Hakka Living Library: Long Journeys and New Meanings
This event offers an opportunity to discover the rich heritage of the Hakka 客家 (guest families) and their enduring contributions across generations and continents. Today, Hakka culture is celebrated and recognized worldwide through its language, mountain songs, kirin dance, architecture, cuisine, and more. It reflects a long history of migration, adaptation, and community building.
The program will include:
1. Opening performance of Hakka Kirin Dance*
2. Panel discussion followed by Q&A
3. Learning stations, mini living libraries, and a Hakka Kirin workshop
4. Exhibition of books on Hakka and relevant materials
*Kirin (Qilin, 麒麟): A mythical creature in Chinese and East Asian traditions, often associated with prosperity, wisdom, and the appearance of sages.
Location: Asian Centre Auditorium
Date: Thursday, October 15, 2026
Time: 2:00--4:00 PM
Format: In-person
Panelists:
Lori Wong is an educator, researcher, temple and family historian based in North Vancouver. As the great-granddaughter of Ngai Sze, one of the founders of Tam Kung Temple (1876) in Victoria, BC, Lori brings a heartfelt connection to her Chinese cultural heritage through volunteer work with the Yen Wo (Hakka) Society, the custodian of Tam Kung Temple, and her recently published children’s book, Ellie Awakens the Spirits of Tam Kung Temple.
Jennifer Chiu is a writer, director, producer and researcher, born in India and living in Vancouver, British Columbia. A grateful guest of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people, she has a decade of experience researching and developing series and feature documentaries for film and television. Her first feature film, Clan of the Painted Lady, traces her own family’s migration and reflects on the migration of the Hakka people at large, exploring the delicate balance of cultural preservation and adaptation.
Jin He 何錦龍 is a first-generation immigrant, neurodivergent queer Hakka 客家 Chinese from Guangzhou, China, currently living, learning, and working on the unceded lands of the Coast Salish peoples. Contemplative by nature and community-driven in practice, Jin is a builder, poet, mover, educator, and homesteader working toward a holistic future at the intersections of land, language, body, food, ecosystem, and culture.
Discussant:
Melody Yun Ya Ma 馬勻雅 (she/her) is a Hakka 客家 Toisan 台山 Chinese second-generation settler who lives on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Co-founder of 客家 HAKKA HOUSE and founding member of Hakka Kirin dance troupe 麒麟革命 Kirin Rising, Melody is a multidisciplinary entrepreneur and cultural innovator, working at the intersection of technology, culture, social justice, communications, and heritage.
Moderators:
Dr. Yao Xiao comes from a mountain Cantonese-Hakka family and is a non-binary first-generation immigrant settler of colour on Turtle Island. Yao is an interdisciplinary scholar of culture, migration, minority, and social justice education, affiliated with the Department of Educational Studies and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at The University of British Columbia.
Jing Liu is the Chinese Studies Librarian at UBC Asian Library. Through her research on BC's Seto family, she has developed an interest in Hakka culture and heritage.
This event is sponsored by the UBC Library Innovation Grant.