Reading is to have an intimate conversation with the author. “Reading is the most participative of the arts. There is more brain activity when you are reading that kind of intense text than watching tv or film.⋯⋯Writers provide readers with a score, a score that the readers will then interpret.”, said Margaret Atwood.

On the streets of Cebu, Philippines, there is always a group of people carrying blue bottled water, similar to those selling goods on the streets. Of course we usually choose not to buy it, and even question it in our head – who would buy it?

Every summer, my friends would go on a road trip together. We would leave our work, squeeze into a tiny car accompanied by our luggage, and go on the road. Our destination was usually a rural area with no one but us.

If you have ever gone to school in Taiwan, or asked your children to go to Chinese school in Canada, then you are familiar with the importance of the mother tongue. Many say you shouldn’t ever forget it, others say their children shouldn’t forget their own culture.

In 2017, DC’s superhero movie, “Wonder Woman”, came out and received lots positive reviews. Film critics praised the film because it successfully debunked the myth that “a superhero movie with a female lead could not be successful”.

I would describe my transition from highschool to university as “drastic”.

The hope that our own culture and heritage can become part of mainstream society is common to many Canadian immigrants – so much so that it is a milestone that many migrants and communities strive to achieve.

Before I graduated from university, I got a message from my friend. He was trying to sell me a ticket to Sir Paul McCartney’s concert in Vancouver. He couldn’t make it because he had to prepare for the exams.

I remember there was an assignment for my guitar class back in high school. We had to learn how to use GarageBand to record our song into a demo, and the finished file was to be submitted to the teacher for grading.

A lot of my relatives used to live in Vancouver, but they have since moved away to other places. One year, at a family gathering in Taipei, I asked my uncle why the majority of the family decided to leave Vancouver and move to places such as Taipei.

This March, we visited the Casa Gorordo Museum in the Filipino city of Cebu. During the tour, the term “mestizo” was often brought up – a Latino word meaning “of mixed ethnic background.”

Sometimes, examining and learning about a different culture ends up shedding a new light on our own. While we’ve not directly engaged the Filipino community in Canada in the past, this year’s Dialogues with Asia series will cast aside our previous conceptions and learn anew!

Yui Aida is a dessert chef and food painter from Tokyo, Japan. She uses naturally grown local ingredients to create desserts, no dairy, no egg.

From its humble beginnings as the Music Night of Taiwanese Composers in 1990, TAIWANfest has grown to be the largest English/Mandarin bilingual cultural festival in all of Canada, and the largest event outside the island nation to bear the name “Taiwan”.

Founded in March 2004, Asian-Canadian Special Events Association (ACSEA) continues to create sustainable projects in the areas of arts and culture, working with partners across British Columbia, Canada, and internationally following a threefold mandate:

Asian cuisines are as diverse as the climates and environments of the expansive continent, ranging from rich seafood to crisp vegetarian, and everything in between. Food is perhaps the easiest (and most filling!) way to learn about culture, and the perfect example of cultural dialogues and exchange!

What kind of event is TAIWANfest Canada? Why does Canada even need a TAIWANfest? Two years ago, FairchildTV brought a group of people to attend the festival, and I had the pleasure of being their tour guide through the festival.