Scene: Celebrating the New Year in Chinatown

The new year is always better with a Lion Dance.

By David Hains • Photos by Harry Choi

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Does the Wong Association of Ontario have the best coat of arms? Yes. Yes, it does.

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Does the Wong Association of Ontario have the best coat of arms? Yes. Yes, it does.

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You can read this here, or on your next trip through Chinatown.

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You can read this here, or on your next trip through Chinatown.

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It's a plaque!

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It’s a plaque!

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Pretty much the best.

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Pretty much the best.

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Just a bunch of big heads.

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Just a bunch of big heads.

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It is probably better to leave the captioning of this one to readers. Hivemind, activate!

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It is probably better to leave the captioning of this one to readers. Hivemind, activate!

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Joe Cressy may look like the Hunger Games' Peeta Mallark, but the only tribute here is to the Wong Association's storied history.

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Joe Cressy may look like the Hunger Games’ Peeta Mallark, but the only tribute here is to the Wong Association’s storied history.

WHERE: Spadina and Dundas

WHEN: Thursday, February 19, 11:00 a.m.

WHAT: On Chinese New Year’s Day, Heritage Toronto unveiled a new plaque honouring the Wong Association of Ontario. The Chinese family organization has been around for over 100 years and is the first such Canadian organization to have its own coat of arms, which features a panda bear, polar bear, dragon, and phoenix. It’s pretty amazing. The celebration outside the Wong Family Association offices at 303 Spadina Avenue featured a traditional Lion Dance and drew local MP Adam Vaughan, local councillors Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale), Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East), and federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. If you’re planning to celebrate tonight and eat great food and trade red envelopes, it’s the year of the goat, sheep, or ram. (It really depends on who you ask.) Happy New Year.