Ep 167 | Charlie Wu of Lunarfest Celebrates the Year of the Tiger

Jan 24, 2022

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A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

This year, the Lunar New Year falls on February 1st and it’s the year of the tiger. For those of you familiar with Lunar New year celebrations, you may recall some of the traditions, which might include: wearing the color red, receiving or giving red envelopes, eating special foods, lion dances and firecrackers

My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is not going to talk about any of that. Charlie Wu is the Managing Director of the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association, which organizes Taiwanfest and Lunarfest. The Lunarfest is a twist on celebrating the Lunar New Year, inspired by the Lantern Festival which marks the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations. Charlie talked about how Lunarfest has evolved over the course of a decade and engages with local indigenous communities in Canada.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Charlie’s background and upbringing in Taiwan
Charlie’s experience assimilating to life in the U.S.
The differences between Canadians and Americans
Why he wrote an article about being Taiwanese Canadian, not Chinese Canadian
Why Charlie was named one of the top 100 influential Chinese Canadians in B.C.
What happened when a group of Chinese Canadians asked Charlie to support their fight against anti-Asian and anti-Chinese racism at the beginning of the pandemic
When Lunarfest started and its connection to the 2010 Winter Olympics hosted by Vancouver
How Lunarfest is the only legacy event from the 2010 Winter Olympics that has continued until present day
How Lunarfest has evolved over time and been able to sustain for a decade
The challenges in changing the perception from Chinese New Year to Lunar New Year
This year’s Lunarfest events in B.C.
How the Lunarfest is different from most traditional Lunar New Year celebrations
How Lunarfest has engaged the local community by inviting participation of indigenous people
The artists who have created the lanterns for Lunarfest
There will be a celebration planned on February 5thand 6th at the ---art gallery
The Lunarfest installation in association with the Taiwanese Canadian Association of Toronto in Markham
The endangered Formosa leopard
The Lunarfest’s annual arts and crafts programs for 2000 school-aged kids in the Greater Vancouver Area
Past Lunarfest programs and how Lunarfest has changed due to COVID
How the Panjabi community is participating in Lunarfest Vancouver
Cirque de Soleil’s participation on Lunarfest Vancouver
Lunarfest lanterns will be on Granville Island for the first time
Indigenous artist Susan Point’s participation in Lunarfest Vancouver
How you can participate and see photos of Lunarfest online using the hashtags #lunarfest #lanterncity
The Lunarfest lanterns have audio descriptions about the artists accompanied by pipa music in the composition, “Woven Melodies”