Having Tea with China

By Edmund Lo, S.J.

Photo: Edmund Lo

I feel like I know you, yet I do not.

We share the same bloodline, but I was raised under colonial rule, for better and for worse.

I jokingly tell others that my Chinese friends think I am too western, whereas my western friends think I am very Chinese. This is who I am, but I want to know more about my roots. I am not a Sinophile, because I do not come to you as a foreigner; you are already a part of me. I just want to know you more. I have longed for such an opportunity, and it finally happened.

Let There Be Light — or Not?

By Edmund Lo, S.J.

As we further venture into the heart of the Advent season, the question of “what do you do during Advent / pre-Christmas times” has surfaced on several occasions for me. A friend of mine has the wonderful tradition of baking goods in her family, of which I am one of the beneficiaries. At our Jesuit community in Regina, we light candles according to the weeks of Advent while singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel before supper. What about me? Do I have any Advent traditions that I have inherited from my past?

I was born and raised in Hong Kong, a place with quite a short documented history compared to many other places on Earth. The history of Christianity on this land. This is to say that Christianity – and subsequently Christmas – has never been culturally engrained into the genes of us Hong Kong folks. I think that this would serve as a useful context as I share with you my only recollection of any kind of an Advent/ pre-Christmas tradition that my family had. This tradition was to go into the eastern end of the ever-bubbling commercial district called Tsim Sha Tsui to look at the Christmas lights. In fact, this is quite a popular thing to do for folks in Hong Kong during this time.