Despite a shortage of time and funding this year, the Toronto Dragon Festival team pulled together a massive success in promoting Chinese culture
By: Meilin Ma
The 12-metre-long, 5-metre-tall dragon lantern at Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto City Hall, is the hallmark of the Toronto Dragon Festival. (Courtesy of XINHUA News)
The 2022 Toronto Dragon Festival (TDF), one of the largest Chinese festivals in North America, was successfully held at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto from Sept. 2-4., after a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic.
A total of 90 booths were set up at the site, consisting of cultural, small merchandise and food categories.
Another major part of this festival was the non-stop live performances, spread out in three areas: the open square space, the water show stage and the main stage. Live concerts, folk dancing, Beijing Opera, culture and arts display, Kung Fu and martial arts showcase, and fashion on the water, appeared on the three stages one by one.
But surprise to everyone’s eyes came the highlight of all this year - the breathtaking acrobatic lion dance on high poles attracting crowds of people from all ethnic groups to stop and water.
A large crowd performed Tai Chi, the Chinese kung fu, at Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto. (Courtesy of Toronto Dragon Festival)
“Lion Dance is the most iconic performance in Chinese culture,” said David Zhang, the chief director of TDF and the vice president of the Canadian Association of Chinese Performing Arts. “High Pole Lion Dance is a top-performance form of Lion Dance with high artistic and technical requirements. The performers must be very experienced, because the difficulty and danger coefficient are extremely high, and it requires a high degree of consistency and years of practice.
David Zhang is the key designer who outlined the festival back in 2018. He oversaw all the stage performance activities that took place three days in a row. As the chief director, he tries to add some highlights to every TDF for the audience to experience the amazing Chinese performances each time.
“The High Pole Lion Dance is a breathtaking show for the audience,” said David Zhang, “It embodies the essence of Chinese culture. That is why we invited Eagle Li and his team to join this year’s festival.”
Eagle Li is a Cirque Du Soleil performer and he started to learn lion dance during his childhood in China. After more than 20 years of practicing and touring worldwide, he has become a world-class High Pole Lion Dance coach and performer. Li and his team performed four rounds in this year’s TDF, each time winning endless praise from the packed audience.
"What touched us the most was every time at the end of each performance, many in the audience would come to us and thank us," Li added that he is very delighted to join this year’s TDF, and he hopes to let more people know about High Pole Lion Dance and to know more about the profound Chinese culture.
According to the organizing committee, more than 80 art groups, 140 performances and about 1,500 performers participated. Including all the merchants, staff and volunteers, over 4,000 people were involved with the festival. Approximately 80,000 visitors attended this year's festival, more than 70 per cent of whom were non-Chinese, according to the TDF organizing committee.
A sea of people came to join the TDF at Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto on Sept. 2, 2022. (Johnny F. P. Tam/TDF)
But it was not an easy setup after a two-year pause due to the pandemic; there were some tough challenges in organizing this event.
"We faced tremendous difficulty this year to run such a big event," said John Zhang, the chair of the 2022 Dragon Festival Organizing Committee and the president of the Canadian Association of Chinese Performing Arts. "We only had two months to prepare, which usually takes six months."
The team of the Third Dragon Festival. From left to right: Anna Bian, Susan Xu, David Zhang, John Zhang, Lunjun Mou, Kitty Chen, Katherine Hou, Timur Zhao, Shengqi Lin, Xin Yue. (Betty Liu/TDF)
John Zhang said the organizing committee was hesitant to start planning for the festival due to the pandemic, but when they decided to kick it off, it was already July.
But time shortage was not the only challenge of holding this grand event.
“The biggest challenge this year was that we didn't have enough funding," said John Zhang. "We received only half of the funding from the government, and we did not get as many sponsors this year as last time."
In the past two years, many businesses have been set back because of the pandemic; as a result, people have become cautious. John Zhang tried to contact companies and people he knew, hoping to get their support, but in the end very few were able to respond.
John Zhang speaks to the media during the festival at Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto. (Betty Liu/TDF)
But there were some businesses that stepped up to support this good cause.
One good example: Manling Jia, the owner of Manling Dance & Art Studio in Toronto, heard about the situation. She contacted John Zhang and said she would like to donate to support this event. While John Zhang was very appreciative, he knew Jia's money was all hard-earned and decided to decline Jia's offer respectfully. But Jia was persistent and did send the money saying it was her wish to support this festival, according to John Zhang.
John Zhang has worked and lived in Canada for decades and has been devoted to planning and holding Chinese community cultural activities. He likes to see Chinese culture integrated into Canada's diversity culture through cultural and art events so that multi-ethnic people in Canada would have a chance to experience the charm of Chinese culture directly.
One of the traditional Chinese programs at the opening ceremony of the festival: Ansai Waist drum. (Courtesy of Toronto Dragon Festival)
After inaugural success in 2018, this year is the third Toronto Dragon Festival attracting the keen attention of mainstream society in Toronto.
"Every day after the festival is done," said John Zhang, "After the visitors leave, we have to pick up the trash, help guide trucks and load and unload goods. We're always the last ones to leave the scene."
John Zhang said preparing for this festival is like "fighting a war" for him every time, and every aspect must be considered to ensure the grant event runs smoothly.
"I'm very grateful that I have a strong team of like-minded people who worked together to make it through despite a lack of time and funding," John Zhang added.
Tonny Louie, the chair of the Toronto Chinatown Business Improvement Area, who has years of experience organizing big outdoor events in Chinatown, said it is very hard to put together a big outdoor event — and teamwork is the key.
“There are many steps to running a big outdoor event, and the team's experience is very important,” said Louie. “Otherwise, there will be issues everywhere. I think the Toronto Dragon Festival was a great success this year."
A traditional Chinese custom performance at the main stage of Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. (Courtesy of Toronto Dragon Festival)
David Zhang, though not related, is John Zhang's best partner. The two other core team members of the organizing committee of TDF are Susan Xu, the executive director, and Kitty Chen, the deputy chief director. They all have a common goal: to promote Chinese culture and to build understanding between Chinese Canadians and other ethnic groups in Canada.
In the past decade, this strong team has accomplished several major projects in the Chinese community and won a very good reputation for hosting high-end cultural events and performances. They worked together and supported each other in a very cooperative way and succeeded in each mission, including the TDF since 2018.
John Zhang and David Zhang at the opening ceremony of the Toronto Dragon Festival on Sept. 2. (Betty Liu/Toronto Dragon Festival)
"This festival was a success with the collective efforts of every team member," said John Zhang, "But we can’t do everything just by ourselves, especially without enough funding. We had thousands of volunteers to support us. They are the heroes behind the scenes that must be honoured. We could not have achieved a perfect end without their help and effort.”
Biao Xie, a licensed electrician, was one of the volunteers who had been devoting himself to the TDF for all three years from the very beginning.
"I'm very proud to be part of the Toronto Dragon Festival," said Xie, "because it is a very high-level event aimed at mainstream Canadian society. I will volunteer for the festival again next year, because through the event I can also contribute to promoting Chinese culture overseas."
Xie said his one regret is that he didn't have much time to enjoy everything of this festival during the three days because he was too busy, and he hopes he can have some time to watch the terrific shows and taste some delicious Chinese food next time.
A visitor buying a traditional Chinese snack, grilled squid, at a food booth of the Toronto Dragon Festival. (Courtesy of Toronto Dragon Festival)
According to the organizing committee, about 2,500 volunteers participated in this festival. They were assumed in various positions of the festival and can be seen in every corner of this event.
"I believe all the volunteers, staff and the performers of TDF have the same goal," said David Zhang. “To promote and integrate our Chinese culture into Canadian culture and become a part of it, rather than being regarded as a foreign culture.”
Shelley Carroll, the Toronto city councilor from Don Valley North, attended the festival personally to show her support. She was very happy that she could attend this year’s TDF to learn more about Chinese culture, since her riding represents all sorts of Asian communities.
“More than ever, we need to be displaying all that we know about the Asian culture,” said Carroll. “We need to bring people here so they can embrace Chinese culture.”
Carroll also discussed the anti-Asian hate that happened over the last couple of years during the pandemic, stating that it is not acceptable. “We need to remember why we are here today,” said Carroll, “People must support events like this because it is part of Canada's heritage too."
Carroll is not the only politician who came to the festival to show their support for the Chinese community. Shaun Chen, a member of parliament who represents Scarborough North, also attended the opening ceremony of the TDF. He brought a congratulatory letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"I believe it is important for us to have such an event like the Toronto Dragon Festival, where we can share our diversity to promote that understanding," said Chen, who attended this festival's opening ceremony. "That is so critical on that pathway to building a more inclusive society. So, these events are significant, and we should continue working together to build a better country."
The event’s team, consisting of the organizer, cast, crew and volunteers at the end of the 2022 Toronto Dragon Festival at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on Sept. 4. (Courtesy of Toronto Dragon Festival
After three years of success, the festival has now become a brand that is well known in the Chinese community. The organizing committee has already started to plan for next year's TDF.
“We will continue doing it every year,” said John Zhang. “We hope that more Canadians of diverse cultural and racial background will come to enjoy the TDF and have fun with the fantastic activities. I guarantee that next year’s festival will be even better than this year. “