FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 5, 2023

Media Contact:

info [at] chinatown.today

Chinatown Today celebrates the bridges between us with the launch of the fifth volume of its signature publication, Chinatown Stories.

Local nonprofit publication brings forward stories from and of Chinatown, highlighting the voices of residents, business owners, and emerging creatives. Launch event will feature an art installation, readings and refreshments with limited print run of publication available for purchase on December 9.

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Vancouver, BC: With Chinatown Stories Volume 5: The Bridges Between Us, Chinatown Today has set out to continue its grassroots magazine series, holding space to share, archive, and envision stories of Vancouver Chinatown’s past, present, and future. As the fifth instalment in Chinatown Today’s signature publication, Chinatown Stories Volume 5 seeks to highlight the bridges that shape our relationships with Chinatown, with others, and with ourselves. Kaitlyn Fung, Editor of Chinatown Stories Volume 5 notes, “The Bridges Between Us is one of our most ambitious issues yet. This volume offers bold and creative invitations to expand on our relationships to Chinatown and the communities within it. As a publication dedicated to community stories, Chinatown Stories is the ideal venue for exploring the vibrant social, political, and artistic fabric of the neighbourhood.”

Bridges can be intergenerational pathways, solidarity across communities, the necessary boundaries we keep with ourselves, others, and the circumstances around us. Highlighting the bridges that shape Chinatown and our relations to and within it in Chinatown Stories Volume 5 meant building new bridges as well. 

In order to increase the accessibility of contributing to the volume, Chinatown Today introduced a call for pitches for potential stories in addition to completed submissions. Accepting pitches gave the team the opportunity to accept timely pieces responding to recent and ongoing events in our community for Volume 5, and to adopt a more reciprocal editorial process allowing for multiple layers of feedback. The team received over 30 pitches from the community, with over half of the volume consisting of new stories that contributors workshopped with Editor Kaitlyn Fung and Board Editorial Lead Tim Lam over the course of the project. Tim Lam recalls: “When we asked for pitches from our community we were overjoyed at such an overwhelming response. The call for pitches was a first in Chinatown Today’s history, and it allowed us to commission original art and storytelling that spoke to the theme of bridges to our present moment in a deeper, more nuanced, and responsive way than we have before. We are absolutely thrilled with the final result and cannot wait to share it with the public.”

The publication launch party will be on Saturday, December 9th, from 2PM until 4PM at Massy Arts Society (23 E. Pender). In attendance will be Chinatown Today volunteers, board members and publication contributors who will share their responses to the theme “The Bridges Between Us” with brief readings from the volume. Chinatown Today will also be featuring our community mapping project, promoting the exchange of place-based stories of Chinatown’s past, present, and future. Copies of the publication will be available for purchase and pick-up at the event. Pre-orders are encouraged (Pre-order at https://www.getformpay.com/chinatowntoday). Light refreshments will be provided.

Chinatown Today president Russell Chiong on the completion of the publication:
“Since its inception, Chinatown Stories has been about sharing stories for and by the Chinatown community. Despite the changes we’ve gone through as a neighbourhood since 2017, when Chinatown Today released the first volume of Chinatown Stories, the publication has remained true to its goals of holding space for our community to share our stories, especially those stories that are often overlooked. With the theme of “The Bridges Between Us”, Volume 5 honours not only the relationships and connections that are such a vital part of Chinatown, but also the complexity of navigating our rapidly changing community. I’m so proud of our team, of our editors, designer, and contributors for all of the work they’ve put into bringing this project to life. To see our grassroots community-built publication continue for a fifth volume is such a gratifying experience.”

Editor: Kaitlyn Fung

Board Editorial Lead: Tim Lam

Designer: Sam Morales

Contributors: Adrian Yue, Christina Tran, Christine Wei, DANI YOUR DARLING, Lucky Munyi, Madeleine Chan, Maverick Chan, Rebecca Wang 王晨釔, Rei Ga-wun Leung, Remi Landry Yuan, Shawn Tse 謝兆龍, Suki Lam, Weijin Ross, and Yulanda Lui.

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Launch Event Info:

When: Saturday, December 9 from 2 to 4pm (programming is scheduled from 2:15-3:00pm)
Where: Massy Arts Society 23 East Pender Street
Cost: Free (RSVP via Eventbrite)

More Info

Accessibility Info:

Language Accessibility:

ASL and Cantonese interpretation will be available for this event.

Transit:

Chinatown is accessible by transit via skytrain. The closest skytrain station is Stadium-Chinatown, which is an eight minute walk from Massy Arts Society.

Seating:

We will provide limited seating.

Bathrooms:

There is a gender-neutral bathroom on-site.

Covid-19 & Communicable Diseases:

Masks keep our community safe and are mandatory at this event. We will have masks onsite and will be offering 3-ply surgical masks at the door. We ask if you are showing symptoms, that you stay home–thank you kindly. 

Chinatown Today acknowledges that this event will take place on the unceded, ancestral, occupied territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil- Waututh) First Nations. Unceded means this land was never given up or surrendered. As uninvited guests and settlers working, creating, and playing in the neighbourhood and community that we call Chinatown, we recognize that we are part of the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous peoples, lands, and resources. We hope that as we reflect on Chinatown’s past, present, and future, we can also continue conversations needed to understand the stories of the spaces we occupy.

Links:

Chinatown Stories Volume 5: The Bridges Between Us Pre-order – https://www.getformpay.com/chinatowntoday
Chinatown Stories Volume 5: The Bridges Between Us Launch Event RSVP: https://chinatown-stories-vol-5.eventbrite.ca
Chinatown Today website: www.chinatown.today
Chinatown Today Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chinatown.today/

Media Contact:

info [at] chinatown.today

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