Text and photos by Mary L. Peachin, Tourism Richmond, and Graham Osborne
Vol. 13. No. 7
Along the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean, the city of Richmond is uniquely surrounded on three sides by the 854 mile mighty Fraser River. Consisting of seventeen islands, only Lulu and Sea are inhabited. First Nations people were the first inhabitants of this cluster of followed by European farmers who first settled there in the 1860’s. Japanese were attracted to the area and by the late 1800s, Steveston Village’s bustled with fourteen fish canneries packing more than 195,000 cases of salmon yearly. The Japanese and Chinese left to join the 1858 Fraser Valley gold rush. Some later found work on the Canadian Pacific Railway, or return to Richmond to work in the fishing and farming industry (primarily blueberries and cranberries.)
The name of the island is thought to have been named after actress Lulu Sweet. Although Richmond was designated a city in 1990, it was granted municipality status in 1879, seven years before the city of Vancouver. Richmond lies mostly undiscovered as the majority of 18,000 daily visitors landing at nearby Vancouver International Airport cab into the city. Thirty miles (49 km) of dykes protect the sea-level community. Fifty miles (80 km) of bicycle paths wind over the flat surface of interconnecting dykes throughout the city.
Steveston, a charming fishing village, is a place where shoppers can buy fish and seafood from fisherman boats. More than a million birds using its Pacific Flyway,
Gung Hay Fat Choy! Lunar New Year, better known as Chinese New Year, is determined by the phases of the moon. For many the current year is 2009, but for Asians, the year is 4068. Kicking off the year is not on January 1st, it is a date designated by the Lunar New Year. The 15-day celebration is filled with traditions dating back to centuries of land cultivation, respect and honor for nature, past wars, and a caring bond for ancestors.
The highlight of New Year’s Day is dragon dances. To the loud beating of drums, some aerobatic dancers perform as the dragon by walking precariously over tall, foot-wide platforms, while others perform on stages on in street parades. In Aberdeen Centre, many shops hang lettuce heads over doorways to symbolize wealth or a prosperous year. As the dragon passes, it will bless the store.
Different cultures rejoice in the New Year, gathering with friends and family to share special, home-cooked meals. Vietnamese celebrate Tet Nguyen Dan or Feast of the First Morning, Koreans observe Seollal, Tibetans call the holiday Losar, while Mongolians observe Tsagaan Sar or White Moon. In Bhutan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, ethnic Chinese populations celebrate the holiday as a national occasion.
Each culture makes the holiday a family time welcoming in the New Year with thoughts of happiness, health, and prosperity. Many of these unique traditions can be observed in the Metro Vancouver city of Richmond where sixty percent of its 185,000 population is Asian. Rather than toasting with a glass of champagne as the clock strikes midnight, Asian’s gather their family to dine and celebrate with favorite delicacies.
In Szechuan, Beijing or Shanghai restaurants, Northern Chinese enjoy jiaozhi (dumplings) and guo-te (pot-stickers) during Loong-li-nen or the Lunar New Year. Noodles represent longevity, while slices of dried cured meats symbolize fortune and financial gain.
Cantonese prefer lin-go or specially prepared Chinese New Year cakes in flavors that carry auspicious blessings. Steamed or pan-fried with ingredients of daikon or taro root, dried shrimp and cured pork, these savory cakes are served in most dim sum restaurants. Sweeter versions add brown sugar, coconut or water-chestnut.
During Solnal or Korean New Year, neatly arranged dishes resemble the color of a rainbow. Koreans use rice flour for their Ttokkuk New Year cake. The family gathers on New Year’s Day morning at the eldest son’s house where they perform a traditional Charye ceremony. After bowing to the elderly and delivering blessings, they enjoy a Ttokkuk breakfast.
Malaysians tend to celebrate Lunar New Year with a dinner that includes many dishes bearing special meanings. Yee Sang or Loh-Hei brings good energy, longevity and prosperity. The large platter contains sliced fish, jicama, mango, papaya, jellyfish, pickled vegetables, ginger, pomelo and crispy flour chips, all topped with sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, chili powder and tangy sauce. To bring good fortune, chopsticks are used to toss ingredients as family members shout “Loh-hei.”
Tet is year’s biggest holiday for Vietnamese. Like other Asian cultures, the celebration is dominated by food and entertainment. Their feast might include pork stew, lean sausages or pies, whole chickens, salad, spring rolls, vermicelli and sticky rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves.
More unique is the sheep’s head served for Tibet Lhosar. Display as the center piece, it is considered a symbol of the harvest. Served with roasted barley biscuits, fried wheat twists, meat and sausages, and wheat porridge, the meal, along with home brewed barley liquor is served throughout the night. Dog lovers, Eastern Tibetans share the holiday and food with their pets believing that the chose of food by the dog symbolizes a better harvest in the coming year.
Xinjiang, a non-provincial Chinese territory north of Tibet, celebrates with a roasted mutton placed in the middle of the dinner table. Crispy fried Sanza noodles, fried rice, melons and apricots surround the centerpiece. Friends and family joyously celebrate with food and drink and dancing to local music.
Tsagaan Sar is a three-day Mongolian celebration to mark the end of winter, the beginning of spring and a brand new cycle. Translated to White Month or White Moon, the celebratory food is covered by a white layer of dough or bread. The young pay respect to elders by presenting them white food, pastries and other gifts.
The lavish feast includes grilled sheep, minced lamb or beef steamed inside a layer of pie-like pastry or Buuz. Late into the night there are toasts of Airag, a tea of mare’s milk, or homemade fermented mare’s milk with 3 per cent alcohol.
Before the celebration and feasting begin, many Asians stop to pray for good fortune, health and prosperity at their temple. Our day began at the International Buddhist Kuan Yin Temple, the second largest Buddhist temple in North America.
Its authentic Chinese palatial style architecture is designed similar to Beijing’s Forbidden City. Golden tiles top its two-tiered flared eaves roof. It is landscaped with courtyards of classical Chinese lotus ponds gardens, gazebos, rocky landscapes, and a stone bridge. Worshippers believe that water flowing from the Wisdom Fountain into a pond is cleansing. Siddhartha Gautama Pool, where nine white dragons spout water towards the sky, represents nine heavenly dragons.
At the centre of the temple is the Main Gracious Hall. Beneath its Northern imperial Chinese exterior of gold and red is a Western structural frame of concrete and steel. It houses five great Buddha and Bodhisattva statues. The Buddha Sakyamuni is claimed to be the largest in North America.
An 85-foot Seven Buddha mural is located in a pavilion behind the Main Hall in the Worshipping Square. Four Heavenly Kings and the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Goddess, or Guan-Yin, gold-leafed with a thousand hands and eyes are located here.
Practicing Buddhists come to pray for the New Year and their deceased family members, many of whom are memorialized with calligraphied tributes or photographs along the walls. In the Hall of Thousand Buddhas, they ceremonial pray by kneeling with their palms upward. Bowing three times at four stations around a Buddha, they shake a canister of prayer sticks until one falls out. Its translation is much like a prophecy or fortune. Their “future” is then interpreted for the next year.
A stretch of road along Richmond’s No. 5 Road, known as the Highway to Heaven, was nominated as one of top Wonders of Canada. The road is lined with religious buildings including a Buddhist monastery, Christian school and churches, Sikh Gurdwara and Muslim temples, and a Jewish school. It is an area where culture and religion work in harmony.
At the Jami’a Sunni Muslim Mosque, Imam Rachid greets visitors “Assalamu Alikum”, and requests, please remove your shoes then use the wudu to cleanse your face, hands, and feet. It was time for the Call to Prayer. After the singing, worshippers bowed their heads to the carpeted floor. This praying, which always faces east towards Mecca, takes place five times daily. All prayers are in Arabic as they are in the Koran.
Gurdwara Nanak Niwas Sikh Temple is a religious center that encompasses cultural, social, and political issues. Its Darbar room of worship or inner sanctuary is the focal part. Guide Gursharan Brar told us that the Sikh religion is young. “It is only five hundred years old. Originating in Punjab, Sikh means “to learn,” to believe in light of one God.
Led by a Guru, the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco are prohibited. The worst sin is committing suicide or murder. Sikhs never cut their hair. Men wear turbans if they have been baptized.
Lingyen Mountain Buddhist Temple is a Buddhist sect with Taiwanese roots. This nunnery of forty women chants sutras to free their minds and attain enlightenment. Their ancient religion, found in India, thinks of the new world as afterlife.
Richmond’s Golden Village blends North American stores with modern Asian stores. The Osaka grocery store in Yaohan Center on No. 3rd Rd. serves cuisine for all Asian cultures. Aberdeen Centre, similar to a Hong Kong-like mall includes a Ferrari car dealer and Daiso, a 26,000 square foot Japanese general merchandise store featuring all types of products priced at $2.00.
Tucked in each strip center and inside larger malls are more than four hundred of Richmond’s Asian restaurants. Patrons like their food served hot and fresh. Shanghai River Restaurant’s northern Chinese cuisine serves more than 1800 traditional Shanghais or little dragon dumplings sealed with juices daily. The Chef, a famous noodle maker, can be observed spinning dough into noodles behind the glass enclosed kitchen.
The freshest dim sum is served daily at the popular Fisherman’s Terrace Restaurant on the third floor of Aberdeen Centre. “You are what you eat” according to Chinese belief…so select wisely.
Richmond is a city that might be considered a gateway to Vancouver, but its culture, cuisine, shopping malls make it a stand alone destination. The Richmond Olympic Oval will attract world wide attention in 2010. In the meantime, rent a bicycle at Steveston Seabreeze, www.seabreezeadventures.ca, and explore the city by riding along the dykes. Don’t miss the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site or the Britannia Shipyard, an eight acres National Historic Site that once was home to canneries and boatyards and don’t pass Steveston dock without stopping at Pajo’s Fish and Chips.
For further information: Tourism Richmond, www.tourismrichmond.com