts or beliefs despite the chorus of criticism against them. In particular Richard Williams' story of manifesting Venus and Serena Williams into champion tennis players even before they were born is a crazy fairy tale that really came true. Definitely an example of someone going against the grain.

Popularity of Heated Rivalry Spawns Numerous Tangents

Heated Rivalry has blown up as the hottest show now

This week my social media has blown up with either clips of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's decisive, call-to-action speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, or of scenes from Heated Rivalry, the Canadian TV series that has turned the two stars, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie into celebrities overnight.

In real life and in fiction, both are pushing back against angry men who want to aggressively take over the world and demand subordination from trad women.

There is so much analysis of Heated Rivalry that it's pretty crazy how everyone has fallen for the two characters, Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov, who are hockey players on rival teams and are smitten with each other.

Analysts opined why the show appeals to women

Aside from the sensual sex scenes, many say female viewers are so obsessed with the show because the two actors are gorgeous men who play a very physical game, but when it comes to their relationship, they are very sensitive -- which analysts like psychologists say is what women want in men.

There is the yearning in the dialogue as well as subtle body language to hint their intentions which female viewers love picking up in the show.

Heated Rivalry was inspired by the book of the same name written by Canadian Rachel Reid in 2019, but it turns out there was a real heated rivalry story many years earlier between two female hockey players, Canadian Caroline Ouellette and American Julie Chu, who faced off against each other in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Both were team captains and both wore the number 13. While they were fierce rivals on the ice, Chu and Ouellette became friends and then lovers, but kept their relationship private for many years. After they were both played in the Olympics four times, they hung up their skates and have two girls and live in Montreal. Ouellette is the assistant coach for the Canadian women's hockey team for the upcoming Milano Cortina Winter Olympics next month.

Storrie and Williams became celebs overnight

Another tangent is that the phenomenon that is Heated Rivalry the show, is not new in Asia. As pointed out in Lingua Sinica's Substack, BL, or "Boys' Love" has been going red hot for years in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and China.

The shows appeal mostly to women and some men, with storylines that range from mutual love without physical touching to those that include sex scenes. Thailand has the most mature BL scene, which generates a lot of revenue not only from the shows but also from meet-and-greets with the fans.

These events in Thailand can last five to six hours, where tens of thousands of fans from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, fill stadiums to see their favourite stars in person. The fans snap up all kinds of memorabilia, which means lining up for an hour just to buy them. General admission to these fan events alone costs HK$2,600 (US$333), and together with airfare and hotel, means these fans are around 30 to 40 years old, and mainly female.

So in a way the West is finally discovering BL, which is already hundreds of miles ahead in Asia. And with Shane Hollander the character and Hudson Williams the actor both half Asian, Heated Rivalry has gained a huge fan base across the Pacific.

Listening to Ad Man Terry O'Reilly in Person

O'Reilly (left) with moderator Kathryn Gretsinger

This afternoon went to Granville Island again -- and had a nightmare of a time trying to find parking -- to get to another Vancouver Writers Festival event. I managed to find a spot in a nook by the water front, where a car was just pulling out to leave. What luck, though where I parked my car was at the opposite end of where I needed to go... can't have everything!

I got to Waterfront Theatre as the line was forming outside and was luckily sheltered from the rain. About 10 minutes later we were invited inside before the start of listening to Terry O'Reilly, who has written a new book called Against the Grain.

O'Reilly is well known among CBC listeners who have been tuning in every week for the past 20 years to his various iterations of his show that basically talks about marketing and advertising. It was first called O'Reilly on Advertising, then The Age of Persuasion, and now Under the Influence. 

His book is about mavericks

Each episode has a theme and in half an hour the professional ad man tells several stories around the topic, taking listeners behind the scenes of how campaigns are crafted.

It is quite ironic that a show about advertising is on the non-advertising station of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but O'Reilly has a massive and loyal following for two decades, and archives that have been downloaded some 70 million times.

He told the sold-out audience how the show is produced, that while choosing the theme is easy, making them into reality is difficult. He has three researchers who are each assigned a show to work on, finding out more information on various campaigns. 

O'Reilly says they compile about 100 pages in notes, which he then writes into a script, records it and then he listens back, gives suggestions on corrections, then they listen again a few more times before it is sent to the CBC.

His whole family is involved in the business, his wife is his executive producer, and each of his three daughters work on the show too, though he didn't explain what they did, only that they have their own talents.

O'Reilly's fourth book talks about mavericks who forge their own paths to success. He talked about NHL hockey coach Roger Neilson, describing him as a devout Christian who never swore professionally, but was an avid reader of the rules of hockey and would "skate" around them. 

One example is that when he would take his goalie out, Neilson instructed him to leave their stick behind lying on the ice in front of the net so that opposing players would have a harder time flicking the puck into the net because there was no rule about that. But after Neilson did that, the rules changed.

O'Reilly also talked about his popular radio show

Another person he raves about is Taylor Swift, who he points out re-recorded all her albums -- usually a performer will only re-record a few hits. She produced a film about The Eras Tour and had it in the theatres while her tour was on simultaneously. 

Critics thought it would lead to weaker ticket sales for her concerts, but the result was the exact opposite. O'Reilly said he had to revise this chapter many times because Swift was doing something new every few weeks.

He also talked about former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's campaign in 2015, how the Liberals only had 36 seats, and managed to not only sweep the Liberals back to power, but with a massive majority at 184 seats -- with hardly any professional political experience. 

O'Reilly says he had done a lot of political advertising and it's usually negative attack ads on the opposition. O'Reilly wasn't involved in the campaign, but heard Trudeau insisted that his ads would be positive, which was completely unheard of at the time, and that helped propel him into power.

In 90 minutes it was great to get insight into how he produces his show every week, and learn more about his book, which I will definitely read at some point!

Canada's Game, Canada's Victory

McDavid (97) scored the overtime winner to beat the US 3-2

When it came down to the wire, Team Canada delivered.

Canada defeated the United States 3-2 in overtime in the 4 Nations Face-Off Final tonight in Boston.

Connor McDavid scored the overtime winner and was named the game's MVP.

"Just to see the reaction. Just to know what it means to us. I know it's just a quick tournament, and it's not an Olympic gold medal or anything like that, but it means the world to our group, as you can see," McDavid said after the game.

The nail-biting game was held in Boston

"I hope [the new fans] love it," he said. "It's a great game, it's a great sport and I hope we can put on a good show these last couple days and gained some new fans, ultimately. You can't ask for a better show than that."

All morning and afternoon leading up to tonight's game, radio hosts were talking up the final, asking hockey experts what was going to happen, but also what they thought of how the game was being politicised, with Canadians booing when the American anthem was played, and Americans doing the same to O Canada, and how three fights broke out in the first nine seconds.

The heated atmosphere was caused by US President Donald Trump who continues to taunt Canada about being the 51st state.

While he did not personally attend the game, he did call the American team earlier in the day, giving them a pep talk; one wondered if Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should have done the same...

Trudeau throwing it back to Trump on X

But after it was over, Trudeau posted on X: "You can't take our country -- and you can't take our game."

Coming into the final Canada had lost 3-1 to the US last Saturday, and so this game was crucial.

"Canada needed a win, and the players beared that on their shoulders, and took it seriously," said Canada head coach Jon Cooper.

"This one was different. This wasn't a win for themselves. This was a win for 40-plus million people. And the guys knew it, and they delivered."

So for now a great sigh of relief for Canada, while Trump may be pissed that the Americans didn't win.

Because that's all he knows, a zero-sum game.

Anticipating the Swiftie Invasion

The VPD are gearing up for the Eras Tour

The countdown has begun with Taylor Swift coming in days -- days! to Vancouver.

However it's going to be pandemonium in the downtown area with Swifties descending into BC Place.

Early next week a fence will be erected around the stadium so only the 160,000 ticket holders can enter the area, and concertgoers are encouraged to walk, ride bikes or take public transportation downtown.

The horses have necklaces too

What complicates things is that nearby is Cirque du Soleil performing, and a Canucks game at Rogers Arena.

Unlike Toronto where an unofficial Taylorgate party was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre near the Rogers Centre venue for Swifties who do or don't have tickets, there isn't any such meeting place for them in Vancouver.

Fans are disappointed to hear this, but some think they will find a way to congregate somewhere nearby anyway. Come on! It's her last three shows of the entire tour! And the vast majority of the attendees will be women who just want to meet each other!

But Vancouver officials aren't taking any chances. They warned no overnight camping near the stadium would be allowed, and roads near BC Place would be closed from noon until midnight during concert days.

And aren't these police horses dressed for the occasion? The necklaces were gifted by the Toronto Police Service, and the giant inflatable bracelet that adorned other Eras Tour venues will be draped around BC Place too.

Dallas Stars has Asian Talent on Fire

Robertson celebrates after his goal against the Oilers tonight

The Stanley Cup playoffs are on and last week the Vancouver Canucks were sadly eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers, now the only Canadian team left vying for the giant trophy.

However, in the third round of the playoffs, the Oilers are wondering what hit them tonight as they were winning 2-0 in the first period and then by the end of the second period it was 3-2 with their opponents, the Dallas Stars catching up.

By the third period the Oilers tried to regain the upper hand, but the Stars clinched two more goals, including an empty netter to win 5-3, leading the series 2-1.

Three of the Stars' goals were from Jason Robertson, who scored a hat trick for this game.

Robertson looks Asian and yes he is -- half Filipino and half... Scottish!

The 24-year old is from Arcadia, California and his younger brother Nicholas was a second-round draft pick for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

There are currently four players of Filipino descent in the NHL -- Robertson, his brother, Tim Stapleton  and Matt Dumba. 

Stapleton is the first player of Filipino heritage to play in the NHL, and is half Filipino and half Irish, while Dumba is Canadian and his father's background is a mix of Romanian, German and Russian.

Tonight Robertson was on fire and it was impressive watching him play. His teammates call him Robo. I was rooting for the Oilers, but now things are looking interesting with Robertson on the ice!

Hong Kong Anthem Gaffe Strikes Again

The moment the wrong anthem was played in Bosnia

After the 2019 protest song instead of the Chinese national anthem was played twice late last year in a rugby tournament in South Korea raised hackles with the Hong Kong government, it is quite unbelievable that the gaffe has happened again, this time Bosnia, after a hockey match between the city and Iran.

On Tuesday "Glory to Hong Kong" was played as Hong Kong's national anthem instead of "March of the Volunteers" when the team beat Iran in the 2023 Ice Hockey World Championship Division III.

Pui says teams can't check right song is played

Pui Kwan-kay, honorary vice-president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, said he didn't have all the details of the incident, but believed the latest blunder was caused by "careless" staff who downloaded the wrong song from the internet.

"The government has a responsibility to continue to liaising with the service provider to ensure the correct national anthem of Hong Kong, China should be placed at the top," he said, referring to Google.

And yes, if you do Google "Hong Kong national anthem", "Glory to Hong Kong" is the top result.

Google has said before it will not change the rankings of specific pages.

But no one outside of the city knows it is the wrong anthem and the politically charged meaning behind it. How is it their fault?

Why not make it the responsibility of the Hong Kong teams to tell organisers to use "March of the Volunteers" instead? 

At a rugby tournament "Glory to HK" was played

Surely the team's coach or general manager traveling with the team could liaise with tournament organisers? 

However, Pui claims that while guidelines and tool kits have been provided to sports teams to ensure event organisers have a copy of the correct anthem, the teams cannot constantly check to make sure the right song is played.

"Team leaders can't always stay in the media room to supervise, and the counterparty may feel annoyed that they are being watched while working," Pui said.

Well, yes if the Hong Kong government keeps getting annoyed then someone's going to have to make sure the right anthem is played, right?

In this latest gaffe, the government "strongly deplored" the national anthem mix-up and requested the local Olympic committee to conduct an in-depth investigation.

The International Ice Hockey Federation reportedly apologised for the error, saying it was an unintended mistake.

At least Hong Kong sports teams are playing well overseas!