Victoria’s Chinatown was alive with sound and colour Sunday with the second Awakening Chinatown celebration.
The Victoria Chinatown Museum Society hosted the event to engage the community and showcase the contribution of Chinese Canadians to the province and the country over the last 160-plus years.
The Government of Canada designated May as Asian Heritage Month in 2022.
“We have had a steady stream of visitors to the museum all day,” said Sherrie Hutchison, a volunteer with the museum, located in Fan Tan Alley.
She said that the festival was an opportunity to educate the public and make them aware of the discrimination early Chinese immigrants faced as they struggled to make a new home in a new country.
“It’s all about sharing information and making history come alive for most people,” said Cassie Brevis, another museum volunteer.
She said that streets and buildings of Victoria’s Chinatown — Canada’s oldest — is akin to a living museum, with stories still waiting to be told.
The one-day festival, which includes music, live performances and art, brings in the same number of locals as visitors, she said.
A lion dance by members of the Wong Sheung Kung Fu Club snaked down the street, ceremoniously plucking lettuce and “lai-see” (lucky money) from the doors of shops on both sides of the street to ensure prosperity.
Farther down the street, performers get on stage to perform dances or snippets for the traditional Chinese opera.
Barb and Sandy Currie were at the Four Frames photo booth to get their pictures taken with a replica of a terracotta warrior.
“We are so supportive of the celebration and the community,” Barb Currie said. “It took [Chinese-Canadians] fighting in the Second World War to finally get to vote.”
The event began at noon, with an eye-dotting ceremony and the Waking the Lions ceremony. Throughout the afternoon visitors and locals alike enjoyed the sunshine with performances at the festival’s main stage by the Happy Drum Group, Sunshine Fitness Group, the Victoria Society of Chinese Performing Arts, Evergreen seniors choir and an Asian drag review by Vancouver’s House of Rice.
parrais@timescolonist.com
