This morning I gave a Kung Fu Demonstration for the ABCD Headstart Church Health Fair.
The purpose of the fair was to educate local parents and there children about various health services and programs that are available to them. The languages provided were Spanish Mandarin and Cantonese as far as I know.
I was asked to perform there by a friend of Master Ng, a school teacher turned Feng Shui Master who has been in the states for a couple of years. He had a friend that works at the Head Start church, which is located 112 Shawmut Ave by the way. He said I should take this opportunity to show the non-Chinese the health benefits of Kung Fu and Chi Gung.
After that I was contacted by the director who had a very go get ‘em attitude and a mandarin accent. I would perform at 10:00 am and get a gift card in exchange.
So, this morning four month old son woke up at 2:30 then 4:00 and then finally at 7:00 am. I fed him each time, but didn’t start getting ready to leave until 8:00am. Finally at 9:15 I started on the subway toward New England Medical Center stop. Here I got off and rushed over to 112 Shawmut Ave. It was somewhat of a pain to get over here in the cold with a child, but I guess all the other parents had already arrived by 8:45am . The flyer said that is when the fair had started, showing a child doing the lion dance with the words “Free Stuff” in big underlined letters.
I watched on as some toddler girls did a chinese dance with tamborines. Very cute. I picked my son out of the stroller to watch too. The dance teacher was a staff member. I looked around at the audience and saw that most were Chinese immigrants. When it was my turn I spouted which school I was in English to blank faces, and then switched into Cantonese, which impressed at least a few people in the front. (By the way I appear to be fully Caucasian though I am half Chinese.)
After two forms and gasping out where my school was etc. at the end again, I went over to the stroller to sweat with my son in the corner. After resting and being offered breakfast and gift cards I relaxed a little, and everyone started coming over to see my son. “Is this yours? Boy or girl? So Handsome, you should have more. At least two more. Maybe a girl ” and so my son got past around happily to a bunch of Chinese moms. He had more fun than he has had in a while and I got to practice my chinese.
I was struck by the energy in the room. It’s an energy that I tend not to feel when I am in older Chinatown organizations. Maybe its a generational thing. Maybe its a mainland China thing. The Chinese Immigrants that have just come over seem more ready to do things, fight for things, take action. I was impressed by the crowd and the general energy of the organization.
I was told to bring my son there at three years old to learn Chinese.
We’ll see, but in the mean time if you happen to be from Chinatown and have young kids, check it out. 112 Shawmut Ave.
To learn more about Lion Dance and Kung fu Contact Adam Cheung at
acheung-whitecrane@hotmail.com